An historical account of one line of the descendants of Hugh and Mary Daugherty,
                                                  who lived in Indiana County, Pennsylvania in the mid-1800's.

Introduction

The branch of the Daugherty clan which descended from Hugh and Mary of Indiana county, Pennsylvania has multiplied, prospered and spread to the four corners of the country.  For the most part they have been content to live out their lives with little apparent interest in the history of the clan.  A present-day effort to tap the memories of elder family members revealed generally that recollections from childhood of family circle, mealtime and fireside conversations did not include anecdotes of family lore, history and tradition.  "We just didn't talk about things like that."  Maybe the past was something to put behind you - think and plan only for the future.  The few family bibles located contained only records of then-current births and deaths, which are certainly useful.  But there are no family trees tracing previous generations.  This almost complete lack of family as well as public records makes for difficult tracing of roots and a rather spare narrative of its history.

In recent years several family members have directed considerable effort to assembling what is available.  This began in the mid-60's with Mrs. Betty Leistritz of Antioch, Nebraska.  After an extensive preliminary effort, she was forced by the pressures of multiple careers (ranch wife, mother and nursing) to lay the project aside.  About 1979, Carol and Dennis DeFrain, now of Layton, Utah revived the campaign and put a good bit of effort into it.  This resparked the interest of Jean and Melvin Daugherty of Oxon Hill, Maryland who had also done some searching in the late 60's along with Betty Leistritz.  There is now a general feeling that the work is essentially complete and should be brought together under one cover.  This should make it unnecessary for others of this and future generations curious enough to care, to retrace these laborious efforts.

Underlying these searches has been the desire to establish the Irish connection.  That is, to determine which ancestor made the trip from a crowded and impoverished Ireland to the Promised Land.  This facet of the research has not been successful to date, but the search continues and there is always the possibility that some enterprising member of the clan may unearth the lucky clue and break the barrier in the future.

Many sources have been tapped to acquire the facts contained herein.  These include:

1.  The National Archives, Washington, D.C. for census, military and military pension records.
2.  Pennsylvania Historical and Genealogical Societies, Philadelphia for history of Indiana County and immigration passenger lists.
3.  Historical and Genealogical Society of Indiana County, Pa.
4.  Genealogical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.  (Mormon Church)
5.  Courthouse legal documents at Point Pleasant, W. Va.
6.  Miscellaneous skimpy family records.

The U.S. census has been taken every ten years since 1790.  The original handwritten sheets filled out by the census-takers in the field have been put on microfilm and are organized by state, then county, then township and larger towns.  The facility is, of course, available to the public at no charge, and any visitor to the Washington, D.C. area is urged to satisfy his curiosity about family history this way.  As one might expect, as you go back in time every ten years, census information becomes sketchier, so that the clues thin out rapidly just in the era on which much of this search centered.  For instance, the 1850 census was the first one in which wife and children's names and ages were listed.  The 1840 and prior censuses simply listed only the head of the household by name along with his age.  Then there were age brackets for the other family members, with so many in each bracket.  And in those male-chauvinist days, the wife was included with her children as a nameless female in one of the brackets.  In general, the quality of handwriting was quite good, but the inks they used varied widely in lasting-ability, and some records are badly faded. 

What follows then results from a feeling that if it isn't done now, it may never get done.  In addition to the narrative, a family tree is being included, with most available information in it.  Also it is planned to include blank pages at the end so that individuals can fill in and continue their own family records.

The Old Sod

Even though we cannot establish an exact link back to Ireland, it is of interest to examine briefly the Irish background.  Almost everyone is aware of the many spellings of the name, not to mention the delight people seem to take in misspelling it.  From the writer's limited research on a two-week trip in 1982, the Daugherty version is not to be found in Ireland, but is an American-ization probably of Dougherty, which in turn came from Doherty (or O'Doherty).  That and Dogherty seemed to be the predominate spellings for many centuries, traceable back to A.D. 900.  An even earlier Celtic version is O'Dochartaigh.  It has been noted from the literature and personal observation that the prefix O' is gradually being dropped over there. 

It was decided on the 1982 trip to examine telephone books as an indication of numbers of the various spellings.  All the subscribers in the whole island are listed in only three books, one for Northern Ireland, one for Dublin and one for the rest of the Irish Republic.  When the trip was over, it was realized only one book had been surveyed, that of Northern Ireland.  The following name counts were noted: 

No Daughertys
83 Doughertys
1060 Dohertys
130 O'Dohertys
No O'Doughertys
1 Dogherty
12 Dochertys
1 Douherty
No Doughtreys

From this limited effort it can be seen that the root spelling of Doherty and O'Doherty from whence we all apparently sprang is still predominant.  The Daugherty undoubtedly evolved from Dougherty and one wonders when and why in our particular case.  It seems that back in the early days when life and legal complications were much simpler, people changed the spelling of their names (and sometimes the name itself) at the drop of a hat.  There is a possible clue on when ours was changed.  In the 1850 census, George's family name is spelled with an "a" but 10 years earlier in 1840, the "o" was used.  It is anybody's guess whether George's father changed the spelling in between, or whether it was a census-taker's error.  In this particular case, the handwriting was distinct and legible, and was not misread. 

The name is well-known and well-represented in Ireland.  In a book published in 1890, it is noted as the fifteenth most numerous in the island.  Anyone in Ireland can tell you the ancestral ground of the Dohertys is in the far north, in the counties of Donegal and Derry.  In fact, the whole Inishowen Peninsula, which is the north-east portion of Donegal County, was held by the clan until 1601.  The reader is referred to an interesting booklet entitled "origin of the O'Dohertys" by Anthony Mathews, for a rather complete history of the family.  Availability is covered at the end of this report.  The origin of the family crest pictured here, or how old it is are not known.










































             

THE DAUGHERTY STORY
Written by Melvin J. Daugherty, first published in February, 1984.
Melvin J. Daugherty