From An Idea to A Good Idea

I emailed everyone on 5 April "I was driving back from a game of golf this morning and was listening to a radio programme on the Spanish flu epidemic in 1917.  I had a thought!    When I ask for journal articles they may seem like a lot of work to some, but if I […]

Spanish flu epidemic 1917

Shane Patrick O'Donoghue submitted "I recall my Irish family forebears saying how the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1917 had affected the venues of Sunday Mass attendances in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia   In line with Government decree in this country at that time, gatherings of 20 or more people within a building were prohibited because of […]

Missing relatives in the 19th and early 20th centuries – notes in newspapers

Kim Cannon emailed me with "I was trawling through some online newspapers today to hopefully find some missing clues to illuminate the disappearance of some particular elusive relatives who have so far escaped every past line of enquiry – when I saw the following MISSING advertisement for a Donoghue. Perhaps it is just the clue […]

An O’Donoghue on the Titanic

Mr Florence "Frank" Thomas O'Donoghue From https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-victim/frank-thomas-donoghue.html#.WYOA8yh1pSU.gmail   Mr Florence "Frank" Thomas O'Donoghue (Bedroom steward) was born in Killarney, Co Kerry, Ireland on 28 October 1880, and was baptised on 30 October 1880. He was the son of Timothy O'Donoghue (b. 1855), a tram conductor originally from Co Kerry, and Margaret, née Mora (b. 1856), […]

The 69th Pa. Volunteer Infantry – Irish in American Civil War

THE 69th. Pa. VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. "Pennsylvania's Gallant 69th" (Philadelphia) http://www.69thpa.co.uk/ History of the 69th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, a predominantly Irish regiment (mostly from Philadelphia) which saw extensive service during the American Civil War   From soldier data bases   Names in red known to have been born Ireland. * * County identified. ### Born Ireland […]

Truck-driving dog leads Ohio cops in high-speed chase!

A frisky mutt stole a pickup truck – and led a cop on a quarter-mile chase before being apprehended! "This had to be the weirdest thing I've seen in my 14 years of law enforcement," declared befuddled Patrolman James Myers. The shaggy dog story unfolded on the evening of March 25 [1996], after Good Smaratian Brett […]

Cloghereen fair and the Donoghue/Minehan feud.

Thomas Crofton Croker was a renowned writer about the Killarney area.  His book Legends of the Lakes was published in 1829.  It is full of O'Donoghue references. The village of Cloghereen, now more commonly known as Muckross Village, held an annual fair. From The Muckross Newsletter Issue 25 "On the occasion of his visit to Cloghereen […]