Talk:Margaret Ahern

"Our Parish" dating
I was looking at expanding information on "Our Parish", however, I've found conflicting sources. The Chicago Tribune obituary says she started it in 1958. This biography from her son says she started "Our Parish" in 1966. Now, "Our Parish" definitely predates 1966; I can find examples of it syndicated in 1962 (page 6.) So odds are that the son's dating was just wrong; smaller chance that the Tribune was wrong, that someone else was Peg O'Connell for years, and Ahern took over the O'Connell title in '66.

Insight on this is welcome. --Nat Gertler (talk) 00:37, 12 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Just to confuse things further: Lambiek, which is usually at least pretty good on such things, dates her work on Our Parish as being 1973-1979. --Nat Gertler (talk) 05:05, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * And checking the Stripper's Guide website, they put the start at 1959. So that's four sources, four years. --Nat Gertler (talk) 12:30, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * And thank goodness, I just found a source from 1962 stating that Ahern (not Peg) was already drawing "Our Parish". So at least we know that the 1966 and 1973 dates are bunk. --Nat Gertler (talk) 03:47, 12 April 2021 (UTC)
 * And in an item marked May 20-23, 1958, the syndicate list "Our Parish" as something they had begun to syndicate in the last year, so sometime in 1957 or early 1958. This is compatible with the Tribune source. --Nat Gertler (talk) 05:54, 12 April 2021 (UTC)

Syndication
I should make clear that I have a conflict of interest, as a publisher looking at reprinting some of Ahern's work.

Having said that, I have just added a comma between the "which was syndicated" phrase and the dates listed, because those may be the dates she worked on Speck (I've not verified when she actually started), but those are not the dates of syndication of Speck; this source shows that syndication had begun by the end of 1952, when Tut Leblanc was still alive. (NCWC is the same organization that eventually became the Catholic News Service.) --Nat Gertler (talk) 13:05, 21 March 2021 (UTC)

Personal details
Apparently, her wedding announcement in the 17 July 1947 issue of The Garfieldian gives us her maiden name (McCrohan) and the fact that she did Little Reggie under the pen name "Margarita". I am reluctant to link to the site where I found this because I am uncertain that that site is not a copyright violation. --Nat Gertler (talk) 15:19, 31 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Hi NatGertler. I found a legit citation for her maiden name and added it to the article and infobox. --Unionpearl (talk) 20:55, 31 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I have now redirects for Peg O'Connell and Margarita (cartoonist), to help researchers find this page. (Oh, and I should probably add ones for Little Reggie and Our Parish, for redirects are cheap. --Nat Gertler (talk) 00:39, 3 April 2021 (UTC)

"Chuckles"
This piece (from Suburbanite Economist, Chicago, Illinois, 15 Oct 1958, Page 10) makes reference to Ahern drawing another feature called "Chuckles". I have no more info on that, yet. --Nat Gertler (talk) 20:00, 27 April 2021 (UTC)