Paul Doherty of Camnish, Dungiven lived a long life: 1826-1914

When my 1st cousin 3x removed, Paul Doherty (1826-1914) died at the age of 88 on 9 Feb 1914, a very lengthy, but not entirely accurate, obituary appeared in the Derry Journal on 13 Feb 1914. In fact, the obituary is so lengthy that I had to capture it in four images, appeared in the Derry Journal on 13 Feb 1914. Paul was one of at least 13 children of my 2nd great great uncle and aunt, Thomas Doherty and Bridget McCloskey. I first wrote about that family here.

Early on in Paul's obituary, you can easily spot the first inaccuracy. He was born in 1826, not "over a century ago" as the third sentence of the obituary states. Paul's 12 Jan 1826 baptism record is one of the few Catholic church records I've found for my Dougherty ancestors in Dungiven or elsewhere in Derry or Donegal. Fact checking was still in its infancy in early 20th century journalism.

Paul Doherty's 12 Jan 1826 baptism, St Patrick's Church, Dungiven

The obituary notes some of his siblings who settled in America. One sentence here I've been unable to verify, despite the plethora of information about the New York and Erie Railway available online and elsewhere: "Two others were large contractors, and under the title Doherty & Hegarty, built the New York and Eyrie Railway, with many other state contracts." The New York and Erie Railway was built between 1831 and 1852. Only two of Paul's sons were in New York, Kingston, specifically. One was a clothier who died in 1853, and the other returned home to Camnish and died in 1854. I wrote about them and their sisters who also made their way to Kingston here in 2016.

Paul and Margaret Ann McKinney (1835-1901) had at least eight children. The obituary doesn't name all of them -- in the cases of his daughters, their husbands' names appear, but not theirs. I found the children through baptismal records:

Thomas (abt 1856-?)
Ellen (1858-abt 1929)
Bridget (1861-1947)
Marcus (abt 1863-bef 1918)
Isabella (1864-aft 1911)
Willie (1867-1957)
Jane (1870-?)
James (1872-1946)

All of them seem to have remained in Ireland, but not all married and had families of their own. Willie was a priest. I've become friends with several of his descendants though, through Facebook and AncestryDNA.

We regularly collaborate on our shared ancestry.

What a long life Paul had -- deserving of this long obituary.


The never ending story continues....

© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2019 All rights reserved

When Dungiven came to be in Derry

A bit of a history clarification with this post. A back and forth debate among DNA cousins has been definitively resolved. I grew up (and it seems so too did many Dougherty cousins of many branches) being told that our forebears came from Donegal. In fact, some grave markers in Canada and the U.S. even note ancestors were born in Donegal.

It's been long established that my 3rd great grandparents, James Dougherty and Isabella McLaughlin, were almost certainly born in Inishowen, which has always been in Donegal. But my their son, Marcus (2nd great grandfather) and some of his siblings and many of their children were born in Banagher, Learmont and Dungiven. All of these places are today located in Derry (or Londonderry), Northern Ireland.

A 4th cousin again raised this issue in December, as did another 4th cousin a few days ago. That 4th cousin did some more research, and sent me this comment, after looking at sites that included this and this:

"Following the defeat of the Irish earls and the confiscation of their lands in 1609, English colonization was undertaken by livery companies of the City of London and the Honourable Irish Society (founded 1610). A charter of 1613, granted by James I of England, VI of Scotland, established the county of Londonderry, which comprised the old county, O’Neill lands of Loughinsholin, and small parts of Donegal and Antrim."

I'm very glad to have this resolved at last and have updated all references in my genealogy database to say Dungiven is in Derry, not Donegal. Yes, I'm saying Derry, rather than Londonderry.

The never ending story continues....




© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2018 All rights reserved

From Dungiven to Vermont, Quebec, Ontario, New York, and beyond

Earlier this year, I was asked by the publishers of The Winding Roe, a community, cultural and historical magazine distributed annually in December in Dungiven and the surrounding area, if I could submit an article about my Dougherty family history search. The magazine takes its name from the River Roe. Dungiven lies in the Roe Valley, where the rivers Roe, Owenbeg and Owenreagh meet. My copy of the magazine is being mailed to me -- I haven't received it yet (it's not web-posted), but I wanted to share here what I submitted. Here it is:

I am a descendent of Dungiven.  

My third great grandparents were James Dougherty, who died before 1830, and Isabella McLaughlin, who died at Camnish in 1830. They had at least four sons (Thomas, Marcus, James and Joshua), likely more, and daughters too, I imagine.  

Oral histories passed down from one generation to the next sometimes lose facts. I grew up hearing my father’s stories of how we were from Donegal, that my great grandfather was an only child, and that if your name was spelled Dougherty, you were Catholic, but if it was Doherty, you were a Protestant. I knew my grandfather’s name, and that his father and grandfather had lived in Granby and Sherbrooke, both in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. I knew that we had a distant cousin who had become a judge in Quebec in the 1800s. But beyond that, I knew very little. 

In the 1990s, when I discovered how much genealogy research you could do on the internet, I began a voyage of discovery that continues to this day. In those days, I could hardly call myself a genealogist. I was just starting out. But I quickly experienced the kindness often extended by more seasoned genealogists to people like me, and I was off. The details my father passed down have been corrected by my own research. 

I won’t recount all my many “ah hah!” discoveries here but in summary (and this has taken years of research): while my direct ancestors originated in Inishowen, by the early 1800s if not before, they were in and around the Dungiven area, rather than an only child, my great grandfather was one of seven children, there were both nuns and priests among my Catholic Doherty and Dougherty cousins, there are many reasons for the various spellings of Dougherty within my own family, and so many other details. Many times, this information would be staring me right in the face, as it were, before I realized that it was valid and applicable. 

My second great-grandparents, Marcus Dougherty (1794-1864) and Mary Ann Diamond (1802-1842), left Dungiven probably between 1827 and 1829. I know this because their third child, James, was baptized at St Patrick’s in Dungiven on 12 November 1826. I can’t imagine anyone embarking on that kind of a transatlantic crossing in the winter in the early 19^th century. I haven’t found ship manifests with their names, but by 1830 Marcus, Mary Ann and their young brood were in Vermont, for Marcus appears in that year’s census as the head of a farming household consisting of five people. You would think the number five would have given me pause, but it took over 15 years for me to connect the dots and discover my great grandfather’s siblings.  

