Share This:

My great grandfather is John Shannon who migrated to Australia . On his marriage certificate in 1867 it states that he was from County Cavan and that his father was Thomas Shannon, farmer and mother Mary Blake. I have no idea what parish they are from but would be grateful for any guidance.

I know John had at least one sibling called Robert who also came to Australia, in 1876 I think.

CC

Friday 25th Sep 2020, 08:12AM

Message Board Replies

  • Hi,

    Do you have any further information on John - for example his date of birth, exact date of marriage, religion, or on his wife?  Was she Irish too? 

    Have you already looked at the free access records at www.irishgenealogy.ie?  There you will find church and civil records - although they are not complete.

    Also there are some census records for the nineteenth century for Cavan, but by no means complete either . http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/.

    It would also be useful to know the names of his children. Very often families followed naming traditions that would help with other members of the family - sometimes it is almost impossible to get information on the direct line, we have to go through siblings.  My family were from Cavan, but my secure confirmation of that only came through information gleaned in researching my great grand-father's brother's family.  

    I have found that sometimes occupations can be key - fathers kind of 'passed on' their occupations.  Some civil records had my gg-gpas listed as 'farmers' (they had land) but they actually worked in the law courts which the system of patronage enabled them to pass on.

    Regards

    Irene

     

     

     

     

    Irene McG, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Saturday 26th Sep 2020, 03:45PM
  • Hi CC:

    I will forward your post to one of our Cavan volunteers who will be able to assist you.  You should get a reply within a week or two.

     

    All the best,

     

    Jane

    Jane Halloran Ryan

    Monday 28th Sep 2020, 09:20AM
  • Hi CC,  

    I will see can I assist you.  Irene has given you a good guide as to where to search.

    First of all I searched Roots Ireland (subscriptions site) for the births of John and Robert Shannon without success.  I found  a marriage for Thomas Shannon but the wife is unknown, if this is it, it may fit with the birth of John & Robert. 

    01-Aug-1835          
    Parish / District:    KILLESHANDRA        County:    Co. Cavan
    Husband        Wife
    Name:    Thomas    Shanon            Unknown
    Address:            
    Denomination:    Roman Catholic        Roman Catholic
    Occupation:            
    Age:            
    Status:            
    Husband's Father        Wife's Father
    Name:                    
    Address:            
    Denomination:            
    Occupation:            
    Husband's Mother        Wife's Mother
    Name:                    
    Address:            
    Denomination:            
    Occupation:            
    Witness 1        Witness 2
    Name:    Thomas    Shanon        Anne    Fitzpatrick
    Address:            
    Notes:
    DATE IN AUGUST APPROXIMATE.
    © 2020 Copyright Cavan Genealogy  

    I then started to look for the death of Thomas Shannon, hoping that he survived after civil registration began in 1864. These records are free to search on irishgenealogy.ie

    I found a Thomas Shannon who died in 1926 at the grand age of 95 in the townland of Gortnavreeghan in the district of Bawnboy, Thomas was still married, which means his wife was alive and his son Robert was in attendance.  There are two other deaths in 1865 & 1876, but their images are not available yet.  There are a couple in the district of Cavan that also could be his father.  

    I searched for births for Mary Blake on RootsIreland and I found two, but they are possibly too late:

    Mary Blake    Date of Birth:    
              Date of Baptism:    20-Aug-1832
    Address:    Knocknagarton    Parish/District:    CASTLERAHAN
    Gender:    Female    County    Co. Cavan
    Denomination:    Roman Catholic
    Father:    Thomas Blake    Mother:    Rose Doonegan
    Occupation:            
    Sponsor 1 /
    Informant 1:    Thomas Magauran 
    Sponsor 2 /
    Informant 2:    Bridget Doonegan

     

    Mary Blake    Date of Birth:    
              Date of Baptism:    08-Dec-1833
    Address:        Parish/District:    LOCH GOWNA
    Gender:    Female    County    Co. Cavan
    Denomination:    Roman Catholic
    Father:    Edward Blake    Mother:    Anne Keogan
    Occupation:            
    Sponsor 1 /
    Informant 1:    Patt Tuite 
    Sponsor 2 /
    Informant 2:    Catherine Cullin

    I also searched for her death on irishgenealogy.ie and again there are some images not available, but you can purchase them and see if you can make any connections with the other records.

    In searching the records the surname Shannon appears to be mainly in the west of the county, but there are always anomalies.  You could also contact Cavan Genealogy as follows, they will do research for a fee.
    Cavan Genealogy
    1st Floor, Johnston Central Library, Farnham St., Cavan 
    Tel: +353 (0) 49 4361094
    Email: cavangenealogy@eircom.net 

    I hope I have given you some other paths to focus your search on, if you wish to check anything with me please do.  

    Regards Carmel O'Callaghan
     

     

    Bailieborough Cavan

    Tuesday 29th Sep 2020, 09:36PM
  • HI Irene and Carmel

    Thank you for doing this reesearch for me. I have been following up your leads but so far no success but will continue to search. Hopefully some new material may emerge online.

    I am also interested to try and find the immigration records of John and Robert Shannon. I know John was in NSW by 1867 when he married Catherine Keogh and Robert married in NSW in 1882 but to date I have not been able to find when they arrived or if they came together. I think there was another brother called Thomas as well.

    Thanks again for the advice.

    Carol

    CC

    Thursday 1st Oct 2020, 04:52AM

Post Reply