Gillis Shields b. 1800 mother of John, James and Hugh Shields erected a tombstone in Port Carbon, PA stating that John was a native of Crevagh. John was born in 1831 and died Feb. 12, 1864. He was married to Hanna Johnston. Any information about the family would be appreciated.
tracedit
Monday 28th May 2018, 10:05PMMessage Board Replies
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tracedit:
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!
The townland is Creevagh. Unfortunately, the RC records for Mevagh/Carrigart parish do not start until the 1870s.
Your surname has a number of variant spellings including Sheilds, Sheil, Sheals and Shiel.
The 1857 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing for Mevagh civil parish shows there were thirty-seven Sheil households in the parish but not one of them was shown living in Creevagh.
http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/donegal/mevagh.htm
My guess is that when your family left likely in the 1830s or 1840s, there were no more Shields families in Creevagh.
Likewise, the 1901 census for Mevagh parish showed twenty-two Sheals/Sheilds families but again none in Creevagh.
I would add John Sheilds story to our XO Chronicles site and possibly someone will recognize the family.
https://www.irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/history-and-genealogy/ancestor-dat…
Have you considered DNA testing?
Roger mcDonnell
Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Tuesday 29th May 2018, 12:00AM