The Donogh surname originates in Ireland where it is, in fact more common as a first name, being the gaelic form of Dennis. As a surname it is more common in Ireland, and here in North America too, with a Mc or Mac prefix - that is "son of Dennis". The surname Donogh is quite uncommon here in North America.

As far as we have been able to trace, our branch of the Donogh clan began when Andrew Donogh came over from Ireland with his parents and settled in Ontario. The earliest record we have is in regard to a land patent from the Crown for lots in Concession 4 of Mono, which was received on February 21, 1848.

Andrew's father was John Donogh, and his mother's name was Margaret. There is record of John Donogh purchasing land in Canada, as well as of his second marriage, to Esther Bloomer in 1868. We also know that the parents of John Donogh were John Donogh (Sr.) and Margery, although nothing more is known about them.

As far as we know, the immigrant ancestor for this line was the John Donogh shown above. In the censuses of Ontario this family of Donogh claimed to be of Irish descent, Wesleyan Methodist and sometimes of Irish origin and sometimes of Scottish origin. The male names that were common in this early family were Andrew, John, William, Robert, Thomas and Ormsby. Surnames that show up are Hamilton, McKim, Henderson, Jackson, Atkinson, May, Langman, Hill, Bloomer, Smith, Person, Wilder, Halladay, Howard, Woodley, Greatix, Towns and Lee. At this time there appear to be about fourteen households with the name of Donogh in Canada and about five in the US. They are all descended from this line of Donogh.

Click on Our Ancestors for what we know about the children and grandchildren of Andrew Donogh.

The research on the genealogy presented here was done by Ruth Donogh (who is the daughter-in-law of Stanly Wilder Donogh) and by Cliff Durston (who is the grandson of Charles Jackson Donogh), with the help of a lot of other Donogh descendants who have provided information on their families.