[2] He co-founded and was secretary from 1894 of the Irish Land and Labour Association O'Shee was born as John James Shee on 3 November 1866 at Newtown, near Carrick-on-Suir Co. Tipperary as the youngest of four sons of John Shee, a farmer of good means, of Newtown Upper near the hamlet of Faugheen, north of Carrick-on-Suir and his wife Marrianne (née Britton).
[5] Although Sheehan was a Parnellite when elected MP for Mid-Cork in 1901, the Sheehan-O'Shee's alliance reflected how the Parnell split could be bridged by seeking co-operation in an independent organisation.
[6] The Irish Party leadership on the other hand, refused to consider direct Parliamentary representation to the Land and Labour Association, an indication of the middle-class determination with maintaining its hold over national politics.
In the long run the Party's intervention weakened Sheehan's renamed LLA group,[1] and the labour movement in general.
O'Shee found it difficult initially to combine his responsibilities as a solicitor with those of his political career, and was in fact reprimanded by Redmond in 1903 for his failing to attend parliament regularly.
At the outset of the Irish Convention he joined Arthur Lynch and four other MPs in signing a declaration that no partition based settlement would be acceptable.
[1] His tenacity saw him take his stand in the 1918 Irish general election, where he was defeated by Sinn Féin's Cathal Brugha in the new West Waterford constituency.
On 1 June 1921 O'Shee married Anne Mary (Nancy), daughter of Thomas B. Naughton, farmer of Killaghy Castle, Mullinahone, Co. Tipperary.
He moved some time later from his home Oak Ville house, on the edge of Clonmel (Which is now the site of a Dunnes Stores) to Pembroke Park, Ballsbridge, Dublin, where he died on 1 January 1946.