Sheehan-Whalen

Julia Sheehan Whalen

    Julia Sheehan Whalen was born in County Kerry Ireland near KingWilliamstown, which is now called Ballydesmond.  Her parents, John Sheehan and Mary Sheehan, according to the records at Castleisland lived in Tureengarriv, Ballincuslane, Co. Kerry.  Her baptism has not been found, but several of the baptisms of her brothers were found in the Castleisland records. Her brothers who came to Minnesota and lived near St. Thomas were Patsy, John, Michael and Dennis.

    My great aunt Lill remembers Grandma Sheehan visiting her family in St. Paul.  She spoke Irish.  When she arrived, she usually asked for a glass of water, which she placed upon her head, and then proceeded to dance a jig.  Lill described Julia's eyes as sparkling blue.  She often smoked a clay pipe.

    A neighbor of hers in St. Thomas, Minnesota, remembers her walking the long way to church for daily Mass.

    One of the mysteries of this search is the marriage record for her parents.  Family tradition gives her mother's maiden name as Herlihy.  The death certificates of her brothers gives the parents surnames as Herlihy and Sheehan (unfortunately, none of the given names agree!!)  A church dispensation which was granted to her son Thomas  who desired to marry his cousin, Mary Herlihy, would give credence to the Herlihy relationship. 

    In one of the little coincidences of life, my paternal grandmother, Ann O'Connell, played the organ for my maternal great great grandmother's funeral Mass at St. Thomas.

    Julia probably married James W. Whalen in Michigan, an obit states in Detroit.  Several of the older children were born in Michigan, including my great grandmother Bridget Whalen Hogan.

    When researching the Sheehan-Whalens, I meet a third cousin, John Whalen.  His mother emigrated from Ireland in 1889.  When I met him in 1978, he was still corresponding with a descendant of his mother's sister .  One of the families that remained near Ballydesmond was Michael Herlihy's.  His daughter still farms the land.

   Sheehan Whalen Family Group Sheet    Herlihy-Sheehan-Whalen Album

O'Connell    Doherty    Hetherston    Burns    Murphy    Sullivan-Shea    Hogan    Galvin