Peter Donohue

A SYNOPSIS OF DONOHUE FAMILY RESEARCH

There were two O'Donoghue septs, namely, clans. One was O'Donoghue Mor. whose home was the Ros Castle on Lough Leine right outside of Killarney. The other Donoghue clan was "The O'Donoghue" of Glen Flesk, some seven miles out of Killarney.O'Donoghue Mor had the better and the larger land holdings, O'Donoghue of the Glen was established by a younger brother of one of the early chieftains, consisted of half the land of O'Donoghue Mor. The land is pretty rough and rugged, the result of which the O'Donoghue clan at Glen Flesk subsisted longer than the O'Donoghue clan at Ros.

In fact, the line of the O'Donoghues at Glen Flesk can be traced down to today. The last time in Ireland I stayed at the bread and breakfast establishment of Mary and Donal O'Donoghue. Donal took me around to all of the O'Donoghue holdings at Glen Flesk and showed me the ruins of the O'Donoghue Castle known as Kilaha. This was quite exciting. I was there with my wife, one of my daughters and a couple of friends. They got quite a kick out of the fact that Donal O'Donoghue and I both resembled each other and our mannerisms were incredibly similar. I brought back pictures and my mother mistook Donal for me. Many of the O'Donoghues in Killarney have short legs as I do. We decided we had to be cousins. Fortunately they had traced their family line, both Mary and Donal were from separate O'Donoghue families. Unfortunately their tracing went back no further than to the penal laws where records about Irish became sketchy. This was intentional, calculated to circumvent the English.

Family, Donoghue, started in the United States with Florence O'Donoghue who left Ireland following the death of his wife, Ellen O'Connor. Both O'Connor and O'Donoghue are important names in the Killarney area of County Kerry. I was told in Ireland the fact that an O'Connor and O'Donoghue were married would tie them to some contact with Kerry. I believe, but have not as yet determined, that part of the Glen Flesk land stretched into West Cork County. I have been unable to determine where Florence or his three sons, who were supposed to have also come to America with him, came from. His three sons who emigrated were Florence, Timothy and our great grandfather, Peter. Another brother, John, stayed in Ireland, was purportedly a south seas island trader. He did well, came back to Ireland, married a cousin, needed a dispensation for this, settled in Cork, whether Cork City or Cork County I am not advised, and lived out his days there.

Florence and Ellen also had a daughter, Hannah. She is supposed to have gone to Australia. In the 1860 census for the City of Hudson, Wisconsin, a Hannah Donohue, age 18, is shown living with our great grandfather, Peter Donohue. Living with him as well is a one year old daughter, Mary and an Anna Coughlin of age 60. At that time, Peter is shown as somewhat older than Hannah, more years then in fact existed between Johannah Coughlin Donoghue, our great grandmother and Peter Donoghue. This could be 18 year old sister Hannah, it could be a mistake in age on the part of the census taker, more likely this, in view of the fact that Anna Coughlin, obviously a mother-in-law, was living there and the names Johannah and Hannah can be the same.

The first record that I have of Peter in the United States is the 1860 census. At this time he appears living in Hudson, Wisconsin, noted to be a laborer, noted to have a net worth of $35.00. He next appears in the 1870 census living in New Richmond, Wisconsin. In the 1880 census he is living in Stanton Township which is a farming area outside of New Richmond, living approximately 10 miles from New Richmond. At that time, Florence Donoghue, shown to be of the age of 89 years, is living with him. This is obviously our great great grandfather. He does not appear in the 1885 census so one might conclude that he died by that time. At the same time, Ethel Lerohl, my aunt, recalls her father saying that one of her grandfathers lived to over 100 years. I have her immediate grandfathers' ages at death determined, none of which were anywhere near 100 years. This leaves the possibility that it was Florence that lived to over 100 years.

Peter and Johannah farmed, Johannah died in 1905, Peter died in 1907. Ethel remembers Peter as having a shock of white hair. He visited sometime between 1905 and 1907 in Melrose. She remembers the visit. I learned from John Cunningham, the son of our great aunt, Margaret Cunningham, that he recalls his mother talking about her father one time saying the English could well have shoved the Irish right into the sea had they chosen to. They didn't because the English were so good they spared the Irish. He doesn't recall whether this was humor on Peter's part or whether it was a true assessment of a strong liking for the English over the Irish. I would opt on the side of sarcasm to describe this statement. However, some of the O'Donoghues in Ireland had Tory leanings in the time of Elizabeth and later. I also found some suggestion that the Donoghue clan was protestant under Elizabeth. This of course is not an unusual in the turbulent Irish political history. The way the Irish both in the United States and Ireland fight with each other, it is entirely possible that he Peter Donoghue wasn't joking.

In the process o f the Protestant Catholic warring, O'Donoghue Ros made the mistake of siding with a McCarthy in one of the wars. Iit was then that he lost his land to a Valentine Brown and that O'Donoghue Ros Clan was dispersed. The other point John Cunningham recalls is that his father always chided his mother that the Donoghues were "Corkmen." That was apparently a slur.

I found John Cunningham in Milwaukee. He is retired, in his 70's, I did not get a great deal of source material from him, but I nonetheless enjoyed talking to him. His mother was a teacher in the Cylon area where he grew up. Their farm burned in 1929 and all family records burned with it. I was hoping through him to perhaps get my hands on a family Bible to give information about lineage of the family in that they lived close to the Peter Donoghue family. Unfortunately if they had it, it was lost in the fire.

