Seeking Sheehy's or McSheehy's
Mariposa School
I'm Irish American and am interested in tracing my family. I believe my
father was born in Iowa around 1906 to parents from the old sod. Any help
would greatly be appreciated. Thanks. Someday I would like to visit
Ireland.
Larry Sheehy
mari...@pacific.net
Donal O'Sullivan
Mariposa School (mari...@pacific.net) wrote:
: I'm Irish American and am interested in tracing my family. I believe my
Well Larry, I used to know A guy called Sheehy who was a school teacher in
Cork, Ireland. I had the greatest respect for him. He had been Lord Mayor
of Cork but that is not why. He had been a boxer and went blind; we had
come from different sides of the track and we had many happy hours
swapping smart remarks about each others deficiencies. He is dead now and
i miss him.
He used to take the piss out of a teacher called Michael when Sheehy was
the head master. Michael is Minister for Education now.
You have a good name, Larry.
Donal
Kathleen P Kowalski
Hi Larry,
Excerpts from netnews.soc.culture.irish: 10-Aug-97 Seeking Sheehy's or
McSheehy's by Mariposa School@pacific.
> I'm Irish American and am interested in tracing my family.
Thanks for your email! You'd asked me about the history, so I thought
I'd post this part as well as sending it to you privately, in case there
are any other cousins lurking out there who might want to get in touch.
As I mentioned, my maiden name is McSheehy. You mentioned to me that
your family dropped the "Mc" prefix on arriving in America. Having the
Gaelic prefix "Mc" (short for "Mac") on our Sheehy name makes us
somewhat unique as I understand it. I've been researching the family
history for quite a while now, and it seems there are only 4 branches of
the family who resumed the Gaelic prefix on the Sheehy name. Three of
us live in America, and at least one branch in Australia.
All of us have a family tradition that we come from the Dingle peninsula
of Co. Kerry. Some come from Annascaul, others from the Tralee area as
best we know. All of us seem to have left during the Famine, and as far
as I know there aren't any of us left in Ireland who spell the name
"McSheehy." (Can anyone in Ireland confirm or debunk this? Are there
any McSheehys left in Kerry?)
My family is said to have been split by the Famine, with the wife,
children (4 boys between 15 and infancy) and father-in-law sailing for
Canada leaving the father, John, behind. We don't know what happened to
him, but the family wasn't reunited. If that story sounds familiar to
anyone, I'd love to hear from you! I have specific details I can share.
One small but possibly important comment on the "Mc" prefix, this was
apparently very important to my family that the name be spelled with the
Gaelic prefix, a lot emotion was attached to this. If anyone has any
thoughts on why this might be so, I'd be interested in hearing your
ideas.
If you do go to Ireland some day Larry, the MacSheehys built a castle
near Rathkeale in Co. Limerick in the 1400s. It's a ruin, but it still
stands. I visited it a month ago and was able to climb the stairs to
the very top.
Kathleen
_____________________________________________________________________________
Kathleen P. McSheehy Kowalski/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA/e-mail
kk...@andrew.cmu.edu/ Researching: McSheehy, McFadden, Sullivan,
Gannon, O'Flaherty, Dunlavey, Lynch, Doherty, Moon, O'Brennan,
O'Connor/*The Heart is Strongest Where it's been Broken./*Dance,
dance...wherever you may be!*
Jerry Jacuzio P090
from County Sligo. Her grandfather was a Sligo fiddler.
Sligo is beautiful country and the West is wild by the coast...you could
check some churches in the county and take a nice trip to Innisbofin as
well.
Jer
Kathleen P Kowalski
Excerpts from netnews.soc.culture.irish: 12-Aug-97 Re: Seeking Sheehy's
or McS.. by Gr...@btinternet.com
(Kathleen wrote:)
> One small but possibly important comment on the "Mc" prefix, this was
> apparently very important to my family that the name be spelled with the
>
> Gaelic prefix, a lot emotion was attached to this. If anyone has any
> thoughts on why this might be so, I'd be interested in hearing your
> ideas.
