John Edwin Dougherty  July 29, 1887 – August 12, 1976

John Edwin Dougherty, known by Ed or even J. E. Dougherty  was born to John Lyle Dougherty  and Margaret Helen Ferguson in New York, the youngest of 6.
William E.  Dougherty was b: 22 October 1882 and d: 12 January 1885.  Howard Dougherty another older brother to John, b: 2 Jan 1872 and d: 10 April 1883 and Dorothy Grace Dougherty was two years older then John, was b: 26 March, 1885 and d: 18 August 1894 Ed and Dorothy were close. His surviving sisters were at lest 9 years older. Alice b: 1879, Inez b: 1874 andHattie b: 1868. So the loss of his sister Dorothy was especially hard on him.

John  Edwin Dougherty and Ada Richmal Heap meet when as a teenager,  Ed sold and delivered vegetables off the family truck farm to homes in town on Staten Island.

Ada was born and raised on Staten Island. Her family home was on Roe Street. Her father Charles Heap was a plumber. My Grandma Ada told the best stories.  But in doing the family genealogy I soon learned Grandma’s stories were just that, stories! (See my blog 52 Ancestors: #1 Getting Started.)
John Edwin went to Cornell University where he studied poultry husbandry. After finishing at Cornell he went on to teach at Purdue, Indiana.
While at Purdue he accepted a position at a brand new Agricultural school in Davis, California.

Before leaving the East he married Ada Heap, 23 December 1911

Ed and Ada had three children, my mother was the oldest and was named in memory of Ed’s  sister Dorothy (Dorothy Ada b: 2 Nov. 1914). The other Two children were Robert Edwin, b: 5 March 1917 and Walter Lyle, b: 24 Nov. 1919.

While my mother (Dorothy) was a teen the family moved to Madison, Wisconsin so her father could work on his PHD, in Poultry Husbandry, there at the University of Wisconsin. One of mothers stories from that time was that her father would come home with sacks of groceries he had won ice skating.  Apparently this was a regular occurrence. But for me I could not picture the man I knew doing something that sounded like fun. It was several years before I asked Mom about grandpa’s ice skating. I think I must have thought figure skating but Mom did clarify it to racing.

It was while the family was in Wisconsin that the banks closed. J.E. Dougherty lost all of his savings. He had to leave his work on his PHD and returned to the ranch he had built in Davis, CA.

He was able to return to teaching at UC Davis  but never completed his PHD. He never trusted the banks again.
He was for always saying, ” don’t keep all your eggs in one basket”. This was not referring to the eggs from the hen houses but your money. He kept a limited amount in each bank. I have no idea how many accounts he had but I imagine more then the average person.

Not only did J.E. teach at Davis he spent several years at Berkeley teaching and also traveled around California lecturing. He was editor of the Nulaid News (Poultry Producers of Central California)  for many years. Grandpa remained on the Davis Ranch until he needed full time care.

There are many memories of the family times at the Ranch in Davis. Hopefully I will get to many of them as I tell each family members story. Thanks to cuz. Ron for the photo of Grandpa at the Davis Ranch.

Come back next week for: William L. Dougherty My Brick Wall.