I'm looking for decendants of Shanahans who were based in Springfield, Massachusets for many moons! Unfortunately the information I have is vague and limited.
My great grandfather Timothy Shanahan was born in Bocarna, Glengarriff, (Bantry Bay) Co. Cork, Ireland in approx 1850. That is about twelve miles from Bantry, and it's understood in family folklore that the original Shanahans in that area all came from Whiddy Island in Bantry Bay.
His mother's maiden name was also Shanahan. There was a large family, but I don't know how many. Most (or all?) of his siblings went to America and most of them were in Springfield. I believe that he had a youger brother there who didn't die until the early 1960's? Tim also spent several years there before returning to Ireland to raise his family there.
When his father died in a fishing accident in Bantry Bay his widowed mother joined her grown children there and lived for many years to a great age, and is buried in Springfield.
I believe that I still have several distant cousins in Massachusets through the Shanahan link, although not necessarily bearing the name.
( Seven of Tim's ten children also went to America, and made their lives there. One of the ten died young, and the other two daughters both made their lives in Ireland, and their descendants including myself are mostly scattered around between Ireland and Britain. The main surnames connected with the 'Tim Shanahan' branch on which ever side of the Atlantic are O'Sullivan, O'Shea, Hurley, Hazel, McConnell.
I previously made connections with some of the Californian cousins, and there are also branches in Arizona.)
I believe that surnames connected with Tim's siblings' branches include Moylan, and possibly O'Sullivan again, Harrington and Cosby?
It's all vague. There might be connections with Westfield, Mittneague, Hampden County, St. Thomas Cemetery in West Springfield, Mass., and the police???
The names which have tended to crop up in each generation are;- Timothy, Daniel, Ellen, Bridget.
Can any body help me to fill in some gaps please?
Thanks. Regards. Michael O'Shea, London, UK.
rosnos@hotmail.com