Marcus’ brother, James (1796-1878), also migrated to Vermont, but it’s unclear when he reached Vermont: before, with, or after Marcus and Mary Ann arrived. James soon began theological studies at the University of Vermont and became a Congregationalist minister. One of the eulogies given at his well-reported on funeral described how James had already been uncomfortable with the devout Catholic faith of his parents before leaving Ireland, and it was soon after arriving in Vermont that he abandoned Catholicism. James’ obituaries report that he was born in Park, Banagher, which I see from maps isn’t far from Dungiven.

I have absolutely no information at all about Mary Ann Diamond’s family. I didn’t even know her name until I discovered a record of her 1842 burial several years ago. Unfortunately, that record only noted her husband, and didn’t mention her parents by name. As more Irish parish records are being digitized, I’m seeing more of the Diamond name in the north of Ireland.

Several nieces and nephews of Marcus and James followed them to America, but with one exception, not until the 1840s, most of them settling in a small town that is about an hour north of New York City, in Ulster County. They were all children of Marcus and James’ brother Thomas (d abt 1832) and Bridget McCloskey. The first to leave, was also a Marcus, who was sent by his mother soon after Thomas’ death when he was about 17, to his uncles Marcus and James in Vermont. Young Marcus was clearly the academic star of his large family, attending a grammar school in Dungiven, something that I learned was rare at that time for a child of a farming family. Once in Vermont, he attended the University of Vermont, then taught for a couple of years in Quebec, before completing his law degree in Vermont, and eventually being appointed a judge. One of Judge Marcus’ sons, Charles Joseph, also became a lawyer and judge, and was then a member of parliament and Canada’s Minister of Justice during the First World War. Judge Marcus had a great grandson who was a member of Canada’s Supreme Court. 

Thomas Dougherty and Bridget McCloskey had at least 13 children. Nine of these migrated to Canada and America. Only one of those returned to Dungiven. Except for Judge Marcus, his siblings and their spouses were tradespeople, farmers, or eventually merchants. Their brother Paul Doherty (1826-1914) stayed in Dungiven, living at Camnish, marrying and having his own large family. 

The existence of the brothers and sisters of my great grandfather still astound me. I discovered three of them in the 1861 Canada census, but then lost them, only to find them thanks to a clue in a probate document filed by Judge Marcus Doherty relating to the estates of his spinster cousins, daughters of his uncle, Rev James Dougherty, the Congregationalist minister. Judge Marcus noted that two of those were living in Cincinnati. Eventually, I discovered five of my great-grandfather’s siblings, all in Cincinnati, starting with the two eldest sons, in the mid 1840s. What took them from Granby (about an hour out of Montreal today) to Ohio at that time? Their brothers and sisters joined them in the 1860s from Granby. I’ve found mention in Cincinnati city directories of the sixth sibling, also a Marcus, and am still tracing his whereabouts. Except for two of the Cincinnati Doughertys, none married, and only one had children. 

Mysteries remain to be solved. I continue to look for Mary Ann Diamond’s own parents and family and the birthplaces and parentage of my third great grandparents, James Dougherty and Isabella McLaughlin. I hope that if I can find this information, it will unlock even more doors in my family history research.  

Dungiven-area families intermarried with Dohertys/Doughertys include Brolly, McLaughlin, McCloskey and McFeely.  

Just in May, I had a tremendous breakthrough, again, thanks to DNA, which led to the discovery of three previously unknown children of Thomas Doherty and Bridget McCloskey, who had settled in Canada: John Doherty (abt 1807-1872), Sarah Doherty (abt 1826-1861) and Elleanor Doherty. To my great delight, John worked and lived in the same neighbourhood of Toronto where I live. The Irish had a strong presence in Toronto in the 19^th century. John was married and had his 12 children baptized at a church that is a 15-minute walk from me. The sponsors of some of those baptisms had the name McCloskey. John’s eldest daughter, Mary Sarah, married the son of a Dungiven couple: Edward McFeely and Susanna McCloskey, who were married at St Patrick’s in Dungiven in 1826, just days before my great-great uncle James’ baptism. When I saw the St Patrick’s parish register showing their names just a few lines above the baptism, I chuckled.  

Sarah Doherty arrived in Saint John with her husband, Patrick Joseph McCorkell in about 1848, making their way to Toronto about two years later, joining her brother, John. By 1860, the McCorkells were living about what is a 90-minute drive north of Toronto today, where they farmed. I haven’t found McCorkells in Dungiven records, so far, but it seems to me that this must also be an area family going back generations. 

Sarah and John have many descendants scattered across North America today. I am still researching these new lines. The eldest of their children, Augustine McCorkell (abt 1845-1898) settled in Cincinnati from about 1865. He and his Dougherty cousins must have known each other.  

Did Sarah and John stay in touch with their uncles Marcus and James? Did they stay in touch with their siblings in Quebec and New York? Did they know their cousins in Quebec, New York, Vermont, Ohio and beyond?  

Family history research has led to making friends with several people I call my DNA cousins. The first was a Belfast-born woman now living in England who contacted me when she saw my tree on Ancestry, and provided me so many details to flesh out my until then rather sparse Dougherty family tree. Our genetic relationship was confirmed through DNA. I also have a DNA cousin who lives in Ballymoney. Other Dougherty DNA cousins with whom I’m regularly in touch are in Canada and in America. 

Here’s my ask of anyone reading this article. Can you help me push my research back further? Do you know anything about the Diamond family who probably lived in the Dungiven area from the late 1700s onwards? Do you know anything about James Dougherty and Isabella McLaughlin and their parents? Please contact me. 

In 2016, I began a family history blog that details much more of my genealogy discoveries. You can read my blog I end each new blog post with the words “the never ending story continues….” Because it really does – my research continues. I doubt that it will ever end.  

P.S. In October, I discovered that the daughter of one of my Ulster, New York ancestor cousins, married a man named Diamond. It seems there were a couple of Diamond families in Ulster, New York, starting the 1820s when a James Diamond (born abt 1784 in Londonderry, according to records, settled there. Is he related to my second great grandmother, Mary Ann Diamond? I wonder.

