James McLaughlan 1849-23/12/1932 from Omagh County Tyrone

 

My Great Great Grandfather James McLaughlan was born around 1849 to 1851 in Tyrone Omagh. Omagh is a county town of Co Tyrone in Northern Ireland. He was the son of John McLaughlan and Mary McIver. His father had been a farmer. He was one of the many who left Ireland for Glasgow. Although he came from Northern Ireland he is of Roman Catholic roots marrying twice in the Roman Catholic Church and this religion has passed down through his descendants.

He seems to have arrived in Scotland a little before 1871. I’ve tentatively placed him as a boarder with his older brothers’ family at 74 Muse St Glasgow.  He was an iron foundry worker which is consistent with other documents. His tentative brother is John McLaughlan  married to Margaret Grainey or Graney from Lissen Co Derry.

Transcript of McLaughlan Family 1871 census (TBC)

I’m presuming that as he was boarding with his brother in 1871,  that his parents were possibly deceased or had stayed behind in Ireland (they were definitely deceased by 1886).

In the years after the famine people continued to leave Ireland often sending back the fare for other members to join them in their new destination. Most of the immigrants were illiterate with little, or no skills and education. Usually they took the lowest paid jobs, not in agriculture, but in industrial work such as labouring jobs in cotton mills, docks, railways and canal building.

Their new life in Glasgow was harsh with Irish migrants living in their own close-knit communities characterised by cheap housing, overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. Naturally this meant high incidence of disease and high mortality. There was resentment by the local Scottish workers who thought the Irish men offered unfair competition for their jobs and lowered wages.

A little while later, James married Catherine Hall in 1872 in a Roman Catholic ceremony. Catherine was a fellow Irish immigrant, and the daughter of Richard Hall and Mary Milligan.  James signed the certificate with his mark X, and that is consistent with many of the other documents which he signed.

 

James and Catherine's marriage 1972

After his marriage to Catherine a daughter Mary McLaughlan was born in 1875. This Mary was my great grandmother. Catherine and James had five children:

Harriet born in 1877 dying in infancy in 1880.

Margaret was born in 1880 and died the same year.

Jane was born on 6 December 1880 and didn’t see the New Year.

Previously they had lived at 74 Muse Lane in Milton nearby to where his brother and family lived. By the time Jane was born they had moved to 62 Stewart Street in Milton. Despite all the tragedy Mary continued to thrive. In the 1881 Census, James, Catherine (Kate) and Mary are still at Stewart Street with  two lodgers, who were fellow foundry workers.

By the years end the situation  would look quite different. Kate was pregnant again with James, who was to be born in December 1881. Constant pregnancy, the loss of babies and the wasting disease of TB prevalent in these overcrowded dwellings may have contributed to Kate’s premature death after the birth of James McLaughlan on 22 December 1881. He too, didn’t see the year out. Kate’s cause of death was described as  Phthisis Pulmonalis or TB, coupled with a lung infection and pelvic peritonitis.

Catherine's death after childbirth 1881

So hard times for these people who have suffered so much in their lifetimes.  Our James begins, 1882, as a widower, and with a five-year-old daughter, Mary, and none of his other children or wife, surviving.

There’s a short gap and James meets a new lady who he married on 31 December 1886 in a Catholic Ceremony. Sarah McAllister was a fellow immigrant from Northern Ireland.

 

James marries Sarah McAllister

Despite being 30 plus years since the Great Famine Ireland remained a poor country. Lots of people, in fact, around 5 million, left Ireland.  Mostly this consisted of young able-bodied people who were disillusioned by British misrule. The poverty was a ‘push’ factor, and the prospect of economic growth and opportunities elsewhere, were a ‘pull’ factor. Those who had been in subsistence farming and agriculture suffered most as did others who saw the decline in the woollen and linen industries.

Glasgow was the desired destination from Belfast. Irish people from the Derry and Newry areas, travelled the 10-to-12-hour journey by ship from Belfast to Glasgow paying

21/- for a cabin, 10p for steerage or 5p for deck class.

