Johanna Ann Sheehy (1851-1929)

With the arrival of a marriage record from 1892, I can now place Ann Newman (1851-1929) among the children of Edmond Edward Sheehy (1825-1893) and Bridget Frawley (1826-1905). They were my maternal great great great grandparents.

This post follows up on a post published two years ago. This is how long it took to receive the record from the State of New York.

Joanna was baptized in 1851 in Limerick, Ireland. Her parents were listed as Edmond Sheehy and Bridget Frawley.

In the 1870s the family moved from Ireland to Amenia, Dutchess County, New York, United States. The children were older and most, including Joanna, were not recorded in the census with Edmond and Bridget.

I followed a woman named Johanna Maloney in the 1875 and 1880 census enumerations. This person remarried to William P Newman and became known as Anna or Ann Newman until her death in 1929.

To link Joanna Maloney or Ann Newman to my Sheehy/Frawley branch, I sought the marriage record for her to William Newman to see if her parents were listed.

According to the marriage record, Ann Agnes Maloney was the daughter of Edward Sheehy and Bridget Frawley.

Below are the records.

Johanna Anna had at least eight children. If there are any cousins out there descended from her, send word.

More Children for Edmond Sheehy and Bridget Frawley, Ireland to New York

Some DNA matches caused me to delve into my mother's Sheehy branch and find a lot more cousins.

Bridget Sheehy (1857-1916) was my mother's great grandmother. Her death certificate provided the names of her parents, Edward or Edmond Sheehy and Bridget Frawley of Ireland.

Through newspapers, census records, Irish baptismal records, and help from other researchers, Bridget Sheehy's origins were traced to Limerick, Ireland. Five other siblings were identified. They had immigrated to Dutchess County, New York.

Some recent DNA matches traced their origin to James Sheehy (1855-1934). He married Mary Moore (1862-1897). Their first identified child, George Edward Sheehy, was born in New York in 1884.

Similar to the situation with the other siblings, I cannot link James to his parents, Edmond and Bridget, in New York. James is buried in Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Amenia, same as Edmond and Bridget.

In the online baptismal records for Clarina in Limerick, is an entry for James (called Jacobus in Latin). He was baptized March 25, 1855. His parents were Edmund Sheehy and Brigid Frawley. Sponsors were Thomas Leahy and Mary Sheehy.

Newspapers for the area of Amenia in Dutchess County, New York are available (for free) on FultonHistory.com.

Searching the cemeteries online via FindAGrave lead me to Anna Sheehy (1851-1929), called Joanna in earlier census years. Again, she is not with her parents, Edmond and Bridget, in New York, though she is also buried at Immaculate Conception Cemetery. On the same microfilm roll as the other siblings is the baptism of Joanna, daughter of Edmond and Brigid, on May 4, 1851. Sponsor was Margarita Sheehy.

In New York, Ann Sheehy is first found in the 1875 New York State census in Pine Plains. She is Johannah Maloney, wife of Jeremiah Maloney. They have two children, Mary and John.

After Jeremiah Maloney died, Ann remarried to William Patrick Newman in 1890. He was not enumerated in her household in the 1900 census. Ann had at least two children with William: James and Patrick.

Ann's obituary in 1929 states that William Newman was lost at sea in 1905.

I ordered a copy of Ann's marriage record from 1890. Her parents may be listed, which would provide a more definite link to Edmond Sheehy and Bridget Frawley.


The third newly discovered child is the earliest one yet of Edmond and Bridget.

John Sheehy (1849-1926) was baptized February 9, 1849. Sponsors were Jacobus (James) Sheehy and Margarita Frawley.

John first appears in New York in the 1880 census in Amenia with wife, Nora Cleary (1856-1926), and daughter Alice, born in December of 1879.

John was buried at Saint Joseph's Catholic Cemetery in nearby Millbrook.


An additional DNA match could land us the generation beyond Edmond Sheehy and Bridget Frawley. The maternal grandmother of this DNA match was Margaret Gorman (or OGorman), born about 1874 in Ireland. Margaret's mother, according to her marriage record in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, was Mary Sheey. This Mary is not the daughter of Edmond and Bridget because they already have a daughter named Mary (1853-1897) who is accounted for. (She married Thomas Ahearn.)

