Donald/Daniel McFadden : Short Biography

Comments

Hi there! I think I may have sent you photos of Aughalatty? Angela 

Angela

Thursday 24th October 2019 01:42PM

I just read the comments that said Daniel McFadden married a Hannah Sheils.  I have been searching for information about the Sheils family that lived in Mevaugh.  Gilis Shields was born abt 1800 and came to the US and lived in Pennsylvania  with her three sons around 1860. Any information you may have about Hannah's family would be appreciated.

tracedit

Thursday 24th October 2019 04:56PM

Hi Angela. Yes, it’s me :)

I’m trying to uncover who my great grandfather’s parents are and where they were born. 1901 Aughalatty census for unoccupied land says Donald McFadden of Glasgow. Not sure if that means he was born there or perhaps just living and working there. 1911 census, when he was married, states head of house as Hannah. Not sure where Donald was. 

 

Darryl

Thursday 24th October 2019 04:58PM

What I’ve learned about my great grandmother Hannah née  Sheils/Shields: Hannah was born 1885 and was from Aughlatty, Mevagh parish. Her father was Andrew Sheils born circa 1848, Aghalatty. Her mother was Bridget née McBride. Andrew was farmer and farrier and son of William Sheils. Unsure of William’s date of birth and birth place, however, he is at Aghalatty in 1850’s. I’m hoping to learn more about the Sheils family. I was recently in touch with a man who is researching Sheils. It appears that  his Sheils may be unrelated to mine, however, a friend of his happens to be the son of Hannah’s brother. I’m hoping he will reply my email soon. Anyhow, I’ll email the other chap researching Sheils with the name you’ve mentioned and see if he knows :)

 

Darryl

Thursday 24th October 2019 05:10PM

Is the name Gilis spelled correctly? I’ve searched, however, there’s only two people in the whole of Ireland with this first name and surname isn’t Shields. Perhaps it’s spelled differently 

Darryl

Thursday 24th October 2019 05:41PM

On the tombstone of her son is engraved that it was erected by his mother Gilis. I do not know what her maiden name was nor the first name of her husband.  Her sons were John (1831-1864), Hugh (1834-1847) and James (1842-1864).  Some people have the sons listed in their family tree and say that Gilis is the father on Ancestry.  But, since it is engraved on the tombstone I am going with that.

I have also found a record in "Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915 index and images for a Hugh Shields (1854-1869).  His father is listed as Dennis Shields and the mother's name is listed as Geles or Giles Shields. The dates are not the same so it is not the Gilis I am researching, and the spelling again is different but I held unto the record because there may be some family connection.

Any info you will share about the Shields family will be appreciated.

 

 

 

tracedit

Thursday 24th October 2019 08:37PM

I’ve been in touch with Ciaran, who is researching Shields, and he hasn’t come across this name. Did all of her sons die in USA? If you’ve tested DNA it might match to other Shields, which could point  to a Shields line?

Darryl

Friday 25th October 2019 06:00AM

Angela I would like to see the primary source for the name Gilis. I wonder if it’s a misread ‘ Gilie’ sometimes seen as ‘Giley’ which was quite common in north Donegal. It’s a form of Julia or Julie, which in turn becomes Sheila in Irish. 

 

Angela

Friday 25th October 2019 07:53AM

Yes, I have done DNA testing but have not found anyone with information that can connect to the people I have or they have never responded to my requests for information. I have been tracing this branch of the Shields family because I have never been able to find information about the birthplace of Daniel Shields who is my great grandfather. My DNA test points to Donegal.  Daniel was born about 1850 and came to the US when he was 20 years old.  My sister was told that the family of Gilis Shields was related and since I can't find the birthplace of Daniel I was hoping to trace the relationship of the two Shields families and had hoped that he lived in the same area as mentioned on the tombstone.

Yes, all of Gilis's sons died in the United States.  I have found some records for them but nothing ever mentioned their father's name or mother's maiden name.  Records for that period are not the best.  The one son, James, was murdered in Silver Creek, Pa. in 1864 in an altercation with members of the Molly Maguires. He was a soldier home on leave when it happened. 

Thanks again!

PS  Just noticed that in the previous reply I had Hugh Shields death 1847.  That is wrong.  That is the birth date of his wife. Sorry about that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

tracedit

Friday 25th October 2019 06:04PM

Sorry to hear Tracedit, I know how frustrating it can be. Who did you test through? Have you uploaded to GEDMATCH?

 

Darryl

Saturday 26th October 2019 05:24PM

I tested with Ancestry and did upload to an Irish site, right now I am not sure of the name.  I did get matches but again a lot of dead ends-- no response or not enough info for a lead.

tracedit

Saturday 26th October 2019 06:32PM

Darryl

You mentioned the 1901 census above for McFadden? I can't see any McFadden in Aghlatty in 1901 

 

Tracedit.

What exact connection to you have to Mevagh -  sorry I may have missed it in the thread. 

Regards

Angela 

 

Angela

Saturday 26th October 2019 08:38PM

Hi Angela, Donald McFadden isn’t in the 1901 census if you search his name. However, there are 12 or 13 properties in total in the 1901 Aghalatty census. The last property is unoccupied and has no buildings or outbuildings. At the last column it states owner as ‘Donald McFadden of Glasgow’. It may have been the property adjoining Hannah and her father Andrew Sheils, and perhaps that is how they met. Hope this makes sense :)

Darryl

Sunday 27th October 2019 06:00AM

Darryl

 

Have not seen that type of notation before on the census return .. you learn something new every day! Thanks for that!  To me, reading the entry, it's Donald McFadden who lives in Glasgow.  Interesting too that Donald would very much be a Scottish spelling - in Ireland more than likely it would be Donal. 