Sarah McAllister‘s family had recently immigrated from Northern Ireland. They came from Moneymore, which is a village in Derry. It is an ex-Plantation village and the McAllisters also were a Roman Catholic family. The records show they came from Carncose Road.

Elizabeth or Lizzie McAllister was the last born in 1883 in Magherafelt Londonderry. The McAllisters had had  approximately 10 children born between 1867 and 1883. When James McLaughlan had married 26-year-old Sarah McAllister she was the oldest daughter of  John McAllister and Margaret McGill, who had who resided at Moss Park, Farm, Paisley.

This provided a stepmother for his daughter Mary. Together they had John born 1887, died 1890, Margaret born 1889, and Annie born in 1894. Sarah’s sister, Elizabeth or Lizzie McAllister was in attendance for the birth of John.

The 1901 Census shows Sarah and James living at Bright Street with their daughters, Margaret and Annie. By then Mary, had given birth to Lavinia, and was living elsewhere in Milton. James and Sarah had 17 years together. Sarah died in 1903 at Bright Street, Glasgow, aged 43 of a Gastric Ulcer.

 

James McLaughlan and family 1901 census

James can’t be found amongst the plethora of James McLaughlans in the 1911 census. However in the newly released 1921 census, James McLaughlin, widower, was living at the same address, 34 Bright Street. Notations on the document shows it as a  two-room premises, housing five people.

With his age noted as 72 and nine months he was recorded as a retired labourer. For the first time we get a better clue as to his Irish origins, with his Place of Birth listed as Tyrone Omagh. Only a few years earlier he was listed as a Causeway labourer in daughter Margaret’s marriage certificate. Also residing in the premises is his daughter Annie, still single and aged 28. She is a shirt machinist working for Walter Herburn Shirt Factory. This is the last we see of Annie as she died of influenza and bronchitis in 1924 not long after this Census was taken.

Also, living with him in the 1921 Census is his daughter Margaret’s family, comprising of Margaret, her husband, Charles McGonigle aged 31 who had been away at war serving as a Private in the 4th Battalion of Royal Scots, and was now working as a coal miner at Mount Vernon Coal Coy. He had married Margaret in September 1918. Son John age 7 is listed as McLaughlan. He had been born in December 1913, but subsequent attachment to his birth certificate registration dated 1929  shows that his birth was legitimised after the marriage of his parents in September 1918, Margaret had been a munitions worker during the war period but was now performing domestic duties.

 

James McLaughlin and family 1921 Census

James was still living at 34 Bright Street upon his death on 23rd of December 1932 having died of bronchitis and cardiac failure. His daughter Margaret was present as a witness. He made it to  a good age of 83 years!  On his death certificate James McLaughlan‘s parents were listed as Mary McLaughlan maiden name, MacGyver[sic] (McIver) and John McLaughlan- farm labourer. This is been cross-referenced and verified with his marriage certificate. Nothing can be found of  them at this stage, but at least I’m two generations further ahead with this story than I was in 2022.

James McLaughlan death 1932

What became of his children?

Mary had Lavinia Strelley in 1898 and married John Bannan in 1914. She lived a couple of years longer than her father dying in 1934 and Lavinia lead the diaspora further to Australia in the late 20s when she married my Grandfather James Kerr.

Annie died in 1924. 

Daughter Annie McLaughlan's death

Margaret married Charles McGonigle at the end of the war. and lived until 1965, having outlived Charles by 14 years, when he died in 1951. Her son, John was a Collery haulage motor man who was single when he succumbed to the dreaded white disease, pulmonary phthisis and cardiac failure at just 18 years.

Margaret McLaughlan married Charles McGonigle 1918

 

Onwards and Onwards……Looking for McLaughlin, McIver, Hall and Milligan.

And so after years of not having any clues on Mary McLaughlan or her parents much has been achieved in the past 10 months with bonus Irish Great Great Great Grandparents. I think I’ve had another brick wall shattered. It’s really hard to scramble over the rubble to dig down to the Londonderry or Derry records to find the McLaughlans, McIvers, the Halls and the Milligans. but when did that ever stop me?

