This lady is my great, great grandmother Sarah McLaughlin. She’s the only great great grandparent of whom I have a photo. I actually have two!

Sarah was born in County Mayo, Ireland the parish of Oughaval. I don’t have a record of her birth but I know that it was around 1839. Her parents were Daniel McLaughlin and Elizabeth Reilly.

It’s been quite a challenge to put Sarah’s story together and there is one very important piece of information that I’m missing. What happened to her mother? It’s been driving me crazy and it may be that I never find out but back to Sarah for now.

The first record I found for Sarah was her marriage record from 1856. That’s just a year after civil registration began in Scotland so there’s a bit more information than I would’ve found if she’d married a couple of years earlier. Unfortunately the information is not 100% correct.

This is the parish record which just gives the name of the bride and groom and the witnesses. Nothing about the parents. It does tell me that she was born in County Mayo which is very useful. Church records vary in the amount of detail. Sometimes you can get lucky. In this record it’s hard to even make out the groom’s surname.

He was James Brawley and he was born in Glasgow. His was the first generation of my Brawley family to be born in Scotland. His father John was from County Derry. The marriage took place in the parish of Muirkirk in Ayrshire.

James had moved from Glasgow where he had been living with his father and stepmother. What happened to his mother is also a mystery. You’ll see there’s even a gap for her first name. It’s possible he wasn’t even sure as she may have died/disappeared when he was very young.

Sarah’s mum is recorded as Mary McLaughlin when her name was Elizabeth Reilly. You can see that neither James nor Sarah could sign their own names unlike the couple above who were married in the Church of Scotland suggesting they were not immigrants and had perhaps had better opportunities.

It’s easier to trace Sarah’s life after she got married but I know next to nothing about her early life. I suppose I just saw her as the matriarch of the Brawley family in Newmains. I thought it was possible that she had come to Scotland on her own. It was almost by accident that I stumbled across further information showing that she had siblings in Scotland and they weren’t too far away.

From what I’ve discovered Sarah had at least 3 siblings; Helen, Agnes and Peter. They were all born in Ireland and were all in Muirkirk at one point. Again the earliest trace of them in Scotland is 1856.

The only actual record I’ve found relating to the family in Ireland is the marriage record of Daniel and Elizabeth who tied the knot in January of 1833 in The parish of Oughaval. Sadly there is very little information. These records are searchable online but unfortunately there are no birth records for the period I’m looking at.

From other sources I can say that Helen was born in 1838, Agnes in 1843 and Peter in 1846. Given the gap between the marriage and Helen’s birth I think it’s likely there would have been other pregnancies but can’t know for sure.

So, sometime after 1846 the family left Ireland. Of course, this was the time of the great famine and County Mayo was one of the worst areas affected. It is possible that Elizabeth was a victim of the famine. Daniel and his brothers could see no alternative but to leave. Peter, Patrick and Hugh McLaughlin all came to Scotland. The earliest record I can find is for Peter in the 1851 census.

Sarah was just 17 when she married James and just a year later she became a mother with the arrival of John who was born on 12 June 1857. Two years later they welcomed a daughter, Catherine, who was born in Newmains in November 1859. Just a few days before her 1st birthday Catherine passed away after contracting diphtheria. It’s hard to imagine how Sarah could have coped with the loss. Perhaps she or another member of the family might have been ill at the same time as the infection had to enter the house somehow. Diphtheria is a horrible disease and so much more dangerous for the elderly and the very young like Catherine.

With the prevalence of the disease it was only a matter of time before some unscrupulous individuals would try to take advantage with the sales of some rather questionable medications.

The makers of Holloway’s Ointment claimed it could cure everything from diphtheria to the “indiscretions of youth”.

Catherine was buried in Cambusnethan Cemetery in a public plot. It’s a grassy area within the cemetery and there is no way of knowing her exact resting place.

Having moved from Ayrshire to Lanarkshire after her marriage James and Sarah moved around the county for a few years as James sought employment opportunities as a furnaceman in the iron industry.

Daughter Elizabeth was born in November 1861 at Clyde Ironworks. In May 1864 my great grandfather Daniel was born Old Monkland. He was named after Sarah’s father who had died the previous November. The cause of death was acute bronchitis no doubt caused by his many years working in the mines. He was just 52 years old.

Son James was born in 1866 followed by Hugh in 1869 and Peter in 1871. Next was Matthew in 1873 and Patrick in 1875.

