Brian & Kieran Sheehan - 2004

The first recorded mention of our family name, Sheehan, that we came across in either counties Wexford or Wicklow was a gravestone inscription in Limbrick Cemetery, near Johnstown, Arklow, County Wicklow. This inscription recorded the death of a John Sheehan on April 29, 1796 at age 51yrs. Thus, he was born in 1745 and we believe that originally our Sheehan ancestors came to County Wicklow from County Limerick where they were blacksmiths. We cannot say with any certainty that this John Sheehan is any relation other than that at that time the Sheehan family were living in the area and it was quite common to pass the christian name down through successive generations. In the case of the Sheehan family, a son was always named John followed by an Andrew and visa versa through the generations. Our grandfather was John Sheehan (1873-1965) and he had a son Andrew (1906-1975) followed by our first cousin Sean (1946) who lives with his family in Canada.

Around 1800, our great-great grandfather, John Sheehan (1783-1861) was farming at Barnacleith (also spelled Barnaclay) which is situated on the hills over looking the seaside town of Arklow. This was around the time of the 1798 rebellion and it was a very tense time in this part of the country as the rebellion was taking place all over counties Wicklow and Wexford. In particular, major atrocities were perpertrated in Arklow during the Rebellion. We do not know how this affected our family but it certainly cannot have been an easy time to rear a family. Our Aunt Ellie Sheehan said that as a child she had been told that there had been a sword in the family's possession which had been used when an English Red Coat soldier entered the house of her maternal great-grandmother (Maria Byrne nee Bergin) and cut off an ear of one of the inhabitants. We have looked up records of people who claimed compensation in 1798 rebellion but, alas, we have discovered no claims made by our family.

John Sheehan, our great-great grandfather was married to Anne Cavanagh (1799-1859). Their eldest son was named Andrew (1823-1900) and we have come across his baptism in 1823. His siblings are recorded as Judith born in 1823, Sarah born in 1826, Pat in 1829, Anne in 1831 and Mary in 1835. The family address is given in the records as Barnacle, which may have been a misspelling. Andrew, in due course, inherited the farm from his father John. Andrew married Ellen McDonnell (1842-1896) in Arklow. He farmed Barnacleith until his death in 1900 at the age of age 76. Both Andrew and Ellen are buried in Ballycooge cemetery, which is near Woodenbridge and about Three miles from Barnacleith. Their gravestone is still standing in the graveyard attached to the church at Ballycooge. There is also a school at Ballycooge.

Sheehan Gravestone at Ballycooge

The farm at Barnacleith is on both sides of a road leading to Johnstown. There was a Roman Catholic Church (which is now disused) in Johnstown and also a national school attended by our ancestors. We discovered from records in the National Library that the first mention of the Barnacleith lands was in September 1705 when James Butler, the Earl of Ormond gave a fee farm grant of the lands in this area to John Allen of Stillorgan. In 1743, John Allen gave 78 leases to the Proby (Carysford) family as he was married to one of the Carysfords. In February 1791, a lease was given for the sum of £105-15-0 and 3 capons i.e. chickens, to a person named Peter Maher and also to a William Byrne, a carpenter from Rathdrum. William was a son of Thomas Byrne of Wicklow who also a Carpenter. 47 Years later in 1838, John Sheehan, our great- great grandfather, is shown as leasing 34 acres from Peter Maher.

Johnstown Church

During our research, we came across an old ledger from a grocery shop owned by a family called Somers about a mile from the farm. The local families, including the Sheehan family and their relatives, the Kavanagh family, brought their groceries in the shop on a/c and it is noted it this ledger. They then paid their bills at the end of each month.

The children born to Andrew and Ellen are given in the Arklow parish register as Eliza born in 1869, Jocob born in 1870, John in 1873 and Michael in 1875. Computerisation of later parish records is incomplete but microfilm of the original register shows Anne born in 1865, Maria in 1867 and Sarah born in 1877. They also had a son Andrew who was born in 1882.

We also looked at the Tithe Applotment books and the Griffith Valuation books kept in the National Library. The Tithe Composition Acts of 1823 had made provision for the payment of tithes to the clergy in each parish and the appropriate payment was to be in money rather than in kind. A number of valuations surveys were carried out between 1823-1837 to determine the tithes payable by each eligible local landowner in parishes. Towns and cities were excluded from these surveys. The books list all the tenants who occupied land in a relevant parish.

All persons listed were liable for the payment of tithes to the Established Church of the day which was the Church of Ireland. The payments were made regardless of the religion of the person assessed. The Tithe Applotment Books list the name of each tenant; townland; parish and land holding. The yearly sum for which an individual was liable to pay was also listed. These books shows Barnacleith in the parish of Killahurler in the diocese of Dublin and John Sheehan in 1838 is shown as leasing 34 acres. His tithe was £1.11.10p.