>
> Mac Sheehy
>
> Mac Sithigh - Woulfe derives this from the sithe genitive of sioth =
> peace, but the word sitheach = eerie seems more probable,
I'd also read one source that claimed the name derived from the Gaelic
for "General" as well. The "peace" derivation does seem odd, given that
they were mercenaries.
> they or you
> were a gallowglass family from the clan MacDonald who settled in Munster
Yes, in 1420. This is when they took service with the Earl of Desmond.
The castle they built is near Castle Matrix in Co. Limerick. Prior to
that, the MacSheehy name is recorded in Ireland for the first time in
1367 when the MacSheehys were fighting in Connaght in an O'Connor civil
war.
> but MacSithigh is the correct form. There was no distinction between
> native scots [Irish] and scots returning from Caledonia or the western
> isles - scots ventured as far as the Loire in the Christian period and
> also fought the Germans in England. Germans also fought North Irish
> Celts in Ulster itself - see the post on Ballysavage.
>
> The name has been confused with others - not that I'm suggesting you are
> making an error.
Actually, if you mean in terms of our shortening the "Mac" to "Mc," it
seems the first generation of my family born in America did use the
"Mac" spelling, but it was then shortened to simply "Mc." According to
MacLysaght's "Irish Family Names," all of the following three forms,
Mac, Mc, and M', mean the same thing and tell us only that the name is
of Gaelic origin. There is a commonly held belief in America that a
name with the "Mac" prefix denotes Scottish ancestry while "Mc" is
Irish. This is not correct, according to MacLysaght.
I didn't express what I was thinking clearly in my original post. The
question for me is not so much why did my family resume the Gaelic
prefix with the spelling "Mc"...but what reason might they have had to
resume the Gaelic prefix at all? From what I have read, 1659 is said to
be the last time the name appears in the Irish census with the Gaelic
prefix. Why suddenly in the 1840s did my family decide to resume it?
Perhaps the first stirrings of the Gaelic revival, the work of Thomas
Davis, influenced them? I don't know how likely this was in our case,
as my direct ancestor, Francis Bartholomew, was 9 years old at the time
he left Ireland and was illiterate. (At least in English.) Does anyone
have any thoughts about how likely an influence the early Gaelic revival
might have been, or perhaps there is another possible explanation? What
might account for a branch of Sheehys living on the Dingle peninsula on
the eve of the Famine resuming the "Mac/Mc" prefix on their family name?
Thanks very much for your thoughts, Greig.
Greig
One small but possibly important comment on the "Mc" prefix, this was
apparently very important to my family that the name be spelled with the
Gaelic prefix, a lot emotion was attached to this. If anyone has any
thoughts on why this might be so, I'd be interested in hearing your
ideas.
Mac Sheehy
Mac Sithigh - Woulfe derives this from the sithe genitive of sioth =
peace, but the word sitheach = eerie seems more probable, they or you
were a gallowglass family from the clan MacDonald who settled in Munster
but MacSithigh is the correct form. There was no distinction between
native scots [Irish] and scots returning from Caledonia or the western
isles - scots ventured as far as the Loire in the Christian period and
also fought the Germans in England. Germans also fought North Irish
Celts in Ulster itself - see the post on Ballysavage.
The name has been confused with others - not that I'm suggesting you are
making an error.
Greig
Brenda Crowley
Kathleen P Kowalski <kk...@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
: Hi Larry,
: Excerpts from netnews.soc.culture.irish: 10-Aug-97 Seeking Sheehy's or
: McSheehy's by Mariposa School@pacific.
: > I'm Irish American and am interested in tracing my family.
: Thanks for your email! You'd asked me about the history, so I thought
: I'd post this part as well as sending it to you privately, in case there
: are any other cousins lurking out there who might want to get in touch.
: As I mentioned, my maiden name is McSheehy. You mentioned to me that
: your family dropped the "Mc" prefix on arriving in America. Having the
: Gaelic prefix "Mc" (short for "Mac") on our Sheehy name makes us
: somewhat unique as I understand it. I've been researching the family
: history for quite a while now, and it seems there are only 4 branches of
: the family who resumed the Gaelic prefix on the Sheehy name. Three of
: us live in America, and at least one branch in Australia.
