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Note: Little is known about Mary Alice (Dougherty) McFarren. We obtained her maiden name from the death certificate of daughter Catherine and birth/date info from St. Mary's cemetery, Pittsburgh.
According to J.J. Houlihan, she was born/emigrated from Belfast, Ireland to the U.S. in about 1829 along with daughter Catherine. From Catherine's death certificate, we learned that her husband's name was John, but she's buried with a James McFerran, both having been removed from St. Paul's cemetery and re buried at St. Mary's 19 Feb.1874. According to J.J. Houlihan, they came to Philadelphia, but it's not known if they stayed there for any length of time or if they came directly to Pittsburgh from the Philadelphia port of arrival.
The St. Mary's Cemetery priest permit contains little information other than that she was born in Ireland and died in Pittsburgh from consumption. Someone has written "Died 13 July 46?" and "On the 52 year of her age."
"Doherty can be found in many disguises, as the name is variously rendered Dogherty, Dougherty, Daugherty, Doharty, O'Doherty, etc. The original Irish name was O Dochartaigh, derived from the word docharlach which means destructive. Given the Celtic propensity for belligerence, it was probably bestowed as a name of high honor to a particularly destructive warrior, whose descendants then adopted it as the appellation for the entire clan. MacLysaght notes that members of this family were prone to restore the 'O' prefix to their names during the Gaelic Revival period at the turn of the century. He notes that in 1890, only two percent of the Doherty births registered in Ireland included the 'O' prefix, but by 1955 about half of all Doherty's were using the O'Doherty form. The surname index to Griffith's Valuation shows that the 'O' prefix was rarely used at that time (mid 1800's). A branch of the O'Donnell clan, the O'Doherty's were native to the barony of Raphoe in Donegal, and during the late Middle Ages extended their control over much of Donegal. They lost much of their power and influence after rebelling against the English in 1608, under Sir Cahir O'Dougherty, who was killed in that defeat.
"Doherty is the 15th most common surname in Ireland. Although it is found in every county, it is still most prominently connected with the traditional homeland in county Donegal. The surname index to Griffith's Valuation shows that in the 1850's approximately 50% of all citations were in County Donegal, with numbers generally decreasing with distance from that area, so that 72% of all citations were in Ulster, 11% in Connaught and a similar number in Munster, and only 6% in Leinster." (from "Irish Surnames, Meanings, History & Origins," http://genealogy.org/~ajmorris/ireland/iresurn.htm).
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Is is possible that Mary Alice had a brother, John Dougherty, who married a sister to her husband, a Catherine Dougherty? There is in PA records the death certificate of a Michael Dougherty born in Ireland 1831 who died in Pittsburgh 1906.
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