When we began this genealogical journey years ago we only knew two bits of information on the McLaughlins of Dougherty, Iowa. The first came from Daniel McLaughlin's tombstone in St. Patrick's Cemetery in Dougherty, which read::
Daniel McLaughlin
Born in County
Donegal, Ireland
Died Nov. 7, 1886
Aged 54 Years.
The old McLaughlin family bible had been lost in a fire that destroyed the farmhouse in Dougherty in the 1950's. But John F. McLaughlin Sr. (my grandfather) remembered it had contained the name of Daniel's father and "thought" it was Patrick. That was the name he entered in his genealogy section of his memoirs and as far as we knew it was correct.
One of the first things we did in beginning our search was order Daniel Mclaughlin's Civil War records from the National Archives. My uncle Tom remembered visiting the cemetery in Dougherty and seeing an American flag on the grave placed there by the local VFW. The records he ordered contained a wealth of information including an affidavit by Dan Dougherty whose farm was located across the street from the McLaughlin farm.
.Affidavit of Dan Dougherty 1883
(Filed on behalf of Daniel McLaughlin in
his Civil War Pension Records)
"This is to testify that I have known Daniel McLaughlin from boyhood until the year 1858 ....
Luckily the birthplace of Dan Dougherty was listed on his tombstone in St. Patrick's Cemetery:
:Dougherty, Daniel Sr. Born in Clooncarney
Co. Donegal; died Mar. 26, 1911
That however left us scratching our heads since we couldn't find a townland named Clooncarney in Donegal. In time however I realized Clooncarney was just a variant form of Cloncarney, a townland in Conwal parish, Donegal, not far from Letterkenny. Since Daniel McLaughlin and Dan Dougherty had known each other since "boyhood," Daniel McLaughin must have lived in the vicinity.
My uncle Tom then visited Donegal where he met a wonderful local genealogist and historian named May McClintock in Letterkenny. May was able to take him to Cloncarney where he met a Doherty still living in the old Doherty homestead (Charlie Doherty and his wife, Bride). She also helped him go through the Griffith's Valuations and assuming his father's name was Patrick as stated by my grandfather, found a listing for a Patrick McLaughlin Sr. and Jr. in the adjacent townland of Rathdonnell. There were several schools in the vicinity which each could have attended. It was quite possible we had found the right Patrick McLaughlin.
.A year or so later another uncle, Dan McLaughlin, found a copy of a will filed in Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, for a John McLaughlin. In the will this John left all his money to his brothers and sisters in Donegal and a clause in the will mentioned his brother Daniel who had moved to Iowa, to whom he left nothing.
Extracts from the Will
I first desire and bequeath all the property of whatever nature or kind I may die possessed of to my two sisters and a brother all now reside in Ireland, Kingdom of Great Britain and named as follows: Jane McLaughlin, Catherine McLaughlin and Patrick McLaughlin.
My legatees herein named live in the County of Donegal,Ireland, their parish being Kil McCrennan, township of Whitehill.
I expressly state herein that my brother Daniel McLaughlin now resident of the State of Iowa shall not be entitled to any portion of my estate whatever.
The will was filed in 1884 and when John's money was sent to Ireland in 1886 ($1,300) his brothers and sisters picked it up at the Hibernian Bank in Letterkenny. Patrick's residence was listed as "Rathdonnell."
We do not to this day have any proof that the John McLaughlin in Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin was the brother of Daniel McLaughlin except for the fact that the will names a Daniel McLaughlin as brother who is "now resident in the state of Iowa." What we do know is that the John McLaughlin who left the will owned a farm in Frindship township, just north of the City of Fond du Lac, where Daniel McLaughlin and family lived. In the 1880 census Daniel Mclaughlin is listed as a retail grocer in Fond du Lac. Also living in Friendship township was the McMonagle family (Daniel married Julia McMonagle, the daughter of Anthony McMonaglel and Catherine MacIlwaine). We know John was married and had a daughter who appears to have died young. She's listed in the 1860 Fond du Lac census but disappears in the 1870 census which just lists John Mclaughlin and wife. Attached to the estate records is an uncertified death notice for John McLaughlin, a white male 74 yr. b. 1810 d. Aug. 5th, 1884, cause of death consumption, Main St. Fond du Lac. Apparently John's wife had died as well by that time and he had sold the farm and moved to the city of Fond du Lac.
The will of John McLaughlin therefore seemed to tie everything togther that we had already found except for the odd reference in one place to the township of Whitehill and in another the townland of Rathdonnell. But we later discovered Whitehill was a location name within the townland of Rathdonnell, possibly a small village.
We do not know yet why Daniel McLaughin wound up in the city of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. On entering the U.S. he first lived in Norristown, P.A., just outside of Philadelphia, where he worked in an iron furnace under his "boyhood" friend, Dan Dougherty. In about 1858 as mentioned in Dan Dougherty's affidavit, the two split company, Dan Dougherty moving his family to Iowa, Daniel McLaughlin to the city of Fond du Lac. John McLaughlin was probably already living in Friendship township just north of the city at the time; the McMonagles appear to have arrived in Friendship somewhat later from Peel Co., Ontario, Canada. Since a lot of the families in Friendship township came from Peel Co., Ontario (near Toronto) it's possible John McLaughlin may have originally lived in Canada as well. One source states the McMonagles came from Conwal parish, Donegal. It's possible most of them knew each other from the old country. Another prominent Peel county family were Dohertys from Donegal.
We also have no idea why John McLaughlin cut his brother Daniel out of his will.
By the time my uncles visited Rathdonnell the McLaughlin family had died out. The last one in the vicinity was a Rosie Murray, the daughter of Catherine McLaughlin and Francis Murray, who died in 1949.. According to the Murrays, who remember her well, this McLaughlin family inherited quite a bit of money from a relative in the gold fields of Alaska. More likely the money came from John McLaughlin's inheritance and whether he ever set foot in Alaska is unknown. But Rose was quite a character in the Kilmacrenan area and owned a bar in Kilmacrenan town named Rosie's Pub she inherited from her parents.. When she died with no heirs two hired men named Russell took over the bar and ran it for years. My uncle Dan reports they were extremely hostile when he suddenly showed up asking questions about McLaughlins. When he showed no interest in taking over Rosie's property they suddenly warmed up and took him up to the attic to show him pictures of Rosie and the cottage in which she lived.