John Doherty : Short Biography

I returned to Clare in 1996, and have lived & worked  here since then.

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With strong Irish roots, I have a natural passion for County Clare where my family originated from. It's a great story with tragedy, sadness, hardship & happiness with lots of travel & movement...

I am very proud of my family/ancestors.

They where all hard workers, and endured lots of trials and hardships in the pits & cotton mills in Wigan. England provided them with the work to make a good living, which they eventually achieved.

I am Patrick fourth generation, my dad John third generation, my grand-dad Patrick second generation, my great granddad Patrick first generation...

Here is a brief history of my 15 years family search:

It wasn't their choice to leave Ireland...

From Clare, to Dublin, to Wigan, Pennsylvania & Australia the story is amazing.

The early players are:

• John Doherty my Great Great Granddad born Ennistymon 1830,
• Mary (Kinnane) my Great Great Grandmother born Miltown Malbay 1831.

The Children:

• Bridget 1850 Caherbarna Co.Clare,
• Mary 1852 Caherbarna Co.Clare,
• Kate 1854 Caherbarna Co.Clare,
• Margaret 1857 Caherbarna Co.Clare,
• Patrick my Great Granddad 1861 Caherbarna Co.Clare,
• John 1863 Caherbarna Co.Clare,
• Honorah 1866 Lackamore Clare,
• Elizabeth 1868 St Catherine's Dublin,
• Susan St Catherine's Dublin, 1871.

For me it all begins at no.7 Lyon St., Wallgate, Wigan and the 1881 Census.

My Great Great Grandparents John Doherty & Mary Kinnane travelled from the Wild West of Ireland, from the town-lands of Caherbarna & Lackamore, near Lahinch, Liscannor & Ennistymon, County Clare, to the hardship of the Liberties in Dublin, and then to England and Wigan.

Bridget Doherty was born in Clare married Thomas Ryan in Dublin 1871.

Kate Doherty was also born in Clare and married Patrick Murphy in Dublin in 1876.

Elizabeth was born in Dublin 1868 and moved onto Wigan, then to Pennsylvania with George Ratchford her husband. They lived near the Mee’s, Frank & George Mee (Miltown Malbay) & my Great Aunts, Mary & Margaret Doherty (Mee) who had emigrated to  Pennsylvania. Elizabeth & George later returned to Wigan. We have a very large Abblett - Mee - Degnan - Dougherty - Doherty family in the U.S., and an equally large family back in England, Fitzgerald, Cain, O'loughlin, Maye, Ryan, Ratchford, Lannon, McCann, O'Connell and of course also in Australia.

Martina Doolan (Cheyne) and her brother where orphaned in Ireland then went to live Australia aged 10. Her father and his brothers were also orphaned young when their mother Martina’s grandmother Susan Murphy died in 1931, Susan Murphy’s mother Kate Murphy (Doherty) had died a few months earlier.

Many of the men served in the British Army.

• Great Granddad Patrick served  12 years  India
• Great Uncle John served 11 years  India
• Great Uncle John's son, 1st cousin removed Martin Doherty aged 21 killed in action in France WW1
• Great Uncle George Mee served 11 years  India
• Great Uncle Frank Mee served 10 years  India
• 1st cousin removed Martin Doherty aged 21 killed in action in France WW1

Later most of the men worked in the coal pits in Wigan. The women worked in the cotton mills.

The streets in Wallgate where surrounded by cotton mills. In 1818 Wigan had eight mills in the Wallgate area and it developed as a cotton town in Victorian times. From 1889 until the First World War the largest ring spinning company in Britain was Farington, Eckersley & Co and Swan Meadow Mills.

In the 1840’s there were over 1000 pit shafts within a 5 mile radius of Wigan town center. Coal was taken via the Leeds and Liverpool canal and later by rail to power factories and to heat homes in the region and also nationally. Coal from Wigan helped to power the industrial revolution.