SHANIA TWAIN’S NEWBRIDGE CONNECTION

Shania Twain’s Newbridge Connection

Karel Kiely

Shania Twain (Eilleen Regina Edwards) was born in Ontario, Canada on 28 August 1965 to Sharon Morrison (1945-1987) and Clarence Edwards (1945-). Her mother later married Jerry Twain (1947-1987) in 1981. Sharon and Jerry Twain were killed in a car accident in 1987 when Shania was twenty-two and on the verge of launching her singing career.

Her maternal grandmother, Eileen Mary Pearce, was born in Newbridge, Co. Kildare on 10 April 1911. She was the daughter of Francis George Pearce, a gunner in the Royal Field Artillery, and Lottie Louise Reeves. They were married in Aldershot, Surrey, England, on 25 October 1910, both aged 23 years. At the time of the 1911 Census, the family was living in Eyre Street, Newbridge and both Francis and Lottie gave their place of birth as England. There was one other family in the house, Michael Moloney, his wife Mary (née Kearns), their two children and Mary’s brother and sister.

According to the Canadian census of 1916, Francis immigrated in 1911 and Lottie and Eileen in 1912 to Manitoba, Canada. Francis and Lottie also had two sons and two daughters born in Canada.

Francis Pearce died on 18 September 1959 and his obituary stated that he was born in Hampshire, England. During the First World War he served overseas with the British Expeditionary Force and after his demobilization in March 1920 returned to Canada. Francis Pearce farmed at Piney, Manitoba, until his retirement. His wife, Lottie, died on 31 December 1962; they are buried in Badger Cemetery, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Shania’s grandmother, Eileen Pearce, was married firstly to Walter Fraser (1907-1971?) in 1933 in Manitoba, Canada, and then to George Morrison (1906-1988), with whom she had one child, Sharon Morrison Twain. Eileen Morrison died on 01 November 1987 in Ontario, Canada.