_____________

© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2017 All rights reserved

Mary Dougherty McElvare of Kingston, New York and more family

Genealogy is constant research and refinement, and yes, correcting. Another random act of genealogical kindness came my way this week, after I contacted someone whose Ancestry tree is private, looking for some information about one of my Kingston, New York Dougherty 1st cousins, 3x removed, Mary Dougherty.

Well, this person was a veritable goldmine of accurate information about early Irish immigrants to Rondout, a village later absorbed by Kingston. By early, we're talking the 1840s and before. She took the time to point out that she was believed that I had an error in my Ancestry family tree, and convinced me.

Mary Dougherty, who joined her siblings Michael, Margaret, Bridget and Isabella in Kingston, New York, wasn't married to Andrew O'Reilly, let alone had several children with him, as I had mentioned here in August 2016. When I look back at my research, I'm not even sure why I had made this connection.

Once I started researching Mary anew (for the first time in several years), I quickly saw that, absolutely, she was married at St Patrick's in Dungiven, where so many of my ancestors lived, to Edward McElvare on 29 Sep 1829 -- this is in the Irish Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915 in Ancestry's catalogue. Oh my. McElvar, it turns out, is probably mispelled even more than Dougherty. It took some time to connect the dots, but as I did, I had some of those always delightful ahah moments that left me slapping my head.

Kingston Daily Freeman 31 Jan 1933

First, I searched the Kingston Daily Freeman newspaper archive and found  a 31 Jan 1933 death notice for one Catherine McElvare, who was the daughter of the late Edward and Mary Dougherty McElvare. Catherine died at a cousin's home, and had another cousin who was a noted local priest. Both those cousins' names I recognized.

Hoping for more clues, I found Catherine's grave marker. But hers is the only McElvare marker I found at St Mary's Cemetery in Kingston.

Next, I found the 1860 census in Kingston using the name McElvar, where I found that Mary and Edward had three children: John, Mary and Kate. But wait, they lived next door to Isabella and Bernard McReynolds, who are also mentioned here. Both Edward McElvare and Bernard McReynolds were listed as clothiers.

1860 US Census, Rondout, New York

According to Kate's 1898 US naturalization documents, which I next found, she arrived from Ireland in 1848, suggesting that the McElvare family arrived then, but I can find no records for the others. Another family link is found in her naturalization petition: the person attesting to the truth of her statements and that he has known her for 38 years, is the husband of another cousin, who is the daughter of Margaret Dougherty McGranahan.

More searching produced the 1850 Roundout census, when I realized that that Mary's son John was then listed as living with her brother, Michael Dougherty and his family. How had a missed that? I haven't found the rest of his family in the 1850 census, but am still looking. I wonder why John was living with his uncle. By the way, Michael was also a clothier. The six year old James listed below grew up to become the priest who presided at Catherine McElvare's funeral mass. It was in the home of James' sister Mary Ann Dougherty Hallahan, where Catherine died. Also living in Michael's 1850 household was his brother, Thomas (1823-1854), who was the only Dougherty who returned to Dungiven, where he died in 1854. Yes, the handwriting in this record is definitely hard to decipher, but again, I connected more dots.

1850 US Census, Kingston

The 1870 census shows the McElvares still living in Rondout Village (the McReynolds appear on the preceding page), but John has taken over the clothing business from his elderly father.

1870 US Census, Rondout, New York

Edward died before 1877, when I find Mary and her daughter Catherine in a Kingston city directory working as dressmakers. Of the daughter Mary I can find no further trace after 1870 right now, nor can I find any record of her mother Mary's death.

At some point after 1877, John and his sister, Catherine, were living in Manhattan, but the next official record I find of them is an 1898 New York City directory entry, where they're living together. John died in 1913, and as you already read above, Catherine in 1933.

All three McElvare children, John, Mary and Catherine, were born in Ireland. never married or had children, so that's the end of that line of potential cousins.

My reminder to self from this experience is that every single detail in genealogy research is important. Always. No O'Reillys here, except for Michael Dougherty's wife.

The never ending story continues....




© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2017 All rights reserved

The treasure troves that are death notices

My summer has been filled with much genealogy research on multiple fronts with some discoveries.

The Derry Journal's 13 Feb 1914 detailed report on the life, death and funeral of my 1st cousin 3x removed, Paul Doherty (1826-1914), is filled with information, and some of it has new clues for me. It's such a lengthy obit that I had to save it in four segments.

Paul's death notice has many family's details that I already know, but it also notes that he, too, went to America, and then returned to Dungiven. I wonder if he lived in Kingston, New York where several of his siblings settled?

It notes that Paul returned home when he learned that "his maternal home was going to be sold". That was the home in Camnish. I've found that his eldest son was born and baptized in Dungiven in 1856, so he was back by then. His wife was Margaret Ann McKinney, a familiar Derry name. Did he marry her before going to "the land of the stranger", as the obit describes America, or did he marry her when he returned to Dungiven?

The obit mentions Paul's brother Marcus (1815-1903), who became a lawyer and a judge, but it also says that Marcus was a doctor. Allowing for the absence of fact checking in the early 1900s, I'm going to take a leap and decide this meant a Doctor of Laws, but perhaps there was another brother as yet unknown. There was also a brother "conspicuous in the mercantile world".

It also notes that two of his brothers were contractors who had a business and who helped to build the "York and Eyrie Railway", which is the New York Erie Railroad. Read about that here. These brothers could be Michael (abt 1810-1853) and Thomas abt 1823-1854). Or could one of them have been his brother John (1807-1872), who I only recently discovered? Or was there yet another brother who I've not yet found?

Paul's obit is helpful in noting that his sisters all married in America. I had wondered about that, with respect the the Kingston, New York cousin ancestors. This information will help to narrow my further research. There is no mention of his sister Sarah Doherty McCorkell (abt 1826-1861), but I put that down to the fact that she was a woman who married a farmer who settled in Canada and who died at a young age in 1861.


There is still so much to discover about all of my Dougherty/Doherty cousin ancestors. A new to-do list is in development.

The never ending story continues....




© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2017 All rights reserved

Dungiven connections in 19th century Toronto

Have I mentioned how very pleased I am to have found ancestors who lived in Toronto? Honestly, I feel more legitimate now, participating in Ontario-centric genealogy Facebook or Twitter discussions.