We also looked at the Griffith's Valuation lists, which are also held in the National Library. These are known as the Primary Valuation of Tenements. The Valuation was carried out between 1848 and 1864 by Sir Richard Griffith to fix the amount of rates a tenant should pay and to provide help for the poor as set out in the legislation drawn up for the creation of the Poor Law Unions. Valuation surveys were based on the townland administrative unit and a rate was levied on each individual property in the relevant area. The Survey lists the occupier, the immediate lessor (who was not always the owner of the property), the nature of the holding, its extent and the valuation placed on it at the time.

There are two entries in these Valuation lists for John Sheehan of Barnacleith. These entries are dated in 1852 and show John as renting 45 acres from Peter Maher in Barnacleith North and renting 10 acres in Barnacleith South.

John Sheehan (1853-1965)
John Sheehan's son, Andrew, inherited the farm from his father and, eventually, his son, our Grandfather, John (1873-1965) or Jonny as he was known locally, took over Barnacleith.

Elizabeth Sheehan (nee Kavanagh) (1880-1958)
He married, our grandmother, Elizabeth Kavanagh (1880-1958) in 1904.

Johnstown School

The National Census of 1901 lists John as being head of the household aged 27. Also living in the house at the time were his brothers and sisters, namely, Joanne aged 29, Michael aged 25, Pat aged 21, Andrew aged 9, and a servant girl called Jane Byrne. John and Elizabeth had three sons; Andrew, Patrick and John and three daughters; Mary, Ellie (Ellen) and Nancy. They all went to school in Johnstown.

At Barnacleith, our grandfather had a tennis court and that he also played cricket and one of the fields is still known as the Cricket Field.

In the Summer of 2000, in the course of tracing our relations, we meet a Michael Cullen and his wife who are still living in Johnstown. Michael had worked on the farm as John Sheehan's ploughman and lived in an out-building on the farm. He said that around 1935 there was a fire in the house and it was burned to the ground. He had raised the alarm and called Ellie to get everybody out before the fire took hold.

Pat Sheehan (1912-1991)

By this time we know that Pat (Patrick), our father, had moved to Dublin and was living with his aunt Mai who had married Jack Kearns, a well known Pork Butcher in Dublin, whose family had a shop in Parnell Street since the turn of the Century. Parnell Street at that time was known as Great Brittan Street. The Kearns family owned a farm and lands at Bonnybrook, Coolock in North County Dublin and the house was known as Bonnybrook House. Pat worked in their shop at 110/112 Parnell Street and, in due course, he rented a house in Mountjoy Square, which was once the residence of Archbishop Murray. At around this time he was joined by his brothers Andy and John and Andy bought a premises at 50 Lower Dorset Street. The business flourished and Andy had the contract for supplying all the 'own brand' sausages to Findlaters which had the largest chain of grocery stores in Dublin and the surrounding counties. This was long before the supermarket era. The Findlater museum is now in Harcourt Street where one can see the old Alfa sausage advertisements. This was one of the brand names of their sausages. They also traded under the name of X.L. Food Products.

Pat, meantime, had moved back to a shop at 112 Parnell Street which he had bought from his uncle, Jack Kearns. Pat supplied meat to Lawlors of Naas who had the contract for school meals in the Dublin area from Dublin Corporation as, after World War Two, the Government gave free meat to all schoolchildren from deprived areas to supplement their poor diet. Lawlors also supplied all the food to the The Spring Show and the Horse Show in the Royal Dublin Society. These were the biggest social events of the year. They also supplied all the major horse racing events and golf tournaments, including the famous Canada Cup(World Cup) when it was played at Portmarnock Golf Club.

Around 1947, Pat also opened a shop at Number 3, Moore Street. This shop was eventually turned into a wool shop and was run by Pat's sisters; Mary, Ellie and Nancy. It closed around 1970.

Meanwhile, Barnacleith had been sold after the fire in 1935 and John Sheehan and Elizabeth moved to Dublin. They lived at 49 Lower Dorset Street next to the butcher's shop operated by their sons, Andy and John. Mary, Ellie and Nancy lived with them.

Elizabeth died in December, 1958 and John then went to live with his son, Andy and his family at 162 Upper Drumcondra Road where he died, aged 92, in April, 1965. Both John and Elizabeth are buried in the old cemetery in Ballygriffin, Co. Dublin.

Pat married Maighread O'Connor in 1943. They had met at a dance in the Royal Hotel in Glendalough. Maighread was nursing in the Meath Hospital in Dublin at the time and lived with her parents at their farm, Hoeyfield, in the Glen of The Downs, County Wicklow.

Pat and Maighread bought their first home at 50, Hollybrook Road in Clontarf where Ann, Brian, Kieran and Patrick were born. In 1950, the family moved to 120 Upper Drumcondra Road.

Pat died in March 1991 and is also buried at Balgriffin Cemetry, North County Dublin. The house in Drumcondra Road was sold in 1997 and Maighread died at Talbot Lodge Nursing Home in January 2000.

Barnacleith Farm Entrance