Lavinia Strelley 1886-1960 and Mary McLaughlan 1875-1934 -solving the mystery

See previous story about my Grandmother Lavinia and my mystery great grandmother 

https://robynandthegenies.blogspot.com/2017/09/lavinias-mystery-lavinia-kerr-nee.html

One of my biggest mysteries has been my Nanny’s life before she came to Australia. There’s times where we can’t find her and other anomalies. I feel that some of her mystery stemmed back to the circumstances of hers and her life with her single mother Mary in late 19th century Glasgow.

Finding information about “Mary McLaughlan” and “Lavinia Strelley” was typically unavailable to us initially. The only information we had for her and her mother was a birth transcript which left off the critical word “illegitimate”. A hunt for 1901 and 1911 census were missing and the 1921 census was long awaited. Sadly  even after  years of searching a crucial 10-year period- 1911 is missing. Lavinia and has left us with some anecdotes, photos and documentation which fill in some of the spaces in lieu of these Census details.

Shattering the myths  

Lavinia Strelley was born in Glasgow in 1896 to Mary McLaughlan and William Strelley. Although it doesn’t say it on her birth certificate transcript sent to my father  in the late 80s  a check on Scotland’s people does say she was actually illegitimate. In most documentation we knew of she was known as Strelley. It was believed that her mother had been married to her father. He was a well-known character in Glasgow having been a championship bare- knuckled boxer, referee and boxing promoter.

A previous transcript forgot to show Lavinia  was illegitimate

Although it was believed that Lavinia was an only child, her father also fathered Williamina Strelley in 1897 and Robert Strelley in 1898 by  Ellen Brown. Later another William Strelley was born in 1902 to Agnes Short, a woman who William later married in 1903. It is interesting to note the surname Strelley was well known in Glasgow and these were the only people using it until William Jr married and  had children himself in 1935.

It took a long while to find the 1901 Census record of Lavinia, and her mother living in Milton Lane, Milton. Because of all the variations of spelling Lavinia, McLaughlin and Strelley a genealogist advised me to do an asterisk (*) search on Scotland’s People.  With something like L*vin* McLa*l* in the search I finally turned up a result which gave us Lavinia S McLaughlan living with a ‘widow’ Mary McLaughlan. Mary was a Glaswegian pottery worker. It was the first time I knew her age and place of birth.

At last we found her on a census as McLaughlan- 1901

Lavinia used the name Strelley most of her working life and upon her journey to Australia.  The only time she was known as McLaughlan was in the 1901 Census when she was living with her mother in Milton Lane, Milton. What went wrong between Mary and William is not known.  Any thought of marrying William would have been problematic as William came from a very unreligious line of the Church of England Strelleys and Mary being Catholic  would not have been able to marry a non-Catholic. Lavinia was brought up a Catholic as I have a photo of her making her First Communion.

Lavinia's First Communion

Who was helping Mary look after Lavinia by day? Why did Mary remain single? Where did they disappear to by the time of the 1911 Census? Looking down lots of rabbit holes couldn’t find a definitive death or marriage for Mary.  Lavinia was nowhere to be seen either.  That Mary married someone was one theory, I speculated Lavinia was orphaned and  brought up by nuns.  Possibly her mother may have had a not so lovely moral life.

I tried with my new found knowledge of Mary’s age to find her parents in the 1881 Census and to cross match them with birth records. Still no luck.

Some of the clues left by Lavinia were some work photos and a reference. She was an ovens woman at MacFarlane Lang’s biscuit factory and a worker at Salt Coats Mission prior to that.  I have a photo postcard addressed to Lavinia at Salt Coats Mission Homes at Ardrossan. In the photo sent by a nurse she is wearing her work uniform. Another photo shows in her finery on a Lang’s social outing on the Clyde with her Lang ( MacFarlane) workmates. Later on in researching the Salt Coat Biscuits. It seemed they had some sort of medicinal purpose.