Toronto was a small town in the 1800s. Spending just a couple of hours going through old Toronto city directories is revealing. In 1855--the clearest map I could find online--the core of Toronto looked like this:

1855 map, OldTorontoMaps.blogspot.ca

Three Dungiven area natives had settled in Toronto, starting in about 1833 with John Doherty. After marrying Margaret Esmonde in 1837, John lived with their growing family and worked as a tinsmith on King Street near George Street, as early as 1843.

St Paul's Catholic Church baptismal records tell us that Edward and Susanna McCloskey McFeely and their own growing family were already in Toronto as early as 1838. The McFeely name doesn't appear in the 1833 or 1837 city directories--these are the only two earlier directories available. We know that the McFeelys had left Dungiven between the 1829 baptism there of their son John, and the 1932 baptism in Ste-Foy, Quebec of their son Edward, who would marry my ancestor Sarah Doherty in 1859.

But Edward McFeely does appear in the 1843 city directory living and working as a stone mason on Market Lane, a portion of which still exists today as a pedestrian thoroughfare  The McFeely family last appears in the 1850-51 city directory, living on Teraulay Street, which ran north-south between Queen and Gerrard Streets, east of Bay Street, quite near Toronto City Hall's present day location. Teraulay Street no longer exists.

Patrick and Sarah Doherty McCorkell were in Toronto when the 1850-51 city directory was published, joining Sarah's brother John, after spending perhaps four years at most in Saint John, New Brunswick. Patrick's occupation is given as labourer.

I've learned that Patrick and Sarah left their first-born, Augustine (1845-1903) behind in Ireland when they came to Canada in about 1846. I've also learned that Augustine was then brought to Quebec by his aunt, Elleanor Doherty (another new ancestor) in 1850. I'm guessing that Elleanor brought Augustine to Toronto to reunite with his parents. What happened to Elleanor remains a mystery...for now.

The McCorkells seem to have spent almost ten years in Toronto, last appearing in the 1859 city directory, living at 67 Richmond Street East, just east of Yonge Street. This makes sense, as they next appear in the 1861 Canada census .

As was noted by a newly-discovered McFeely cousin this week, these addresses are all near where I live in the oldest part of Toronto.

And so, by 1861 only John Doherty and his family remain in Toronto. The McFeelys had left for Buffalo with their large family by the early 1850s, while the McCorkells had left to farm land near present day Orillia, Ontario, north east of Toronto.

For a look at the present-day area of Toronto shown in the 1855 map, see Google Maps here.

Toronto in those years seems to have been full of people from the north of Ireland, based in small part by the St Paul's Catholic Church parish records. No doubt the Doherty, McFeelys and McCorkells had many familiar faces, or, at the least family names, several from the Dungiven area, around them in their daily lives. I can't imagine that happening in the 21st century, with populations so much bigger than they were in the 19th century.

The never ending story continues....



© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2017 All rights reserved

My Ontario Dohertys' descendants (there were many)

Where to begin? Gentle reader, since my last post, I've worked almost exclusively on tracing the trail of many new found ancestors, descendants of my 1st cousins 3x removed, siblings Sarah and John Doherty.

I'm almost there. What has caused no ends of confusion are that John's eldest daughter Mary Sarah Doherty married a man with the surname McFeely. As you know, Sarah Doherty married a McCorkell. You see how this can get confusing when spending hours sorting out descendants. And of course where John and Sarah's respective children had children, most of them had very large numbers of them.

I spent many days painstakingly going through the St Paul's parish register here in Toronto, where John Doherty and Margaret Esmonde had their children baptized. I've found 10 of them -- there were apparently 12 -- in that register.

John and Margaret's eldest, Mary Sarah Doherty--always called Sarah-- (1839-1920) married Edward McFeely (1832-1898) at St Paul's on 1 Nov 1859. The marriage details are recorded on one line of the register, across two pages, groom first, noting their ages, where they live, their parents' names, and of course the officiant's name.

McFeely-Doherty marriage 1 Nov 1859 Groom Details

McFeely-Doherty marriage 1 Nov 1859 Bride Details

Here's where things get interesting, and not for the first time.

• Look who one of the witnesses was: John R. McCloskey. 
• Edward's parents, also an Edward McFeely (1798-1879) and Susanna McCloskey (1806-1887) were married in Dungiven, Ireland, in the same church (St Patrick's) that my 2nd great grandparents, Marcus Dougherty and Mary Ann Diamond were married in, and where at least three of their children were baptized. 
• Sarah's father John Doherty's mother was Bridget McCloskey. Were she and Susanna sisters, or was it an aunt/niece relationship? Was the wedding witness a brother to Susanna? The McCloskey name is one that appears frequently in my Dougherty ancestors' stories.

What is clear is that there were at least three families from the Dungiven area in Toronto in the early to mid 19th century: Doherty, McFeely, McCloskey and McCorkell (that last name will be addressed in a separate post). Community ties established in Ireland carried forward in Canada. But I digress.

Sarah and Edward McFeely settled first in Oakville, west of Toronto, and began their family, which grew to be ten children who survived infancy. Edward farmed. Within a couple of years, they pulled up stakes and moved to the present-day Lindsay in Ontario's Kawarthas region, where Edward is listed in directories and censuses as a tinsmith, like his father-in-law, John Doherty was in Toronto.

1881 Canada census, Victoria South, Ontario

At some point after the 1881 census, the McFeelys moved again, this time to Hennepin, which today is a county that includes the large city of Minneapolis. What brought them there, I wonder? Minneapolis also became home to a couple of Sarah's McCorkell cousins.

As young men, two of Sarah and Edward's sons, Francis Esmonde McFeely (1876-1948) and Edward John McFeely (1863-1928) went to Vancouver, British Columbia where both put down permanent roots, marrying and having three and six+ children respectively. Their father Edward actually died in Vancouver during an 1898 visit there. Another son, Robert (1873-1953) settled in Vancouver, Washington, while Fred (1868-1933) settled in New Orleans.

Of Sarah and Edward's daughters, the eldest, Susanna (1861-1900) married a much older man, who was a judge in Minnesota. They were childless. She died suddenly while on a return visit to her childhood home of Lindsay, Ontario. Agnes (1869-1956) married a railway man with whom she had four children. They moved around, living in St Louis, Brooklyn and finally Dallas. Martha (1871-1940) married a Hennepin man, with whom she had a daughter. They stayed in Minnesota.

