Project Surnames
McShea, O'Shea, Seay, See, Shay, Shea, Shee, Shethe
Project Background
While it is generally accepted that the O'Shea surname started in County Kerry, Ireland about a thousand years ago, details of the migration of the clan/sept have not fully been established. In the 11th century, the areas associated with O'Sheas in Kerry were the Iveragh Peninsula and the Dingle Peninsula. The Shea/Shee families first occur in Co. Tipperary in the 14th century and spread from there to Kilkenny where they became influential in the running of the City of Kilkenny.
The yDNA Project is helping to establish that there are distinctive banches of O'Sheas which seems to support the migration theories. However, a lot of work needs to be done and the more data we have from the yDNA the more detail we will be able to add to the history of the clan.
In Famine times, migration to the "New World" was extensive with many people being cut off from knowledge of their Irish O'Shea ancestors. The yDNA Project is endeavouring to re-connect O'Sheas with their roots.