Have you looked at Griffiths Valuation ( c. 1848 - 1864) to see if any McFadden there at that time? Free to view and has good maps.  http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

There was a lot of migration between Donegal and Scotland as you probably know. Have you tried Scotland's People website, https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/.  You can purchase a small number of credits and see births deaths marriages as well as census.  I was lucky to get tons of inf on my family who emigrated there. 

Hope you are keeping well!  Good luck :)

Angela 

P.S Did I send you a newspaper cutting about Big Donal's death? 

 

 

Angela

Monday 28th October 2019 12:49PM

aHi Angela. Yes, it is interesting about Donald, as I haven’t come across the d in Ireland. There is no birth record of Donald in Ireland. There were McFaddens in Aghalatty in early times, which has given the theory that perhaps they left during the difficult times, had Donald in Scotland, Donald inherited the land, and moved to Ireland when things improved. I’m sure Thomas and Carmel must k ow, however, I haven’t heard a reply. I understand that they are elderly though. Regarding Donald’s notice, I haven’t seen this yet and would love to :) After my exam is finished next week I might look into the Scottish records. There are a lot of Donald McFaddens in Glasgow, so it might be tricky :)

 

Darryl

Monday 28th October 2019 02:43PM

Hi Angela,

You asked where the Shields family I am researching is from.  On the tombstone of John Shields, son of Gilis Shields, it states he was " a native of Creevey, Parish of Mevagh, Donegal Ireland..  Hope that helps  

 

 

tracedit

Monday 28th October 2019 03:09PM

Hi Tracedit, it’s interesting that John Shields was from Creevy. It’s next to Ballyshannon, which I noticed there were many Sheils. There is even a Sheil hospital there, that was bequeathed by Dr Simon Sheil late 1800’s. I wondered if my Sheils originated from Ballyshannon. My 3 times great grandfather was William Sheils, which isn’t that common amongst Sheils, however, there are some William Sheils from Ballyshannon, which makes me wonder if there’s a connection. From what I’ve read online, although I don’t know how accurate this is, the Shields/Sheils/Shiels/Sheals from Donegal are related and were renowned as hereditary physicians. It is true about the physicians, however, whether all Sheils are indeed related may or may not be true.

Darryl

Monday 28th October 2019 03:58PM

Tracedit

This is still pronounced Creevy in the locality, even though it is written as Crevagh on maps. It's a beautiful little spot hugging the shores of Sheephaven Bay and the inlet to Lackagh river. As the only Catholic records for Mevagh are 1871 - 1878 BAPTISMS it's going to be a tough call to find any good DNA matches.  Your family is a good way from Darylls Shiels family.  Perhaps you could enjoy exploring the local area and perhaps get to walk in the footsteps of your ancestors. It's a fact of life that many families simply disappeared after emigration, and as you know theres no great number of gravestones in the 19th Century. 

I was wondering if there is any useful information on the civil war record of the man who was killed by the Molly Maguires. Have you explored that? 

Kind regards

Angela 

Angela

Monday 28th October 2019 04:03PM

Daryll/tracedit.

Be careful with the townland names---- the Creevy in Ballyshannon is not the same as the one in Mevagh at all! 

The Sheils /Shields/Shiels family are all lover Donegal and there is no evidence to say where they originated. (Did I mention that my married name is Shiels) 

 

Best regards

Angela 

 

 

Angela

Monday 28th October 2019 04:09PM

tracedit

This is your family location https://www.google.com/maps/place/Rosguill/@55.1372889,-7.8550902,2049m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x485f8ac43c5cebe7:0x77873fb78404e636!8m2!3d55.2116667!4d-7.8322223

 

Angela

Monday 28th October 2019 04:11PM

Sheils families in Griffiths https://www.johngrenham.com/findasurname.php?surname=shiels

 

Angela

Monday 28th October 2019 04:12PM

Thanks Angela for the link. I have so much to explore. A few weeks ago I was learning about the unpopular landlord, and I was quite shocked to see a number of my ancestors as his tenants. I don’t understand why the Irish who lived on their land for so long did not own it and were paying rent for it?? Why was this the case?

Darryl

Monday 28th October 2019 08:21PM

There were good landlords as well as bad - as typified by our local landlords the Earls of Leitrim. The third Earl was a villain, but his successors were benign.

Land tenancy came about because of historic events - lands were confiscated from Catholics in the 17th Century and into the 18th-century, Catholics were not permitted to own land. It wasnt just big bad landlords who owned land -  Trinity College in Dublin for example, owned vast amounts of land too as did catholic bishops and priests, in some cases.   It's a subject matter that really needs to be studied as it's not at all straightforward.  Lower classes never really owned their land - there was a chieftain system in place before the confiscations and before that a type of feudalism.

 A fascinating subject! 

 

. 

Angela

Monday 28th October 2019 08:56PM

Thanks for sharing Angela. It is very interesting. I’ll have to learn more about it.

Darryl

Tuesday 29th October 2019 08:11AM

Hello Tracedit

I think the name is likely to be Giles. It's almost exclusively a female name in Donegal. A search of the https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/civil-search.jsp site for the first name Giles will give many hits, mostly in Donegal (Milford/Millford). I'm not sure how it was pronounced, and that probably accounts for the unusual spelling - the instruction to the stonemason.  I have Shields ancestry in Derrycassan. DNA information has proved astonishing, but it will take me years to unravel it. 

 

Brian 

 

Brian_Hayes

Thursday 31st October 2019 02:47PM