Ryhopelad
Many thanks for your message. Your name brings back lots of memories since my aunt ran a pub in Ryhope not far from the sea. I visited the Sunderland area 3 or 4 times when I was young and loved collecting whelks from the rocks on Roker Beach which we boiled at the home of my grandmother's relatives, John and Faith Carney.
From the message you addressed to matty_hine it would appear my great grandfather Thomas was the older brother of your grandmother, Hannah. Like most of the males in the family he started out working in one of the coalfields in the Tunstall area but eventually left there and moved to the village of Thurnscoe in Yorkshire to work in Hickleton Main colliery. His son, James Cole Shillaw, married my grandmother, Charlotte Mary Carney, in 1925. My father was born 2 years later and Norman Shillaw, who you mention in the same message to matty_hine, was my uncle.
In the same message to matty_hine you suggest that the family name is derived or related to the Shillinglaw name. I strongly agree with you. When I was at university - more than 50 years ago! - I came across a book containing English and Scottish surnames. The book suggests that the Shillinglaw name may have originated in Peeblesshire and it cites an Assizes record of a man being hung for sheep stealing in the 14th century. The name probably got reduced/misheard as successive families migrated south from the Scottish Borders into Northumberland and Durham. The name Shillilaw was also found in the same area of Scotland in the 17th century. I couldn't find any contemporary examples of the Shillilaw name.
Here's something I found that lends further support to the Shillaw name's origin.
Of local origin from the old lands of Shillinglaw in Peeblesshire. William Shillielaw is recorded in Birkensyde in 1670 and John Shillinglaw in Thirlston Mill in 1683 (Lauder). William Shillilaw was shot in Tarbolton in 1685 (Thomson, Martyr graves of Scotland, p. 315). John Shillinglaw was tenant in Birkenside Mill before 1806 (Heirs, 535).
— The Surnames of Scotland (1946) by George Fraser Black (1866-1948)I actually have more information about the greater Shillaw clan that Thomas and Mary begat but I'll save that for another post. You may already have the same information. I can't send you a private message yet because I need to post 3 things here before I can gain that privilege.
I look forward to hearing more from you -- or any other person with the Shillaw or Carney name who came from the Durham area.
Hello there
Have been researching the Shillaw family name for some years now, if there is anything I can assist you with I would be only too pleased to help. As you can see from my earlier messages on this board my family line is also through Thomas & Mary Ann Shillaw (nee Cole), then to my GGrandparents James Cole & Elizabeth Ann Shillaw (nee Coates).
If you send a private message with the information you require, will see what I can do to help
Unfortunately I have no information on the Carney family.
Ryhopelad
