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

Funeral of Judge Marcus Doherty

A new find is a The Gazette story about the funeral of Judge Marcus Doherty on 8 Jul 1903 at St Patrick's Church (now Basilica) in Montreal. Following his death, Judge Marcus Doherty's life and many accomplishments were recounted in several newspapers, but I found nothing about the actual funeral until now.

The Gazette, 9 Jul 1903

The story notes that the "very impressive requiem mass was sung by.....Rev Father Doherty....". That would be Judge Marcus' nephew, the Very Reverend James Dougherty (again, with the spelling) of Manhattan, who himself would die less than 18 months later.

The never ending story continues....



© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2018 All rights reserved

Doherty and Dougherty: Electricity pioneers in Montreal

The interesting things that you find while randomly researching often become a-ha moments.

Lovell's Montreal City Directory 1908-1909

I knew from earlier research that in the first few years after he left McGill University, my grandfather established his professional career working as a manager at Hill Electric. He had studied electrical engineering, and a family tale had it that he--single-handedly seemingly--brought electricity to Montreal. But I digress.

The Gazette, 7 Jul 1907

I've now found a 1907 death notice for Michael Joseph Doherty (1867-1907), youngest child of Judge Marcus Doherty, and he too, was a manager at Hill Electric. A-ha! What a coincidence of a find.


My grandfather and Michael were second cousins, as seen here:

Electricity pioneers ran in my family in the early 20th century, it seems.

It's also clear that they knew each other, for my grandfather was listed among the mourners at Michael's funeral. Yes, his last name wasn't spelled the Dougherty way, but there were no other Doherty family members whose given name started with a J.

I'm always struck by the absence of any names of women in notices about who attended funerals back then.

The Gazette, 9 Jul 1907

The never ending story continues....






© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2018 All rights reserved

On this day 100 years ago: the Guelph Novitiate Raid

On this day, 100 years ago, the St Stanislaus Jesuit Novitiate was raided by military police in plain clothes looking for anyone who, in their opinion, was evading military conscription. The event became known as the Guelph Novitiate Raid, and was an event that involved two of my cousins, Hon. Charles J Doherty, Canada's Minister of Justice at the time, and his son, Marcus, who was a seminarian there.

There were countless stories in the Canadian media for several months after the raid. I've read several of those accounts in archived digital copies of the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail, which are available via the Toronto Public Library's website to anyone holding a TPL library card. Aside: library cards are golden, especially for genealogists and, well, anyone who loves to read.

I first wrote about the Guelph Raid here in 2016, but again researched events now, finding an excellent and well-sourced 1978 paper, The Guelph Novitiate Raid: Conscription, Censorship and Bigotry submitted to the Canadian Catholic Historical Association by a Basilian priest/academic, Brian Hogan. It's worth a read.The title says it all: the raid came down to Protestant bigotry directed at Catholics.

A new article about the raid was published on May 4, 2018 in the Waterloo Region Record. Waterloo Region is very near Guelph. That article prompted me to write this post. I wonder why their editors didn't wait just a few weeks to publish today, on the the 100th anniversary.

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

Not for the faint of heart: Looking for ancestors in cemeteries and city directories

On Canada's Labour Day (it's the same date as the US one, but spelled, as we would say, properly), I visited St. Michael's Cemetery here in Toronto, after finding records saying that my 1st cousin 3x removed John Doherty (1807-1872) is buried there. That was almost a month ago, but this tale has taken time for me to sort out.

I'd carefully noted the plot's location from an old index when I was at the Archdiocese of Toronto Archives this summer: plot 122, N. Elizabeth Street, in the eastern third of the cemetery, between paths 12 and 13, south of St. Michael's Road. Yes, the Church had named the rows of the cemetery after saints.

Unfortunately, no signage with row names exist within the cemetery. I knew this from many years ago when I lived nearby and would walk through it when it was still open to the public. Of course, I found no surviving markers, as John was a tinsmith whose family could ill afford a more sturdy marker. But I had hoped I'd find something more than indented grass where markers have sunk.

There's an administrative error though in the Cemetery's burial records. Or else another mystery, but I think it's simply an error. I'll follow up with the Archdiocese, but I'm sure their Archives staff will find this as muddled as I have. The occupants of plot 122 N Elizabeth Street are listed as John Doherty, his wife Margaret Esmonde, and their daughter Fanny, who died in New York on 15 Nov 1886 aged 43. But the details for the John Doherty listed as buried in the plot are for another John Doherty.  I found records saying that this John Doherty was born in Co Tyrone, Ireland and was 68 years old when he died at 65 George Street. While my cousin ancestor is listed as dying on Stanley St and is buried in plot 82 N Elizabeth Street. My cousin ancestor lived on George Street when he died.

I still went looking for this other John Doherty, and looked through censuses and city directories. Starting in 1856, when he first arrived in Toronto he lived most his years at different addresses on Stanley Street, which has disappeared, but ran from Victoria Street east to Nelson Street, another street that is gone, except for his final five or six years, when he lived at 15 Mutual Street. Stanley and Mutual streets are both east of Yonge Street. He had a family of at least seven children.  Interestingly, cemetery records use Stanley Street as his residence when he died in 1879, when the city directory has him at Mutual Street.