It is great to take a DNA match and trace back until the Sheehy connection is found.

Thus far I have identified nine children of Edmond Sheehy and Bridget Frawley, born between 1849 and 1866 in Limerick, Ireland. Further research and DNA connections will solidify or modify this construct.

Bridget Sheehy was my great great grandmother.
She married John D Preston (1857-1928).

Microscopic View of Irish Origins

Some additional insight into the place of origin in Ireland of my Sheehy and Frawley ancestors. We have come a long way from merely stating Ireland.

Bridget Sheehy (1857-1916), my great great grandmother, was baptized in Lurriga (also called Patrickswell), in Limerick in 1857.

The baptismal record of two potential siblings are on the same microfilm roll as Bridget, except that Ancestry.com calls the place Clarina.

My (probable) cousin in Ireland helped clarify for me that my family was actually from Corcamore and that all these places are within a larger area called Clarina. He also assured me that Irish ways of designating and naming places are confusing.

Clarina, Kilkeedy, Pubblebrien, Limerick, Ireland.
Is that how I should write this?

Location of Corcamore within Clarina.
Any Sheehy and Frawley cousins still living there?

Corcamore is only about two square miles. It would be great to find additional records, if any exist.

The Baptism of Bridget Sheehy in 1857 in Limerick, Ireland

Someone from Ireland (possibly a cousin) wrote to me about my Sheehy and Frawley ancestors of County Limerick. He had seen my blog post about trying to connect my second great grandmother, Bridget Sheehey (1857-1916), to a Sheehy family living in Dutchess County, New York, USA.

He had located the baptism record of Bridget, daughter of Edmund Sheehy and Bridget Frawley, on the microfilm for Lurriga (also called Patrickswell), in Limerick. The date was January 4, 1857. According to the death certificate of my Bridget, her parents were Edmund (or Edward?) Sheehey and Bridget Frawley of Ireland.

Bridget, daughter of Edmund Sheehy and Bridget Frawley, baptized January 4, 1857.
Sponsors were Timothy Sheehy and Bridget Flannery (more possible relatives).

You can view these church records for free through the National Library of Ireland. The site is also an excellent resource for detailed maps of divisions within the counties.

Can I finally fit Bridget into this family?
Created in Family Tree Maker 2017

Bridget Sheehy does not show up in Ancestry.com's index for this microfilm. However, Margaret and Ellen, possible sisters of Bridget, do show up in the index. But Ancestry.com calls this place "Clarina," not Lurriga or Patrickswell.

So I continued forward on the roll (online) from Bridget in the year 1857 to the year 1864 and found the entry for Margaret. Same place, Lurriga, same name, Sheehy. Another clue that there is a connection.

Margaret Sheehy baptized November 13, 1864 in Lurriga, Limerick, Ireland.
Sponsors were John Galvey (?) and Margaret Cosgrove.

Clarina is not listed as an alternate name for Lurriga. It could be. (Researching old New Jersey place names is hard enough.) But I was looking for Bridget in Clarina and not finding either when Bridget was indeed baptized in the same location as her supposed sisters near the birth date I have for her.


Neighboring parishes may also have records on the family, if the records still exist (another roadblock in Irish research).

Note: "Sheehy" and "Sheehey" are used interchangeably here.

Matrilineal DNA, Destination Ireland

In December I tested my mitochondrial DNA ("mtDNA") with FamilyTreeDNA.  My first mtDNA test was over five years ago with Ancestry.com and is now essentially defunct.

My mtDNA haplogroup is H1au1b, which is not very common.

Well, I have four matches to work with.

This DNA test looks at a specific kind of DNA in the mitochondria of cells.  Unlike autosomal DNA in the nucleus of a cell, mitochondrial DNA does not change from generation to generation.  A person's mitochondrial DNA is an exact copy (minus some mutations) of that person's mother's mitochondrial DNA.  The mitochondria are nicknamed the "powerhouses" of cells.  Their DNA is portrayed as circular like bacterial DNA, not a double helix like nuclear autosomal DNA. 

