Patrick Dockery : Short Biography

Patrick Dockery was born in March 1874, in the townland of Ballycaher, Ballintober. He was the sixth and second youngest child of Patrick Dockery, a herd, and Elizabeth "Eliza" Grogan. He was baptised shortly after his birth and his godparents were John Mullan and Bridget Igo. His younger brother Thomas was born two years after him. The Dockerys lived in a two roomed house with three front windows and a thatched roof. 

On 29 March 1892, the Dockerys got a license for a male black sheep dog. They got a license for two female brown and white sheep dogs on 25 March 1897.

Despite having two older brothers, Patrick was the one to stay home and inherit his father's farm. In 1901, himself and his siblings Thomas and Annie lived at home with their parents. His father was renting the house from Thomas Kenny at the time. Annie later married and left home.

On 15 March 1902, the Dockerys received a license for two male red and white sheep dogs. On 31 March 1903 and 23 March 1904,  he received another license of the same description for the same dogs. He got another license for three dogs male red and white sheep dogs on 31 March 1906. On 31 March 1908, he got a license for two sheep dogs, one brown and one red and white. He received a license for a male and female red and white sheep dog on 31 March 1909. 

On 31 March 1910, they got a license for a female red and white sheep dog and a male brown and white sheep dog. 

By 1911, the Dockery house had four rooms and was rented from Edward Melia. They had stables, a cow house, a calf house, a fowl house and a barn. On 12 January 1911, Patrick Dockery appeared in Castlerea Petty Sessions Court. William Lambert, a member of the Ballintober RIC, complained that 14 days after (from the 15th to 29th of November) the prescribed sheep dipping period, he did not send a declaration of dipping to the sergeant (required by the Sheep Dipping Order 1910 and Diseases of Animals Act 1904). He was fined one penny and one shilling for costs. 

Patrick owned a horse worth £18. He saw the horse in his field the night of 4 September, but the next morning, it was missing. He reported it to the police at Killer Hut. He went to look for it at Athlone Fair on the 5th and Ballinasloe Fair on the 6th, and reported the horse to police there. At Ballinasloe, the sergeant showed him a grey pony being held in the stables which he identified as his. The horse had been stolen by his estranged brother (referred to as step brother in some articles) John Dockery (who went to America circa 1891, and returned circa 1899. The last time Patrick saw him before this incident was in 1908). John had tried to sell the horse at the fair to a man called Hugh Toner from County Down, who suspected the horse was stolen and reported him to the police. John was arrested leading the horse at Brackenagh and brought to Ballinasloe Police Barracks, where he saw his brother again for the first time in three years. John was removed in custody to Tullamore Jail until the trial at Ballintober.

The trial was held in Ballintober and took the jurors only ten minutes. John Dockery pleaded guilty and said he believed he had a right to the horse as he had worked with his father and brothers for years and was promised a share in the farm by his father, which he did not get. Patrick insisted he had got his share (probably in money) but John said he felt entitled to more. Mr Hamilton Barrett then offered to employ John as a labourer at his home. The judge was reluctant but Patrick asked that his brother not be proceeded against. John was bound to the peace for two years and sent with Hamilton Barrett. It is unknown if the brothers met or contacted each other again.

On 30 March 1912, the Dockerys got a license for a male red sheep dog. A male brown sheep dog was licensed for them on 31 March 1913. 

On 30 January 1913, Patrick married Mary Ellen Devine of Ballyglass in her local church of Tulsk. His best man was his brother Thomas and her bridesmaid was Kate Quinn. The couple lived with his elderly parents. Patrick's father met two of his grandchildren- Anne Maria (May) and Elizabeth (Lily), before dying in June 1916. Patrick and Mary Ellen had three more girls called Teresa, Susan Josephine (Josie) and Christina (Chris). Patrick's mother Eliza died on Christmas morning of 1921.

Two male brown sheep dogs were licensed on 31 March 1914. Patrick got a license for a male red sheep dog on 31 March 1915 and one for a male brown sheep dog on the same date in 1916. On 31 March 1917 a male brown sheep dog was licensed and on 31 March 1920 he licensed two red sheep dogs. Thomas Mullen, Pat Tighe and Pat Dockery all got licenses for dogs on 31 March 1921. Patrick had registered two male red sheep dogs. 

Mary Ellen died in 1949. Patrick lived his last years in his family home with his daughter Chris, her husband Martin Cooney and their children. He died on 9 January 1960.