McLaughlin Family

Ian decided to go the Cambridge-Pembroke honors program over the summer and the BYU London Center in the fall. He had a ten-day gap between the programs. That led to a discussion about how I’d promised to go with the children to Ireland, as my father had done with me. The trip turned into a group project over the summer planning it. Joseph, Ian, Ariel, and Callie would travel with me to Ireland. Then, it became England and Ireland; and finally, England, Ireland, and France.

We used the Hopper iPhone App to hunt for and buy discount tickets. Ariel bought her ticket first, then Callie and me, and finally Joseph. All the discount fares were remarkably cheap but costs skyrocketed as we sorted through hotel accommodations and the rent-a-car in Ireland. Adding France meant either a flight or taking the Eurostar train from Paris, France to London, England. We thought it would be cheaper than a flight, but it turned out to be more.

With some of the hotels prepaid, we began getting nearer the departure day when we realized there was a totality solar eclipse two days before we flew to England. With some indecision initially, Ariel, Callie, and I finally left the day before the totality to avoid traffic, which was 8 August 2017. That became a wise decision when we learned the drive from Rexburg, Idaho to Salt Lake City, Utah would take over eight hours on Monday afternoon or Tuesday after the eclipse. We stayed with Joseph from Sunday until Tuesday evening, and we experienced the partial eclipse with him in his home in Harriman, Utah.

The day of the eclipse I took Callie to an oral surgeon because she had tooth pain. Unbeknown to me, she had had the pain for two months or more. When they took and displayed the x-ray of her mouth, it was obvious to me that the right upper wisdom tooth was the problem and it would need to be removed. However, we waited to hear what the oral surgeon had to say. He said the same thing, and we had the one wisdom tooth removed.

After removing the tooth, we filled her prescription and went back to Joseph’s town home. On his little balcony we watched the solar eclipse from a perspective outside of a totality. It was interesting because the temperature declined by about twenty and the light diminished significantly. Then, Ariel said she had tooth pain. Fortunately, I was able to schedule a dental appointment for Ariel in Riverton, Utah for Tuesday afternoon.

The next day, I got our Honda Pilot serviced in the morning and took Ariel to the dentist in the afternoon. She had two fillings but the dentist felt the problem was probably the lack of a crown on her molar that had had a root canal. Unfortunately, we couldn’t manage a crown in anything less than a week and a half or two weeks.

After Ariel’s dental work, we returned Ariel to Joseph’s town home. Then, Callie and I drove to the Springhill Suite at the Salt Lake Airport. I had tried to cancel the reservation but Marriott changed their policy from a 24-hour prior notice to 48-hour prior notice for cancellation and I was two hours too late to cancel the reservation. We had booked the hotel because originally our flight left at 6 a.m. but now it left after 10:50 in the morning. However, we decided to stay at the Springhill Suites because we were going to pay for it anyway and it let us sleep an additional thirty minutes.

We flew from the Salt Lake City Airport to the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, and then we flew nonstop from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport to Heathrow Airport outside of London, England. After we cleared immigration and customs, we felt we had six hours or so before Ariel’s flight would land and Ariel would clear immigration and customs. We bought roundtrip express train tickets to Paddington Station and texted Ariel instructions to do the same when she landed.

The airport didn’t let you stay in an area with facilities once you arrived and cleared immigration and customs. Since Callie and I couldn’t wait inside the airport after clearing immigration and customs, we went to our hotel in the Kensington district of London where we were able to check our bags for the morning. Callie and I decided to get something to eat and go visit Buckingham Palace.

While we were outside of Buckingham Palace, we found out that Ariel cleared immigration and customs in a quarter of the time that it took us to do the same. We told her to take the express train from the Heathrow Airport to the Paddington Station where we would meet her. We then walked back to the nearest London Underground station and made our way back to Paddington Station.

Ariel also contacted Ian, and he came down from Cambridge to meet Ariel at Paddington Station, London. We all connected at Paddington Station. Then, we all went to our hotel in Kensington and checked in to the hotel. Ariel and Ian setup Ian’s new iPhone, which I’d brought from the United States. Then, we went to Harrods’s Department Store to get Ian an iPhone case because we’d failed to think about that previously.

