Mary Ann Sheehy,Shaye,Sheahy Born Co Kerry Daughter of Dennis and Mary Ann

Elaine:

I searched on the free site www.irishgenealogy.ie and did not find any baptismal records for Sheehy children of Denis Sheehy and a mother with the maiden name Reilly. I also tried Sheehan with no sucess.

There are a good number of Co. Kerry RC parishes which do not have available records back to 1835.

I also checked the Griffiths Valuation head of household listing for Co. Kerry and did not see a Denis Sheehy listed. Most Sheehy records were in the the northern part of Co. Kerry and some on the Dingle Peninsula.

Have you considered DNA testing?

Roger McDonnell

I should also add that Mary Ann's father Denis was listed as a laborer on her marriage cert but on her death cert he is listed as a farmer

Hello Roger,

Thank you for helping me research my G G Grandmother. I have had my DNA done through Ancestry but so far I have not had a close match or any I can find with Mary Ann. The information I have provided was taken from Mary Ann and her husband Thomas Wilson who were married in Wiliamstown Victoria Australia a year after Mary Ann arrived in Australia I am not sure if I have the correct spelling for both the surnames which is problematic in itself. I have looked at Mary Ann's mother's maiden name again and it looks like it is spelt Rahally. I will attach the Marriage cert here also which may be helpful.

Elaine

Elaine:

It is Rahally.   The marriage was in a Church of England parish. Do you know if Mary Ann was Church of Ireland when she lived in Ireland or did she convert in New Zealand?

Roger

Hi Rodger I remember reading that Mary Ann was catholic but I have not actually seen any thing to confirm that. Thomas and Mary Ann were married in the COE parish in Australia and I know that Thomas declared he was COE

Elaine:

OK. No luck searching using Rahally.

Roger

Thank you for looking Roger.

I have tried over the years to enter differant ways of spelling both the surnames on my Ancestry family tree. I thought that Rahally may have been Reilly and all the diffrent spellings for Sheehy hoping for a hint or hit on the surnames trying any and every surname that sounds similar I am at a loss where to go from here

Elaine:

Possibly the surname was actually Rahilly in Ireland. This is a surname almost always found in Co. Kerry and Co. Cork. There was a famous Irish patriot known as the O'Rahilly. He was from Ballylongford in north Co. Kerry.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_O%27Rahilly

Roger

Hi Roger,

Thank you I have entered the new spellling on my ancestry page and will see if I have any hints for that nameI also searched the shipping imformation today for Mary Ann's voyage to Australia I found the following information

Age      Fiche     Month     Org      Page     Port      Ship            Year          Name

21         123        April      ENG       6          B        SABRINA      1857       SHEEHEY MARY ANN

I now have another spelling for Mary Ann's surname.

It also states her org is Eng while some of the other's on the list said Irish.

Is there anyway of finding out if Mary Ann left  Ireland in April 1857 and went to Southhamton to sail to Australia or could the Eng mean she was living in England before she left?

Elaine

Elaine:

Records for ships leaving Ireland are basically non-existent. The Eng could mean that the ship left England and then stopped in Ireland for passengers.

Roger