Eleanor Lexington, in the _Buffalo Sunday News_, states that Nathaniel
Shannon, who was born in Ireland 1655, came to this country when he was
thirty-two years old and made his home in Boston, where in 1701 he was a
member of the Old South Church. Twenty-two years later he died, and the
stone marking his grave in the Old Granary Burying Ground in Boston is
still standing. Nathaniel’s brother, Robert, was mayor of Derry in 1689,
and Nathaniel was also a man of affairs, holding many town offices. He
was the first naval officer of the port of Boston and a merchant of
prominence.
The papers now preserved in the Massachusetts State Archives show that
he was a man of good education. His wife was Elizabeth, and their
children were Nathaniel J., Robert, who is supposed to have died
unmarried, and Samuel, who married Ann Miller. Nathaniel the second
married Abigail Vaughan, whose father was one of the royal councillors
and also chief justice of New Hampshire. Nathaniel and Abigail had two
sons, Nathaniel and Cutts. The four children of Nathaniel were his
namesake, and George, Margaret and Abigail. Nathaniel and his wife,
Abigail Vaughan, lived in Portsmouth, N. H., where he was a ship
merchant. He also lived in Ipswich. Among other records of this
generation, still extant, is that of a deed conveying land to Jonathan
Belcher, 1720. Nathaniel was a slave owner, and, by will, left negroes
to his sons.
We find that Dover, N. H., was another stronghold of the Shannons, and
Thomas, who married Lilias Watson, held many town offices. In 1785 he
was captain of the New Hampshire militia. “He was a zealous supporter of
the Revolution and active in recruiting its armies.” He died in 1800,
aged about fifty years. Heitman’s _Officers of the American Revolution_
names William Shannon of Virginia, ensign and lieutenant. O’Seanchain is
said to have been the first form of the surname, Shannon. From
O’Seanchain to Shanahan, Shanason, is considered an easy feat to
accomplish by those who are skilled in such matters. Then from Shanahan
to Shanon or Shannon is as easy as rolling off the proverbial log.
Seanchain or Seanchan is composed of two Celtic words, “seancha,”
meaning an antiquarian or genealogist, and “an,” one who. Seanchan is,
then, one who is an antiquarian. Old records frequently give the name as
Shanon, or with one “n.” The O’Sheanchains have a long pedigree,
belonging, as they do, to that branch of the Celtic race which alone of
all European races of the period antedating the Christian era has
maintained its identity to the present time.
[Illustration:
MR. THOMAS J. LYNCH.
Augusta, Me.
]
[Illustration:
MR. GEORGE W. McCARTHY.
Portsmouth, N. H.
]
[Illustration:
MR. ROGER G. SULLIVAN.
Manchester, N. H.
]