| Mother of Civil War hero Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, Mrs. Sheridan, age 87, predeceased her famous son by two months, neither being aware of the other's fatal illness. Born in Ireland, she married her second cousin, John Sheridan, on her 25th birthday, and worked with him as a tenant farmer on an estate called Cherrymount in their native County Cavan. Encouraged to emigrate by John's maternal uncle, Thomas Gainor of Albany, New York, the couple embarked for the United States early in the year 1831 with their two young children: 3-year-old Patrick, and Rosa, a baby who died during the voyage. After a brief stay in Albany, the couple came to settle in Somerset, Ohio with their growing family, which by this time included the newborn Philip. As John Sheridan's work in canal and railway construction frequently kept him away from home, Mary's solid character exerted a profound influence on their five surviving children--Patrick, Philip, Mary, John, and Michael. Described as "clear-headed, resourceful, honest, and industrious" by her neighbors, it was generally believed that Phil inherited his best qualities from his mother. After the Civil War, she lived in a "Steamboat Gothic" house which had been built for her by Gen. Sheridan, but she declined to praise him more than his siblings, telling visitors that she took as much pride in her son John's having done his duty as a private during the Civil War as she did in the more distinguished military careers of his brothers Philip and Michael. Widowed in 1875, she was also predeceased by two of her adult children: Patrick in 1853, and Mary (Mrs. John Wilson)in 1868. All are now reunited here in Holy Trinity Cemetery with the exception of Rosa, who was buried at sea, and Generals Philip and Michael Sheridan, who were buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. |
Mary Manah (Meenagh)