The Sheridans
One of the many families affected by the Great Famine was that of John Sheridan and his wife, Margaret (nee Keeffe). Both were born in 1800 in Co Waterford. They married on 28 August, 1828 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Tallow, Co Waterford. Their marriage certificate and the baptism certificate of one of their daughters suggest that they were living just north of Tallow in the Lisfinny townland, land surrounding Lisfinny Castle controlled by Captain (later Major) Edward Croker. It may be that Margaret was a servant at Lisfinny Castle and John either an agricultural labourer for the estate or a Lisfinny cottier (a peasant farming a small holding of not more than half an acre at a rent of not more than five pounds a year).
They had several daughters – Johanna (confirmed by her death certificate); and Catherine (also confirmed by her death certificate). A baptism certificate for Catherine further verifies her parentage and indicates that she was baptised on 10 May 1832. No baptism or birth certificate for Johanna has been discovered. However, a baptism certificate exists for a daughter of John and Margaret, Judith, baptised in 1829. An extensive search has found no further records for Judith. Is this possibly Johanna? Another daughter, Mary, was born in 1837.
The potato blight of the mid-1840s was devastating for Co. Waterford as more potatoes were grown there than in any other Irish county. While Captain Edward Croker, landlord at Lisfinny, showed sympathy for tenant farmers and labourers at the 1844 Enquiry Into The Occupation Of Land In Ireland, his family displayed disdain for the Irish. The advent of the 1845 blight and its effect on local agriculture may have changed Croker’s attitude to those who worked for him or paid rent. Within a year the nearby town of Tallow lost 20% of its population through death or displacement. There were, to compound difficulties, no manufacturing or public works in the area, and the loss of one-half of their potatoes spelt extreme hardship for the labouring population of the region.
The effect of this calamity and its consequences on John and Margaret‘s family is demonstrated by the fact that by the late 1840s Johanna and Catherine were residing at the Lismore Workhouse – just north-east of Lisfinny and Tallow.4 It is not clear whether John and Margaret had died (no death certificates can be found) or whether they were so destitute that they were forced to abandon their teenage daughters. Either way, by 1848 the two girls had fallen under the supervision of the Lismore Poor Law Union.
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| Date of Birth | 1st Jan 1800 | |
