Patricia Shirock

Family of Mary and Catherine Brennan

I am trying to find the Brennan background of a great-great-grandmother named Mary Brennan.  I don't know if Mary ever made it to America, because she does not appear on the 1870 census for Blythe Township, Schuylkill county.  Only her husband, Dennis Kennedy (50) and daughter Margaret Kennedy (19) appear.  Mary could have died in Ireland, on the way over, or shortly after arriving here.
The first record I have of the family is the marriage of another daughter, Ann (Nancy) Kennedy to James Tee at St. Stephen's in Port Carbon on February 11, 1866.  Besides the two daughters, there were sons John and Robert.
I searched the 1850 and 1860 census rolls for Schuylkill county but could not find the family before the 1870 census.  I also went through the records of St. Stephen's Church but could find no other reference to the family.  The family subsequently moved to Summit Hill.
Since families often came to areas where their relatives already lived, I found it interesting to note an Alex and Julia Brennan Kennedy also living in Blythe Township (and they had Brennans as sponsors). A connection?
Most importantly, I believe Mary Brennan Kennedy had a sister (maybe cousin) living in Port Carbon.  This may be why the family emigrated there. (They do not seem to have been famine immigrants)
Catherine Brennan was the wife of Patrick Connolly.  they were married in Ireland and had at least two children there.  Patrick's stone exists in St. Stephen's Cemetery (Port Carbon) and there it states he was from Raphoe Parish in Donegal. Could Mary and Dennis be from the same place? But how to find out when church records don't go that far back?
A descendent of Catherine and Patrick states that, from records in a family bible, Catherine Brennan was born about 1820-25 and died June 20, 1899.  the same bible also had these two records, but no identification of who they were: James Brinen d. Aug 15, 1868 and Nancy Brannon d. Aug. 14, 1883.  could they have been the parents of Catherine and Mary, or a brother and sister-in-law?  Did they die here or in Ireland?
I understand the Irish had a conventional way of naming their children: 1st son after father's father, 2nd son after mother's father, 1st daughter after mother's mother, 2nd daughter after father's mother.  Could Nancy (the daughter of Mary and Dennis) have been named after her grandmother, the Nancy Brennan mentioned above?
I'm sure there were Brennan connections to these families in the area, but am clueless as to who they were.

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