November 18, 2008:

Hello,
I am descendant from an Irish family from the area of Ballyraheen, County Wicklow.  I have 
been researching the family history and believe they may have been part of the Fitzwilliam 
tenant emigration to Eastern Ontario, and also am aware of other family names that may have 
come from the same Wicklow area.  (See Anne Burgess' work at www.bytown.net/wicklowemigrants.htm and
Annette Code's work at www.bytown.net/coolattin.htm)
 
John Sheppard (Coolkenna) and his second wife, Mary Appleby (Ballyraheen), homesteaded in 
Ramsay Township Ontario (Innisville) in 1841.  Several other siblings arrived with them, 
or at least in the same time period.  Other names in that area are Ebbs, Byrne, Ireton, etc.  

The original Sheppard homestead chimney still stands on Ramsay county land to which they 
came, with a brass plaque citing their arrival.
 
We believe John Sheppard was a carpenter on the Fitzwilliam estate prior to his departure 
to Canada.  (See link below.)
 
I was wondering if you might have run across their names in your research.
 
Thank you very much for any information you might be able to provide.
 
Ian (Sheppard)
 
http://www.ancestorsatrest.com/ireland_genealogy_data/coolkenna_townland_wicklow_fitzwilliam_rentals.shtml

_______________________________________

Good morning, Mr. Sheppard:
 
Thanks for your interesting e-mail regarding your ancestors, John Sheppard and Mary Appleby.
 
There seem to have been quite a few families who came from southern County Wicklow to the 
Innisville / Boyd's Settlement area in Lanark County. It's an interesting migration pattern.
 
Is it OK with you if I add your e-mail to our web site? Hopefully, we may hear from other 
researchers. Please let me know if this is OK with you.
 
I have a CD prepared by the late Robert Sample. The CD contains the family of John and Mary 
in the 1800's. It states that John's first wife was Anna Price and they had two children 
together, Sarah and Benjamin. According to Mr. Sample's work, John was born in Shillelagh, 
County Wicklow.
 
Thanks very much for contacting us. Hope to hear from you.
 
... Al Lewis
_________________________________

Thank you, Al, and, yes, feel free to add my email.  John Sheppard (born 1801) was married 
to Anna Price (first wife) and had two children, Benjamin and Sarah.  His birthdate 
coincides with the age in the 1839 valuation link below.  He emigrated with his second 
wife, Mary Appleby, and settled in Ramsay County.  We know from an obituary of his second 
child with Mary, Charlotte, that she was born in Shillelagh.  I am inclined to believe, 
however, that John himself was not born there.  Certainly, he lived there for a time with 
Mary.  Mary and he had many other children (10, we believe), the first two of which were 
born in Ireland prior to their departure to Canada, meaning that he likely arrived with 
four children; two from each marriage.
 
Rumour had it that their original destination was not Lanark County, but they stopped in as 
Mary was significantly ill, and they had prior family connections.  We have not been able to 
confirm this however.   
 
Please note that we believe two of John's brothers also came to the Ottawa valley (Benjamin 
and David), and several of the Appleby clan also arrived with Mary (Thomas, Elizabeth, Ann, 
John, Sarah).  All of these around the same time period, but we are unsure of any particular 
ships.
 
Thank you again, as it seems your information from Mr. Sample corresponds with the information 
I have.  Isn't it odd how we build the tree fibre by fibre.
 
Best regards,
... Ian
_______________________________
Hello Ian,
 
I have just a couple of things to add.
 
You have my transcription of the 1839 Fitzwilliam rentals record for Coolkenna (from 
ancestorsatrest). 
 
Attached here is a map of the townlands of the western part of the Fitzwilliam estate. 
One of the Balfes of Boley (Patrick) married an Anne Price and was having children there 
in the 1820s, so perhaps there was some movement back and forth across the religious divide 
in that area. (Other Balfes from Boley came to the rural area around Smiths Falls, 1826-1848.)
 
