Sheelagh Corcoran McDowell 1901-1968

It's In the Genes

Sheelagh Corcoran 1917

As recently posted, I have connected with distant cousins. I am very familiar with my ancestors who came through Ellis Island from Ireland over a hundred years ago. I am referring to my grandfather's family, John Carrick Cooper. 

Here is a photo that one of my cousins sent me of Sheelagh around the time she wrote the letter in 1917. I have been in contact with her son. He told me that "Sheelagh was in Dublin during the 1916 rebellion and remembered the bullets striking the cobble stones." 

After I made my connection with a second cousin in St. Louis, Missouri; he sent me a photo of the "mysterious" Sheelagh Corcoran with her younger sister, Angela. Sheelagh was his aunt. Sheelagh was my grandfather's niece who wrote a letter to her Uncle Jack during World War I. See post about the letter. http://familyfilmfabricfood.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-letter-that-started-it-all_10.html

Sheelagh with her sister, Angela 1965

Here is Sheelagh in 1965, in Dublin, visiting her youngest sister, Angela. There is a 14 year time span between the two sisters. See post about their mother, Elizabeth Cooper Corcoran 

http://familyfilmfabricfood.blogspot.com/2017/02/elizabeth-cooper-corcoran-1881-1921.html

Doris & Eileen 1998

When I first glanced at this photo of sisters, I did not see them. I saw two cousins that I knew and grew to love. They were my father's cousin, Doris Cooper Powers and my father's sister, Eileen Cooper Carl.  

Malcolm McDowell 1919

Sheelagh married Malcolm McDowell in 1925/26 in Belfast. They had 3 children, the first son was Austin McDowell, who died as a baby in an automobile accident. Another daughter and son were born. 







Hopefully, more documents with stories will come of Sheelagh's life along with her families.