According to city directories, after arriving from Ireland, my cousin ancestor John lived at several addresses in his 30+ years. But he was at two addresses longer than others, first at 117 King St E at Church Street, and later at 65 George St, just south of King St East. Both these addresses are also east of Yonge.

But wait. Although my 1st cousin 3x removed John Doherty died in 1872, his name continued to appear in city directories at 65 George Street until 1879. I think his adult sons, whom I've yet to find, continued to live at the address until 1879.

What I know for certain is that these are absolutely two different John Dohertys, who appeared for successive years in the same city directories living at their respective addresses. Why though would cemetery records for two men with the same name who died seven years apart be mixed up?

Now standing at 115 King St E is the Toronto Sculpture Garden. It's directly opposite the Cathedral Church of St. James. I'm fairly certain that this land also includes the municipal lot known as 117 King St E.

115 King St E

65 George St present day

John lived his later years with his family at 65 George Street, south of King Street E.

What stands on this property now is an art dealer, but a Heritage Toronto plaque notes that on that site stood the Little York Hotel, stables and coach house, built in 1880, eight years after John died. A development application for the property is now under City of Toronto review to erect--wait for it--more condos, but the facade, I think, will be protected.

Read more about my cousin ancestor John Doherty and his family here.

Heritage plaque at 65 George St

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

The family of John Doherty & Margaret Esmonde of Old Town Toronto

Updated 10 Nov 2019

I posted one of the invaluable pieces of research I've found in the past month about my 1st cousin 3x removed, John Doherty (1807-1872) here. I think I've now found all 12 of John and Margaret Doherty's children, thanks to baptismal, marriage and burial records in Toronto.

• Mary SARAH (1839-1920) m Edward McFeely (1832-1898)
• Edward James (1840- ?)
• Patrick James (1841-1856)
• Frances Helen (1843-bef 1854)
• John Thomas (1844- ?)
• Henry (abt 1846-?)
• Margaret (abt 1847-bef 1930) m Charles N. Dickson (abt 1855-bef 1930)
• Thomas (1848-?) 
• Martha (abt 1850-1934)
• Rosanna (1852-1854)
• Frances (1854- ?)
• Rosanna Teresa (1858-1948) m Thomas Waldron (1856-1913)

Here are several of the St Paul's Church baptismal records I've located:

Mary Sarah baptized 20 Jan 1839

Edward James baptized 24 May 1840 

Patrick James baptized 22 May 1841

Frances Helen baptized 14 Nov 1843 (d bef 1854)

John Thomas baptized 29 Dec 1844

Again, look at the name of one of John's sponsors. Was this Thomas Doherty another relative, or one of the many unrelated Dohertys living in Toronto at that time?

Margaret baptized 31 Jan 1847

Again, look at the name of one of Margaret's sponsors. Another Thomas Doherty.

Thomas baptized 1 Nov 1848

Rosanna baptized 31 May 1852 (d 1 Jan 1854)

Frances baptized 5 Feb 1854

If you're counting, yes, this is only nine. I'm still looking for the baptismal records of the remaining three. As you can see, recycling of names of deceased children was as common in Canada as it was in Ireland.

Margaret Esmonde died on 7 May 1867, while her husband John died on 29 Jul 1872. Both are buried at St Michael's Cemetery in midtown Toronto. By 1857, the cemetery at St Paul's Church, where they were married and where their children were baptized was full in part due to the potato famine in Ireland. That cemetery is now under the adjacent elementary school yard.

St Michael's Cemetery grounds are now closed to the public because of vandalism concerns (don't get me started), but if I make an appointment, I may be able to wander through. I did wander through a couple of times many years ago, when the grounds were still open, and long before I knew that I had relatives buried there.

Working through unindexed parish registers is painstaking. So far, I've found that only three of John's and Margaret's children had children of their own. But there are three sons -- Edward, Henry and John -- whose stories I've yet to find. When I finish this exercise with St Paul's registers, those of St Michael's Cathedral, which opened in 1849, await.

I've also found several McFeely mentions in the St Paul's registers.

Perhaps one of their descendants will find this blog post in their own research. 2019 UPDATE: Happily, a McFeely descendant and I are in regular contact, exchanging new genealogical information as we make discoveries.

The never ending story continues.....




© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2017 All rights reserved

Dohertys, McFeelys and McCorkells everywhere

It seems like weeks that I've been adding my many new cousins to my database. Oh wait, it has been weeks. Remarkably though, none of these new cousins have done any DNA testing, or if they have, none have matched up with me, my two siblings and two first cousins who have all tested. Despite the many new people, some never married, while others married but had no children. But hope springs.

Just today, I've found 12 new 20th century McCorkell descendants to add to my database. Perhaps someone in the generation that follows them will share some DNA with me and mine.

At this point, I know of only two McFeelys who have done a DNA test, and they happen to be married to one another, each descended from a different brother-in-law of Mary Sarah Doherty McFeely (1839-1920). Yes, we're in touch.