A postcard photo addressed to Lavinia at Saltcoats

I speculated that perhaps Mary was housed at the Salt Coats Mission recuperating from any of the lung or stomach diseases around at the time  and Lavinia had been given a job while she was there, Ardrossan seemed quite a way to the coast from Glasgow but I have also been told that commuting to Ardrossan each day was quite doable from Glasgow. The postcard may have been sent to her using that address if they weren’t sure of her tenement address.

A reference given to Lavinia by MacFarlane's upon her impending travels to Australia, has her working for them for nearly 10 years, suggesting  from about 1916 to 1926 .  The long awaited 1921 Census has her boarding with a MacFarlane family member. Still no news of her mother. 

Lavinia Strelley  1921 census

Some lucky Covid research

More recently I’ve been able to fill in the dots with her early life. I said before that Lavinia had brought with her photos, but what puzzled me was that there were no photos of her mother, or even firm details about what happened to her. My  great uncle Alf  had described her as being quite the mystery woman.

Finding Mary‘s background has been a 13-year mission. Back and forward through lists of McLaughlans in censuses, cross matching births and deaths, matching up potential marriages. Nothing popped out. I needed to find Mary’s parents.

In late 2022  I was suffering from Covid and in isolation. I clicked on my computer to have a little check around the Ancestry and lo and behold somebody had been searching the McLaughlan family since I last checked and placed Mary in their tree. My break through was that they had  posted  a death certificate for her father which showed he was married twice.

I found my great grandmother Mary, living in Milton with her Irish parents, Catherine Hall and James McLaughlan in the 1881 Census. Further digging found that Mary had four siblings  all of whom had died in infancy or at birth. There was Harriet born 1877 Margaret, born 1880 Jane born 1880 and James born 1881.

Mary's parent married in 1872

Suddenly the 1881 Census and 1891 census for Mary  fell into place and I was able to get a definitive birth certificate for Mary.

At last the facts fell into place

Mary’s mother Catherine or Kate died in December 1881. So Mary was left to be brought up by a single dad, James McLaughlan.

Mary and her parents in the 1881 census

Soon James McLaughlan had married a second lady, Sarah McAllister in 1886.  The family had been expanded by the birth of Margaret McLaughlan born 1889 and Annie McLaughlan born 1894. Brother John had been born  in 1887 and died in 1890, The 1891 census has them living in Barony St with James a Causeway worker, Sarah dressmaking from home and Mary aged 16 working in some sort of weaving mill.

The McLaughlans in 1891 census

Sarah McLaughlan, stepmother died in 1903 of a gastric ulcer leaving Mary,  the two girls and her husband James.

In the meantime, Mary, now a pottery worker had a relationship with William Strelley a bricklayer labourer and had young Lavinia in 1896. in answer to my previous question, about who was looking after Lavinia, I’m presuming Mary had the assistance of her stepmother until her death.

 Despite the 16 years age difference It appears she kept a relationship with her stepsisters and father. Reviewing all of the documents I have downloaded and cross-referenced over 13 years enabled me to drop a few more things into the timeline. One of the certificates I had downloaded matched up with a man called John Bannan. Her father’s address in the 1911 census was the same address that that particular Mary had on her marriage certificate. Mary married John Bannan a widower with a daughter, Elizabeth Bannan who was  about Lavinia’s age in 1914. John was a County Down man from Lisburn. Another mystery solved.

Mary married John Bannon

This is probably the time about the time Lavinia began working at Salt Coats Mission as an oven’s woman manufacturing their famous medicinal biscuits useful for stomach ailments. Whether there was extra demand during war time is not known. Salt Coats manufactured more than plain biscuits. They provided an easily assimilated diet when you mixed Salt Coats  biscuits and hot water. I’m assuming they are like Arnott’s Milk Arrowroot biscuits.

Apparently, they could  be taken for use as a sole diet for some weeks to assist stomach troubles. Presumably during the war, these biscuits which were made from the purist, whole wheat and flour, along with some hot water were able to help the digestive troubles of men in the Front Line.

The reference given to Lavinia from Lang McFarlane’s in 1926 when she was about to travel to Australia has her as an oven’s woman for almost 10 years. So presumably, she finished up at Salt Coats Biscuits around 1916 to start at Langs. When the 1921 Census was taken  Lavinia had returned to Glasgow and was living with some of the Macfarlane family  in a 2-room house/ tenement with 9 persons in residence at 38 Sister St Calton. What a squeeze.

