SHANAHAN, JOHN (1793-1870)

SHANAHAN, JOHN, first Catholic parish priest Chatham, 1843-46; b. Kilkenny, Ireland, 1793; ordained 1823; d. New York City, 8 Aug 1870.

John Shanahan enrolled in Mount St. Mary Seminary, in Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 1820 and was ordained three years later. He served in New York State until 1843, when he became the first resident priest of St Michael's Church, Chatham, and the missions at Bartibog and Burnt Church. All three stations were served previously by Father Michael Egan in his capacity as missionary on the river, and since 1839, by his assistant, Father Richard Veriker.

Shanahan returned to New York in 1846 and was succeeded by Father John Sweeny. He was assistant pastor of St. John's Church in Newark, N.J., in 1847 but went to California at the time of the gold rush to minister to the miners. He was back in New York City in 1855, when he deeded land in Glenelg parish to Philip Shanahan. This would appear to confirm a tradition that he had relatives living on the Miramichi. He was "totally blind" at the time of his death in 1870, at age seventy-seven.