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....

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