Sarah died in Hennepin in 1920, where she had spent her final years living with her unmarried daughters Frances (1863-1941), Florence (1880-1948) and Madeline (1877-1955). Florence was a nurse and Madeline was an office clerk.

1920 US Census Minneapolis

This is the story of just one of John's children and her family. The never ending story continues....




© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2017 All rights reserved

John Doherty: A new 1st cousin 3x removed

Since discovering Sarah Doherty McCorkell a couple of weeks ago, I've been immersed daily, sometimes for hours at a time, in genealogy research, far more than usual. This work has been very rewarding and has led to a lot of extra work. It turns out that Sarah also had a brother, John Doherty (abt 1807-1872), previously unknown to me.

I discovered this after finding a family history written in the late 1960s/early 1970s by Edmund J. McCorkell CSB (1891-1980), The McCorkell Family and its Affiliates, online. Edmund was a grandson of Sarah Doherty McCorkell and, oh yes, 3rd cousin once removed. Edmund gathered his information long before the internet, and it is an impressive body of work, full of detail, including this:

"The McCorkells were welcomed in Toronto by the Dohertys, their in-laws, one of whom had come there before 1837, doubtless my grand uncle John Doherty. In his wife's prayer book there is recorded under date Nov. 20, 1837 his marriage with Margaret Esmonde (note the name Esmonde) and a family of 12 is listed.'

Well! this was another huge find. I quickly started to research John Doherty's life here in Toronto, in what we now call Old Town Toronto -- my neighbourhood. He was a tinsmith and probably arrived in Canada about 1833. On 20 Oct 1837, John married Margaret Esmonde (abt 1815-1867) at what was then the only Catholic church in Toronto, St Paul's Parish, which still stands today in the same location and is a ten minute walk from my home. Yes, that date contradicts the November 1837 date given in Fr McCorkell's account, but in my case, I actually found the record of the marriage in St Paul's parish register.

With his birth date, it looks like John was if not the eldest, certainly among the eldest of the children of my 2nd great-great uncle Thomas Doherty and 2nd great-great aunt, Bridget McCloskey of Dungiven, Ireland.

I've found John listed in several Toronto city directories. He lived and worked in my neighbourhood. Can you imagine? Here are John's children that I've so far found in the unindexed (!) St. Paul's parish register:

• Mary SARAH (1839-1920)
• Patrick James (1841-?)
• Edward 
• Frances Helen (1843-?)
• Henry (abt 1846-?)
• John (abt 1847)
• Thomas (abt 1849-?)
• Margaret (abt 1851-bef 1930)
• Martha (abt 1850- aft 1930)

There are so many more stories that I'm uncovering, which I will try to tell here. John's descendants are scattered across Canada and the U.S.

And as I always say here, the never ending story continues....



© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2017 All rights reserved

Brick Wall -- the Diamonds

I have a brick wall with my 2nd great grandmother, Mary Ann Diamond (abt 1802-1842). I know absolutely nothing about her parentage.

The records at the Dungiven church where she and my 2nd great grandfather Marcus Dougherty (1794-1864) likely married only go back to 1825.

Scrolling through Find My Past's excellent Irish collection, I see that the Diamond name was very common across what is now Derry and Antrim in the north, in places like Magherafelt, Ballymoney and Coleraine. But I have no leads at all. Are there clues to Mary Ann's family in the names of her children? Was her eldest daughter Catharine named after Mary Ann's mother? Was her third born son John James named after her father? Her other children's names, Thomas, Isabella, James and Mary Louisa are names used in my Dougherty lines. Her last born son was Joseph. Could that be a name on the Diamond side?

Maybe I'll check church records in Magherafelt, Ballymoney and Coleraine for a marriage record of my 2nd great grandparents.

Another mystery is if the origins of the Diamonds in Ireland were Jewish. Did my line eventually assimilate or convert? The history of Jews in Ireland is an interesting read. A really interesting read. They were always a small community, even more so in the 21st century.

My grandfather included the name Diamond in his fourth son's name. He in turn passed it on to his own son.

Sometimes just when you think a mystery will never be solved, a crack appears in a brick wall. I'm waiting for that in my Diamond line.

The never ending story continues.....



© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2017 All rights reserved

The Old Manse at Camnish near Dungiven

Not too long after Irish nationalist John Mitchel was born there on 3 Nov 1815, the Old Manse at Camnish became the home of my Dungiven Doherty ancestors, and remained a Doherty home well into the 20th century.

The building was originally a Presbyterian manse (this was Scots Ulster after all), and was on land owned by the 3rd Marquess of Waterford, who leased it out. The image of the Old Manse (left) is from an Irish magazine, date unknown.

A few years ago, an internet cousin (4th cousin once removed) living in Limerick, Ireland, shared an old postcard, possibly from the 1940s, also of the Old Manse (seen below). Now, I ask you. Who do you know that can say their family home was once featured in a postcard? No, the Royals don't count. 

Irish postcard 

The address used to send mail to this home, my internet cousin tells me, was Old Manse, Camnish, Dungiven. 

We know that the Marquess of Waterford was the owner of the Old Manse and its lands thanks to property records. One set kept in 19th century Ireland was the Griffiths Valuation, which was conducted between 1848 and 1864. Below is the page from Griffiths that addresses the Old Manse, which was then leased by my 1st cousin 3x removed, Paul Doherty (spelled in Griffiths as Dogherty). Paul appears in the top third of the records on this page. He was a nephew of my 2nd great grandfather, farmer Marcus. This valuation was done in 1858, records indicate.

Paul Dogherty Camnish, Griffiths Valuation

1911 Census Household Return
Paul Doherty, Old Manse, Camnish

Another of my internet cousins (also a 4th cousin once removed) in England has, like me, done a great deal of research into our shared Camnish ancestors. 

We have shared our finds with each other -- helping each other learn more about those ancestors. One gem that she has shared with me is the 1911 Census Household Return for the Old Manse. The return notes that the house had five rooms, and that six family members lived there at that time. It was still occupied by the same Paul Doherty as had lived there when Griffiths was done, only now he appears as the landowner. The return notes such details as the number of walls, and that it is classified as a second class house. Such a small house for so many people. Yet, I think that in the 1820s even more family members lived there. 