I am unable to find the grave sites of Peter and Johanna. I have been able to establish that they are buried in the New Richmond Cemetery. I cannot find a burial site for Florence O'Donoghue. I did find gravestones for Timothy Donoghue and his wife Katharine Mackin Donoghue. They died in 1904 and 1905.

Outside of finding our great great grandfather in the 1880 census, the only other material I was able to find on him had to do with a probate file which involved a proceedings to sell land obtained by my grandfather as a minor. I discovered a deed in that file from Florence O'Donoghue to William F. Donoghue. The land was obtained by my grandfather in 1880 and proceedings for the sale of it were conducted in the same year. The land was sold for $500.00. The land was in New Richmond, Wisconsin, and is now part of a park. The land had been owned since about 1875 by Florence. I obtained an abstract on it and found that he had purchased it subject to a mortgage. The mortgage was paid, he then conveyed it to my grandfather. I was able to obtain the original of the deed. It was not necessary to the probate file. On petition the court ordered accordingly. I now have that deed framed and proudly displayed in my study. Florence signed it with an "X." He was either unable to read or write at all or his reading and writing was limited to the gaelic language. Peter did sign in these proceedings and obviously could write, but Florence apparently could not. This was not unusual, for a century preceding their immigration, it was unlawful for the Catholic Irish to have any education.

Florence Donoghue, the son, was supposed to have been killed in the Civil War. I can find no trace of him whatsoever. I have been having the National Archives searched and have found one Florence Donoghue who joined the Union Army out in Fond du Lac and was discharged there. The information shows that he resided at Waupon. He lived in Waupon until the late 1870's when he entered a veteran's home in Milwaukee and died about 1912. It is shown that he was married and had one son. It also shows that he was from Dunmanway in Ireland. I am having Dunmanway checked to see whether the parish shows any Donoghues with names of our ancestors at the times they were born. I know Timothy was born in 1825 and Peter was born in 1831.

Timothy and his wife lived in New Richmond and appear in the 1880 and 1900 census in New Richmond. Burial certificates and headstones do exist and that identification was easy. Timothy, among other things, worked as a surveyor. He was supposed to have been quite a mathematician who would not charge money for any of his mental work, believing that morally you are only entitled to be paid money for manual labor, namely, work with your hands. Timothy and Kate were supposed to be childless. The 1900 census indicates that they had no children, at least an entry for Kate's name indicates no children living or dead. A mystery arose as I looked up Timothy's obituary in the New Richmond newspaper and read, " he died in Michigan, his body's return was accompanied by an Edward Donoghue and a Mrs. George Sperry and her daughter Zulu all from Decatur, Michigan". I did some digging and discovered an obituary in the Decatur, Michigan newspaper that indicated that Timothy Donoghue had died at the home of his son Edward with whom he had just come to live following spending the winter with his daughter, Mrs. George Sperry. I obtained a death certificate and found this Timothy was our great uncle, a surveyor, the son of Florence Donoghue who died leaving two children. The informant for the death certificate was Edward Donoghue. I have attempted to trace the Sperrys and find they ended up in Lansing, Michigan in 1910 and disappeared after that. I am working on Edward Donoghue presently. I did discover that Zulu was born in New Richmond, Wisconsin in 1881. Mrs. Sperry's other two children are shown as having been born in Wisconsin according to the census as well as indication of the same for Mrs. Sperry whose first name is Mary. I am checking now in the New Richmond area to see if I can located more on Mary and George Sperry and their three children, Edward G., Zulu and Lucille. It is possible these children were adopted. If Timothy had the high moral standard that prevented his taking money for work, it is paradoxical to believe that he had children on the side. In the 1900 census it is indicated by both Timothy and Kate that they had been married for 47 years. Census records indicated that Mary Donoghue was born in 1858.

Of the Peter Donoghue family, I have not done a lot of work as yet.. I have had no contact with any Fitzsimmons from New Rockford, Illinois, nor, have I had any contact with any Grinellas. Mary Donoghue married a Fitzsimmons. Katherine Donoghue married a Grinella.. George Donoghue disappeared for years and was discovered by my grandmother, Mary Graham Donoghue, living in Seattle. My grandfather did not have much contact with him after his discovery and certainly had no interest in finding him before. Brother Arthur lived in Seattle as well. There was very little contact with him. Sarah and Annie Donoghue ended up in Hollywood. According to stories, Sarah had gone out to Hollywood and had tutored various Hollywood star's children. After retirement from the Minneapolis School District, Annie went out and joined her. At one point, the family went out to see Annie and were not allowed to see her, she seemed under the control of a chauffeur and a housekeeper. There was great concern about this amongst her relatives, she died shortly after, apparently penniless. She had a great deal of money before this. Annie had been prominent in the Minneapolis School District being one of the people that put together the Public Employees Retirement Act in Minnesota.

Another matter of interest is the education of all of the Donoghues. Margaret, Sarah, Annie and my grandfather were all educated as school teachers. Family stories have it that my grandfather received his teaching education at River Falls Normal School. I have checked with River Falls and they have absolutely no record of either my grandfather or any of the other siblings in the Peter Donoghue family. I was able to obtain a copy of my grandfather's transcript from law school. Apparently my grandfather taught school and cared for his family until 1884 when he left home intending to go into the seminary, changed his mind after arriving in Minneapolis and entered law school. I did learn in New Richmond, interviewing folks there, that there was a teacher's school operated out of the Public School System in New Richmond in the late 19th and early 20th century.

BY MIKE DONOHUE