It was surreal to finally go inside Harrods. It is a massive department store, that holds one of London’s Apple Stores. We got Ian a case to protect his new iPhone. At that point, Ian needed to leave to catch his train back to Cambridge. He still had a closing dinner to attend that night. Ariel, Callie, and I went to explore Kensington, find a grocery store for Ariel, and then walk back to our hotel.

That Friday, we got up and went to see the Tower of London, Parliament, Westminster Cathedral, and took a ride on the Thames from Westminster to the Tower of London. Ariel didn’t want to see the Tower of London, so we walked to Saint Paul’s Cathedral and explored the first floor and basement before we climbed to the top of the dome roof. It was 257 stairs to the internal balcony of the dome and 528 stairs to the top of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, which is approximately 360 feet or 33 stories. They told us we probably had the best view from Saint Paul in years because of the weather.

After ascending Saint Paul’s Cathedral, we walked across the Millennium Walking Bridge, which crosses the Thames. It’s the same walking bridge that is destroyed in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We walked back to the Tower of London, but it was closed for the day. Then, we took the ferry from Tower Hill to Westminster for our return trip.

In Westminster, we explored Big Ben and Westminster Abbey before walking to Buckingham Palace so Ariel could see it. Callie and I had visited Buckingham Palace the previous. Then, we went back to Kensington, ate, and went to bed because we were tired – having walked over 9 miles for the last two days and climbed more than 45 flights of stairs.

We went back to the Tower of London on Saturday morning after eating. We beat most of the others who would visit the Tower of London and only a five-minute wait in line to see the crown jewels of England. We then took a tour of the Tower of London and wandered on the battlements. I was a bit disappointed in crown jewel display because they show far fewer items than they displayed during my earlier visits in 1986 and 1987.

We then walked across the new London Bridge and back. Then, we took the Underground back to Kensington to pick up our bags and went to Paddington Station to meet Joseph. Together as a foursome, we went to Kings Cross Station, which adjoins St. Pancras Train Station. We got something to eat outside the station, and explored the area around stations before taking the train to Gatewick Airport.

We discovered that the train to Gatewick Airport stops to pick up addition passenger at the Blackfriars station, which is on a bridge over the river Thames. The train has an excellent view of the new London Bridge from the left side when you’re travelling to Gatewick Airport. We stopped for about 5 minutes on the bridge enroute to Gatewick Airport, which gave Joseph a chance to see the new London Bridge.

We got to the Gatewick Airport with an hour to spare for our flight from Gatewick Airport to the Dublin Airport. We cleared immigration and customs without any problem, and then we waited for Ian’s arrival. Ian flew out of Stansted Airport, which was closer to Cambridge. Unfortunately, Ian left his bag on the airplane and we had a distended wait until he and his bag could join us. We got a cab from the Dublin Airport to the Crowne Plaza Hotel. We arrived very late and everything was closed. We would continue to arrive late throughout the trip, which meant we had few choices for dinner. We ordered Pizza, and it arrived a little after one in the morning at the hotel.

On Sunday, we returned to the airport to rent our car and drove into Dublin to walk around. We went to Grafton Street, Temple Bar Street, Trinity College, Dublin Castle, and meandered along both sides of River Liffey. It was a very enjoyable day. While we had planned two days in Dublin, everybody felt they had seen everything in Dublin and they wanted to add the Ring of Kerry to our itinerary.

We made the change and secured an Airbnb in Newcastle West, which is in County Limerick, Ireland. We made the decision based on the hotel desk saying we could check out early but then she corrected herself in the morning and said we’d prepaid and couldn’t check out early. Unfortunately, we now would have to pay for both accommodations. On Monday, we headed off to Newcastle West in County Limerick. Along the way we would stop at the Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary, which was marvelous. We also visited Cahir Castle in County Tipperary, which was also marvelous. Then, we drove to our Airbnb in Newcastle West.

We arrived in Newcastle West about 6:30 in the evening. Unlike big cities, there was no late night delivery service other than a seedy looking Chinese restaurant. We opted to go to the supermarket, which was open until 8:00 in the evening. We bought some prepackaged and sliced roast beef and turkey, bread, and drinks. We enjoyed the meal in our rented home, which was on the south side of the River Arra.

