1887 Newspaper Article on the death of Michael William Shanahan
from the Boone Family Scrapbook
Transcription:Our community was saddened on the 27th ult., by the death of Lieut. W. M. Shanahan, he died at his residence three miles east of Coldwater. Lieut. Shanahan was born Sept. 29th 1841 in the city of Limerick Ireland; came to the United States in the year 1857. He landed at New York, remained there a few days then came to Senatobia on the M. & T. R. R., which was at that time just completed as far as Senatobia; he has lived in Old DeSoto ever since, being Tate when the county was divided; he served the full term of the war in the old 9th Miss., Co. B., and made a gallant soldier, as all his company will testify. Was severely wounded in the Georgia campaign-returned to Senatobia at the close of the war, and was married to Miss Sallie M. Potter in 1868, joined the Baptist church the same year and has been a member till his death. At the late Re-union he was presented, by the ladies of Senatobia, his old flag that he fought many battles under during the war. He died peacefully and quietly on the night of May 27th, without even a frown of pain or shudder of fear-of that dreaded disease, dropsy.
So fades a summer cloud away,
So sinks a gale when storms are o'er,
So gently shuts the eye of day,
So dies a wave along the shore.
PHILO.
June 6th, 1887.
Notes:
Ultimo: Miriam Webster defines this word as an adjective from the Latin phrase ultimo mense (in the last month) and gives the definition: of or occurring in the month preceding the present. So this article is giving Michael's date of death as 27 May 1887; however, his gravestone indicates that the date of death is 26 May 1887. Family Bible records also verify the 26 May 1887 date. Reference: Bible Records and Cemetery Records
Michael William's initials have been transposed in this article as W. M.
Michael's birthplace is specifically given in this article as the city of Limerick. Whether this is actually true or not remains to be proven. His descendants often state that he is from Limerick (as do his Civil War Documents) however, it is my understanding that many Irish immigrants, when asked to give their place of birth, often simply stated the nearest large town that an American would recognize, knowing that if they gave the small townland from which they actually came from in Ireland that NOBODY would understand where they were talking about. Also problematic here is that Limerick is a County as well as a City in Ireland...does his indication that he is from Limerick indicate just the county at large or was Michael actually born in the city of Limerick, in the County of Limerick, in the province of Munster as this article suggests?
Did Michael come in the year 1857? We have found a record for a Michael Shanahan for the ship "Rocklight" which sailed from Liverpool, England to New York City in 1856 and the age of the passenger listed as Michael Shanahan fits in with our family story...but unfortunately, we cannot tell (for lack of other Shanahan's traveling with him) if this is "our" Michael. Research into passenger lists for 1857 needs to be carried out to prove or disprove the 1856 records.
There had been some speculation prior to obtaining this newspaper article that Michael might have entered the U.S. through the port of New Orleans; we now know this not to be the case. Also, recently a letter written by Michael's brother Denis Shanahan (partial only and undated) has come to light which indicates that Denis traveled to the U.S. separately and AFTER his brother Michael and that he [Denis] tried to meet up with Michael at a boarding house by the name of Kerrigan's in New York City but that Michael was no longer at that place when Denis arrived. The mention in this newspaper article that Michael "remained there a few days" (before heading south on the train) seems to mesh pretty well with the information contained in Denis' letter to Michael.
M & T R.R. stands for the Mississippi & Tennessee Railroad which commenced operation in 1855. In 1887 it became part of the Illinois Central Railroad and still is. Senatobia is a station on the IC's Chicago-New Orleans mainline and is 37 miles south of Memphis. Source: National Railway Historical Society. Also, according to an online article in The Democrat this railroad continued to deliver passengers at Senatobia until 1958.
Michael was wounded (in the arm) and reported absent due to this wound on July 22, 1864. Click here to view company muster roll containing this information. Also, it can be assumed that the date of the letter written by Michael's brother, Denis was sometime after 22 July 1864 (this letter recently came to light and we are missing the date it was written) because Denis is obviously aware of Michael's injury to his arm and makes mention of this fact by saying "I hope you arm is as strong as ever".
Married Miss Sallie Margaret Potter on 15 November 1868 in DeSoto County, MS. Click here to view scan of photocopy of original marriage license.
Joined the Carolina Church and was baptized on 27 May 1868. Click here to view a letter written by Michael on this subject.
There has always been a question in my mind as to whether Michael ever actually attended a reunion before his death in 1887 (although there are ribbons from a reunion held in Vicksburg, I cannot find dates for any [reunions] that were held prior to 1887 in Vicksburg). This article seems to suggest, however, that Michael attended at least one reunion and one would assume that it was held in Senatobia from the mention of his being presented with his flag by "the ladies of Senatobia". We know that at least one reunion was held after his death from a mention in Robert McCarthy's May 1887 letter in which he says, "Let the surviving soldiers of the old brigade that was commanded by Chalmers, Patten, Anderson, Tucker and Sharp, when they come in July, put flowers upon his grave". References: Robert McCarthy's Letter and Civil War Artifacts
Some of the battles he fought in are mentioned in Robert McCarthy's May 1887 letter. Reference: Robert McCarthy's Letter
Dropsy: Edema (swelling), often caused by kidney or heart disease. Source: Disease Terminology
Transcribed 12 June 2001 by K. L. Rhodes. Original Source: Article published June 6, 1887 in an unidentified newspaper, copy of which was cut out and placed into the Boone Family Scrapbook. Scrapbook believed to originally have been the property of Hannah Catherine Potter Boone, sister-in-law to Michael W. Shanahan. This scrapbook currently in the possession of Frank E. Norman, Jr. of Lee County, Mississippi.
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