My direct maternal line is not long on paper.  I can trace back to my great great grandmother, Bridget Sheehy.  She was born in Ireland about1857.  She married John Preston (1857-1928) around 1877 in Dutchess County, New York.  The mitochondria in my cells are identical to the mitochondria that powered Bridget's cells.



Bridget Sheehy (1857-1916), wife of John Preston
Courtesy of Irene Preston

Bridget died almost one hundred years ago on 5 April 1916 in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey and is buried at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.  Her death certificate listed the names of both of her parents, Edmond [or Edward?] Sheehy and Bridget Frawley.

There was a couple by this name living in Dutchess County, Edmond Sheehy (1825-1893) and Bridget Frawley (1826-1905).  Bridget's death certificate lists her parents as John Frawley and Mary Shea of Ireland.  I lucked out again.  The death certificate for every ancestor on my direct maternal line includes the full names of both parents up through this possible fourth great grandmother.

A wonderful clue was in a newspaper article from 1936 in The Harlem Valley Times from Amenia, Dutchess County.  [Free access through FultonHistory.com.]  The article detailed the 50th wedding anniversary of a couple, Thomas Culligan (1863-1937) and Ellen Sheehy (1866-1938).  Ellen's parents were "Edward" Sheehy and Bridget Frawley of Limerick, Ireland.

Was Ellen a sister of my Bridget?

I want to assign my Bridget Sheehy to this family from Amenia.  But there is no connection in any of the documents I found so far.  In the anniversary article above, no relatives named Preston or from Bayonne are mentioned.  The only child mentioned in the 1905 obituary of Bridget Frawley Sheehy, possible mother of my Bridget, is her daughter from the newspaper article, Ellen Sheehy Culligan.

My Bridget's first definite appearance is in the 1880 federal census in Stanford, Dutchess County, when she is already married to John D Preston and has children.  But in the 1875 New York state census is a Bridget Shehea, age 22, born in Ireland, a servant to the Bertine family in Amenia.  The next family is James Shea of Ireland, his wife, Catherine [Ahearn], and their children, Thomas, Nora, Catherine, and Margaret.

The seven year old Thomas Shea in the 1875 census is Thomas James Shehea (1867-1885) at FindAGrave and linked to parents James T Sheely (1828-1902) and Catherine Ahern (1838-1925).  This tells me that the surname underwent spelling modifications.  This family, as well as the Sheehy and Culligan families, are buried at Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Amenia, Dutchess County, New York.  Is my Bridget related to James Shehea/Sheely/Sheehy?

Consider the 1892 New York State Census.  "Edward" Sheehy and Bridget Sheehy are enumerated in Amenia.  The prior family is Mary Ahearn, age 40; she is a daughter of Edmond/Edward Sheehy and Bridget.  At the bottom of the page is a Sheehy family, unfortunately cut-off.  The male head of household is 64 years old, just one year shy of Edward Sheehy.  Could this be James Sheely/Sheehy and his wife, Catherine Ahearn?  The eleven year old child is also unviewable, but the next page has Nellie Sheehy, age 14.  Nellie was a daughter of James Sheehy and Catherine.

Were Edmond/Edward Sheehy and James Shehea/Sheely/Sheehy brothers?  Or is James a relative of Mary Shea, the possible maternal grandmother of Bridget?  Or were the names of Bridget's parents wrong on the death certificate?

To utilize my mtDNA test, if Ellen Sheehy, wife of Thomas Culligan, was a sister of my Bridget, and we could possibly find a living direct maternal line descendant of Ellen, that person's mtDNA would be identical to mine.  Ellen had one daughter, Florence (1898-1979), who had children with John McEnroe (1923-2005).  If any of those children are still alive, they could test; otherwise, the eligible candidates would be children of Florence's daughter, Eileen McEnroe (1932-2011), wife of Guenther Hans Strauss (1927-1999).