On Tuesday, we drove to Killarney and then counter clockwise around the Ring of Kerry. We went counter clockwise to avoid being stuck behind tour buses. We drove through Killarney to Ross Castle, which we stopped to visit and explore. Then, we drove through Killarney National Park and stopped at Muckross House, which is an eighteenth century mansion undamaged from the frequent tenant uprising of the 19th century. It has beautiful vista all around it.

After Muckross House, we began driving the Ring of Kerry and made our next stop at Mulls Gap. It was a stunning view of the valley through which we had driven. Callie was jumping for joy, as captured by Joseph’s photograph.

We stopped along the Ring of Kerry (N70) road at Tahilla. There was a pull out just west of the village where we took some excellent photographs and Joseph flew his drone.

This is us at the Rock of Cashel in Ireland:

William McLaughlin was the brother of my second great grandfather, and the namesake of McLaughlin’s Squadron of Volunteer Cavalry. Like his brother Anthony, he changed the spelling of his name from McLoughlin to McLaughlin because it was politically astute. He came to the United States sometime around 1829-1830, as the story goes through Canada. He settled in Mansfield County. Anthony would latter settle in Galion County on the way to Mansfield.

William McLaughlin died in 1862 after the Battle of Middle Creek, which contributed to keeping Kentucky in the Union and forcing the Confederate forces to leave eastern Kentucky. It’s also the first major skirmish (few killed or wounded) that prepared the way for the invasion of Tennessee by Union forces. McLaughlin’s Squadron of Cavalry along with the 43^rd Ohio Infantry were assigned picket duty and part of the reserve during the battle. They were involved in many skirmishes during and after the Battle of Middle Creek.

For years my father discussed how we would travel as a family to Ireland to visit the cousins. He just never got around to it. In 1984, a year after my mother’s death, I decided to go on my own. That meant I didn’t know exactly where they lived. I knew they lived north of Belmullet, County Mayo. I knew they lived on Fox Point. What’s odd, is that I drove up that dirt road until I got to the next to last home before I stopped. It happened to be their home.

When I got home and had some of my slides developed, I told my dad and showed him the photographs. He was quite bothered. He said we needed to go back with my aunt Margaret Therese Fedele (my dad’s sister) that year. I took an unpaid leave and my father picked up all the expenses.

We opted to fly through England because it was cheaper. We took the ferry from Liverpool, England to Dublin, Ireland. It seemed like a wonderful plan until I was detained by security. After about an hour of waiting for them to take some action to allow me entrance into the country, I asked how much longer it would take because my father and aunt were waiting. They were stunned to understand that they’d cleared customs while I hadn’t. After they decided to clear me into England, I asked why there was such a delay. She kindly showed me their book, or watch-list, for undesirables. It turns out there were many IRA terrorists with my same name.

We crossed the Irish sea on the Leinster. We had berths, and the night crossing was over quite rough seas. I learned two lessons on the crossing. First, I learned why the hand rails are provided on the ship when I needed to use the toilet that evening. The ship was rocking 30 degrees to port and starboard. Second, I learned you shouldn’t eat greasy food before crossing a rough body of water. I ate duck at the port restaurant before we sailed. When I got back to my berth from the toilet, I had to focus to avoid becoming ill.

My aunt couldn’t resist the on-board slot machines. I didn’t follow how many British pounds she lost but I’d guess five or so. While I took the upper berth, my dad took this photo while I was lying on his lower berth.

After we had breakfast in Dublin, Ireland at the local McDonald’s, it was the only place open at 7 a.m. in Dublin. We set out for southeastern Ireland to do some site seeing after we ate. We stopped at Jamestown because the village name struck my dad and toured Kilkenny Castle. The photo to the right side is of me standing in the entrace to Kilkenny Castle.

It was a long day, starting in Dublin at 7 a.m., but we drove all the way to Blarney Castle in Blarney, Ireland (outside of Cork City). We stayed at the hotel in Blarney, Ireland the first night in Ireland.

We stopped to let my aunt buy a gold Claddagh ring. We used the shop owned by a cousin of one of my friends from San Francisco, California. She graciously consented to take a photo (found above). Unfortunately, I no longer remember her name after 26 years.

We drove the ring of Kerry in the morning and then stayed near the Shannon Airport. My father was quite worn out, and my aunt and I left him to rest while we took a walk, ate some scones at tea time, and then visited until 6 p.m. when we collected him for dinner. We left the next morning and drove straight through to Belmullet. The preceding photo is the view looking west from our family’s farm. The next photo is of my father and aunt in front of Gerald and Mary McLoughlin’s farm house that they built in the 1960s.

