Hello Dianne,
These are just a few interesting references to Shoebridge/Shewbridge of Portumna. I hope they are of interest and help to fill in some of the missing pieces.
Regards,
Christy Cunniffe.
Firstly; look up the Landed Estates database developed and managed by Dr Marie Boran and Dr Brigid Clesham of the Moore Institute at NUI Galway. You will be able to see an image of Oakley Park, Portumna which it is thought that Anne Shewbridge owned. You will also be able to see the entry part of which I have quoted here.
Website http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/
The entry reads; ?In 1856 Anne Shewbridge was leasing a property in the townland of Gowil, parish of Lickmolassy, barony of Longford, to John Cunningham. Local sources suggest that a William Shewbridge served as a Church of Ireland curate in Portumna in the 1760s while genealogical sources note a marriage in 1779 between a Mary Eyre of Eyrecourt and a Mr. Shewbridge.?
Secondly; Michael MacMahon has a reference to the setting up of the Connaught Rangers regiment at Portumna in his book Portumna Castle and its Lords (1983), pp23-24. He has an early reference to a Henry Shewbridge on page 24 where he notes that; ?In the Connaught Journal of September 25 1793 a notice proclaimed: ?All spirited young men desirous of entering into the Royal Regiment of the Connaught Rangers are desired to apply immediately to Capt. Henry Shewbridge at Portumna ??
It is worth checking if this is the same Henry that is mentioned in the Landed Estates database as leasing lands in Clarary from a William Doolan (Nov.14 1788). ?nd also to establish his relationship to the Henry who is the Church of Ireland curate in the1760s.