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Shiels | Sheils Family HistorySurname Origins
The Shiels
(or Sheils) surname, also found in Ireland rendered with
other phonetic spellings such as Sheals, Sheills, Shiells
etc, has its origin in the celtic patronymic O'Siadhail
(pronounced O'Sheeail). O'Siadhail found outside
Ulster did not constitute a separate sept (a sept is
a division of a tribe). The O’Shiels of
Ulster are one of many Septs descended from Mani,
sixth son of Niall of the Nine hostages. There was
no true seat for the O'Siadhail in Ulster, they
were always with their associated patrons tuath (tribe).
Outside Ulster the O’Shiels were principally found
in Leinster where their lands were in the present
County of Wexford and their chieftain was hereditary
Chief-physician to the kings of Leinster. In
pre-Norman times those bearing the name Siadhail
will almost invariably arise as offspring of
journeymen physicians who left Griannan yearly as
part of a system of fostering, practised in Ireland
up until 1600.
Many distinguished O’Shiels are mentioned in Ireland’s ancient records. As a proper name Siadhal, better known to ecclesiastical scholars by its Latinized form Sedulius, was first rendered popular by having been borne by a famous and learned Irish saint who lived about the middle of the fifth century. According to The Annals of the Four Masters the following are some of the distinguished Siadhails who figured in Irish history long before the introduction of surnames:
COUNTY CAVAN The
Irish origin of the County Cavan name is cabhán meaning
‘hollow’ or ‘little hill’. The main feature
of the Cavan landscape is the proliferation of drumlins - oval mounds 80
to 100 feet high that alternate with small lakes. The horizon is
usually no more than a few hundred yards away making the countryside
feel small-scale and intimate. Before the seventeenth century
Cavan, along with County Leitrim, was part of the kingdom
of Bréifne. Leitrim became known as Bréifne O’Rourke,
while Cavan was Bréifne O’Reilly. The O’Reillys
maintained their independence from English rule until the
rebellions of the early 1600s. Cavan was then incorporated into
the province of Ulster, having previously been considered
part of Connacht, and was included in the plantation of Ulster
from 1608.
NEW ZEALAND EMIGRATION The first of the
known Shiels/Sheils children to emigrate to New Zealand
was ca. 1844 born Margaret, who with husband George
Diell arrived from County Cavan on 26 Dec 1862 at
Port Lyttleton, the port of entry for Christchurch
located about 10 kilometres inland, as government immigrants
on the Mermaid
under the variant surname spelling of DEYELL
(sic) which was how the surname was subsequently
spelt in New Zealand and also commonly as DALE. AUSTRALIAN EMIGRATION
Emigration to Australia from Ireland in the 19th century is
estimated to have numbered around 400,000. About ten times that
number went to the United States. Following his 1855 marriage
to Jane O’Hara in Billis Church of Ireland William Sheils
is the only child known to have emigrated to Australia. In
addition to Australia and New Zealand some of the John Sheils
/ Ann O’Hara children may have emigrated to America, Canada
or England. The Mangerton, with 375, arrived from Plymouth on Saturday evening .....There were nine deaths, including a child who was unfortunately lost overboard, and a young lad who was killed by the fall of a block which struck him on the head. Another fatal accident occurred to one of the seamen, who was killed by lightening while on the foretopmost yard. The Mangerton’s passage has been somewhat retarded by the foreyard having been carried away. No vessels have been spoken, and although some cases of small pox occurred during the voyage, there is no sickness on board at the present, and the immigrants appearing very healthy. She has on board 160 single women, 30 single men and 93 married couples & their children.Immigration records disclose William Sheils was not on board the Mangerton under his own name and that his wife Jane travelled to and entered Australia under her maiden surname of