My great great grandmother, Ellen Finucane, and my great great grandfather, John O'Shaughnessy, lived in Coolmeen, County Clare, as best we know, at the time of emigration on Canada ca. 1847-48. Thier parish was Kilfiddane. John was a tailor, with several sons also in the tailoring trade. We have a flax wheel said to have been brought from Ireland by Ellen Finucane. It bears the initials A.F. pressed into the frame. There were 5 sons and perhaps 1 daughter who emigrated; Jeremiah, Michael, William, David and Daniel O'Shaughnessy, and possibly a daughter Ellen O'Shaughnessy. They ended up in Montreal, Canada.
I have visited Coolmeen and the St. Benedict's, the old Kilfiddane parish church, but have found no trace of my Clare ancestors. Any help would be appreciated.
Ed O'Shaughnessy, Sammamish, WA, USA
edoshaugh
Thursday 4th Aug 2016, 07:55PMMessage Board Replies
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Ed:
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!
It appears the RC parish records for Kilfidane do not begin until 1868 which is too late for your interests. I looked at the 1824 Tithe Applotment listings for Kilfidane parish http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/genealogy/tithe_applot/kilfida… and there are a couple Shaughnessy records and one Finucane record although none in Coolmeen.
You can look at the library genealogy resources for possible leads but you may want to consider autosomal DNA testing. Possibly you will match someone who has more info on your family from Kilfidane parish.
co clare library genealogy
Roger McDonnell
Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
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I have submitted my DNA sample as a participant in the O'Shaughnessy Society DNA Project. The goal of this project is to identify genetic matches and connect them via email. I'd like to believe that there are Finucane-O'Shaughnessy relations to be found.
edoshaugh
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Ed
You seem to have a lot more detailed info on your O'Shaughnessy's in Ireland but mine too came to Canada although a little earlier -- about 1840. They ended up in Bromley, Renfrew, Ontario
I have done my DNA thru Ancestry and could also give you my GED Match number if that might help.
I see we are almost neighbors too....
Erin O'Shaughnessy
Vancouver WA
erinosh
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Hi Erin,
My DNA testing was done by Family Tree DNA, as that group was contracted by the O'Shaughnessy Society to conduct a long term project collecting DNA samples from first-born male O'Shaughnessys. If you don't know about the O'Shaughnessy Society you can google that group. Anyway, the project hopes, eventually, to link genetically matched people. Ideally, long lost family members could be identified. So far I have been matched to 24 men, but none close enough, Genetic Distance 0-1, to be of any significance. I have one 2 match and the remainder are 3 & 4 matches.
How much do you know about your emigrating generation? I knew almost nothing until I started seriously researching about 5 years ago. I know much more than my father knew. So though I will never know as much as I would want, I keep learning interesting things about my O'Shaughnessy ancestors.
I am now spending some time trying to unlock secrets of my ancestral family in Montreal. I'm getting pieces of the puzzle, but not enough to essemble a complete picture.
Ed
edoshaugh
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Hi Ed, I just saw that you and I are related. I live in Montreal, Canada. You are related on my paternal side it seems. So, I assume you must have one of the following names in your tree: HENRY, JOHNSON, DOHERTY, KENNEDY, EGARS, KELLY, KEY(S). I would love to try and figure out how we are related. Please reach out to me at costigan_cynthia@hotmail.com.Looking forward to hearing from you. Cynthia
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Hi,
I notice you are posting (several years ago) about Finucane - O'Shaughnessy. I have ancestors of both names, stemming from a couple in the mid-1600's Daniel Finucane and Helen O'Shaughnessy, though it looks a bit strange with Helen 50 years younger than Daniel, so I am trying to confirm that.
Finucane is one of my longest ancestor roots going back to John Finucane (b. 1500).
Bill
bhaskett