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Hi there!

I am also on the hunt for James Taylor's parents, John and Jane. James Taylor was my 3rd great grandfather.

The family story sounds fascinating! My Dad wasn't raised with his family so I've never heard this before, no family stories to unpick unfortunately!

I wondered if you had uncovered any more about the family since your original post?

It would be great to hear from you either way

Sandra Lightfoot
York, England

Hi Mandy,
I wondered if you had got any further with your Gormley research? I am connected to the O'shea family of Worcester. I had ordered the marriage certificate of George O'shea and Emma Gormley because I originally believed that George may have been my grandfather. The marriage certificate stated his father was James O'shea, which doesn't fit with my information for my grandfather, so I have put it to one side for the moment (although not entirely dismissed it!).
My grandfather was officially registered as George Alfred Davies, born 1903 in Worcester. He was also known by the name O'shea (his mother's maiden name) and Phillips (his mother's supposed married name, no evidence of marriage found). The family were fruit and flower hawkers in Worcester. George abandoned my father at the age of three after his mother Emily/Helen died. They were up in Lancaster at the time and were travelling hawkers.
The other thing I noticed was the address 33 Newport Street. My O'shea family also lived there. My grandfather's sister was born there (he ws born at 4 Court, Newport Street). This has to be more than a coincidence!
I have done the ancestry dna test, also 23andme. If you have done the dna test it would be interesting to see if we match. That may help answer some questions! If you are on ancestry, my user name is Sandra_Lightfoot

Hope to hear from you,
Sandra

Hi, this family of O'shea's are also my family. The marriage connected to the tree was actually in Rathmore 1842.

I have DNA connections to descendants of Mary Shea who married John Riley and lived in Dilwyn and also to relatives of Mary O'shea who married John Jones and settled in Ffestiniog. I am certain there is must be a connection between the two families but am struggling to spot it at the moment. Jmol17 is likely correct that Mary in Dilwyn is John O'shea's sister.

If anyone has done a DNA test and uploaded to Gedmatch then my kit number is A780692 and my sister's is A595166.

Sandra

Hi Karen,

Sorry I have only just seen your PM.  I don't think I can be much help to you.  My Shearons (Patrick and Margaret)were in Wolverhampton.  I found a Patrick Shearn (born 1833) with Margaret (born 1832) living in Carribee Island on the 1861 census. He has 4 sons (William 16, Patrick 9, John 6, Edward 2) and 1 daughter (Catherine 11).  The last 2 sons are on a separate page where the surname is definitely Sheran.

I can find Patrick and Margaret Sheeran in Carribee Island on the 1851 census. They have a son 5 (William) and a daughter 2 (Catherine).  The birth years are Patrick 1821 in Ireland and Margaret 1825 in Ireland.

I think they are both the same family.  So far I can't find them in the 1871 census.

Mike

Hi Mike, not sure if you are still researching (and you may well have found them after 6 years!), but I think I found Patrick and Margaret on the 1871 at Wednesbury. He is now a rag gatherer and they are at 6 Bolton Sqre (I think that's what it says anyway!) with children John and Edward. The name shows as Shean.

I am connected to the family through son John Patrick born 1854 at Wolverhampton. He ended up a Chimney Sweep in Worcester, appearing occasionally in the newspapers for his behaviour ;-)

I think Patrick died Wolverhampton 1886 but still looking for what became of Margaret. If you have any clues, please let me know!

Sandra

Hi Rob
Thought I would update you with my recent findings!
I took the AncestryDNA test and that has helped me identify my George Alfred Davies. It turns out he was born in Worcester 1903 to George Davies, a general hawker and Norah Davies/Phillips formerly O'Shea. Norah was also a hawker, the daughter of Catholic Irish immigrants born in Bristol 1868. I have since found several newspaper reports for various members of the family and they were described as gypsies in some of them. George senior is a bit of a mystery still as he says he was born at sea on the 1901 census but because I can now connect to a specific family of Davies's through the DNA matches, I believe he was actually born in Dilwyn, Herefordshire in 1855, son of a agricultural labourer. I'm still trying to identify my grandmother Emily or Helen Cunningham but I still believe she will be connected to the Cunningham family I found in Lancaster as they seem to be a similar family and maybe travelled together.

I have been fortunate to make contact with descendants of George Alfred's siblings and am currently discovering that Dad would have been part of a huge family in the Worcester area so I'm puzzled as to why George Alfred didn't take him to one of his sisters or something like that but I guess I may never know. And what he was doing up in Lancaster and Kendal is another mystery! One of my new cousins is very keen to unravel all of this too and is going to do the DNA test so that will (hopefully) confirm we are definitely related and we are working together on our shared family history!

It's all fascinating stuff!
Sandra