Julia Donoghue nee Boyle : Short Biography

A family tale from Ballyduff, North Kerry

Boyles, Donoghues, Guns, Rahillys, Horgans

My ggggrandfather, James Donoghue, married Julia(na) Boyle of Knockercreeveen in the last part of the 18th century.  They lived in Ballyduff, North Kerry.

They had at least six children: Patrick (m.Catherine Dee), Ellen (m.Daniel Costello), Thomas (b.1806, my gggrandfather m. Ellen Connor), James (m.Elizabeth Boyle), Mary (m.Thomas Ryle), John (m.Joanna Boyle). 

James and Julia worked for the local landlords, Gun of Rattoo House and Stoughton of Ballyhorgan.

In 1832, Julia was godmother to Catherine, the illegitimate daughter of Catherine Rahilly and Wilson Gun.  Catherine Rahilly was a wet nurse at Rattoo Lodge.  An Elizabeth Gun(n), possibly Wilson’s younger sister, was godmother to my great aunt, Mary Ann Donoghue in Poplar, London.

This very early photo is thought to show Julia with Catherine outside Rattoo Lodge.  There is certainly a strong family facial resemblance and her granddaughter, also Julia, was a similarly tiny woman.

Wilson Gun was very generous to his illegitimate children and, when Catherine was to marry Patrick Horgan, Wilson offered them the whole townland of Clashmealcon.

Patrick and Catherine did not want to disadvantage the existing tenants of that townland and so they went to America.  Patrick died after a year and nothing was ever heard of Catherine again.  There is a local song called Sweet Kate of Ballyduff which is said to be about Catherine.

James Donoghue died before 1848 and possibly in the 1820s.  Julia lived to a very old age.  Her sons left for London and America in c.1850.  She had a rent-free-for-life, thatched cottage and garden (from the Stoughtons) in the middle of village opposite the church and her daughter, Mary, remained with her husband, Thomas Ryle, so Julia stayed in Ballyduff.  Her other daughter, Ellen, also lived nearby in Ballincrossig.  Her cottage was on the same land as her nephew-in-law Simon Halloran, the husband of her niece, Mary Boyle; another reason to stay.

Both James and Julia were probably buried in the 1820 family tomb in historic Rattoo churchyard, which has been recently renovated.