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Sheils or Sheil relatives

Killila (Wexford)

Looking for any information on the Sheils or Sheil family. My great grandmother was Elizabeth Sheils was born  in 1864 in a place called Red Sheard in Wexford, according to civil records, but church records say Kilalla

Nobody seems to have heard of this place even though it is clearly written on her birth record, and her siblings records.

She appears to have been living in the Faythe in Wexford town at the time of her marriage to Richard Murphy, who was also living there, but not in the same house. A case of marrying the girl next door, it would seem.

Her address at the time of marriage was given as Upper.George st, but this may be as a live in servant, rather than her own home address.

Barry

6 replies

From a previous unrelated topic in 2019 - some details on 'Redshire/Redsheer' :

Agree place of birth looks like Redshire/Redsheard on the birth, I also looked through a number of the births and baptisms for her siblings and they give slight variations of this Red Shear/Redsheer/Redshear etc. All the births I found are registered in Bridgetown sub-district of Wexford (town) registration district, and the baptisms in "Piercetown & Murrinstown" Catholic Parish - these help to narrow down the general area as being abt 6km south west of Wexford town.

As this place seems to be a local name I checked the OSI maps for this area, but found no matches - some local placenames are shown on official maps, but many are not... The same placename appears on baptisms and civil births for a number of other families, so seems to be a well known.

I located a very promising reference in "The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places", by Patrick W. Joyce, 3rd ed., Dublin 1871 which reads as follows :

"...There is a gap in the mountain of Forth in [Co.] Wexford, which... is also called Reed-shearde or Red Gap, by the inhabitants of Forth and Bargy. ..." (see attached extract)

The Forth Mountain is located close to Murntown/Murrintown, and there's a second clue in the name of a road running north west of Murrintown a "Redshire Road" - these clues combined all fit the description, civil district, parish and general area and a good match to where this family lived. See Google maps route from Murrintown.

I double checked along this road on the historic OSI maps - but found nothing marked to show Redsheer or similar. Most of this road runs through a townland named 'Forth Commons' (Kildavin civil parish, Forth barony), I've included an extract from the c1840 OSI map.

Griffith's Valuation, dated 1853, for this area show a substantial number of properties at this Forth Commons townland (two other townlands of the same name in Co. Wexford) it's shown as 'Free' so no immediate lessor/landlord...

shanew147IrelandXO Volunteer

Barry,

Records from RootsIreland

Elizabeth's parents, William Shiel and Margaret Sheil (surname) were married in 1861. Received a dispensation. They were both living in Sallystown, Piercetown. Their first son Moses 1862 was born there. Elizabeth 1864, Thomas 1868, and William 1868 were born in Redsheard, Wexford. Mary Margaret 1870 was born in Wexford, John Street.

Piercetown, Ferns - Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI

Wexford, Ferns - Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI

Regards- Mary

mtvrdk@gmail.com

Barry,

Griffith's Valuation Record Information

Tenant
Family Name 1SHIELDS
Forename 1MOSES
Landlord
Family Name 2MORGAN
Forename 2HAMILTON K. G.
Location
CountyWEXFORD
BaronyFORTH
UnionWEXFORD
ParishKILDAVIN
TownlandSALLYSTOWN
Place NameSALLYSTOWN
Place TypeTOWNLAND
Publication Details
Position on Page18
Printing Date1853
Act15&16
Sheet Number42
Map Reference5

mtvrdk@gmail.com

Barry,

Per RootsIreland

There was a Margaret Sheil born to Moses Sheil and Margaret Lambert in Piercetown in 1825. Siblings- Mary 1818 (Sallystown, Piercetown) and Thomas 1829 (Piercetown)

I mentioned earlier that Margaret and William received a dispensation. This was noted on the marriage record.

"THERE BEING SOME DOUBT IN REFERENCE TO KINDRED FOR GREATER SECURITY
A DISPENSATION WAS OBTAINED."

Regards- Mary

mtvrdk@gmail.com

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