Irish pioneers and the settlement of Canada
The stories of the settling of the new worlds are remarkable to modern folk. This project addresses overall immigration and settlement patterns and describes specific O'Donoghue cases
Progress
Journal articles
October 2001 Daniel O’Donoghue – a pioneer of the 19th century Canadian labour movement
October 2002 Sylvester O’Donoghue – a prominent architect in 19th century Nova Scotia
October 2007 Joseph Donohoe and the politics of Irish Catholics in Canada
January 2008 O’Donoughues in Quebec
July 2013 Unequal justice’: The Métis in O’Donoghue’s Raid of 1871
October 2013 April Challenge: Who was the first recorded O’Donoghue in Canada?
Next Stages
Ask for people to participate
Dunphys of Canada
Dunphy and its variants is the most common variant in Canada. Why is this? What attracted the Dunphys from their homeland area in Kilkenny and specific areas in Tipperary and Laois to Canada
Short term objective
Get a Dunphy to take this project on and others to join in
Next Stages
Approach Dunphy community
Famous Irish regiments in foreign armies
There are many famous Irish regiments that have graced the armies of the English speaking world and also many countries of Continental Europe. O'Donoghues have figured in many of these as officers, NCOs and men. The stories are stirring.
Progress
January 2010 The Irish in the armies of Europe – Part One: 1580-1660
January 2010 The story of Ruairdrí Ó Donnchadha
Next Stages
To get some people to join the project team
Ó Donnchadha tribal history
Objective is to extend our current knowledge of the O'Donoghue tribes of Ireland
Individual projects to be started for all of the tribes on the Historical Origins area
Progress
Journal articles
April 2001 The Donohoes of Cavan
January 2003 O’Donoghue tribal history in Cork and Kerry
October 2006 The Milesian Myth and the Scythian Connection
January 2007 The Aran Islands and O’Donoghue history
April 2007 Oral and literary influences on the O’Donoghues Duff from 1641 to the present day
April 2009 The Ua Donnchadha sept of Osraige: A brief introduction
October 2010 The Enigma of the Eóganacht Genetic Signature and the ‘Scythian Marker’
January 2011 Garranes –The Camelot of Ireland
April 2013 The Usurpers of West Munster
October 2013 Awly Mór – the sad fate of Olaf the Great
April 2014 The Eóganachts of Cashel in Kerry
Next steps
Work on the tribes/septs not yet covered
Settling the American West – 1820-1920
Intended as a review of the Irish and O'Donoghue (however spelt) involvement in the development of the West from earliest times.
Would cover the Oregon Trail (1840's), California Gold Rush (1849), Idaho and Montana Gold Rushes following into 1870, Railroads, Copper Mining and
the Copper Kings, etc.
Progress
January 2006 The Oregon Trail – Donahoe/Donahue tales
January 2006 John O'Donoghue, The Man Who Built The Emmitsburg Railroad
July 2006 John W. Donihue, Ghost of the Goldrush
Next steps
This project needs to be broken into smaller time periods when further progressed.
More stories
American Civil War 1861-5
Objective is to research the Irish influence and O'Donoghue (however spelt) participation in this period of history. The outcome will be a series of journal articles.
Progress
Journal articles
July 2005 General Michael T Donohoe – American Civil War 1861-5
Next Stages
Encourage more people to contribute to the research.
Aran Isles
Ancient connections between the Eoghanacht O'Donoghues and the Aran Isles may have dated back to the time of St Enda in the 5th century. O Siochain in 'Aran – islands of legend' states that O'Donohue was one of the most common names on the three islands in early 19th C. census records. Today many different spellings of the name are found on gravestones. This project will endeavour to explore this history.
Progress
January 2007 The Aran Islands and O’Donoghue history
Next Stages
To research the links with O'Donoghues of Clare and Galway
American Revolutionary War 1775-83
In this project we aim to research the Irish participation in the war against the British, and, in particular, describe the contribution of people of our name
Progress
Journal articles
April 2006 American Revolutionary War 1775-83; personalities and insights
Next steps
More stories to be encouraged
Irish of the Caribbean
During a trip to Ireland, in about 1990, my wife called to tell me that a newspaper travel article had said that O’Donoghue, among other Irish names, was found amongst today’s black population on the island of Montserrat. I have always been intrigued by this thought. How did Irish surnames get to black people of the West Indies? The historical events of the seventeenth century in Ireland started the process. This project endeavours to trace the history of the name and the people and places associated with it from that time to today.
Progress
Journal articles
October 2001 The black Irish of the Caribbean
April 2005 and January 2006 The Irish of the Caribbean
Next steps
Keep live as more knowledge comes available
Y-DNA project
The use of DNA testing for genealogists
Genealogy has to date been based on oral tradition and documentary evidence. In the last few years the science of genetics has offered a new tool – Y-DNA testing. Our DNA is made up of a number of chromosomes. The Y chromosome is only held by a man and passes from father to son. Where, therefore, people of the same name share the same DNA signature, there is a degree of probability that they also share a common ancestor. If oral tradition and documentary evidence also support this relationship, the degree of probability is significantly heightened.
