Thread: Samuel J. McLaughlin

I have asked about this brick wall before, but still can't seem to resolve it. My great great great Grandfather was Samuel J. McLaughlin, born at sea from Ireland to Canada on June 13, 1851. He had a sister, Frances E. Thompson [McLaughlin] born in November or December of 1846 somewhere in Ireland. Their parents were James and Mary McLaughlin, born in Ireland around 1808 and 1812, respectively. I have found a possible maiden name for Mary of Berkley or Berkely, but I have no reliable source to confirm that. My problem is that I have no idea of where they lived in Ireland. I have come across sources that say Northern Ireland, but that still hasn't been very useful to me in my search.

I have plenty of information about descendants of Samuel and Frances if it would be at all useful.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Dont know if you've seen the entry on Familysearch.org

Samuel McLaughlin birth 1851 Donegal Ireland
Parents ...James McLaughlin and Mary Graham

Thanks Hazelnut, but Samuel was born at sea, not in Ireland. I have quite a few sources which confirm that, including my grandfather who remembered being told that story by one of his aunts (Samuel's daughter) so I have no reason to believe otherwise. Frances would have been born in Ireland though.

Elwyn, thank you for the advice. I will try to look for those kinds of sources. Just so it is clear, James and Mary never made it to the United States as far as I know. Samuel came to the US around 1875; the last Canadian census I found Mary in was 1871 and James 1861. So I believe James died before 1871 and Mary must have died before the next census in 1881. She doesn't show up in the US census in 1880 with Samuel either.

Another interesting thing I found - Frances Thompson in the 1900 US census reported her father's place of birth as Scotland and mother as England. I'm not sure if it would be worth it to look into this, as it is inconsistent with every other source, but I do find it odd that she reported it this way if it isn't true. Any advice on that?

Would it be worth Google Babies born at sea and see what comes up , you might find a lead .

McLoughlin is a common name with 7332 of them in the 1901 Irish census, and that doesn't include the many variations that you can get. The attached site shows you the distribution across the country (based on Griffiths Valuation). Counties Donegal & Derry are the two where the name is most common.

Irish Ancestors/ Surnames