Andrew Shay, or Shea, or O'Shea, was born in Ireland around 1808-1810. He married Mary Hurley, another Irish immigrant, and they raised their family first in the town of Erin, Washington County, Wisconsin (where he received a land patent in 1848) then in Stapleton township, Chickasaw County, Iowa (Lawler PO).
Their children, all born in Wisconsin, included Johanna (c. 1846), John (c. 1847), Daniel (c. 1850), Mary (c. 1851), James (c. 1854), and Andrew (c. 1860). Johanna (Mrs. Thomas Gurnett), Mary (Mrs. Burke), and James stayed in the farming community of Lawler. John and Daniel settled in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, where they worked in the logging industry. Andrew became a postal clerk in Dubuque, Iowa.
DNA evidence suggests a Dingle Peninsula origin, and we have 2 possible baptism records from https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/ including 1808 (townland or address of 'Belinaghlingh' as written, son of Andrew Shea and Mary Landers, Ballyferriter) and 1814 (townland of Riasque, son of Dermot Shea and Helen Crowly, Ballyferriter). We think the former is more likely but are not sure of the exact location of Belinaghlingh.
Date and place of Andrew Shea's death is unknown; he is last seen living with daughter Mary Burke in the 1895 Iowa state census.
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| Date of Birth | 1st Jan 1808 | VIEW SOURCE |