The origins and distribution of the O’Donoghues (however spelt) in Ireland over time
There are fifteen known O'Donoghue ancient tribal/septal areas in Ireland. They were in Munster: Tipperary, Cork/Kerry, Clare, Waterford – Leinster: Kilkenny, Wicklow/Dublin, Meath – Connaught: Galway, Mayo/Sligo, Cavan. Considerable migration took place over the centuries and family groups took root in many other counties (eg Clare, Limerick, Waterford, Roscommon and others), which would today be recognised as their areas of origin.
People who can participate
This project is primarily for society members’ benefit, but guest researchers and a wide cross-section of people from different parts of Ireland will be invited to participate in order to build as comprehensive a database as possible. The findings of the project will be made available to all, within the privacy protocols described below. The spelling of the name has enormous variation (around 300 variants) today and this project is relevant to everyone.
If you are a female researcher, you should encourage your male O'Donoghue relatives to join the project on your behalf.
Administration of the project
We have a three person team. Elizabeth O'Donoghue/Ross (Ireland) is our Group Administrator. Elizabeth is the primary interface with participants and FTDNA, our laboratory service provider. She maintains our analysis routines and produces reports and results data. She liaises with the Breifne Clans Project (Donohoes of Cavan).
Tighe O’Donoghue/Ross (Ireland) provides expertise on ancient history and interprets the results in tribal/sept terms. He liaises with the other tribes/septs (MacCarthy, O’Shea, O’Moore etc). I (Rod) am the third member and handle communications to the society.
Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) www.familytreedna.com has been chosen as the society’s service provider. They work with the Arizona Research Labs at the University of Arizona to do all the technical and laboratory work. They operate to the strictest privacy guidelines. They have the largest database, which enables people who match each other to to be put in touch, helping to uncover common ancestors.
Other known related projects
We maintained contact with the Trinity College Dublin Irish Clans project with whom other societies and chiefs were working. The Donohoes of Cavan sponsored a portion of this medium term TCD project, for which no personal results were available for the individual. The portion supported was that relating to Brian McEvoy's doctoral thesis, which resulted in the identification of the Ui Neill modal haplotype (now known as the Northwest Irish modal haplotype), later established as the first known haplogroup of Irish origin, defined by the M222 mutation. FTDNA have other projects with historically related names – McCarthy, O Mahony and Donnachaidh, for instance. There is a family project in County Clare with which Hilary de Birch (Member 81) is involved.
There is a new Munster Irish Y-DNA Project recently launched at http://www.familytreedna.com/public/MunsterIrish/ which is focusing on the heritage of the early peoples who populated the province and comparing their genetic relationships as indicated by Y-DNA with the claims of early genealogical tracts and annals.
Privacy
FTDNA maintain strict privacy protocols which can be viewed on www.familytreedna.com/ftGroupQRGuide.html#GroupStatus. The DNA data belongs to the individual DNA provider and can only be released to a wider audience with the express permission of that provider.
How to join the project
Go to the FTDNA page at http://www.familytreedna.com/surname_join.aspx?code=G98362&special=True&proj
Costs
Family Tree offers 12, 25, 37, 67 and 111 marker tests. The higher the number of markers chosen, the greater the detail with which we can compare results. We recommend ordering a minimum of 37 markers, which costs US$ 149. Though some members have 12 or 25, the majority of participants have at least this number of markers, and a growing number are requesting upgrades to 67 and 111. You can always upgrade to more markers later on, but it is a bit more economical to order a higher number from the start.
Other helpful DNA web sites
http://www.bartondna.info/
http://blairgenealogy.com/
http://www.duerinck.com/surname.html
http://www.ybase.org/
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/geneticgenealogy/
https://sites.google.com/site/wheatonsurname/beginners-guide-to-genetic-genealogy
http://isogg.org/
http://www.isogg.org/wiki
We hope that many of you will find this project of real interest and wish to participate. If you have any questions please contact our Group Administrator, Elizabeth O'Donoghue at elizabethod@eircom.net.
Short term objective
Scope and objectives of the project
For the short term
* To aid those who are encountering barriers to their family history research to make breakthroughs.
* To build a data base of DNA patterns for the different origin locations across Ireland, providing directional guidance for those who do not know where their ancestors came from.
* To confirm known or suspected relationships in historic areas of O’Donoghue occupation (such as the O’Donoghues of Glenflesk/Killarney) or for people for whom oral tradition describes migration from a common location (such as the migration to Clare from Kerry).
Medium term objective
For the medium term
* Through use of the data base, to aid research into historic tribal migration and sept/clan/family group origins (eg the O’Mahonys and O’Donoghues both from Eoghanacht Raithlind).
* To co-ordinate with other societies to improve the knowledge of inter-sept relationships and common ancestry (eg MacDonogh MacCarthys in Cork).
* To compare these patterns with national/regional population profiles using a representative control group. If the incidence of a DNA signature is more common within the surname than in a wider control population the degree of probability/validity is increased.
As our database grows, these objectives will be increasingly realised.
Administrative organisation
Elizabeth O'Donoghue/Ross (elizabethod@eircom.net) – Project leader and Group administrator
Tighe O'Donoghue/Ross (odonoghueross@eircom.net) – Tribal history expert
Rod O'Donoghue (rod@odonoghue.co.uk) – Support