With the extra information from Heywood that a Sheehan was godmother to one of the Kavanagh children in England, I think we can be reasonably confident in the identification of
James Kavanagh and Elizabeth Sheehan of the town of Gorey as the parents of James Kavanagh junior of Lancashire, the policeman.
However, James junior was seemingly not born in 1845, as a brother Michael was (first page of baptism register!). James was presumably born prior to the start of the registers (prior to 1845).
Griffith's valuation, printed 1853, shows two James Kavanagh householders in the town of Gorey,
- One was in No 10. Pot Lane, renting a 10 shilling per annum house from the Earl of Courtown.
Next door in No. 11 was a Laurence Kavanagh.
- The second was in No. 9 Spout Lane, renting a 15 shilling house from a Michael Byrne (ultimately from the Rams of Ramsfort).
While one can't tell directly which James was the father of James junior, the presence of Laurence Kavanagh as a nextdoor neighbor to the James of Pot Lane, suggests that this is the correct family. Laurence is a potential uncle, as James junior named a son Laurence.