O’Hara 9. However there is no doubt as would be expected for a newly wed husband that William Sheils was aboard the vessel. He travelled to and entered Australia under the alias of a cousin Samuel O’Hara accompanied by an unknown female person posing as that cousin's wife Martha. The real Samuel and Martha O’Hara née McAuley, of Greaghadossan townland in Killinkere Parish who married the previous year, had already arrived in Australia as assisted immigrants having arrived at Moreton Bay (Brisbane) nine weeks earlier on the 694 ton Truro which left from Liverpool in England on the 14 Feb 1855 10. A child recorded in the immigration records of the Truro as Martha (later known as Eliza) was born to this Martha O’Hara during that voyage. It is presumed the real Samuel O'Hara had originally intended to travel to Australia in company with his female cousins but when it became clear wife Martha’s pregnancy could result in the birth of the child at sea with a well known attendant high risk to its survival he must have applied and was permitted by the immigration office to bring forward their departure to the earlier departing Truro. It is presumed that even though they had already departed on the Truro, through a bureaucratic bungle an authority for the couple to travel on the Mangerton must have still issued, thus permitting William Sheils and the unknown lady to travel on the Mangerton assuming the identities of the real Samuel and Martha O’Hara. Such identity subsitutions were not uncommon in an era before passports when a person was who they said they were and were in possesion of an authority to board. Indeed it seems highly likely there was another identity substitution in the Mangerton party. Aboard were the two Kellett sisters Jane aged 18 and Eliza aged 17 who were cousins of Jane O’Hara and the others. Whilst there is no doubt about Eliza Kellett who married in Sydney in 1857 it is most improbable that the Jane Kellett on board the Mangerton was as purported. The same Jane Kellett, a daughter of Charles Kellett and Margaret O’Hara, is also recorded arriving in Sydney 2½ years later with her brother Samuel Kellett aboard the Peter Maxwell ! 11 For a fuller exposition on the Mangerton identity subsitution see Deception Unmasked. Thy heath-covered mountains are fresh in my view
What
a contrast to their Irish homeland of County Cavan, where the
countryside has the feeling of being small-scale and intimate,
the vast expanses of Australia with its mild winter climate
and trees not stripped by autumn must have presented to
the party of six wide-eyed young emigrants when they
arrived in Sydney in July 1855 after the fourteen week
sea voyage from Plymouth.
1 Line by poet Pardric Colum 2 General Alphabetical Index to the townlands and Towns, Parishes and Baronies of Ireland 3 LDS Ireland Marriage Records, film #0101352, 1854 Vol. 1, p. 537 4 Ibid #0101362, 1855 Vol. 1, p. 513 5 Ibid #0101402, 1859 Vol. 1, p. 540 6 Ibid #0101488, 1866 Vol 2, p. 565 7 Ibid #0101432, 1862 Vol. 1, p. 489 8 Lines from The Exile of Erin by an anonymous Irish convict from penal station of Emu Plains, NSW, written in 1820s 9 NSW Immigration, Persons on Bounty Ships, NSW Archives, (Mangerton), Reel #2137 & #2471 10 Ibid (Truro), Reel #2472 11 Ibid (Peter Maxwell), arrived in Sydney on 10 Jan 1858 - Reel #2138 & #2478 12 Ireland Death Indexes - Anne Jane Shiels "aged 100 yrs" reg. Bailieborough PLU March Qtr. 1912 Vol. 2, page 290. Other Bailieborough PLU registered deaths which may have been Ann Shiels née O'Hara are: Anne Shiels aged "74" March Qtr. 1884, Vol. 2, page 246 OR Jane Shiels "aged 73" Dec. Qtr. 1881 Vol 2, page 256. 13 Ireland Death Indexes - John Sheils "aged 96 yrs." reg. Bailieborough PLU 1877 Vol 2, page 307. 14 Email advice dated 5 Jan 2005 from descendant Frances Parnell of New Zealand. 15 GR Macdonald Dictionery of Canterbury Biographies (as advised by Jean Price) George Deyell probate number 4156 filed 12 Jun 1901 16 George Deyell probate number 25692 filed 21 Oct 1946. 17 Emigration and family details provided 5 May 2009 by Margaret Smith of Whangaparaoa, New Zealand. |