I am trying to put together a family tree and would be very interested to hear from anyone. My great grandfather changed o'shea to shay when he came to america from ireland. So I am curious to find out if anyone out there may be related by original last name of o'shea. Please feel free to contact me via email at any time. Thank you.

MY GRANDFRATHER TO CHANGE ARE LAST NAME FROM O'SHEA TO SHAY WHEN HE CAME TO THE US

Be careful I am a Shay family researcher and have the family name back to 1750's without a name change.
There maybe case of a name change from O'Shea to Shay or Shea, but the surname Shay goes way back as is.

Karen,

I was trying to e-mail you about info on my
family. Could you pleas e-mail me at
jls362000@yahoo.com it would be nice to talk
to you and get as much info as I can.

Thanks

Janet Shay

Karen can you e-mail me please I may have some
info you want. Thanks.

Janet Shay
e-mail: jls362000@yahoo.com

Do you have any info of a David SHAY b 1790 NJ married Phoebe CATHCART b. 1790 NJ?

I have not information on this individual in my family tree. The research I have done on the New Jersey Shay has lead to believe they are not related to me. My oldest relative is a John Shay abt 1750, probably from the Maryland, Virginia Delaware eastern shore. The probably is he was born in Accomack County Virginia. He did
serve in the Revoluntary War and acceptted a boudary land warrant in what is now West Virginia in the 1780s before moving to Ohio from the Virginia Military District land sale in 1806 and died there 1825/1826. Sorry I can't help you at this time. ms

What about Shay being changed to O'shea? This is what I am told happened in my family history.

I have reached the Revolutionary War and find no record of any name change. I thought I was Scot-Irish it the O' was dropped at some time in the past. Current research is pointing to a east coast of England location and not Scotland or Ireland. There maybe Shay that have dropped the O' but not in my family line.

In your research, have you come across a John C.(Cook) Shay, born on 14 February 1879 in Holidaysburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania? He served time in jail for someone else's crime (so the story goes), and changed his last name when he got out.