Hi, Firstly I am very excited to have found this website :). I am hoping someone can help me with tracing my ancestor. My ancestor James Shanley Born 1799/1800 was convicted in Longford in March 1826 of Unlawful Oath and was sentenced to life, he was shipped to Australia on the Boyne (along with 6 others also convicted of unlawful oath which is apparantly one of most uncommon convictions), all his records state he was from Longford County, he was a farmer, catholic and that his fathers name was Matthew Shanley, we can not find any record of his mothers name (James named his first daugher Elizabeth which may or may not be a clue) . I know alot of what happened to James post his arrival in Sydney however i dont think this helps me tracing him back to Longford county. It is family belief that Matthew Shanley was in fact Scottish but that his wife was Irish and that James had a brother who immigrated to America, although none of these facts are confirmed. Thanks for reading my message and I look for with anticipation to any information you can find for me.
Tuesday 26th Feb 2013, 10:49PM
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sorry James named his first daughter Mary Ann and his second daughter Elizabeth, the reason i think maybe his mother was named either of these is that he named his oldest son Matthew presumably after his father and neither of these girls names is that of his wife or her mother.
Wednesday 27th Feb 2013, 07:51AM -
Hello from Longford,
Thank you for your enquiry. Unfortunately, I have to begin with bad news. I am assuming your ancestors were Catholic; only two parishes in Longford have records stretching back that far - Granard and Ardagh. I have checked the index to births in each, and neither has a James Shanley. If you had a precise location within the county it may be possible to make progress, but not having that information is a further obstacle. There are no local newspapers until 1839, which means that we cannot search for a report of the court case.
The one possible source is the Chief Secretary's Office Registered Papers in the National Archives in Dublin. They begin in 1818 and generally cover matters of law and order. They are being organised, described and digitised at present, and the work is complete up to 1822. When 1826 is done it may be possible to find a reference to your ancestor, though I say this cautiously.
Kind regards,
Martin Morris
Monday 4th Mar 2013, 12:54PM -
Hi Martin, Thanks so much for looking for me. Hopefully we score a hit once those records get to 1826. On one document we have James listed his birth place as "Longford, west meath"... as on everything else it is just listed Longford we didnt think it meant anything, however i thought i would mention it to you just in case. Thanks Jen
Tuesday 5th Mar 2013, 02:54AM -
Hi Martin, Thanks so much for looking for me. Hopefully we score a hit once those records get to 1826. On one document we have James listed his birth place as "Longford, west meath"... as on everything else it is just listed Longford we didnt think it meant anything, however i thought i would mention it to you just in case. Thanks Jen
Tuesday 5th Mar 2013, 02:55AM