At that time disease was never far away. This time it was scarlet fever which took both Matthew and Patrick within a week of each other in October 1876. Distraught by the loss of her two youngest sons Sarah had to find the strength to continue. She had young children to look after and another one on the way. A second Matthew Brawley was born in January 1877.

In July 1877 there was cause for celebration when eldest son John announced his engagement. He and Roseann McGuinness were married in Glasgow on 12 July. Sarah became a grandmother in 1879 with the birth of James Brawley. John and Roseann’s second child, a daughter named Julia was born in 1883. That same year Elizabeth married Charles McCafferty at the Roman Catholic chapel in Wishaw.

I’m sure it must have come as a bit of a surprise to Sarah to discover that she was pregnant again. In May 1884 she gave birth to Patrick. By that time the family were fully settled in Newmains.

Sarah’s sister Agnes had also moved to Newmains. She had first arrived in the village in 1863 when, pregnant and unmarried and with her father too ill to help her, she felt the need to escape Muirkirk. At the time, perhaps,for medical care, she was forced to seek help from the poorhouse. She did eventually marry a man called John Barton with whom she had 9 children. Her fortunes did not greatly improve, however, and the family had to reach out to the poorhouse on a number of occasions.

With a new baby to look after as well as her other children and all the responsibilities of a wife and mother I’m sure the last thing Sarah needed was to hear that John had fallen foul of the law.

The article from 1885 January 1885 shows he was given the option of a hefty fine or a prison sentence. There really was no choice and John was headed for Duke Street Prison. This left Roseann in a difficult position. Without John’s earnings she too was at the mercy for the parish. January 1885 also saw the birth of their 3rd child, Sarah so the timing could not have been worse. Remarkably, John did find the money to pay the fine and he was released early. It was not exactly a happy homecoming as just a few months later Roseann was back at the poorhouse seeking help having been deserted by her husband. The Brawleys really would’ve been the talk of the steamie!

1887 was a tough year for Sarah. February brought happy news of another granddaughter when Roseann gave birth to a daughter also named Roseann. By the end of the year however, both Julia and baby Roseann had passed away. 4 year old Julia lost her life to Phthisis in June and Roseann to meningitis in December.

There were also big changes in Sarah’s home. While the many mines and works in Lanarkshire had brought her sister Helen and her brother Peter to the area the opportunities for young men to get on in life were limited. Sons Daniel and James were by now aged 23 and 21 and they were not happy to settle for what Newmains had to offer. While still young they had already given years to the Coltness Ironworks. Daniel and James began to hatch a plan to leave Scotland for America. Jobs were available in the mines of Pennsylvania for young, fit men who were prepared to work hard. There were regular sailings from Glasgow to Philadelphia and the newspapers were full of adverts for the various shipping lines.

The above advert appeared regularly in the Wishaw Press and you will see that there was a local agent to help make all the arrangements.

So Daniel and James set off making the crossing to Philadelphia before heading to the town of Moosic where jobs and their new exciting futures awaited them.

Sarah would undoubtedly have been devastated to see her boys leave. She knew what it was like to leave your country and family and everything you had known in the hope of a better life. At the time the McLaughlin’s left Mayo many of her friends and neighbours would have gone to America. Perhaps the family chose Scotland for financial reasons, an easier and cheaper crossing. Or perhaps they felt that by travelling to Scotland they would be able to return to Ireland in better times.

Despite Sarah being the only member of the family born in Ireland I believe the family at that time considered themselves more Irish than Scottish. They lived among Irish Catholic neighbours and would’ve been proud of their roots. Leaving Ireland had been something forced on them.

There was someone else who was suffering the loss of Daniel. A young neighbour called Ellen Keenan had been seeing Daniel before his departure and had perhaps hoped to convince him to stay or maybe take her with him. When she discovered she was pregnant the Brawley and Keenan families had to get together to decide what to do. The fare to America was not cheap and the journey was not suitable for a lone pregnant female. Daniel Brawley Keenan was born in Newmains in October 1887. While Ellen stayed with her parents the families saved to pay her travel to the United States. The news must’ve come as something of a shock to Daniel who was tasked with planning a wedding!