After taking that earlier photo, we took one of the group gathered in the house. I don’t recall where Gerald or Joseph were but they were working on the farm. Those in the photo from left to right: front row are Mary McAndrew (Gerald’s mother-in-law), Kevin (the youngest of Gerald’s and Mary’s 19 children), my father, Mary McLoughlin (Gerald’s wife), and my aunt Margaret; and back row are me and my cousin Pauline.

I took a closeup of Mary and her mother, which is noted below. The McAndrew family lives about two miles east on the same dirt road that takes you to the McLoughlin farm. There are a lot of dirt roads in western Ireland, and not a lot of cars or traffic. Western Ireland is still rural. We’re related to both families and the Howard family that own the land on the east side of the paved road that runs north from Belmullet to Glenamoy and beyond.

A little later that day, we got Gerald and Kevin around the hearth. It’s a nice home where they raised their 19 children. They had a happy family and were very gracious hosting us. Next to the home is the same cottage where my great grandfather was born in 1853.

The next two photos are of that cottage, which has been used as a barn since 1963. My understanding is that only the Germans and rich Europeans seem to invest in thatch roofs because they’re not very pragmatic and have an extremely high maintenance cost. The first photo shows my father at the entrance and the second my father, aunt Margaret, and me.

Later that day, we took photos of my dad and his sister milking a cow. They’re shown below, and yes there was some teasing to get them to do it. Joseph McLoughlin (the next to youngest of Gerald’s and Mary’s children) helped them milk the cow. They chose the gentlest of the milk cows for the photos.

This is a great picture of my father relaxing by the fire in Gerald’s chair. He and Gerald had a strong connection. I didn’t realize how much until my father cried at their parting. I didn’t see my father cry at my mother’s funeral and he was lost without her when she preceded him in death. It was part of his generations mystique about suppressing outward emotions.

When we went to visit Gerald’s married daughter Una, I got this snap of Gerald in the pub at Portacloy, Ireland. He raised 10 boys and 9 girls with his wife, worked hard, and asked little of life. They had a wonderful family. Life is hard in western Ireland, and his face certainly shows the wear of living and honest hard work.

Lastly, the parish priest let us see the records for my first great grandfather and his two brothers. The oldest, Patrick had stayed in Ireland. Patrick is Gerald’s grandfather. These two photos show the baptismal font where they were baptized in the Church of the Sacred Heart, Belmullet, Ireland.

My cousin Maureen McAndrews is the only reason we got to see the records. They ran a shoe store in Belmullet and her son was in local politics. She was the parish priest’s secretary. He had denied me access earlier in the year but when Maureen asked, he consented. He asked my father if he were a Mormon, and he said no. Thankfully, he didn’t ask me or we may not have seen the records. The first picture is with my cousin Maureen on the left and aunt Margaret on the right. The second picture is with Maureen on the left and me on the right.

He also consented to sign a release form that he’d received from the LDS Family History Library. They’d filmed the records a second time in Ireland during the 1970s but according to the priest the LDS Church agreed not to disclose that they had filmed them. I’ve never been able to confirm this when I’ve inquired about it at the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The priest hadn’t signed it while he’d had the release form for several years. He decided to sign it when I explained two things about the LDS Church Family History Library. One was that the LDS Church archives are used by people other then church members. The other was that fewer people would be coming to request access to the physical record, if he allowed them to become available through microfilm at the LDS Family History Library. Anyway, those films became available a couple years later.

My sister Michele’s third birthday is one to remember. My parents bought a cake and had it decorated with an elaborate carousel because she loved riding the merry-go round at what would become known as the John F. Kennedy Park in Hayward, California on Hesperian Boulevard.

We invited my father’s immediate family to the party, which meant his parents, sister, brother-in-law, and niece. We met at Spenger’s Fish Grotto in Berkeley, California. My father knew the original owner of the restaurant (Mr. Spenger), and had reserved the banquet room for Michele’s birthday party.

