Searching for Sheehans and Longs in Kiltallagh

Hi,

Thank you for your message.

It may be difficult to find information on Abigail's brothers and sisters without names or dates of births. Perhaps you could try doing a search for Daniel and Mary at https://familysearch.org/

This holds a huge collection of genealogical records. If you search them for baptismal/birth records may be returned with the names of their other children.

Have you looked into Abigail's emigration much? Perhaps if you look into this and find what ship she arrived at, you could then check the passanger lists for possible siblings that may have travelled with her?

If she emigrated in the 1850's she was most likely processed at Castlegarden. You can search their database here:

http://www.castlegarden.org/

For more general information on US immigration records go to the following links:

US National Archives/Immigration info: http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/

and

Genealogy Toolkit: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/US-immigration-records.html

Some other webistes which may help you in your search are:

The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm

Irishtimes:  http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/index.htm

Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/kerry/index.html

Alternatively you could try contacting the Kerry County Library for assistance or advise. Here is a link to their Local Studies Department contact details:

http://www.kerrylibrary.ie/local.asp

I hope that this is helpful. Remember to post as much information as you can with regard to the people you are researching. The more information you post, the more likely it is that one of our volunteers will be able to advise or assist you. Also include information concerning which sources you may have already used so others may further your search.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support

Could your great-grandmother be the Gobnet Sheahan/Sheehan born Ballytrasna, baptized Catholic 5 March 1833 Firies, daughter of Daniel Sheehan and Mary Long who were married 17 Feb. 1822 Castlemaine, with siblings Michael Sheehan born 9 Oct. 1825, baptized Castlemaine and Johanna Sheehan born Ballytrasna baptized 8 Sept. 1841 Firies? Mary tmlein@insightbb.com

Yes, I think it's likely that's her.  I found that info in Kerry church records a few years ago, but I wasn't 100% sure.  More like 95% sure.  The birthdate doesn't match up with records in MN (census and death), but then that's par for the course.  I put 1833 in my family tree, b/c I think the church records are likely to be quite accurate (and I think it's quite likely this IS my Abigail).  However, one other thing is that I know she had a younger sister named Catherine (who ended up living close to her in rural Wisconsin in the 1870s). That sister died in 1891, and there doesn't seem to be much info from her family except that she was born around 1845.  So I wonder why Catherine's record isn't in the Kerry church records? Perhaps they lived somewhere other than Kerry at the time.

My plan before I come to Ireland next time is to try to track down current descendants of Michael Sheehan.  It would be great to know more about Johanna as well, but it's likely she either left  Kerry, changed name (or both). 

Thanks VERY much for looking that info up. I should have mentioned earlier in the postings that I already knew this, but I think I ran out of time.

I also have Sheehan in our family  -  Margaret, born to Dennis Sheehan and Ellen Shea, in Clounmore south of Castlemaine in the early 1800s.  Either 1827 or possibly later  - she gave her age in the 1911 census in London as 78, which would have meant being born in 1833, but details given in census and death certs notoriously incorrect .....  She married Daniel Spillane in Tralee in December 1858, giving her father's name as Denis Sheehan but no mother's name, and went on to have ten children, the youngest my mother's father.  I think that she and Daniel may have run off to London, as they appeared in the 1861 census with a baby, Thomas ( Daniel's grandfather's name ) and living in a house in Camberwell as Danil Spillan, with John Sheedy ( Sheehy?? ) and his family, and John Danisan ( Donovan?? ) and his family.

Margaret's parents' children were baptised in Tounreigh, Killarney, and finally Clounmore. I have found six of them  -  Mary, Margaret, James, Denis, Jeremiah, and Julia, although there might have been earlier children who were born before the parish registers began, or others missed out!

This is interesting.  It wouldn't surprise me if your Sheehans and mine somehow connect.  My best guess at this point is that your Dennis Sheehan might be a brother of Daniel Sheehan (my g-g-grandather).  I say that b/c they'd be contemporaries (Daniel was born around the same time and was having children around the same time)--and they clearly lived fairly close to one another.  Daniel was married to Mary Long.  One of this children was my g-grandmother, Abigail, born around 1833 in Ballytrasna.  But the Kerry church records show that there's a Michael Sheehan born to Daniel and Mary in "Toonreigh" around 1825.  So they were living in the same general area as your Dennis and Ellen.

I also found a marriage record in the online Kerry church records that says they (Daniel Sheehan and Mary Long) were married in Cunnavoola, Castlemaine in 1822.  I think that's Mary's stomping grounds, and I'm not sure where Daniel was born.  Probably not far away.  That's usually the case.

I don't have any info on who Daniel's parents were.  What about Dennis--do you have names for this parents?

Cheers!

Colleen

Hello Colleen,

unfortunately I cannot find evidence for our Denis Sheehan's parents as the Catholic baptismal records don't go back that far  -  I could make a guess that their names were James and Margaret or Mary based on the names of Denis' children.  BUT  -  their may have been older children born before the registers began so the information that I have is not all the story and is as much as I will ever be able to get.  One of the joys of genealogical research in Ireland .....

I have been told by more than two elderly Sheehans, in Ireland and in Australia, that all this family, especially those from north and west of Castlemaine, and around Toonreigh and further west, were related to each other.

Mary