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

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

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....

Thomas Dougherty of Camnish and his children

Updated 23 May 2017
Updated 5 May 2017

Thomas Doherty, my 2nd great great uncle, died about 1832 in Camnish, precipitating the decision of his widow, Bridget McCloskey Doherty, to send their son (Judge) Marcus to his uncles in South Hero, Vermont.

Thomas and Bridget had several other children in addition to (Judge) Marcus:

• John (abt 1807-1872)
• Michael (abt 1810-1853)
• Isabella (abt 1813-1897)
• (Judge) Marcus (1815-1903)
• James (abt 1817-1854)
• Margaret (abt 1819-1893)
• Mary (abt 1820-1908)
• Bridget (1821-1916)
• Thomas (1823-1854)
• Paul (1826-1914)
• Elleanor (abt 1825-?)
• Sarah (abt 1826-1861)
• Louisa (abt 1830-?)

His brothers James and Marcus were already in Vermont when Thomas passed away. Thomas' children Michael, Isabella, Margaret, Mary and Bridget all made their way from Camnish to Rondout, which later was Kingston in Ulster County, New York and all had families. They seem to have arrived by the late 1840s. Their brother Thomas also was in Kingston for a time, but returned to Camnish. Kingston is about an hour north of New York City, by today's travel standards.

It's not clear whether the siblings travelled together or at different times. It's also not clear if they married their spouses before they left Ireland or after they arrived in New York.


What is clear is that all of the siblings who settled in New York used the Dougherty spelling. Paul, who remained in Camnish, appears as Doherty or O'Doherty in various records. 

I wonder what made these five siblings go to New York and not to either Granby, Montreal or Vermont, where they knew they had family. All are relatively close to Kingston.

(Judge) Marcus did stay in contact with the Kingston Doughertys, as evidenced by the regular appearance of his nephew (son of Michael) James Dougherty's name as a Catholic priest officiating or appearing as a concelebrant at baptisms, funerals and marriages in (Judge) Marcus' family.

Did my great grandfather and grandfather know any of the Kingston Doughertys? Did the Cincinnati Doughertys know the Kingston Doughertys?

More to come about the Kingston Doughertys.

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...