Discovering Sarah Doherty and her descendants

A tantalizing bright shiny object (BSO) presented itself to me early yesterday morning when a genealogy cousin reminded me that she had sent me details a month ago (!) about a new DNA match. I was out of the country when that happened, but she quickly filled me in. It's a big new find.

The DNA match showed that my genealogy cousin and another person's common ancestor is my 3rd great grandmother Isabella McLaughlin, and that connection is through someone new.

I have a new, previously unknown third cousin once removed, Sarah Doherty (1826-1861), a daughter of Thomas Doherty and Bridget McCloskey. Thomas was one of my 2nd great grandfather Marcus' brothers. The name Sarah confirms that this was a family name. It was a name given by her uncle Marcus Doherty (1815-1903) of Montreal and her great uncle Rev James Dougherty (1796-1878) of Vermont to their respective daughters.

Sarah's husband was Patrick Joseph McCorkell (1824-1904). They married before they emigrated from County Donegal in about 1850 to Canada, settling first in Toronto and then about two hours north of there in what is now Simcoe County. Some of her descendants are still there today. And speaking of descendants, well, I'm still populating my genealogy database with all of them.

The 1861 Canada Census shows Sarah, Patrick and their family living in Mara, near present day Orillia, Ontario.

Canada Census 1861, Township of Mara

As you can see, Sarah and Patrick had six children:

• Augustine (abt 1945-1904)
• James Edmund (bet 1848 & 1850 - 1923)
• Catherine (1851-1927)
• Patrick Joseph (1854-1933)
• John (1856-1928)
• Sarah (1858-1871)

I've already found that four of these sons married and had children. More descendants! Sadly, not long after the census was conducted, Sarah passed away. She was only 34 or 35 years old.

Sarah Doherty's grave marker. Photo found on Ancestry

Did you notice 25 year old Margaret Doughty (sic) on the census? I wonder who she was. She wasn't Sarah's sister -- we already know of that Margaret Dougherty (1819-1893), who was part of the Kingston, New York Doughertys. 

But wait there's more. The eldest son, Augustine, made his life in Cincinnati, arriving there by 1870, and staying there the rest of his life, marrying and having eight children.

Readers of this blog will know about my Cincinnati connections. Did he know my five 2nd great aunts and uncles who were there at the same time? They would have been his first cousins once removed, with their mother Sarah being first cousin to my 2nd great grandfather, Marcus Dougherty (1794-1864).

Augustine, his wife, and some of their children are buried in the same Cincinnati cemetery as four of my 2nd great aunts and uncles.

Much work remains to be done, as I try to connect the dots of a Cincinnati connection between these two Dougherty family branches. These new discoveries have again back burnered my Filles du Roi research commitment, but this is far too huge a discovery to set aside.

The never ending story continues....



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