John O'SHEA

John & Margaret O'Shea

John & Margaret lived in Boulasallagh (Rockford, Kerry).  They had six children:

1. Katherine
2. James J.         b:  1863   d:  1943
3. Mary Frances   b:  1865   d:  1923
4. Ellen              b:  1871
5. Johanna         b:  1872   d:  1940
6. Margaret         b:  1883

My Aunt Ann Marie told me this story about John O'Shea.  John O'Shea, the legend goes, left Boulla on short notice, having gone into town to sell some butter.  Whether he was disgusted with the price he got for the goods, or perhaps he learned that authorities were after him, he entrusted his earnings to a neighbor, and told him to tell his wife that he would write.  He ended up in Boston, where his teen-aged daughters were working as "Irish girls" in Yankee households.  He found where his daughter Ellen (Nell, later Mrs. John Mahoney) was working (and, of course, living).  Again,this is all oral transmission, so the drama may have been improved with each retelling.  Anyway, when Nell was told there was a man in the kitchen asking for her, she went down and fainted upon seeing her father. He worked several shifts in Boston, always sending money home, and finally returned after 7-8 years.  One of his jobs was digging the first subway lines. 

Margaret never liked the O'Shea name and never used it.  John died in 1901 just prior to the 1901 census.  Margaret died in 1903.  They are buried in Aglish Cemetery.

Michael GRENEY

Michael Greney & Margaret Shine Greney

Michael Greney was the son of Patrick Greney and Ellen Curtin Greney.  He was born 13 Sep 1870 in Newmarket, County Cork, Ireland (Barony: Duhallow; Parish: Clonfert).  Michael was an only child.

In 1901, 30 year old Michael was living with his parents at 204 Newmarket.  About a mile away at 9 Garraunawarrig Lower in Newmarket lived Margaret Shine, the daughter of Jeremiah and Mary Sullivan Shine.  At some point Michael and Margaret met and in 1902 they were married.  Michael made his living as a carpenter. 

Newmarket, Cork, Ireland

Margaret Shine Greney in her wedding dress

Michael and Margaret had four children:

1.   Patrick Joseph  b: 1903    d: 1980
2.   Ellen Mary        b: 1905    d:  2001
3.   Mary (May)       b: 1907   d:  1924
4.   Margaret          b: 1908    d:  1958

Sadly, Margaret became a young widow when in March 1909, Michael Greney died in the Kanturk workhouse.  Originally workhouses were created to feed and house the destitute in return for labor; but beginning in 1862, the Poor relief Act  allowed for any "poor person" - i.e. those who were poor but not sufficiently destitute to require entry into the workhouse, to be admitted to the workhouse for medical care.  Presumably, that's why Michael was there.  His death certificate states the cause of death as enteric fever/congestion of lungs/heart failure.  Enteric fever is also known as typhoid fever.

Margaret and children
(L to R) May, Nellie, Patrick, Margaret

Mararet Greney with her children Nellie (baby) and Patrick
Abt 1905

In 1911, Margaret was living on Chapel Lane in Newmarket with her son, Patrick, and her daughter, Nellie (Ellen/Helen).  Her two youngest children, Mary and Margaret, were living at Garraunawarrig Lower in Newmarket with her mother, Mary Shine, her brother, Jerry, and her sister, Julia.  In his narrative "The Shines of Granavorig", Donal Shine remembers his Aunt Margaret as being  "the very personification of compassion and kindness.  She was an extraordinarily good person in even (sic) so many ways."

Patrick Joseph Greney, or Paddy as he was called, followed in his father's footsteps and became a carpenter.  He worked out of his father's workshop in the back of the house in Newmarket.   He never married and died in 1980.

Greney headstone

Margaret Shine Greney in front of her house in Newmarket
with her son, Paddy.  Not sure who the woman is.

Ellen (Nellie, Helen) Greney, age 3 years.

Ellen Mary (Helen/Nellie) Greney, my grandmother, emigrated to the United States when she was 17 years old and worked as a domestic.  In 1931, she married Michael Joseph Shea and they had four children.  You can read more about them [here].



Mary (or May) Greney died at age 17.

Helen and Sister Mary Althea

Margaret Greney went with some local girls to a convent in America and became a nun. She was known as Sister Mary Althea.  She died of cancer in 1958.