Christi Malone

The following information was provided by Christi Malone, from Brentwood, Tennessee. You can contact her at mysterywriter@home.com.

"Our great grandfather was Thomas Prendiville from Castle Island (sic), County Kerry, Ireland. I'm not sure when he emigrated but he was married in Ohio in 1867 at about 34 years old. Witnesses on the marriage license and subsequent birth certificates indicate his brother, John, and sister-in-law, Maria, were with him in Ohio.

The story behind the name goes like this (at least this is the story we've always been told):- sometime after 1066 when those Normans came over from France, William the Conqueror rewarded one of his men with lands in Ireland. "Prendeville" comes from the French root verb "prendre" meaning to take, and "ville" meaning town. Take the town.

My parents visited County Kerry about 20 years ago and I've a picture of my dad standing in front of a Prendeville's Pub. I'm not sure of the exact location or the spelling of the pub. But when they mentioned that his father's name was Garrett, they got quite a response.

I don't know exactly how the spelling got changed but it happened in my grandmother's time. I blame it on the stupid census takers who couldn't understand Gaelic. In some of the Ohio censuses I've even seen it Painterville one time and Prendiville the next.

My grandfather and his father both worked on the railroads. My great grandfather was a foreman because he could both read and write Gaelic and was sort of a translator for the Irish who hadn't learned to speak English yet."

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