Appeal issued for information on man who sheltered executed Tipperary priest

An appeal for assistance from the public has been made by a man living in Dublin for assistance in a research project he is carrying out.

Pat Griffith believes he is a descendant of William Grifith, the protestant farmer who sheltered  Tipperary priest Fr Nicholas Sheehy prior to his execution in 1766.

Pat has written the following article to let people know what information he is looking to find.

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“I have strong reasons to believe I am a descendant of William Griffith, the protestant farmer who sheltered Fr Nicholas Sheehy prior to his execution in 1766.
My granduncle Patrick J Griffith (member of RSAI and professor of music at the RIAM) kept meticulous journals.

Two such journals have recently come to light. The one for 1910-12 relates how he, PJ Griffith, researched the family history and how the story of his family background was passed down to him by his grandfather. PJ’s father, my grandfather William Griffith, died in 1893 aged 67, thus implying that he was born in c.1826.

KILCASH GRAVEYARD
He was the first schoolteacher in Kilsheelan and was succeeded by his son Richard.
I have so far been unable to find any parish or state records of his birth which were probably lost in the fire at the public records office in the Four Courts in 1922.

He is buried in the Kilcash old graveyard.
He trained as a teacher in the Marlborough Teacher Training College in Dublin in 1850.

He was the teacher in Croagh National School in Ballybacon for a number of years and lived in Ardfinnan. In 1860 he married Joanna Manning, a school teacher in Kilcash, and together they started the NS in Kilsheelan, county Tipperary.
Mary Griffith, daughter or granddaughter of William, the shelterer, married into the Baylor family of Fermoy.

SECRET CURE
She was the custodian of the secret cure remedy for shingles passed on by Fr Nicholas.
I am trying to prove the relationship of my family to William the shelterer. Finding birth/baptism records for my grandfather William is key to this search.

I know that William the shelterer had two sons, Samuel and George and I know that Samuel’s son George had four children, three boys and a girl.

George snr died in Clogheen in 1850. George Jnr and his children emigrated to the USA in 1852 and I have traced them through to the early 1900s in New York.

They were prominent members of the Church of Ireland in Shanrahan and lived next door to the cemetery in Shanrahan.
They were also Tithe Collectors and were guardians involved in the running of the Poor Law Workhouse in Clogheen.

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SHANBALLY ESTATE
They were employees and tenants of the Lismore/Shanbally Estate. My grandfather William may be the same William who was working as a tailor in Clogheen in the 1840s.
I would welcome and appreciate any additional information that would help me to prove my relationship to William the shelterer.
Pat Griffith
Mobile: 087 826 9695
Email: pgngriffith@gmail.com