In the quaint village of Bunagee, Culdaff, County Donegal, on a summer day in 1869, James McSheffrey was born to parents, Michael McSheffrey and Margery McLaughlin. The registration of his birth was entrusted to Peggy McGonigle, and I have yet to discover who she was or why it was not a family member who registered the birth.
Little James was baptized on June 20, 1859. Standing as godparents (sponsors) were William McGlinchy and Bridget O’Donnell, yet another two people I have not found out anything about or their relationship to Michael and Margery. Question: Who are Peggy McGonigle, William McGlinchy, and Bridget O’Donnell?
The trail of James McSheffrey went cold for me until he reappeared in the distant lands of New Zealand, with his elder brother Michael. Here, in this foreign land, James seemed to carve out a life for himself as a carter, in his brother, Michael’s business.
In 1880, his father, Michael, died. I haven’t found any information to indicate where James was at the time; he would have been about 20–21 years old.
The first glimpse into James’s New Zealand adventure comes from a faded newspaper clipping dated 1891, recounting an unfortunate incident. The paper tells the tale of an accident that befell James, and shows him to be a hard working man. He was hauling timber from a logging site using a cart pulled by two horses. One of the chains came loose, and as he finished fixing it one of the horses lunged sideways, hitting him in the stomach with the shaft of the cart and knocked him off balance. You will see in the newspaper clipping below that another worker that same day met with a worse fate but luckily survived.
Between the years 1891 and 1901, something brought James McSheffrey back to the familiar landscapes of Donegal. The 1901 census, conducted on March 31 of that year, recorded his presence with his mother, Margery and brother George’s family in Culdaff.
However, records reveal that James spent four transformative years in the United States, and by the time September 3, 1905, arrived, he had become a fireman. The circumstances surrounding his transition into this profession and the details of his early days in New York remain a mystery.
Tragedy struck on that fateful September day as James at the age of 35 met his untimely end. His death record raises questions—a fireman, lost to the depths, drowned in the waters surrounding the vessel “Atlantic,” anchored off 46th St., New York. The sparse details of this maritime incident beg a deeper exploration into the events leading up to that ill-fated moment, but I cannot find anything.
James was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Section B, System: CEM, Section: BBBB, Row: 5, Plot: 33
The probate document that followed James’s passing adds another layer to the story. In the absence of a will, the document raises intriguing questions, particularly regarding the apparent absence of his sister, Catherine Anne. It seems that she also ventured far from home, spending some time in the distant lands of New Zealand. Catherine Anne had married James McKenna on 18 July 1880.
QUESTION:
- What happened to Catherine Anne?
- Who is the Catherine McLoughlin who made the affidavit to verify she knew James well and had witnessed his dead body at his funeral? Was she a cousin, related to his mother?
Probate for James McSheffrey:
I don’t know if the James in this public notice regarding registration of land in Kuaotunu is our James McSheffrey nor can I find any more information on it, but I am going to leave it here for now –