: All of us have a family tradition that we come from the Dingle peninsula
: of Co. Kerry. Some come from Annascaul, others from the Tralee area as
: best we know. All of us seem to have left during the Famine, and as far
: as I know there aren't any of us left in Ireland who spell the name
: "McSheehy." (Can anyone in Ireland confirm or debunk this? Are there
: any McSheehys left in Kerry?)
: My family is said to have been split by the Famine, with the wife,
: children (4 boys between 15 and infancy) and father-in-law sailing for
: Canada leaving the father, John, behind. We don't know what happened to
: him, but the family wasn't reunited. If that story sounds familiar to
: anyone, I'd love to hear from you! I have specific details I can share.
: One small but possibly important comment on the "Mc" prefix, this was
: apparently very important to my family that the name be spelled with the
: Gaelic prefix, a lot emotion was attached to this. If anyone has any
: thoughts on why this might be so, I'd be interested in hearing your
: ideas.
: If you do go to Ireland some day Larry, the MacSheehys built a castle
: near Rathkeale in Co. Limerick in the 1400s. It's a ruin, but it still
: stands. I visited it a month ago and was able to climb the stairs to
: the very top.
: Kathleen
My paternal grandmother was a Sheehy. Her parents emigrated from Co.
Clare, Ireland in 1847 to Kenilworth, Ontario, Canada. Don't remember
hearing about the name being preceded with a "Mc"...but it's a very
interesting point. I'll have to check it out if possible.
: _____________________________________________________________________________
: Kathleen P. McSheehy Kowalski/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
: University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA/e-mail
: kk...@andrew.cmu.edu/ Researching: McSheehy, McFadden, Sullivan,
: Gannon, O'Flaherty, Dunlavey, Lynch, Doherty, Moon, O'Brennan,
: O'Connor/*The Heart is Strongest Where it's been Broken./*Dance,
: dance...wherever you may be!*
--
Brenda Marie Crowley email address
Computing and Communication Services bcro...@uoguelph.ca
Guelph,Ontario,Canada
Kathleen P Kowalski
Hi Brenda,
Excerpts from mail: 13-Aug-97 Re: Seeking Sheehy's or McS.. by Brenda
Crowley@uoguelph.
> Clare, Ireland in 1847 to Kenilworth, Ontario, Canada.
My McSheehys sailed from Tralee, most likely in 1846. Honora McSheehy,
Bartholomew Lynch, who was Honora's father, and the four McSheehy boys,
Daniel J., 15; Francis Bartholomew, 9 (my ancestor); John, 5; and
William, infant; emigrated to Canada, leaving husband and father John
behind in Ireland.
Our family tradition is that the McSheehys were held at Gross Isle,
Quebec, for a time. It is possible that Bartholomew Lynch died there.
From there, the family walked to Vermont and then down into
Massachusetts where the older boys finally got work in the textile
mills. I say finally because the family story goes that young Francis
was continually turned away from businesses by the "No Irish Need Apply"
slogan of the day. If any of this fits with any family stories about
relatives that you've heard, please let me know!
> Don't remember
> hearing about the name being preceded with a "Mc"...but it's a very
> interesting point. I'll have to check it out if possible.
I would be very interested if it does turn out that your Sheehys had the
Gaelic prefix as well. So far as I know, this is something unique to
the Sheehys of the Dingle Peninsula of Co. Kerry. The Gaelic prefix was
dropped by the Sheehys in Ireland after 1659, according to what I've
read. The McSheehys from the Dingle peninsula seem to be the only
exception. I remember my Grandfather telling me that anyone I meet with
the "Mc" prefix on the Sheehy name is a blood relative to me. It seems
he was right. Every McSheehy I've ever met, no matter where they are
living now, has a family tie back to the Dingle peninsula in Co. Kerry.
The old folks knew something about a common tie for us all apparently.
Thanks for your reply Brenda!
Kathleen
jamessh...@gmail.com
jamessh...@gmail.com
jamessh...@gmail.com
mandisu...@gmail.com
mallisonl...@gmail.com
Alli
Shelley Thompson
> Hi i am also seeking Mcsheehys from Killarney Kerry area my gt gt gt gf was a michael McSheehy possibly a sheehy and a school maste ron his sons marriage certificate have desperately been trying to find documents for a long time
>
> Alli