Snippets: October ‘Our Ancestors and the Law’ Response Three: How the Federal Bureau of Investigation ended up at a Donahue wedding
How the Federal Bureau of Investigation ended up at a Donahue Wedding By Thomas M and Colleen Donahue Witte Colleen Donahue Witte was hired for a stenography position by the FBI Field Office in Minneapolis, MN after she graduated with a degree in Advanced Stenography from the at the North Dakota School […]
Snippets: October ‘Our Ancestors and the Law’ Response Two: James Donohue and Folsom Prison
Contributed by Tim Donohue An article July 21, 1903 San Francisco Call describe James Donohue, age 21, as working as a Prison Guard at Folsom Prison which he had begun in the spring. He worked for Warden Wilkinson. On Saturday the 18th of July he had mysteriously disappeared after a dance in town and failed […]
Snippets: October is ‘Our Ancestors and the Law’ Response One: James John Donahue, Deputy Sheriff, Griggs County, North Dakota
James John Donahue, Deputy Sheriff, Griggs County, North Dakota By Thomas M Witte (his son-in-law) (Born in Winona, MN on April 24, 1912, Died in Valley City, ND on January 22, 1993) James Donahue was the father of my wife, Colleen Donahue Witte. His g-grandfather and mother were Philip Donahue and Mary Hays […]
Snippets: November ‘Ancestors who eloped’ Response One: ‘Elopement frustrated by Sheriff Donahue’
Contributed by Thomas Witte Elopement Frustrated by Sheriff Donahue This interesting little account of long ago was in the Winona Minnesota Republican-Herald on Saturday August 10, 1907 in which a certain Sheriff Donohue of Mankato, MN played a part. Research on Ancestry.com and Find-a-Grave.com provided the following information on the above mentioned Sheriff Donahue. […]
August/September snippet: Irish Ghettos, where did the Irish settle in large numbers in your hometown? Response Seven: Worcester Massachusetts Irish
Contributed by Daniel Flynn In Worcester Mass, the first large group of Irish arrived in 1820 to build the Worcester to Providence canal. They were prohibited from living in the village proper and were relegated to the swamp land along the Blackstone river where the canal was being built. Many of them stayed to build […]
August/September snippet: Irish Ghettos, where did the Irish settle in large numbers in your hometown? Response Six: Butte, Montana Irish
Contributed by Tim Donohue Butte, Montana: Ireland's Fifth Province My earliest memory as a child was watching a St. Patrick’s Day parade on my Father’s shoulders. My Dad was posted to Butte, Montana, USA with a busy post WW2 Army reserve unit. It was a hard scrabble rural mining town far away from the larger metropolises […]
August/September snippet: Irish Ghettos, where did the Irish settle in large numbers in your hometown? Response Four: Philadelphia Irish
Contributed by Beth Donahue Cherkowsky Philadelphia has one of the largest populations of Americans of Irish descent – it was at 14% last figures I read in a reliable documented article. There are still "ghettos" of Irish-descent in South Philadelphia, Kensington and Southwest Phila along with a lot of areas of Delaware County (one of […]
August/September snippet: Irish Ghettos, where did the Irish settle in large numbers in your hometown? Response Five: Portland, Maine Irish
Contributed by Helen Frazier In Portland Maine there was a very large community in Portland's West End. St. Dominic's church was at the center of the community and although it isn't a church but now the Maine Irish Heritage Center, there still remains a large number of Irish families in and around that area. Most, […]
August/September snippet: Irish Ghettos, where did the Irish settle in large numbers in your hometown? Response Three: Inner Sydney Irish and Boorowa
Contributed by James Hugh Donohoe Sydney had its area with a high concentration of Irish families in the 1920s. The area was borderline "Ghetto". Historians might challenge this observation because Irish had arrived since 1788 and they were also sprinkled around Sydney generally, many families having integrated with the Anglo Communities. These Inner Sydney suburbs […]
August/September snippet: Irish Ghettos, where did the Irish settle in large numbers in your hometown? Response Two: Connemara Patch
Thomas Witte, responding to ‘Irish Ghettos, where did the Irish settle in large numbers in your hometown?’ introduces us to some Connemara Irish who settled in an area of St Paul Minnesota which became known as Connemara Patch. This was so extensive I felt it should be given the length of a journal article and with […]