First Entry-A Brief History.

Our Sheridan family comes from the small settlement of Ballyheelan in the parish of Ballymachugh, County Cavan, Ireland. The earliest members of the family to be traced are Patrick Sheridan and his wife, Margaret “Peggy” Sheridan. Amongst their children was Bernard Sheridan, who married Rose Blake, and in turn this couple had at least two sons, one of whom was our ancestor Nicholas Sheridan.

The first member of our branch of the County Cavan Sheridans to arrive on Australian shores was Patrick Sheridan, a member of the Irish Constabulary who came to Victoria to enhance police numbers on the goldfields. Born in c. 1830-31 in Ballymachugh, Cavan, Patrick was the son of Bernard Sheridan and Rose Blake. He joined the Irish Constabulary in 1853, and six years later in 1859 arrived in Victoria on the ship ‘Morning Light’. In October of the same year 29 year old Patrick Sheridan was appointed Constable in the Victorian Police Force. His record described him as being” 5 feet 11 inches in height, grey eyes, dark hair, dark complexion and tolerably smart.”
Patrick’s appointments during his 15 years with the police were mainly in the districts of Edwards Reef in Gippsland, Maryborough and Ballarat. Apart from being fined once for being “improperly dressed and untidy at 12:30 p.m” whilst at Edwards Reef, Patrick spent a trouble-free time in the Force, and in 1871 was described as “a steady well-conducted man of rather delicate constitution”. This ‘delicate’ appearance was probably due to the fact that he had tuberculosis, which finally killed him in 1876.
Patrick Sheridan must have found his new country to his liking, because on June 19, 1863, his younger brother Nicholas Sheridan, aged about 21, arrived in Melbourne on board the ship ‘Hope’. He headed for the gold fields, and was still a gold miner four years later when he married 21 year old Bridget McGrath from County Tyrone. Bridget was the daughter of farmer John McGrath and his wife Susannah Lappan, and she and Nicholas were married at Stringer’s Creek, Gippsland, on March 3, 1867.Bridget’s occupation was ‘Lady’, and Nicholas stated that he was a ‘Digger’.

This blog will endeavour to devote an entry to each of the ten children of Nicholas Sheridan and Bridget McGrath, and to publish every old photo of the Sheridan family that I have in my collection. I hope that family members who have lost touch with our Sheridans over the generations will contact me through this blog...we're an Irish Catholic family- there must be millions of us out there!!!