Welcome to the Heeney Genealogy web page.
 

My name is Jeff Heeney and I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Thanks to my father's brothers', Blair and Wes, I can trace my lineage back to
William Heeney who left Ireland for Canada in 1845.

I have discussed with Blair on previous occasions the possibility of creating a web
page of the family history. I liked the idea in part because I knew web pages could
make the transitions through the maze of genealogy easy for the user. It seemed the
ideal way of presenting the information. I already knew the basics of web page
design and love the way the Internet can share information. Plus, my uncles' had
already done the hard part, collecting the stories, documents and images.

One of the nice things about web page design is the ease with which one can add
onto existing pages. Seeing family tends to grow, as it does we will be able to make
room for generations to come without losing the connections already created.
Web page design is easily transported. So when GeoCities gets tired of hosting us,
or when technology progresses to the point that everyone is capable of hosting their
own server, we can copy all the data to a new home and won't have to change
anything but the address of the main page.

Just as exciting to me is the possibility of our related families joining with us by
either getting involved and adding information, or connecting any existing pages
on the Internet. And another asset of having the information on the web is that
anyone in the world can do a search for any of the names listed and perhaps
discover a lost connection to their family.
So due to the inevitable growth of family and the data they create, i'm interested
in hearing from anyone who wants to add onto this page by way of connecting to
existing names. Personal involvement is possible by sharing the password to the
site, or by creating their own free web page at GeoCities as i've done, and linking
up to this page wherever the connection exists. I'd be happy to do whatever I can to
help so please contact me.

The name of the page implies a much larger community of Heeneys' than is
listed here. At the time of writing this I believe we now consist of 7 generations from
our founder William Heeney. Obviously, even though it's hard to fill a telephone book
with even half a page of Heeneys', i'm certain the real list is huge. But when I went to
create a Yahoo! Group and was fortunate to be able to use the name Heeney, it made
sense to create the associating web page with the same name. (as opposed to
something like 'Progeny of William H.') The Club itself was too limited to properly
store all the information. But I think it greatly adds to the ability of the family to
connect in other ways if desired.
So I apologize if you've arrived here with hopes of finding more information on
Heeneys' than is available here. But...

If you have come here expecting a larger list of Heeneys', perhaps you can help us
solve an important mystery of which i'll mention here in brief.
It is important to note two pieces of information that suggest William Heeney had
changed his name. It is possible that Heeney is his mother's maiden name.

First, without any written confirmation, stories passed down through the family
suggest that one of the reasons William left Ireland was "that he had been
involved in some troubles in which someone was killed". (ref.1)

Second, a letter was found which "quotes a story" told by the Reverend of his
Church. The Reverend was discussing a conversation he had with William
when he was thought to be dying. William talked about his life and had said
that "Heeney was not his name at all". These were the last words on the
second page of the letter. The third page is missing. (ref.2)

This information would be incredibly disturbing if the only purpose of the Heeney
Genealogy web page was to keep track of a specific name.
Fortunately there is much more to family than a name.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines family in many ways. One is this: "I.3.a. The
group of persons consisting of the parents and their children, whether actually living
together or not; in wider sense, the unity formed by those who are nearly connected
by blood or affinity."

People redefine everything from their own perspective. I for one extend the definition
to include everything in the Universe i've been shown. All of it. Connected and
related in the form of atoms.

The definition of family that is more familiar to us, creates a strong curiosity about
itself eventually. We all seek to know more about ourselves by looking at the past as
well as the present...be it sooner, or later.
And so despite the strong curiosity about whether or not the family name really is
Heeney...the real curiosity for me has more to do with the people, places and stories.
In our case, solving the puzzle of William's past would be fascinating.
But whatever past it is, the good and the bad, we are connected to these people by
the essential family ingredients of love and responsibility. That in itself is motivation
enough to be more familiar with our family, past and present.

No matter where you are in the world, or who you are, welcome.
Please feel free to contact me via e-mail at any time.
 

Jeff Heeney
11/20/2001