Week 50 - Family Heirloom - Sheridan

Memories alone are family heirlooms to be cherished. But when it comes to tangible items, I have many different ones. 

Although I have nothing in my collection that are tied to a famous person, artist or philosopher, to me they are priceless. I have a few antiques, school memorabilia from previous ancestors, and some letters and autograph books. Mainly items that are tied to a specific person or era of our family.

One of my favorite items I am the keeper of is a Sheridan family bible. It seems so innocent of an item, yet it connects to our immigrant ancestor Michael Sheridan, Sr who traveled from Cloncovid/Clonkiffel, County Cavan, Ireland to America in the early 1800's.  

Written in pencil on the inside cover is "Michael Sheridan Bible 1845".


The publication is a Douay Catholic Bible. The bible was published in 1839 in Philadelphia by Eugene Cummiskey. He was an Irish immigrant also, active in printing and bookselling and one of the first American publishers to produce Catholic Bibles domestically, reducing the reliance on imports from Ireland or England.

The front pages are missing and if there were any family pages, those are also gone. Ah, to have a crystal ball and see who may have removed those original writings and where they might have ended up. Luckily there is a title page for The New Testament section, and it shows the 1839 publish date so I can connect it to the first Michael Sheridan. 


His first wife had died in Ireland (Mary Healey) before he had immigrated in 1827. His sons Michael, Jr and Patrick immigrated ca 1832. Following Michael, Sr's death, his sons then came into Michigan.

Michael Sheridan, Sr married his second wife Mary Kane in New York in 1838. By April 1849, they were the parents of six children. Mary died in August of 1849 following the birth of twins William and Joseph. Michael died 15 months later in November of 1850 leaving the children orphans. Two sons (James and Thomas) came to Michigan to live with their half-brothers, Michael and Patrick (my 2x great grandfather).  

The others (John, Ellen and the twins) were probably apprenticed out or adopted. I have never found mention of them.

James married twice - Kate O'Brien who died in 1884 following the birth of her last child and 2nd Francis Kelly. He had six children: Paul H, Joseph, William, Emmit Frances, Agnes and Peter Eclestine with Kate and then four children with Francis: Eva, Helen, James and Prudence. They settled in Muskegon, Michigan.

Thomas married Esther Tinkler and had seven children: Ella (Eloise), Mary Agnes, Rosa Belle, Kate, John James, Teresa Cleo and Henry Thomas. They settled in Jackson, Michigan.

And just that quick our cousin base doubles with many half-cousins. And we all connect back to that original 185-year-old family bible.

Barbie


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