Sheridan family genealogy

Of Ireland and America[1]

Arms: Or, a lion ramp. betw. three trefoils vert. Crest: Out of a ducal coronet or. a stag’s head ppr.

The ancestor of this family was Siridan, son of Maoldabhreac, who (see p. 303, Vol. I. of this Edition) was a brother of Fiobrann, No. 98 on the “Stem of the Line of Ir.”

Patrick Sheridan, of Killinkere parish, diocese of Kilmore, and co. of Cavan, mar. and had issue:

1. Philip Sheridan of co. Cavan.
2. Michael, of co. Cavan.
3. Patrick, of co. Cavan.
4. John, of whom presently.
1. Catherine, who mar. James McCabe, of Killinkere parish, in the co. Cavan, and had:
   1. John McCabe, who removed to America, and was in 1887 living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., aged 71 years. He was twice m. and had issue.
   2. Luke McCabe.
   3. Thomas McCabe.
   4. Andrew McCabe; all of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

2. John Sheridan: fourth son of Patrick; born in Killinkere parish, co. Cavan; removed to America, and settled at Somerset, Perry County, Ohio, where he died; his wife, whom he mar. in the county Cavan, was in 1887 living in Somerset, aged 87 years. They had five children:

1. Patrick, who was born in Killinkere parish, co. Cavan, and went with his father to America, where he died young and unmar.
2. Philip, of whom presently.
3. Michael, born in Ohio; and now (1888) a Colonel in the United States Army.
4. John L. Sheridan, born in Ohio, and now living.
1. Rosa Sheridan, who died young at sea, when with her parents on their voyage from Dublin to New York.

3. Philip Sheridan: second son of John; was born in Killinkere parish county of Cavan; went with his father to America; was appointed Cadet to West Point U.S. Military Academy; served in the United States Army, and therein rose to be Lieutenant-General, which position he holds at present. Lieutenant-General Philip Sheridan, mar. in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., and has had issue.

Notes

[1] Sheridan: Of this family was the Right Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, M.P., orator and author, who was born at 12 Dorset-street, Dublin, in Sept., 1751. He was the youngest son of Thomas Sheridan (by his wife, Frances Chamberlaine, the accomplished author of Sidney Biddulph), who was born at Quilca, in the county of Cavan, in 1721; who was son of Rev. Thomas Sheridan, D.D. (a friend of Dean Swift’s), born in the County Cavan, in 1684. And this Rev. Thomas Sheridan, D.D., was son of Thomas, who obtained a Fellowship in Trinity College, Dublin, which he was obliged to resign on becoming a Catholic, and in 1680 was imprisoned for supposed complicity in a “Popish” plot, but was subsequently knighted by James II., who made him his secretary. This last mentioned Thomas, was a brother of the Right Rev. William Sheridan, Bishop of Kilmore, who was bom at Togher, in the county of Cavan, about 1635; and both of them were sons of the Rev. Dionysius Sheridan, once a Catholic clergyman, who was converted to Protestantism by Bishop Bedell.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan being without a regular profession, had to live on his talents. He therefore wrote occasionally for Woodfall’s Public Advertiser. In January, 1775, his comedy of The Rivals was brought out at Covent Garden, and proved a brilliant success; it has ever since held its place on the stage. Towards the end of that year his opera of The Duenna was first acted; it was equally successful, and had a run of seventy-five nights the first season, longer even than the first run of The Beggars’ Opera. About this time it became known that Garrick meant to part with his moiety of the patent of Drury-lane Theatre, and retire from the stage. After some negotiation, Sheridan, then only in his twenty-fifth year, became Patentee and Manager,—the price of the moiety (£35,000) being made up between himself, his father-in-law (Mr. Linley), and Dr. Ford. The sketch of his masterpiece, The School for Scandal, was perhaps written before The Rivals, or at latest soon after; it was first represented in May, 1777. Sheridan wrote many plays, but The Rivals, The School for Scandal, and The Critic stand out pre-eminently as his best. His mind must have been some time gravitating towards politics; for, amongst his manuscripts were the sheets of an essay on absentees, written about 1778, when The School for Scandal was in its first blush of success. In 1778 he bought Mr. Lacy’s moiety of the theatre for £45,000, and portions of his father’s shares, so as to make up his own interest to three-fourths of the whole. His increased influence in the affairs of the theatre enabled him to appoint his father to the management, and thus put an end to an unhappy estrangement which for years bad existed between them. His intimacy with Fox, Burke, Windham, and other public men, and the habit of discussing with them questions of the day, tended to foster in him a taste for public life. His thirst for distinction, and quick apprehension of the service his talents might render in the warfare of party, hastened the result that both he and his friends desired. In 1780 he supported Fox’s resolutions on the state of the representation (including a declaration in favour of annual Parliaments and universal suffrage), and, in October, 1780, he took his seat as Member for Stafford, and bade adieu for ever to dramatic authorship. Sheridan’s friends came into power in 1782, and he was appointed one of the Under-Secretaries of State; and, in 1783, Secretary of the Treasury. The efforts of Grattan’s party for the elevation of Ireland received his hearty support. Through his influence, his brother Charles was appointed Secretary of War in Ireland. In 1785 he strenuously opposed Orde’s Commercial Propositions, which were so unfavourably regarded by the Irish national party of that period. During the Insurrection of 1798, he vindicated the action of the liberal party in Ireland; nor was he less strenuous, and consistent in his opposition to the Union. He died on the 7th July, 1816. Sheridan left two sons—Thomas, who in 1817 died at the Cape, where he held the post of Colonial Paymaster; and Charles, who obtained a reputation as a poet. Thomas had three daughters, all born out of Ireland: 1. Selina (b. 1807, d. 1867), who mar. the Hon. Price Blackwood, who afterwards became Lord Dufferin and Clandeboy, and was the mother of the present Earl of Dufferin. She was the authoress of The Irish Emigrant, Katie’s Letter, Terence’s Farewell, and other ballads. 2. Caroline (b. 1808, d. 1877), married the Hon. G. C. Norton, and, after his death, Sir William Stirling Maxwell; she was widely known as a poet and novelist. 3. Jane, who mar. the Duke of Somerset—Webb.