Before the party, my father insisted on taking a couple photographs to record the event. He took the first one, which is shown to the left. My sister Lisa is almost a year and being held by my grandfather, Michael Joseph McLaughlin. From left to right, the other adults are Margaret Mary McLaughlin (my grandmother), Margaret Therese Fedele (my father’s sister), James Fedele (my father’s brother-in-law), and my mom Elsa (Elsie) Florence Carlson. Again from left to right, the other kids in the front are Michael Jimmy (that’s me), Maryanne Fedele (my first cousin), and the party girl, Michele Ann McLaughlin. She’s holding her new doll that she received for her birthday from my parents before going out to eat.

My mother took the other picture, which lets us see that special cake with it’s merry-go round peaking out above the top of the box. Unfortunately, she didn’t know how to adjust for the change in light, so when she backed up to capture the cake she over exposed the picture (just a bit). The only difference in the photo is that my dad’s in it and my mother isn’t. He’s the one in the middle of the adults in the back row with his arm around his mother.

I did get in trouble for tasting the cake’s frosting but that’s actually great in hindsight because I’m the only one who tasted any of it. When my father lit the fourth candle (the one to grow on) inside the banquet room, the carousel caught fire. It was a whoosh and then flames and smoke. By the time they doused the fire the cake was gone. While it struck me as a great time, it certainly tied Mr. Spenger and my father’s stomachs in knots.

Mr. Spenger saved the day after dinner because he had coconut covered cakes and ice cream for the kids. It brought a smile back to Michele’s face because the destruction of the cake was a proper tragedy for her party. The other presents also helped.

This is a wonderful photo of my grandparents shortly after they were married in September 1920. It unknown where they took the photo but it appears likely that it was taken in Cleveland, Ohio. My grandfather Michael Joseph McLaughlin fell in love with my grandmother Margaret Mary Atckison in 1915 at a country fair. Nobody is sure which county fair but it is thought that it was most likely the Stearns County, Minnesota fair. He was 19 and she was 16 when they met. My Atckison great grandparents insisted that they wait until Margaret was 21 before they marry.

It worked out fine in the end, as my grandfather was busy working as a cowboy in Wyoming, and then serving in the US Army during WWI. He first served against Pancho Villa in the Signal Corps, and then supporting the 10th Cavalry in College Station, Texas. Support units at that time where composed of white soldiers, while the 9th and 10th Cavalries were composed of black soldiers. The black soldiers were known as Buffalo Soldiers.

My grandparents were married in Saint Stephen’s Catholic Church in Saint Cloud, Minnesota on 1 Sep 1920. They lived in Cleveland, Ohio and New York, New York. Specifically, they lived in Manhattan for a short time and then settled in the borough of Queens. My father told me they lived on the last street of Little Ireland in Manhattan. Apparently, it abutted Little Italy in Manhattan.

They returned to Cleveland, Ohio when my great grandfather Anthony John McLaughlin died in 1931. There they lived for a time in my great grandfather’s old home on Waverly Court. That’s near the intersection of Detroit and West 58th Street. My grandfather volunteered to serve in the Seabees because he was too old for any other service during WWII, and the Seabees needed his electrician skills in the Pacific.

The picture above shows the adoration and pride my grandmother felt for her husband. That love and adoration never died, as we can see in the last photograph they took as a couple. At least the last photo that I know about. It was taken on Easter Sunday 1963 in Saint Joseph’s Cemetery in Fremont, California right after Mass. My grandfather would become more disabled from a disease he contracted in the Pacific during WWII. He would die from it in July 1965. My grandmother survived him by almost 8 years and missed him very much.

The picture brings me found memories because we would get to light candles at Saint Joseph’s statue with my grandmother after Mass. Then, we would stroll as a family in the graveyard. My mother would wait in the car while we attended Mass. Likewise, my father waited early every Sunday when we went to the Episcopalian Church with my mother. In the graveyard, the religious denominations were set aside and the family was together. Sometimes my Aunt Margaret (my dad’s sister), Uncle Jim, and cousin Maryanne would come with us to Mass at Saint Joseph’s after they’d attended Mass at Saint Felicitous in San Leandro, California.

We’d light those candels in the old wooden church before they restored Mission San Jose. They moved the wooden church because they finally got the money to restore the old mission. An effort championed by Lila Bringhurst, one of the descendant from early Mormon colonists to California (via the ship Brooklyn). The wooden church had been built on the site of the original mission. The original mission was destroyed by the 1868 earthquake along the Hayward fault.