The Tom Doran Story - A Wild Character in the Wild West

The past month has been crazy with more and more information about Tom Doran's life in Junction, Texas coming to my attention. I had made a couple of posts as I found it but thought it would be better if I can put it all into one coherent story. Here is the biography of Thomas H. Doran, the brother of my great-great-grandmother, Nancy Doran Dunnigan.

Much of the information regarding the events from September through December 1878 was found in newspaper articles obtained through the University of North Texas newspaper archive found here: http://texashistory.unt.edu/search/?explore=True&fq=dc_type:text_newspaper. These articles, along with the rest of the sources of this information are posted at the end of this post.

Tom Doran was born in Ireland on May 9, 1844. I suspect the family originated near Dublin but that is not certain at this time. His parents were Thomas and Catherine O'Hara Doran. At the time of Tom's birth, his parents already had at least two daughters, Fanny, about 18 years old, Nancy about 15 years old and one son, Henry, about 7 years old. They had two more daughters and one more son but it is unknown when they were born. Their names were Margaret (Reilly), Ellen and James.

The family emigrated to America, landing in New York City some time between 1844 and 1857. His sister Nancy became an unwed mother, giving birth to her son Thomas in 1857 in Brooklyn, New York. It appears the family moved together to the Germantown area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before moving on to Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois. The family lived near the Wabash train depot near the west end of Carthage.

More Details on Tom Doran in Junction, Texas

I love old newspapers! I found a couple of newspaper articles that give us more detail and a differing story about the fight between Tom Doran and Jim Deaton in Junction, Texas and about Tom Doran's death. Keep in mind that this Tom Doran is not my direct ancestor. He was the brother of my great-great-grandmother, Nancy Doran Dunnigan. They were born in Ireland but spent much of their lives in Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois. You can see the initial discovery about this story here: http://matthewkmiller.blogspot.com/2014/10/share-your-info-and-ask-questions.html

It seems that Tom and Jim (Joseph in one of the articles) were friends out drinking and gambling. Also, according to the newspaper article, the throat slashing and Doran

St. Patrick's Day - The Doran Family Immigration Records?

Since it's St. Patrick's Day, I feel an obligation to post something about my Irish ancestors. Back in November, I was looking for immigration records for the Doran family and found a good possibility.

The passenger list of the Bark Sherwood out of Liverpool, arriving in Philadelphia on March 31, 1849 shows names that line up pretty well with the Thomas Doran family.

Here are the ages shown on the passenger list:

Thomas: 45

Kitty: 45

James: 20

Fanny: 17

Harry (Henry?): 14

Margaret: 13

Eleanor (Ellen?): 8

Thomas: 2

 

Take a Walk Through a Cemetery

I was on the road for work last week, working in the Montrose, Colorado area. They were long days working. We had most of one day off while at the location. During this time, some of my co-workers went skiing and some others went bar-hopping. Neither of these activities interested me so I relaxed in my hotel room for a while, working on my genealogy.

Eventually, the words of my wife came back to me. Get out for a walk! I definitely didn't want to be cooped up in my hotel room all day long and it was the first nice day since winter started. It was a perfect day for a walk. I walked around the outside of the hotel. It wasn't very pleasant with the sights being a parking lot, a grocery store and a highway through town. I needed to find a nicer place to walk. While finding a park would have worked, I figured why not get something accomplished while enjoying the outdoors? I brought up Google Maps and did a search for cemeteries near my location. Google provided me with Grand View Cemetery in Montrose. According to Find-A-Grave, it was about 44% photographed. It also had two photo requests. I drove to the cemetery with camera in hand and the names of the two photo requests in my memory.

County History Books

County history books are available for most if not all counties in the United States. These books typically cover subjects from the physical landscape of the county to its very early history to the founders of the villages in the county to prominent individuals and families. When you're able to find your ancestors listed in one of these books, it will typically tell at least the region they came from before arriving in the county, their occupation, their immediate family and the life they lived. Many times it will also provide a bit more information on the individual's parents and grandparents and children and grandchildren. This can prove to be a huge help if you don't already have this information.