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Author: Shea, John Augustus

Biography:

SHEA, John Augustus (1802-45: WBIS)

He was born in Cork in Ireland. The names of his parents have not been discovered, but his father was a tailor, at first reasonably prosperous; when his situation deteriorated, he emigrated to America in 1819 with the rest of the family. John Augustus remained behind. He had had a classical education and was intended for the priesthood, but he chose instead to work as a clerk in a brewery and to cultivate literature. He contributed to some local papers and corresponded with Walter Scott (q.v.), among others. He dedicated his first book to Thomas Moore (q.v.). He was in London for the publication in 1826 but in 1827 followed his father to the United States. He worked first at West Point, then began a career in journalism in Philadelphia, followed by Washington DC and finally New York. He continued to produce poetry--Parnassian Wild Flowers (1836), Clontarf, a Narrative Poem (1843)--and left unfinished a tragedy, a biography of Byron, and a long poem, "Time's Mission." O'Donoghue calls him "one of the most brilliant authors of the day." He was taken ill on a speaking engagement and died at home of "congestion of the brain." Shea is said to have been married twice; neither names nor dates are available but the first marriage must have taken place in Ireland about 1825. There were at least two children: his son George Shea (b 1826), who became a writer and a judge, edited a posthumous selection of Poems with a memoir. (ancestry.com 13 Sept. 2020; O'Donoghue; Appleton; "Memoir," Poems [1846])

 

Other Names:

  • J. A. Shea
 

Books written (2):

London/ Hanley/ Cork: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green/ Thomas Allbut and Son/ King and Ridings, 1826
New York: printed by W. E. Dean, 1831