The never ending story continues ....

The frustration of 19th century census information

This summer I wrote here about finding two of my ancestors, Thomas Doherty and Joshuah Doherty in a transcribed 1831 census for Camnish, which is near Dungiven.

Recently, many new Irish record sets have been released through Find My Past and the National Archives of Ireland. I decided today to explore some of these new records, and found more 1831 Dungiven census records. How exciting!

I found a James Doherty. in whose Roman Catholic household seven people lived. Hmmmm. Some of my ancestors? Perhaps. More research is needed.

But I also found three households whose head was Widow Doherty -- here are two of them. In all three cases, the households are Roman Catholic. One household had six people living there, while the other household had nine people. And the household head warrants only "Widow" and not a given name.

Right religion, right place, but lacking given names.

This information gap isn't limited to Irish records, but these records today set a new record in frustration for me. Sometimes genealogy research is full of frustration.

The never ending story continues....

Vermont lives lived: the daughters of Rev James Dougherty

As I wrote here, my 2nd great great uncle Rev James, the Congregational minister, married twice and had three daughters, none of whom married, and so after they died, he left no descendants. But his daughters have their own stories. Don't we all?

James and his first wife, Celia, had two daughters, Sarah Curran (1834-1861) and Isabella Celia (1836-1894). Sarah died aged only 26, "after a long and painful illness which was patiently born." She was, according to this lengthy obituary that appeared in the Lamoille Newsdealer on 25 Oct 1861, well loved by her students and a wide circle of friends. Her obituary starts in the first column and ends in the second column, and includes such praise as "Her attention to her textbooks did not hamper or mind or prevent general reading or liberal culture." Obituaries in the 19th century, particularly for women, were full of much flowery prose.


I think that the birth of Isabella, called Isabel, contributed to Celia's death, five days after Isabella was born.

Isabel Dougherty obit 

Isabel's passing on 1 Jun 1894 is briefly noted in a column of community and social notes. She died from pneumonia. She was the last of the three sisters to die, two weeks after the passing of her younger sister, Mary Louisa (1838-1894), called Louise, whose cause of death is listed as Bright's disease, something that today would be called chronic nephritis.

Isabel and Louise shared the same home all of their lives. They must have been very close. Their estates were wound up at the same time. Probate records are online and offer a snapshot into the household of two genteel ladies of the late 19th century, listing the household contents. Isabel had already started the paperwork related to winding up Louise's estate. Her signature appears in a court document. Both died intestate, and so on 22 Jun 1894, their cousin Judge Marcus of Montreal, signed a letter requesting the appointment of an administrator of both estates (who turns out to have been Emily Drake's husband). Always a small world. It took five years to wind up both estates. I tracked this from published legal notices.

I wonder if these three sisters, my 1st cousins 3x removed, knew their Kingston, Granby or Cincinnati cousins and their families, wrote to them or exchange visits with them. And did they know about their Irish cousins in Dungiven?

In the deposition signed on 27 Jul 1899 attached to Isabel's probate records, Judge Marcus mentions the surviving Cincinnati and Kingston cousins, and his own brother Paul in Dungiven.

"that the late Isabella C. Dougherty (and Mary Louisa Dougherty) ...was my cousin on her father's side and that she was also the cousin of Paul Dougherty, my brother, of the County Derry, in Ireland and of Catharine and Louisa, spinsters, of Cincinnati in the state of Ohio, and of  Isabella and Bridget Dougherty, both of the City of New York in the state of New York, all on her father's side also, and that all of these cousins survived the said Isabella C. Dougherty (and Mary Louisa Dougherty)..."

He definitely knew where everyone in his far flung family was -- almost. Judge Marcus notes in his deposition that Isabel's other surviving cousins on her father's side included:

"another cousin, Thomas Sullivan, who lived with Rev James in Johnson...Vermont who was much her junior, as also younger than all the above named cousins and might and would under certain circumstances presumed to have survived her ....but of whom this deponent can give no account as to his life or residence and that she had other cousins of whom this deponent can now affirm nothing on oath."

1877 Cincinnati directory

Judge Marcus doesn't include in his deposition the name of my great grandfather, John James Dougherty, who was also a first cousin of Isabel, as he predeceased her in 1893. I've never been able to find anything about Thomas Sullivan or his parentage -- and who were those other cousins about whom Judge Marcus was unable to provide any information? Were they the Marcus and Mary Ann Dougherty listed in the 1877 Cincinnati directory?

Mary Hoxie Dougherty obit

Louise's mother was Rev James' second wife, a widow herself, Mary Hoxie Drake (1795-1881), who brought one daughter, Emily Drake (1826-1892), into her marriage in 1837 to Rev James. He appears as Emily's guardian in several documents before she reached adulthood.

I've been unable to find newspaper stories or obituaries about Celia Hall Dougherty, Rev. James' first wife, who died in 1836 in Milton. So far.

Rev James, his wives and daughters are all buried at the Whitting Hill Cemetery, in Johnson, Lamoille County, Vermont.

The never ending story continues...

Our Immigrant Ancestors -- the Kingston, New York Doughertys

Despite the name of the county in which it is located, Kingston was originally settled by the Dutch. Later, there was an influx of German immigrants, and then in the mid 19th century, the Irish began to arrive, including six of my 1st cousins 3x removed, five of whom remained in Kingston or New York City. Today, Kingston is about an hour north of Manhattan.

Only one of their spouses was born with certainty in New York. I wonder if my other cousins' spouses were born in or near Dungiven.

Rev James Dougherty

Michael (abt 1810-1853) m Ann O'Reilly (abt 1816-1852). I haven't found a record of their marriage either in Ireland or New York so far. They were in Rondout/Kingston by 1843, when the first of their four children were born, but they both had died by the time their eldest was ten years old. Their children:

• James (1843-1906) ordained as a priest
• Mary Anne (1845-1933) m David P. Hallahan, 1 daughter
• Isabella (1848-1924) took vows as an Ursuline nun (Mother Ambrose)
• Elizabeth (abt 1851-1931) never married

Isabella Dougherty McReynolds 

Isabella (abt 1813-1897) m Bernard MacReynolds, childless. From Bernard's marker, we know that he was born in Dungiven.

