Kershaw family genealogy

Of South Carolina, U.S.A.

Arms:[1] Gu. a chev. erm. betw. three cinquefoils or, stalked and leaved vert. Crest: A ram pass. ppr.

Blake, of the county Galway, Ireland, married Miss Eyre,[2] a sister of Colonel Eyre, of the British Army, A.D. 1798; emigrated to America; settled in Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, America; and had, with three other children:

2. Frances, who was twice m.: first to — Ramage; and, secondly, to — Swallow, of Philadelphia, by whom she had two daughters—1. Mary, of whom presently; 2. Margaret, who m. Colonel Stisted, of the United States Army, and had three daughters.

3. Mary Swallow; the elder daughter of Frances by her second marriage to Mr. Swallow. Was twice m.: first, to Charles Kershaw, of Charleston, Carolina, by whom she had two sons—1. Newman, of whom presently; 2. Charles. She was secondly, married to Francis Rosalind Swallow, and by him had: 1. William, b. 1819, d. 1823; 2. Thomas, who had a dau. married to — Turnbull; 3. Anne, who was twice m., first to James Heyward Claiborne of Charleston, S. Ca., and secondly to E. H. Mathews of Mississippi, but by either marriage left no issue.

4. Newman: elder son of Mary and Charles Kershaw, of Charleston.

5. Rev. Henry Kershaw, of Baltimore, living in 1883: son of Newman; married Adeline, dau. of Bishop Clagget.

Notes

[1] Arms: Another coat of the family was:—Gu. a sword in pale ar. hilt and pommel or, in base a serpent nowed vert, on a chief of the third three martlets.

[2] Eyre: In a work entitled Coleccion de los Viages-y-de Culrimientos (Madrid: In los Imprensa Real, y los año de 1825), Vol. II., p. 19, Doctor O’Callaghan found a List of the Crew of the “Pinta,” one of the vessels that accompanied the “Sancta Maria”—the vessel in which Christopher Columbus sailed on the voyage when he discovered America. Among other names on that List appears that of “Guillermo Ires” (anglicised William Eyre or Eyres), “a native of Galway.” This discovery by Dr. O’Callaghan would imply that the “Eyre” family, or members of it, were located in the county Galway before the Cromwellian period.