From their 19th century Ontario (via Ireland) roots, the McFeelys and McCorkells, as I've already found, really are scattered across North America.

The hunt goes on, and 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

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....



© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2017 All rights reserved

The 1918 Guelph Raid and Marcus Cahir Doherty

Charles J. Doherty's only son, Marcus Cahir (1898-1970), discerned a vocation for the priesthood and entered the Jesuit seminary in Guelph, Ontario on 30 Mar 1918 to begin his studies. Marcus was my 3rd cousin once removed.

Canada entered World War I as a dominion of Great Britain in August 1914, and experienced many casualties. After contentious debate both in the House of Commons and in the country's newspapers, the Military Service Act was passed in 1917 to require that "all male citizens between 20 and 45 subject to military service, if called, for the duration of the war". The Act came into effect on 1 Jan 1918. Young Marcus had previously been exempted from military service in 1917 because of poor health.

Dictionary of Jesuit Biography, pg 86

Clergy were exempt from conscription, but the question arose around whether seminary students of any faith were to be included in the exemption. See right for what happened next, as reported in his biography in the Dictionary of Jesuit Biography (Ministry to English Canada 1842-1987).

Marcus Cahir Doherty SJ

The Guelph Raid was a notorious incident widely reported by both secular and religious media across Canada. Even the newspaper of the Orange Order in Canada wrote about this incident that fanned the flames of sectarian division during wartime.

According to several newspaper accounts of the Guelph Raid that I've read over the years, young Marcus was able to telephone his father in Ottawa when the raid began, alerting the Minister of Justice. Angry sparks flew over the telephone lines between Ottawa and Guelph on 7 Jun 1918 and later, to be sure.

Marcus completed his theological studies and more (philosophy, the classics, spirituality) and was ordained a priest in 1930 in Montreal. He went on to work as an educator and a pastor for 40 years. In the Jesuit biography that I just received this week, I learned that Marcus "was a man easy to love", but one who experienced bouts of depression and nervous disorders intermittently all his life.

I also learned that for the last four years of his life, Marcus was on staff at St Ignatius of Loyola parish in Montreal. My father attended mass there weekly from 1965 until his 2001 death. I can't remember if he ever mentioned that one of his cousins served at his church. Did they talk? I'm sure that they did. I wonder what they talked about.

The never ending story continues....

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....

Rt Hon. Charles J. Doherty, MP PC KC -- 2

The Canadian Encyclopedia has a good overview of my 2nd cousin twice removed, Charles Joseph Doherty's political career, as does Parliament of Canada biography.

After practising law with his brothers Thomas and Marcus, Charles was appointed to the bench in Quebec's Superior Court from 1891 to 1906. He was a leader in Montreal's Irish community, involved in many associations, including the St. Patrick's Society (following in his father's footsteps) and the Shamrock Lacrosse Club.

After he was appointed to the bench in 1891, he was honoured at a farewell banquet by the Shamrock Lacrosse Club, which was reported here and at which his father, Judge Marcus Doherty spoke.

Charles ran for a seat in Quebec's legislature twice, in 1881 and again in 1886, without success. He was first elected a federal Member of Parliament for St Ann's, a riding in Griffintown, an Irish working class area just south of Montreal's downtown in 1908, and went on to a career in federal politics that concluded in 1921.

At some point after 1911, Charles sold his home on Stanley Street in Montreal, purchasing a home on Frank Street in Ottawa, where he, Kate and their daughters lived. That home still stands today, but is now an apartment building,. He stayed at the Windsor Hotel, located just north of his riding. whenever in Montreal to attend to constituency business,

322 Frank St, Ottawa

From 1911 to 1921, Charles served as justice minister in the cabinets of Prime Ministers Robert Borden and Arthur Meighen, Canada's ninth and tenth prime ministers respectively. He represented Canada at the Treaty of Versailles and later was Canada's delegate to the League of Nations from 1920 to 1922, spending much time during those years travelling between Canada, Paris and Geneva. Charles was also a lifelong strong supporter of Irish Home Rule. It was said that his support for Irish Home Rule contributed in part to his early electoral defeats in 1881 and 1886.

Canadian Jewish Chronicle

During his time in public life, newspapers across Canada carried articles about Charles J. Doherty, In December 1915, the Canadian Jewish Chronicle carried a lengthy profile, noting that "he was born under a lucky star", and highlighting his kindness shown "the Jewish people of this country".  The writer touched also on the relationship between Irish and Jewish people, excerpted at the right.

Following the 1921 defeat of the Arthur Meighen government, Charles and Kate returned to Montreal, purchasing a home at 9 Forden Ave in Westmount, where they spent their final years. I think that the original home that they lived in has been either demolished and rebuilt, or extensively renovated. Below is what that home looks like now.

9 Forden Ave, Westmount, Quebec

After his death at his Westmount home on 28 July 1931, a lengthy obituary ran the next day on page 1 of The Gazette, His funeral was also reported in the 1 Aug 1931 Ottawa Citizen.

The never ending story continues....