Hi Karen,
Yes I also have come across the names of Peter Turner and Mary O'Donnell, who would have been my 3 x great-grandparents. However, I have very little information about them.
My paternal grandfather was John Mullahy and Catherine Courtney's son John (1898-1979), although I never knew him.
John Jnr joined the police in 1917 and was posted to County Kerry. He married Mary Glynn on Christmas Day 1920. Then in February 1921 he was shot and injured during an IRA ambush in Abbeydorney, which resulted in an immediate and horrendous reprisal. I have uploaded a couple of newspaper reports relating to the incident.
I believe my grandparents had a son James (born 1923) and possibly a second child before moving to Manchester, where my father, Albert Thomas Francis (1925-2005) was born, followed by three further children. At some point the spelling of the family name was changed to Mullahey (with an 'e') but why this happened is a mystery.
My father fell out with his family before I was born so I knew very little about them until I began my research last year.
I now know that Catherine Courtney died from puerperal fever in August 1900, two weeks after giving birth to her ninth child Bridget (aka Delia), who I believe also ended up in Manchester. John remarried, to Delia Fallon, in January 1902 and they had a son, Martin Joseph, in January 1903.
John Mullahy Snr himself died in March 1903 from what sounds like pneumonia and Delia returned to her parents' home with her son. John and Catherine's orphaned children were then raised by John's mother, Margaret (nee Farrell), who died in 1915, aged 81.
One of the few things my father did tell me about his family was that his grandfather was married three times, although I can only find two wives for John and one for his maternal grandfather, Thomas Glynn.
Obviously your line from the Turners is a different one from mine but I would be extremely grateful for any relevant information you have.
Many thanks for getting in touch.
Best regards,
David Mullahey
