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| Doochary on the Gweebarra River | Anna McGeehan & Charles Boyle, 50th anniversary |
The Boyle Clan
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| Doochary on the Gweebarra River | Anna McGeehan & Charles Boyle, 50th anniversary |
Their Story
William Boyle (1833-1883) married Ellen Campbell (1839-1879) in Co. Donegal. They lived in the small village of Doochary where they had eight children: Rose, Michael, Bridget, Mary, Charles, Joseph, Ann, Margaret. Willie operated the pub there. Ellen died and Willie married Ellen #2 with whom he had one son, William. In 1883, on his return from Dungloe after being tried and acquitted of selling potcheen, he fell from a jaunting cart and died. Mike, his 18 year old son, tried to run the pub but it was taken over by P.H. O'Donnell.
-Mike emigrated to Philadelphia where be became a very successful businessman, owning pubs and a hotel in downtown Philadelphia. He married Anna Deviney and had five children: Barbara, William, Francis, Evelyn and Nancy.
-Charles Boyle left Doochary in 1886 for a more prosperous life in the US. He worked in the Pennsylvania coal mines for a few years before settling in Philadelphia. Here he met Anna McGeehan from nearby Fintown in Co. Donegal. They married in 1901 and raised four sons and two daughters. Charles owned a pub then a garage which provided the family with a very nice life. They enjoyed a summer home on the beach in Wildwood, NJ, and all offspring "had sand in their shoes" throughout life. Bill, Charlie, Tom, Annie, Joe and Ellen married and remained in the Philadelphia area.
Three siblings of Mike and Charles also emigrated to the US.
-Annie came to Philadelphia, married Bill Hare and raised eight children: William, Edward, Charles, George, Helen, Marion, Emmett, Joseph & Richard.
-Margaret married Charles Redifer and lived in Baltimore. They raised four children there: George, Mollie, Margaret and Edna.
-Bridget married Bernard Carlin and emigrated to Philadelphia. They had six children: Anna, William, John, Eleanor, Mary Agnes and Joseph.
-Rose died in Doochary but her husband, James McShea, came to Philadelphia with his daughter, Ellen.
The remainder of the family stayed in Ireland but left Doochary; it is thought they moved to the Dungloe area.
-Mary married Cornelius Rodgers.
If anyone has information on them or on Willie Boyle's and Ellen Campbell's parents and siblings,
please email Sally Weigand.
DOOCHARY
This tiny hamlet sits astride the sparkling Gweebarra River close to the Derryveagh Mountains in west central Donegal. Its name means Black Weir. It has but a dozen white buildings at it's main intersection. From Lough Barra, the Gweebarra River runs through town and becomes tidal there. It then flows six miles to the Atlantic Ocean. Salmon swim upstream and spawn around Doochary. Fishing for salmon and sea bass in the Gweewbarra might bring visistors to the town. The Boyle boys used to fish in it at night because the river belonged to the lords, given them by the British, and it was illegal for the Irish to take "their" fish.
Doochary is quiet, with a clean and neat appearance. A small number of sheep graze on the rocky hillsides. Shops and road signs are in Gaelic, the language spoken in this region of Ireland. Doochary is in Dungloe parish. Neighboring towns are Dungloe to the west, Fintown to the East, Maas to the south and Glendowan to the North. Doochary was selected in 1997 as a Tidy Town in Category A. This prize is awarded to a town or village deemed to have created a positive image of the Irish language.
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| flag of the Republic of Ireland | Donegal crest | Boyle crest |