Tom Doherty (Generation -2)

Thomas Fitzpatrick Doherty (August 6, 1903 - March 20, 1981), my maternal grandfather.

Part 1, Written by his daughter, Marie Doherty Murray in 2006 or 2007

Their farm (in Newmarket, County Cork, Ireland) was in a picturesque area and a little stream ran though it.




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Map Caption: Location of Newmarket, County Cork, Ireland

When Tom was 14 and had finished school (eighth grade) he was sent to a cousin who had a carpentry shop. He was to learn the trade. He apprenticed there for a few years.

Tom’s brother Jim had come to America and saved money to send for Tom. That was the custom. Also a man named Phil Barry owned sheep and helped pay the way for young men to work for him as shepherds.












Caption: Guano Valley, Oregon

Tom said he was so lonely and homesick in that high desert country with no people. A sheepherder had an ark (canvass covered wagon with a bed and a stove) and horses to pull the ark and also horses to ride and sheepdogs. The herder circled the herd of sheep several times a day – to move them on if the grass was eaten and to watch for predators (coyotes, wild cats, etc.).

His brother Jim also had a band of sheep to take care of. A band was about 1,000 sheep.
A camp tender came about every ten days with new supplies and reading material. That was about the only visitors.

Tom was determined to save his money so he could go to San Francisco and get a job in the building trades. Which he did.

He roomed with another young man who had a motorcycle with a side car. There was lots of social activity for the many young Irish who had moved to San Francisco – clubs, sports, two dance halls and lots of music.

It was at one of these dances that he met his wife-to-be, Marie Diggins. They both knew all the dance steps and had wonderful times.

They were married on August 20, 1927 at _______________ in San Francisco.

The following year their first daughter Marie was born on July 11, 2938 – weighing 4 pounds. She had to stay at the hospital for a time and her mother came each day to the hospital to have her breasts pumped for milk. She had enough milk that the nurses fed several babies.

Tom’s job was with a company who was building in the financial center. The building he was working on was the Russ Building.



















Caption: Russ Building, San Francisco

In 1929 the economy collapsed and many people lost their jobs including Tom and building projects cam to a halt.

Tom’s young brothers Batt and Tim had come from Ireland and were working for a man named Davy Jones in the Burns area.











Caption: Tim, Tom and Jim Doherty

Tim offered his job to Tom and came to San Francisco to move Marie and baby Marie to Lakeview where they lived with an O’Connor family.


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In time Tom got a job with the Forest Service, but the depression deepened and the Forest Service cut everyone’s wages in half. All of the employees quit. He took a job with American Box Company – at even less wages.

The box factory made end pieces for fruit boxes. The lumber business often closed down when they didn’t have enough orders. One time Tom put a new ceiling on St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Lakeview.

One of the parishioners, Con Lynch, was so impressed with his work that he offered to set him up in the contracting business. Marie thought it too much of a risk, so they didn’t do it.

His second daughter Julia was born – also 4 pounds.









Caption: Doherty Slide, east of Adel, Oregon, where Tom and Jim slid their sheep down a steep path.


Uncle Jim had started his own sheep business in Barnes Valley in Klamath County. Tom left the lumber mill and worked for him for two years. Marie and the girls went to the ranch in the summer.

He came back to the lumber business and worked for Lakeview Lumber Company and then for Fremont Sawmill Company (both in Lakeview).

At Fremont he worked from pulling green chain through the different levels, becoming Planing Mill Manager and Shipping Superintendent. He retired in 1969.

He love to go fishing and deer hunting was a ritual. He went back to the same place and always got a deer the first morning.


Part 2 - Thomas F. Doherty Obituary

Services were held Sunday and Monday, march 22 and 23, at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Lakeview, for Thomas Fitzpatrick Doherty, who died March 20, 1981 at the age of 77.

Mr. Doherty was born August 6, 1903 at Newmarket, county Cork, Ireland, The son of Batt and Julia Fitzpatrick Doherty. He came to the United States in 1920 as a sheepherder. Mr. Doherty worked in various mills. At his retirement in 1970, he was superintendent of Fremont Sawmill.

He is survived by daughters Marie Murray of Klamath Falls and Julia Flynn of Lakeview; brothers Tim of Burns, Batt and Dennis of Ireland, sisters Nellie Savage and Julia O'Leary of Ireland and Margaret Daly of New York; eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Ushers: Con Flynn and Dave Murphy, Pallbearers Doyle Barber, Dan Collins, Jack Flynn, Rod Bell, John Cremin, Pat McCarthy,

Honorary Pall Bearers: Mike Deely, Pat Fitzpatrick, Mike Guiney, Bill Morris, Jack Murphy, Paddy Ben Murphy, Jerry O'Leary, Choc Shelton.

Interment: Sunset Park Cemetery, Lakeview Oregon.