Matthew Shirley of County Wexford
Oct 23, 2019 19:51:00 GMT -5
Post by mattdaly on Oct 23, 2019 19:51:00 GMT -5
I am looking for more information on Matthew Shirley, born about 1800 and lived in County Wexford, later moving to Genesee County, NY in the 1850s and dying there in 1867.
The only reference I have him of being born in Ireland is the 1860 US census. The first trace of him in Ireland I can find is his daughter's baptism in 1832 in Ballygarrett, diocese of Ferns. He has two more children in 1833 and 1837 also baptized at the same place. I know he also had earlier children, Ann, likely Thomas, and also John. A Joseph Shirley is connected somehow. May be a brother of his. His wife was Mary Sheehan and seems to be connected to a William Sheehan and Maurice/Morris Sheehan in the same area. I have no record of their marriage.
I have Matthew Shirley on Griffith's evaluation living in Tomsilla Lower in Kiltennell. The date ancestry gave that was 1854. He sails to America in 1856 and settles on the border of Genesee and Wyoming County in rural western New York state. His five known children, Thomas, John, Ann, Margaret, and Matthew, all had many children as well. Awhile back I spent an afternoon researching descendants and counted 36 grandchildren and 63 great grandchildren. Many stayed in the general vicinity for generations and common surnames are Partlon, Cain, Morgan, Doran, Weiler, Rider, Powers, and Rogers.
I am very curious about his origins. Searches on major websites such as ancestry, findmypast, familysearch, rootsireland, irishgenealogy.ie, and others give basically zero results. Shirley is an uncommon enough name that combining Matthew with it makes it rare, especially in the 1800s I guess. I don't know if he grew up in County Wexford or somewhere else. The lack of Shirleys in the immediate area make me think that he may have come from somewhere else.
One thing I will note, many of his children's children were actually named roughly according to the Irish naming pattern system, where the father's first son is named after his father, and so on. This makes me think Matthew's father may be named Thomas because of the patterns from some of his kids. Other than that, I know absolutely nothing.
The only reference I have him of being born in Ireland is the 1860 US census. The first trace of him in Ireland I can find is his daughter's baptism in 1832 in Ballygarrett, diocese of Ferns. He has two more children in 1833 and 1837 also baptized at the same place. I know he also had earlier children, Ann, likely Thomas, and also John. A Joseph Shirley is connected somehow. May be a brother of his. His wife was Mary Sheehan and seems to be connected to a William Sheehan and Maurice/Morris Sheehan in the same area. I have no record of their marriage.
I have Matthew Shirley on Griffith's evaluation living in Tomsilla Lower in Kiltennell. The date ancestry gave that was 1854. He sails to America in 1856 and settles on the border of Genesee and Wyoming County in rural western New York state. His five known children, Thomas, John, Ann, Margaret, and Matthew, all had many children as well. Awhile back I spent an afternoon researching descendants and counted 36 grandchildren and 63 great grandchildren. Many stayed in the general vicinity for generations and common surnames are Partlon, Cain, Morgan, Doran, Weiler, Rider, Powers, and Rogers.
I am very curious about his origins. Searches on major websites such as ancestry, findmypast, familysearch, rootsireland, irishgenealogy.ie, and others give basically zero results. Shirley is an uncommon enough name that combining Matthew with it makes it rare, especially in the 1800s I guess. I don't know if he grew up in County Wexford or somewhere else. The lack of Shirleys in the immediate area make me think that he may have come from somewhere else.
One thing I will note, many of his children's children were actually named roughly according to the Irish naming pattern system, where the father's first son is named after his father, and so on. This makes me think Matthew's father may be named Thomas because of the patterns from some of his kids. Other than that, I know absolutely nothing.