Margaret (abt 1819-1893) m  James McGranahan, who was born in Rosenale, Ulster, New York. They were in Rondout/Kingston by about 1850 when their first child was born:

• Anna (abt 1850-?)
• Margaret (1852-1931) never married
• Isabella (abt 1855-?)
• William J. (abt 1857-1892) became a lawyer, never married



Margaret & James McGranahan

• Rosemary (1864-1940) m James W. Allen

Mary O'Reilly

Mary (1820-1908) m Andrew O'Reilly (possibly a sibling of Ann O'Reilly). Here again, there is no record of their marriage in either New York or Ireland. They had nine children, all of whom were born in Kingston:

• John C. (1839-1906) an ordained priest
• Andrew B. (1842-1872) never married
• Terrence J. (abt 1845-1886) never married
• Mary Theresa (abt 1847-aft 1880)
• Margaret (abt 1847-?)
• Joseph A. (abt 1850-aft 1880)
• Thomas (1851-1855)
• James Augustine (1854-1855)
• Roseanna (1859-1938) married and had three children

Mary, Andrew and three of their children are listed on a monument in St Mary's Cemetery in Kingston. It's not clear what happened to Joseph, Margaret and Mary Theresa. 

Bridget Dougherty Hayden
Obituary 

Bridget (abt 1821-1916) m. William B. Hayden, I believe in New York. I have found an immigration record noting that Bridget arrived in 1849. Bridget and William had five children:

• Thomas (1853-1855)
• Mary M. (1856-1921) m James W. Allen, childless 
• Isabella (1858-1941) never married 
• Helen E. (1862-1940) m1 John Fitzgerald; m2 John Kearney, no children
• William J. (1865-1926) m Anna Sweeney, eight children

Thomas (abt 1823-1854) appears in the 1850 census in Kingston, living with his brother Michael and his family, but soon returned to Ireland. He died, unmarried in 1854 in Dunvigen.

Isabella, Margaret and Bridget each outlived their husbands, and all died in New York City. Bridget's children all settled in and around Jersey City, New Jersey. 

I did make an interesting discovery in researching these families. Mary E. Hayden married James W. Allen in New York City. After her 1921 death, James then married Mary's cousin Rosemary McGranahan. Both marriages were childless. Rosemary survived James. 

There were other Doughertys in Kingston as well, census and other records reveal. Were these relatives? As I've asked before, why did my cousins choose Kingston over Vermont or Cincinnati or Granby? Once one arrived there, the rest seem to have followed. As I noted here, Fr James officiated at several baptisms, marriages and funerals of his uncle Judge Marcus' family. Bridget Dougherty Hayden's obituary notes that she was sister to Judge Marcus. 

There were family ties. But did the Kingston Doughertys stay in touch at all with the Cincinnati Doughertys or my 2nd great grandfather (farmer) Marcus? When were those family ties lost? 

The never ending story continues...

The Camnish Doughertys

My paternal 3rd great grandparents were James Dougherty and Isabella McLaughlin. I discovered these names while researching their son, Rev James Dougherty of Vermont. I have no information about the birthdates or marriage date for James and Isabella.

The family story goes that we are originally from the Inishowen peninsula in Donegal. Inishowen is the name given by Judge Marcus' son Charles J. Doherty to his country home in the Laurentians north of Montreal. Over years of research, it became clear that my line of Doughertys arrived in North America from Camnish, near Dungiven, which today is in County Derry. Not all of James and Isabella's children were born in Camnish, possibly none of them. In fact, based on published eulogies and other resources, Rev James was born in Park, Banagher or possibly Learmont. Were any other of James and Isabella's children also born in Park or Learmont? The family was definitely in Camnish by 1826, when my great great uncle James was baptized at the Dungiven church, St Patrick's. I have a copy of that record, thanks to one of my internet cousins. Certainly, Isabella was in Camnish when she died on 2 Apr 1830. We have a copy of her burial record from St Patrick's. Inishowen and Dungiven have very small populations even today. I wonder what their populations were in the early 19th century.

Here's what I definitely know about James and Isabella's children:

• Thomas d abt 1832, Camnish, Dungiven, m Bridget McCloskey
• (farmer) Marcus 1794-1864 my 2nd great grandfather
• (Rev) James 1796-1878
• Joshua abt 1801-1867

There were likely daughters too. One source mentions that Rev James was one of four brothers. We know that Thomas and Joshua stayed in Dungiven. More about Thomas' family will be written in the next post.

I did find Thomas and Joshua listed on page 163 of the transcribed 1831 Derry census. There are two interesting column headers in this document: surname standardised and surname as spelt in census returns. In the first column, the spelling is Doherty, while in the second column, Dougherty is given. This suggests that my ancestors used the Dougherty spelling, but that Doherty was used in public documents. Why?

There are Dohertys who settled in other areas of Quebec's Eastern Townships -- Sherbrooke and Farnham. It's been suggested that these are also descendants of James and Isabella from Dungiven, but I'm still looking for sourced proof. There is another line of Dohertys who settled in the Lotbiniere area of Quebec -- one of them married one of the other Dohertys in Sherbrooke. In addition, a descendant of the Lotbiniere Dohertys and I share DNA. More unsolved mysteries. 

James and Isabella are responsible for the naming of many of their descendants for at least the first three generations carrying those names, causing great confusion for their 20th century descendant, the family historian.

The never ending story continues....

Our immigrant ancestors -- Judge Marcus Doherty QC

Judge Marcus Doherty

My 1st cousin 3x removed, Marcus Doherty (1815-1903) emigrated from Camnish, Dunvigen in what is now County Derry at the age of 18, arriving in Quebec City in 1833, and then travelling down to South Hero, Vermont, to join his uncles (my 2nd great grandfather) Marcus and (my 2nd great great uncle) James Dougherty.

Marcus was born in a house in Camnish, Dungiven, that was later occupied by the family of Irish nationalist John Mitchel.

The story is that Marcus was sent to Vermont by his mother after his father Thomas Dougherty died in Dungiven. He wasn't their eldest, but I think he was the brightest, and had attended grammar school in Dungiven, something one of my internet cousins tells me was quite rare for an Irish person to do in the early 19th century. One story has it that he was destined for the priesthood. Marcus attended college and also  taught at the Shefford Academy, where his uncle James was the principal. In 1838, he enrolled at  the University of Vermont where he received his BA and MA, and in 1848 was called to the Bar of Lower Canada in Montreal. He was appointed to the Quebec Superior Court in 1873. I've found many references in which Judge Marcus is mentioned. He first practised law as a newly minted lawyer in Granby, then moved on to Montreal. He was then posted in Sherbrooke for several years, before returning to Montreal.

