When I was in Co Tipperary recently and met up with distant Fanning relations I was told the story of John Kearney.
John was the son of Sarah Fanning and Patrick Kearney. Sarah A Fanning was the daughter of Michael fanning and Catherine Ryan of Lissaroon.
Sarah married Patrick Kearney, an electrician, from Southampton England, on 15 May 1894. Francis Dwan and Stasia Fanning were witnesses at their wedding in Inch Church in Drom parish Co Tipperary Ireland.
I have been unable to find any trace of Sarah and Patrick Kearney after the birth of John in Drom Parish in 1895. I can only assume that they died in England.
John is in the 1901 and 1911 Census records staying with his uncle and aunt, Tom and Hannah Fanning, at Lissaroon. They did not have any children of their own.
The story I was told about John Kearney, pronounced Carney, was that his uncle Tom Fanning was going to leave the Lissaroon property to him. When he found out that John wanted to go to England with his mates, he told him if he went he would not inherit. John went and Lissaroon was left to the Mullanys.
John used to come back to Ireland to visit his cousins in Dublin but never came back to Lissaroon. He died in England and is buried in a pauper’s grave.