In my research into the Ontario settlement of the Fitzwilliam emigres, I haven't yet found 
the attached Appleby family, but perhaps they relate to your family. I did see the name 
in Lanark County, but I don't think it's this family. 
 
I'm also attaching the emigration record for a Keeley family who had leased land from John 
Shepard, a head tenant in Liscolman (top right-hand corner of the townland map). Perhaps 
this John is one of your family, too.
 
Hope this is helpful.
 
... Anne Burgess



 March 30, 2011:

Dear Al, Anne and Annette,
First of all, let me thank you all again for your collective contributions to the genealogical information available 
to Irish Canadian families.  Your work has been, and remains, such a help to those who are searching for their roots.  
Certainly, your very kind assistance in the case of our family has been very instructive, in many ways.  We have also 
been in touch with Brian Bailey, who was most helpful.
 
I thought, after several years of silence, I should quickly touch update some of my family information for you; both to 
resolve some of the questions I had posed a few years ago, and also to perhaps add a wee bit to the collective 
information pool.  I have been able to find some Irish records that (I believe) solidify one or two families' stories 
in County Wicklow, and then later here in the Ottawa Valley.  (Some conjecture still remains, as always, I guess).
 
Firstly, I had once early asked about John Sheppard, who married, first, Anna (Price) Pryce and had two children, 
then remarried Mary Appleby, later to emigrate from the Fitzwilliam Estate with Mary's two children and two more 
of their own.  Other children' (many!) were born in Canada..
 
We  have found John's Baptismal recored (Nov 1801) in the Aghowle Parish records, along with the baptism record of 
his first child (William) by Mary) in 1837, born of Edward and Anne Sheppard.  The dates all correspond to family 
information, and the 1837 record has "Appleby" in the ministers' hand written in the column.  We also (thanks to Anne) 
have a Fitzwilliam record (1837) which lists both Edward (father) and John (son) both renting separately in Coolkenno, 
and interestly both listed as carpenters.  (John is also listed in William's baptismal record in the Aghowle Parish 
register as a carpenter.  
 
We feel very confident now that John was baptised and raised in Coolkenno Wicklow, and stay thereabout until after 
his second marriage (to Mary Appleby) and his emigration.  Family records, and a chimney site memorial, and the 
obiturary of his oldest daughter (by Mary) all indicate and collaborate to an emigration from the Fitzwilliam in 
early 1841 to the Ramsay township, Ontario.  (I've attached a photo of the Chimney site and plaque (which my 
Grandfather erected in the 1950s).  We are a little unsure of the Ramsay land site progression/ownership, but are 
researching that now in Canadian records, but it may have been the land originally owned by a "Benjamin Sheppard" 
arrived circa 1820's, then by his widow.  There seems to be a family connection to this earlier Sheppard arrival, 
and our best guess is that Benjamin was perhaps an uncle.   (John also had a brother named Benjamin, however we 
believe him to have been too young to have settled in the 1920's.
 
So, we feel confident now to suggest that John Sheppard was of the Aghowle Parish and part of the Fitzwilliam 
emigration group, around early 1841.  He (and likely his father Edward before him, were likely fairly poor carpenters.  
The Sheppard family seemed not to inter-marry with known upper Wicklow families, and they probably arrived 
somewhere in the very early 1800s in Wicklow, as there are no preceding records to be found in the Aghowle records, 
but several follow.   (We wonder if Catholic persecution in Wexford / Kilkenny may have convinced them to move to 
Wicklow....but that is pure conjecture.
 
Lastly, we have some names of Appleby siblings of Mary Appleby in the Ottawa valley, if they are ever of interest to anyone.  
We have less information on this line, however they appear not to have been from Aghowle Parish, but rather likely 
from around Ballyraheen, an later part of the emigration to Ramsay area...but females marrying into Ramsay families 
(ex-Wicklow folk), and the males moving off to other areas fairly quickly.
 
Thank you again for your encouragement in the past.  It was very instrumental in our family continuing our searches.
 
Best Regards,
Ian Sheppard