Judge Marcus' eldest children were born and baptized in Granby. In my very early web research days, and before the Drouin Collection had indexed the Notre Dame de Granby parish records, another researcher, in an act of random genealogical kindness, pointed out to me that having a Marcus Dougherty and Marcus Doherty in the same small community at the same time was, well, no coincidence. My great grandfather John James and Judge Marcus were cousins.

In my family papers, we have for reasons still unknown to me, a copy the certificate attesting Judge Marcus' entry into the Bar of Lower Canada. The seal has been cut out. How did this come to be in my grandfather's possession?

Marcus was the first of six siblings to leave their Camnish, Dungiven home for America. Those siblings who came all used the Dougherty spelling. More about those siblings and their families will come. No, I don't know why Judge Marcus used the Doherty spelling. His siblings who remained in Ireland used both Dougherty and Doherty. Yes, all these same names do get confusing in the telling of stories.

Full disclosure: In 1998 and 1999, a woman posted on several genealogy message boards seeking relatives of Judge Marcus, and saying he was the brother of her late husband's great great grandfather. She even contacted me, saying we were related. But this was in my dark age of the genealogy research, and I brushed her off. Of course, it turned out she was absolutely right, but by then several years had passed, and I was unable to locate her. It was an early lesson to never make assumptions.

Montreal - Biographical Sketches

An early biography of Judge Marcus appeared during his lifetime in something called Montreal - Biographical Sketches. Note the inconsistencies about his year of birth and John Mitchel.

Here's another profile (in two images), from the Canadian Biographical Dictionary:

Note the inconsistencies in both with respect to Judge Marcus' year of birth and John Mitchel. It wasn't always easy in the mid 19th century to fact check, I guess. No Google, for one thing.

Judge Marcus died in Montreal on 4 Jul 1903. The Montreal Gazette carried a lengthy obituary about him and his remarkable career, which offers yet more conflicting information on his year of birth and other facts.

I will be writing more about Judge Marcus, his marriage and family. Note: For identification purposes in this blog, this Marcus will be called Judge Marcus, while my 2nd great grandfather will be referred to as Farmer Marcus. My small contribution to ending the confusion over the use of the same names even within the same generations.

The never ending story continues...

Unwrapping a Puzzle 2: Marcus, Mary Ann and all their children

Going from "a lost soul" to a brother to several siblings, here is what I've discovered about my paternal great grandfather's immediate family. This has been patched together over several years, finding clues in the oddest places.

Marcus and Mary Ann married in Donegal, as early now as 1817. That part of Donegal is now in Ulster. They likely married in a small town called Dungiven. Records at the local Catholic church, St Patrick's, go back only to 1825. All before that has been lost. And the central records in Dublin were of course mostly destroyed during the Four Courts conflagration in Dublin in 1922. 

By 1830 in Vermont, Marcus and Mary Ann had at least three children:

• Thomas b abt 1830, Vermont, d 15 Dec 1886, Ohio
• Catharine b about 1824, Dungiven, d May 1896, Cincinnati
• James b 12 Nov 1826 (I have his baptismal record) Dungiven, d 18 Mar 1860, Granby, Quebec

They subsequently had at least the following additional children:

• Isabella b about 1832, Vermont d 26 Feb 1890, Cincinnati
• John James b 17 Jun 1833, South Hero, Grand Isle, Vermont, d 26 Apr 1893, Sherbrooke, Quebec (my great grandfather)
• Joseph M. b 15 Nov 1835, Granby, Shefford, Canada East, d 6 Mar 1886, Longview, Ohio
• Mary Louisa b 25 Dec 1838, Granby, Shefford, Canada East, d 15 Mar 1913, Norwood, Ohio

Thomas and Isabella are the latest discoveries, pointed out to me last week by kind souls in the Hamilton County Ohio Genealogy Facebook group. Isabella married and had a family. Watch for another post about them. And guess what? At various times, Thomas and Isabella lived at the same addresses in Cincinnati as Catherine, Joseph and Mary Louisa (who went by Louise or Louisa). City directories are beautiful genealogy resources.

But wait there's more. Because isn't there always? 

I had found Joseph in Cincinnati awhile ago, and suspected he was one of my Doughertys for a few years. Then, about five years ago, I came across an affidavit attached to the wills of the daughters of Rev James Dougherty D.D. (1796-1878), who was the younger brother of my great grandfather. The affidavit was signed by Judge Marcus Doherty QC (1815-1903), the nephew of my great grandfather and Reverend James. This nephew Marcus had come from Ireland as a young man in about 1833, taught, then went to the University of Vermont and became a lawyer. More about him to come. The affidavit, sworn on July 27, 1899, reads in part:

"that the late Isabella C. Dougherty (and Mary Louisa Dougherty) ...was my cousin on her father's side and that she was also the cousin of Paul Dougherty, my brother, of the County Derry, in Ireland and of Catharine and Louisa, spinsters, of Cincinnati in the state of Ohio, and of  Isabella and Bridget Dougherty, both of the City of New York in the state of New York, all on her father's side also, and that all of these cousins survived the said Isabella C. Dougherty (and Mary Louisa Dougherty)..."

This was an amazing and fantastic wow moment. Read the complete will and affidavit here. The affidavit is on pages 8 and 9. A fascinating snapshot of life in the late 19th century. I'll be writing all about the ancestors mentioned here as time goes on.

Back to all of my great grandfather's Cincinnati siblings for a moment before I finish this post. Again, thanks to the kindness of social media folk, last week, I discovered that the brothers and sisters, Thomas, Isabella, Catharine and Joseph are all buried in the same cemetery section (scroll down) In all cases, their parents' names are given. Louise is buried in the same section as two nieces (daughters of Isabella).

And yet there's more. The 1877 Cincinnati city directory lists another Marcus Dougherty and a Mary Ann Dougherty living at the same address as Joseph M. Dougherty. (update: I write about Mary Ann further here)

Who are these newest Doughertys? More children of Marcus and Mary Ann? The never ending story continues....