Searching for McArdle and McGaughran from Kilnaleck, Cavan

My mother who was born in Omard the early 1930s remembers McGaughrans still living there in her time. They lived in a roadside cottage on the Kilnaleck Ballyheelan Road. I've attached a screen grab from the 1901 OS map showing where the house was. It's the small building along the road north east of Foxfield House, right next to where it says  BM 383.8 ( I hope the attachement works).

The Mc Gaughrans were not there in the 1850s as there is no house on the site in Griffiths Valuation, nor any reference to McGaughrans in Griffiths.

I will print out your information and show it to my Mother who I hope will be able to shed some more light and may have some good stories about the McGaughrans of Omard. 

Thank you so much!

The attachment worked perfectly, and is the sort of thing I have wanted to know forever!

The parents, Peter and Anne McCahill McGaughran, are represented on the 1901 and 1911 censuses, with 3 sons living with them - Peter, John, and Michael. Now I'll be able to see just where that house was.

Thanks to your mother for any memories and stories she may have. I'd love to know aything she might recall. A few details that may help. Michael was the postman in 1901 and 1911, according to the census. Peter was a caprpenter, and John worked at the creamery. My cousin, whose grandmother was Kate McGaughran Goldrick, heard from a Cavan man old enough to remember Michael that he was a good fiddle player, and his sister Kate had a beautiful singing voice.

Peter and Anne were married at the Ballynarry Church by Father Felix Comiskey in 1869, and at least several of these 11 children were baptized there. I don't have records for them all.

Thanks again for writing and for the attachment.

Judi

Hello Judi

Seeing as attachments work, here is another. This is a screen grab from Google Street View, it shows the modern house on the site of McGaughrans cottage. This is a council house meaning it was originally built by the local authority to replace the cottage shown in the map. So far as I know it was McGaughrans until the 1960s, but I'll check with my Mother. This view is from the road looking north east towards Kilnaleck.

Kevin

Hello Kevin,

I surely saw this place, as this is the road we took from Kilnaleck to the Ballynarry Church. Do do you mean the McGaughrans lived in both the original cottage, and this newer one as well? Was the old one leveled, and an entirely new one built? Is there any way to find out when the new one was built? Do you know what the warehouse building is, next to the house?

Will I ever stop asking you questions???  :-) I'm sorry - I have looked for this for a very long time!

In 1960, Peter, the youngest son, would have been 70. The father, also named Peter, died in 1916, aged 75. His death record says he was a widower. His wife Anne was living in 1911, so she must have died between spring of 1911, and Feb 1916. I suppose one or more of the remaining 3 sons lived on there.

I suppose that means the rest were gone, either dead or emigrated. Perhaps your Mother knows if Michael, John, or Peter married and had children. And if she remember any stories of 2 of the older sisters named Anne/Annie and Margaret, who went to America...

Kevin, thank you so much for this. I have done so much research, and enlisted Cavan genealogy, and lovely Father Frank at the Ballynarry Church. But you are the 1st one able to anchor these people to a place. I'll be able to see it next trip over.

Thank you!

Judi

The McGaughrans lived in both the old and new house. The old house was right along the road. It was damaged in the 1950s, when rocks were blow up in the land behind. The new house was build then and the old one demolished. Michael stayed in Foxfield, married and his wife (I don?t know her name) was the last member of the family to live there. When she died in 1963, Cavan County Council took possesion of the house and bought out the families interests in the property.

Michael had a daughter May, who I knew as a late middle aged woman. She married a Dublin taximan Joe Mulhall and lived in Dublin, they both died some time around the late 1970s and early 1980s. They had no children. May was the only member of the family I knew.

Since 1963 the Kiernan family have lived there, they eventually bought out the councils interest, they later bought the farmland behind the house. In the 1980s they a light enginnering workshop in the garden. The big building next to the house, was a large engineering workshop. It?s has been empty for many years. There is a complex of other empty industrial buildings behind the house.

I?ve attached another image of the house from a different angle.

I?ll quizz my Mother some more about the McGaughrans of Foxfield

Attached is a current map which wil give you an idea of the buildings that are on the site now. I've marked the house in red. The place has changed a lot,

Kevin,

When I was there last, I took a photo of a tombstone in the Ballynarry graveyard of a Mae McGauran, died 1974. Before I get too excited, do you think this is the same one who married Joe Mulhall? Would she have been buried back in Cavan, if she lived in Dublin, and under her maiden name?

I'm attaching a photo of the stone - it says also her father, mother, grandparents, and Aunt Nan. She had loads of aunts, if this is Michael's daughter, and I suppose it could be his wife's parents memorialized there. Michael was in his early - mid 30s when his parents died, so she was probably quite young.

If it's the same Mae. No mention of Mulhall. Would he not be buried with her?

I'll try looking for this daughter, Mae, and marriage records for Michael. Father Frank found these records at the Ballynarry Church for a Michael McGauran. Do you think your mother would remember if Elizabeth Donegan was his wife, or any of these children?

Children of Michael McGauran and Elizabeth Donegan

Nov 2, 1915 – Ann McGauran

May 8, 1921 – Mary Catherine McGauren

Aug 28, 1928 – Michael McGauren

Jan 13, 1930 – John Francis McGauren

 
Micahel had brothers named John and Francis, and sisters named Ann, Mary, and Katherine.

So many things swimming in my head!! This is wonderful. Thanks for the images - and thanks to your mother for her memories, too!

Judi

I'll check with my mother about Mae, but I think this is her grave. My memory is not as good as it should be, because now I recall that she did not marry Joe Mulhall, but cohabited with him.

Father Frank said most graves didn't get markers until the 1950s, aside from the wealthy, and they didn't really keep good track who was buried where. I wonder if the parents and grandparents (and Aunt Nan) are buried together with Mae? Or if it is merely a memorial to them? I would be thrilled to know the grandparents mentioned are Peter and Anne. But this raises the question for me - who would have had this stone laid, with Mae being the name on it? I hope you mother can remember Michael's wife's name or any of the other children.

I woke up thinking about these folks this morning!

Thanks,

Judi

Hi!

I've found a few new details since I wrote the message at the top. (I'll edit that initial post.)

Annie McCahill (b 1847) died Nov 1912.

The 1911 census says she had 11 children. I had listed these 11:

John b 1870 d 1870

Honora/Nora b 1871 d ?

Anne/Annie  b 1872 d 1900 in NY - of particular interest

Margaret Ann b 1874  d 1940 in NY

Mary Ann b 1876 d 1878

Kate/Katherine b 1878  d ? 

Francis b 1880 d ?

Peter b 1882 d 1882

Michael b 1883 d ?

Peter b 1886 d ?

John b 1890 d ?

but since have discovered Patrick, b 1873. That makes 12 kids, and 11 documented. The only one not documented to my satisfaction is in the list based on family lore with some documentation to back it up. Annie, who is in bold, was married to my ggf before he married my ggm. She died in 1900 at age 28, and her death cert, issued in NY, lists her father as Peter McGaughran, and a mother named Annie.

Family lore has always held that Annie was Margaret's older sister. When Annie died, my ggf married her sister, and Margaret raised Annie's son with her own kids. However, while there are birth and/or baptism certs for all the 11 other children of Peter and Annie, there is nothing for this daughter named Annie, born in 1872.

I'm very anxious to solve this puzzle. It's been suggested she was a cousin, raised with the family, but nothing points to that. Any advice welcome and appreciated.

Judi