The reference confirms Lavinia's work movements

Lavinia boarding  -1921 census

Finally with a marriage I was able to locate Mary in the 1921 census where she was living at a 1 room tenement at 149 Garngad Rd Provan with John and his daughter Elizabeth. For the first time in her life she is listed as performing domestic duties.  

 

Mary and John Bannon 1921 census

 Her sister Annie remained unmarried and lived at Bright St until 1924.  Her other sister, Margaret McGonigle had married Charles McGonigle, was still living at Bright St with her father, James  also residing there.

Mary's Dad and sisters 1921 Census

Margaret  was a witness on Mary‘s death certificate when the 49-year-old widow died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1934 her husband, having predeceased her in February 1932.

Mary's death in 1934

Anyway Lavinia never saw her mother again after paying her fare to Australia and travelling to meet up with her fiancée in Sydney. She married James Kerr in 1927, and then Jean Stevens Kerr came along in February 1928.

It’s still a mystery about Mary McLaughlan and the lack of information the family in Australia had about her life. My great Uncle claimed to have never met her in Glasgow and knew only that she died a little after Lavinia came to Australia and married his brother James Kerr.    

Many things come to mind. Perhaps Lavinia had a fall out or lost contact with her mother and stepsisters. Literacy or postage costs may have stopped them  communicating across the waters. After all, Australia is a very long way from Scotland. Certainly there were no remnants of letters amongst the papers retrieved from my grandfather’s house in the late 1960s but there were none from the Kerr side either.  The Scots did pride themselves on their photographs. For that I’m grateful that they have survived and I’m the custodian. Her photos were homed and on top of the family piano in a loaf sized ceramic box. They were subsequently mangled by yours truly and my brother when we jammed them in the piano keys and played jumping photos on our numerous visits -as kids do!

If you look at the timeline, Lavinia had a bit going on around the time of her mother’s death. Any remnants of letters between her mother and Lavinia had probably been read and disposed of. It’s nearly 100 years since Lavinia came to Australia and I can hardly have  a hissy fit over lost correspondence. Far from living in a small and cramped one room tenement the Kerrs lived in a 3-bedroom house on the north shore of Sydney. However soon space had to be made for the first grandchild Jean born 1928 who lived until December 1932. At  the same time, the house in Neutral Bay was being shared by Lavinia‘s brother-in-law Alfred, and her father-in-law James Cross Kerr. Just nine months later in 1933,  her first son Alfred was born followed soon by William in 1935,

Lavinia was the much loved, mother, wife and neighbour in North Sydney. She was a lifelong Catholic spending much time with her friends  and the Josephite nuns at the Neutral Bay convent.

Another brick wall has been knocked down this year. I’m thrilled to find so much information about my great grandmother and her relatives. It was my goal  this year to find Nanny’s mother in the  Scottish 1921  Census and to piece together what more I could of her story. Instead I cracked it!

 Post script- Another mystery to ponder, investigate and “channel” some hints

Just today, as I was looking for photos to insert in the story. I looked again and another photo that I have never identified. There’s a lady and a young woman there who I presumed was from the Kerr family and her granddaughter possibly around the late 1920s. I looked again- she parts her hair the same way that Nanny had parted hers - may well be Mary and the unmarried daughter of John Bannon. Will I ever know for sure? 

Is this Mary? Elizabeth Bannon?

I’m grateful that after 12 to 13 years of searching, I’ve found a story of Mary McLaughlan, her mother, Catherine, her stepmother, Sarah. her half-sisters Margaret, and Annie in addition to  her dad, James McLaughlan. I’m glad she lived out her days with John Bannan and stepdaughter Elizabeth, Yay the mystery is somewhat clearer than it was this time last year.  

My mission now ......is to find out where James McLaughlan came from in Ireland. In searching for the story of James McLaughlan, and where he came from there’s more to tell about the McAllister‘s and Mary‘s half-sisters. Watch this space.