BRIDGET E. SHEEHAN NIXON (1853–1910)

Bridget Ellen Sheehan was born on June 28, 1853, in Athea Parish, County Limerick, Ireland. Her parents were Dennis Sheehan, a Catholic farmer, and Margaret Ellen Wolfe Sheehan. She had at least five siblings: Mary (b. 1841), Patrick W. (b. 1843), Margaret Ellen (b. 1847), Dennis Wolfe (b. 1852), and Thomas (b. 1860).

Sheehan’s brothers Patrick and Dennis emigrated to the United States in 1872, eventually settling in Newport, Rhode Island. At some point, together or separately, Bridget Sheehan and her brother Thomas joined them in Newport.

On November 27, 1900, she married John Nixon, also an Irish immigrant, at Saint Mary’s Church in Newport. They had one child: James Joseph (b. 1889).

Sheehan died on October 28, 1910, in Newport. Her husband died on February 10, 1912.