Ellen and baby Daniel along with Daniel’s younger brother Hugh departed Glasgow in late 1888 on board the steamship Manitoban which arrived in Philadelphia on 9 December. They then travelled inland to Moosic where they were met by Daniel. Ellen and Daniel were married in Scranton, Pennsylvania on 11 December 1888. Ellen could not settle in America and the family returned to Newmains where they had a further 11 children. It’s sad that America didn’t work out for them but if it had, I wouldn’t be here! My grandfather Hugh Brawley was the 7th of their 12 children. He was born in Newmains in 1899.

In 1889 Sarah’s sister Agnes died aged just 43. The cause of death was ovarian cystoma and blood poisoning. She had been widowed 6 years earlier. Her youngest surviving child at the time of her death was 10 years old. He was taken in by an older brother.

There was some good news from America with the marriage of James to Pennsylvania born Sarah McGlynn. The couple married in Kingston, Pennsylvania in October 1889 where just 9 months later their son John Francis was born. James eventually settled in Rock Springs, Wyoming where he lived until his death in 1955. He and Sarah had 8 children.

Meanwhile back in Newmains there was love in the air as Sarah’s 5th son, Peter, married Catherine Keenan, the sister of Daniel’s wife Ellen. They had 13 children together. Peter remained in Newmains where he died in 1940.

In March 1892 Sarah received word that her eldest son had been killed in an accident at the ironworks. It was reported in the local paper.

In October 1893 Hugh 24 year old Hugh Brawley married Alice Shannon in Lackawanna county, Pennsylvania. The following year they welcomed twin girls Sarah and Ellen. Hugh had settled well in America. It’s from Hugh’s family that I got the above photo of Sarah. I’m very grateful to have it. That branch of the family has been great at preserving mementos. I love this picture of Hugh and Alice.

In December 1895 Hugh was killed in a mining accident. I wonder how the news reached Sarah back in Newmains. I know that youngest son Patrick kept in touch with Hugh writing long letters about life in Newmains and his hopes for the future. Hugh’s death would have come as a terrible shock.

In 1898 Matthew, the second youngest child, married Mary Hagan. The wedding took place in the Roman Catholic school in Newmains. The school and church were combined at that time having been established in 1871. The parish of St Brigid’s came into being in 1896 with the church being build in 1933. So much of the Brawley history is linked to the parish of St Brigid’s. The school/church building is still there and is now the chapel hall which is a popular place for functions in the village.

Mary Hagan was the local midwife and the couple were keen to start a family but as the years passed it seemed it was not to be.

In the 1901 census Sarah and James were living at 12 Brown Street, Newmains along with Patrick who was 16. Also in the house was Elizabeth who had split from her husband Charles. Granddaughter Sarah Brawley also lived with them. She was Daniel’s daughter and presumably stayed with her grandparents due to overcrowding in her own family home.

In 1903 Patrick announced that he was going to be a father. His girlfriend Mary O’Neill gave birth to their daughter Mary on 24 December of that year. Unlike Daniel, Patrick was not going to be forced into marriage. I imagine a family meeting took place where it was decided that Matthew and his wife would take care of the child. They went on to adopt two further children.

In July 1905 68 year old James contracted pneumonia. He died on 7 July in his family home with both Sarah and Patrick by his side. The couple had been married almost 50 years.

But life had to go on and Sarah would have been kept busy with the many grandchildren in Newmains. Perhaps Patrick found her grief difficult to deal with and as can be seen from his attitude to fatherhood he did not relish responsibility. He wanted to enjoy life. He loved spending time with friends and was a promising footballer. It was only a matter of time before he wanted to spread his wings.

In 1907 he had a friend headed for America. They celebrated their leaving in style.

Patrick headed to Rock Springs where brother James had settled. There he met Mary Gertrude Cameron, a widow with two children. They married in Rock Springs in May 1913 before eventually settling in New York. Patrick died in Brooklyn in 1856.

In 1912 Sarah’s grandson Daniel (Daniel’s son) and his wife Mary Berry welcomed their first child Margaret Corrigan Brawley. To commemorate the event a special photograph was commissioned. It’s a wonderful photo showing 4 generations.

It was such a special moment that it made the local newspaper. Fortunately I was sent a copy of the original by one of Daniel junior’s descendants as the newspaper is not very clear.

Sarah died on 20 November 1916.

She was buried along with James at Cambusnethan Cemetery. The plot is sadly unmarked.

Sarah gave birth to 11 children. She had 46 grandchildren including 4 adopted children. Her descendants are now spread across the world. Through my family history research I’ve been in contact with some of these descendants thus re establishing the family connection. I like to think Sarah would be happy about that.