We know these Sheridans were alive in 1883 but what happened next? Help please!

[sueclog]

In my husband's great-grandfather's  (John Sheridan born 1866) army paybook, he states in his enlistment document dated 1883 that his mother Anne (nee Winters), father John, brothers Mathew and Francis and sister Catherine were alive and livng in St Marys, Drogheda (given in the document as County Meath).

We know exactly what happened to John as we can follow his army career in the Royal Irish Rifles, but we can find no mention of his family in any records after this date. We can't even find his siblings on the BMD (except Bridget who died in childhood).

Does anyone out there have any idea what happened to them, or how we can go further to find out?

Sue

[aghadowey]

Bridget and John's births are both listed in extracted Irish births www.familysearch.org:
Bridget born 28 Feb.1865 Drogheda St. Mary's district page 599 in civil register
John born 15 Dec.1866 same district page 599 in civil register

Registration of births started in 1864 so if the other siblings were older there will be no birth certificates for them.

[aghadowey]

The details for John Sheridan were also posted on your earlier thread looking for the same information:

Can anyone help with info about John Sheridan, born about 1865 at St Mary's Drogheda? All the info we have about him is from the will in his army paybook. He was a colour sergeant in the Royal Irish Rifles. It also gives as siblings: Matthew, Francis (male or female unknown) and Catherine. His parents were John and Ann.

Does anyone know if there are any records for this time for St Mary's?

Can anyone tell us about St Mary's? Is it a church, a village or an area? And why is it in Meath when the rest of Drogheda seems to be in Louth?

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,235499.msg1378984.html#msg1378984

[sueclog]

Thanks for your messages.

The last posts I made led to us building up a bank of information which has then been left until now. But now we're trying to pick it up again following an exchange of info about the Wallis', the family John married into. We're no longer looking for John (1866) but any further information that might be out there about his family, of whom we can find no trace whatsoever.

Thanks for any help we can get - we are total novices on accessing Irish Records and are looking to get better!

[shanew147]

Army records often include locations as Civil Parishes. St. Mary civil parish was based south of the River Boyne and originally in Co. Meath. The town of Drogheda is now fully in Co. Louth. St. Mary's is also the name of RC  and Church of Ireland Parishes covering much the same area as the civil parish.  The RC parish also cover two adjacent civil parishes - i.e. Colp and Kilsharvan.

Do you know what denomination your Sheridans were ?


Shane

[sueclog]

I have John Sheridan's certificate of attestation when he joined the Royal Irish Rifles at Dundalk in 1883. He states that his religion is Roman Catholic on the document. He gives his trade as labourer, and makes his mark rather than signing his name.

[shanew147]

Transcripts of parish records for the RC Parish of St. Mary are included on the pay-website of the Irish Family History Foundation at www.rootsireland.ie  Select the Co. Meath county centre link, and make sure to filter by parish.. as there looks like there could be some duplicate entries.

Using the free search showed up a few possible Sheridan/Winters baptisms in the parish including a Mathew in 1856.

Do you have a birth cert for John ?
It should include his father's occupation, and may mention a more detailed address for the family - which could help.

Tracing forward is more complicated - unless you have clues as to later places of residence etc, it's just a case of following up possible leads in the area, e.g. possible marriage and death certs, census returns etc, and then gradually widening the search area..


Shane

[sueclog]

Thanks for this information, Shane. 

The link has really helped, and we're moving forward! We really need to get that birth certificate sorted now.

Any further help from anyone greatly appreciated!

[hasta]

I find RootsIreland a really 'clunky' website that takes a bit of time to learn your way around.
It is showing 7 children in total with parents John Sheridan and Anne Winters at St Mary's between 1856 and 1866. Did you get all of them?
It also has a John Sheridan/Anne Winters marriage, which is in 1856 in Co Louth.