Hello: McLaughlin's - Garryduff

Dear Friends,

This is a new site for me - it appears to be built on the good will of those who may read these posts, which I find to be far the friendliest way to go about all this.  So I'll give a full introduction.  It will seem unlikely that any Fallin [Ó Faoláin courtesy of DNA analysis] would wind up in County Antrim, so it's not my own surname I'm searching for [it's a much longer reach since my first Fallin was in Virginia prior to 1671].  Rather I'm looking for links with one my maternal Great Grandmother, Elizabeth Rodgers McLaughlin's, family.  Our generations were close enough that I knew her quite well; she lived well into my teenage years.

Elizabeth was the daughter of James R. McLaughlin, born in County Antrim in 1845 and apparently coming to America as a young child (James R. died in 1913) and his wife Lydia Lamont, also born in Ireland, but we're not sure where, in 1848 (she died in 1816).  They appear to have lived first in or near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (James R. served about a year in a Pennsylvania unit of the Union Army in the Civil War) and then moved to a permanent home/farm in Gloucester County, New Jersey.

James R. McLaughlin was the son of James McLaughlin (born about 1793 in County Antrim and dying in 1859 in Gloucester County, New Jersey) and Elizabeth Rodgers (born about 1896, died in 1871 in Gloucester County, New Jersey.

All of the above information can be confirmed from gravestones found in Williamstown, Gloucester County, New Jersey.

Quite Recently a 2d or 3d cousin has written that James McLaughlin's father was a Robert McLaughlin and that they were from Garryduff, Ballymoney Parish, County Antrim.  She based that information on material she found at the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormon) library in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has promised to send confiming information, but this is exciting enough that I've decided to reach out now.

It appears that her evidence is drawn from a little book, apparently now out of print, called: "The Banner of the Blue in Auld Garrydoo: A History of Garryduff Presbyterian Church by S. Alexander Blair and published in 2010."  At this point, I'm not sure  exactly what, beside the name Robert McLaughlin, may have been drawn from the book, but she has his son James McLaughlin and his wife Elizabeth Rodgers having the following children - all apparently born in County Antrim:

"My" James R. McLaughlin (1845-1913)

Robert McLaughlin (1839-1906)

Mary Ann McLaughlin (1836-1892 

Nancy McLaughlin (b. abt 1830-    )[a little less sure because apparently drawn from a C of I record] 

In all the lines I'm researching (many of which reach back to Ireland; my wife's maiden name, Finley, from County Down; and her mother's maiden name, Elliott, from County Fermanagh), this is the first and only time that I've seen a possibility of contacting family still living.  There is a family tradition that someone, perhaps my GGrandmother was still communicating with family in Ireland into the 1950s.

Thanks so much for wading through this note and, believe me, I will be most grateful for any assistance.

Jack Fallin

Walnut Creek, CA, USA