Shamrock Rovers - Ringsend/Irishtown

[anneor]

Dear Polly,

Neasán passed this information to me and I can confirm that we are part of the same family. My grandfather, John Sheridan, and your grandfather, Patrick Sheridan, were brothers. My grandfather died on 4th March 1938. I have bits and pieces of information which I gathered from my mother, and my Uncle Martin (who was the eldest in John's family, born on 11th April 1910, so just under a year old at the time of the 1911 census). He told me that Pat (as he called him) emigrated to England, married and settled in Charlton. I was under the impression (clearly mistaken!) that he had married an Englishwoman. Martin visited Pat with his father shortly before John died, so they must have been in contact until then. John married Anne Whelan, and had 9 children, Martin, Margaret (known to us as Auntie Peg), Anne (known as Connie), Charlie (and a twin John who died as a child), Bridie, Moira (my mother), Paddy and *. * is the only one still living, she will be 90 in August. I don't live in Dublin any more, but I have asked my older sister to see if she can glean anything from Auntie *, or any of the other relatives. My other sister Mairead (Neasán's mother) has also passed this link to our cousin Jack *, who has been trying to gather some information about the family.(In fact I see she has just posted) I'm sure he will get in touch if he has anything to add. Our grandparents parents were, as you have mentioned, Margaret Thornton and John Sheridan. That John was drowned near Holyhead off a trawler - all hands were lost and Uncle Martin didn't think the body was ever recovered. I suppose that is why there were only 4 children - a small family in those days. Joe married, his son was living in Irishtown, but I think he is dead now. Cath didn't have any children - I don't think she married. I would love to hear more about Pat and family.

Anne

Moderator Note : Some details of living people removed as per RootsChat's privacy policy.

[PollyB]

Oh My Goodness - I'm totally overwhelmed.  All these years of wondering and trying to find things out from snippets of info and how absolutely wonderful to hear from you with confirmation of everything and so much more besides.  Thank you so much Anne and Mairead for taking the time to reply to me and Neasan for forwarding this all on to you.  I was straight on the phone to my sister and mum to tell them.  It's so great to hear all about your family.  My dad always said he thought he had a lot of cousins in Ireland - how right he was!  It's nice to know that John and Pat kept in touch up until just before John passed away, and that he and Martin came over to see my Grandfather.  I'm so pleased about that, because I always wondered why Pat came to England, why he had left all his family behind, at least I know they were all still close which has made me happy. 

I did find something on the internet a while ago about a John Sheridan who was lost at sea and I remember wondering if it was a family member and it turns out he was my G-Grandfather.  Amazing.  I can't remember where I saw it, but I will definitely have another look and see if I can find it again.

My Grandfather, Pat, did settle in Charlton, London, where he lived the rest of his life passing away on 16th July 1944.  He married my Grandmother in August 1927, a widow named Mary Ann Martin (nee Courtney) who he met on his journey over from Ireland, she was on her way over from Cork.  He was 42 when he got married so he left it quite late to start his family.  Pat continued the work he had been doing in Dublin, and was a bottle maker in a factory in Charlton.  He had two sons, as I mentioned before, John and my dad Pat.  John married and had three children and my dad married and had me and my older sister.  During WWII Pat was an air raid warden, and the family were bombed out of three houses.  As a result there are no existing photos of Pat as everything was destroyed in the bombings, which is probably why we had so little info about him too.  As I said Pat passed away in July 1944, not as a result of the war I might add.

It's such a shame my dad and my Uncle John are not here for me to tell them all this.  John passed away in his 50's, but before he died he came to Ireland to try and do some family research but he found it hard with so little info and didn't manage to find anything - now we find it much easier thanks to the wonders of the internet! 

It's so lovely to hear from you, it would be wonderful to hear anything more that turns up from chats with your Auntie or your cousin, you've already made such a difference, thank you. 

Wow!  I'm still flabberghasted! 

Thanks so much again,

Polly   

[anneor]

Dear Polly,

I'm still in a bit of a dither myself! Delighted to get the information about your side of the family. I will have a root among my notes - I realise now how bitty and scattered they are. I am wrong about Cath, by the way. I discovered a note last night which says that she married someone called Cox, so she may well have had children -  more investigation needs to be done there. Mairead has passed the link to more cousins and my aunt may know something.

I also have a note that the bottle factory re-opened in 1932, so the implication of that is that it was closed at some stage, so that may be why Pat left Ireland. I also have a note that John was known as Jocky, because he worked in Scotland, and an arrow on the same page pointing to Pat which implies that he was working in Scotland as well. They may have been seasonal workers there in their time, it was quite common, I think.

I will let you know if I come up with anything else.

Anne

[PollyB]

Hi Anne,

I've just realised the Cath you referred to is John and Pat's sister, Catherine.  Think I was a bit too excited for it to sink in properly!! Yes she did get married to Robert Cox.  My Grandfather was living with her, her husband and children in the 1911 census in Rope Walk Place.  The occupants were:

Catherine Cox - age 29
Robert Cox - age 31
Patrick Sheridan - age 24
Joseph Sheridan - age 19
William Cox - age 9
Emily Cox - age 6
John Cox - age 4
Elizabeth Cox - age 2
Robert Cox - age 0

This was my starting point when I was trying to find out about my Grandfather and I got Catherine's marriage certificate which was in May 1900 in the Chapel of Sandymount.  As her father was stated as John Sheridan, and I knew my Grandfather's father was John, I was pretty sure I had found the right Patrick Sheridan in the census.

Its so great to have confirmation from you that the things I've found out are right, and to hear things I didn't know.  Looking forward to hearing anything further you may come up with, and I'll dig out my notes etc and see if there's any further info to swap.

Best wishes,

Polly

[anneor]

oops, have just realised I said Martin was the eldest in the family, of course he was the eldest son, but the eldest child was my Auntie Peg. Her son has started a family tree, I will get details and send them to you.

Anne

[Glenmalure]

Hi polly, my name is John, I am a cousin of Anne and Mairead and a son of Martin's sister who will be 90 in august. My mother has a photo in her house of what I believe is the original Shamrock Rovers team. John Sheridan is in the photo as a founding member of the club.I would be delighted to send you an image of this photo when I call to the house which will probably be next Friday.

John

[PollyB]

Hi John,

That would be lovely thank you.  I will send you a personal message with my email address.  Everyone has been so lovely, I've been talking to Anne, Mairead, Joe, Jack and Val via email and have been sent lots of info and photos, its a dream come true!  I'm hoping to get over to Ireland next year with my sister and meet up with you all at the family gathering and raise a glass to the Sheridans.

Many thanks

Polly

[shanew147]

New members require three posts before they have full access to the personal message system, so John will need to post a few more times before he can send & receive these.


Dublin Moderator