McLaughlin, Michael
Michael Joseph McLaughlin was born 23 Jan 1896 in Galion, Ohio. He was third born son, but only the second to reach adulthood. His older brother Anthony John born 9 May 1887 lived only 6 days, passing away on 15 May 1887.
Michael grew up in Galion, Ohio. He went to school at Saint Joseph’s Catholic School. He graduated the 8th grade and over his parents objections went west to become a cowboy. Actually, a ranch hand in Wyoming eventually. By today’s standard a fourteen year old wouldn’t be old enough to undertake such a choice but in 1910 it was possible though uncommon.
It appears he wasn’t quite ready for that either because he first went to stay with his uncle John McLaughlin in Stearns County, Minnesota. He appears to have worked on that farm until he was eighteen. While no records support this conversation, it is consistent with the stories my grandmother related to me orally in the 1960s.
He met my grandmother, Margaret Mary Atckison, at the Stearns County Fair when she was 15 (or 1914). She was too young from her parents perspective, and grandpa (Michael Joseph) was too green. The parents said he should go earn the money to support a wife. John Atckison is credited with saying, “If you’re both still interested in each other, you may consider marriage when Maggie (my grandmother’s nickname) is twenty-one.
At eighteen, he left Minnesota to become a ranch hand in Wyoming. He worked around Casper, Wyoming on a ranch, and for a time worked in Colorado north of Denver. He enlisted in the U.S. National Army in June 6th 1918 to fight in World War I. However, he was assigned to the Signal Corps in College Station, Texas. He ended up fighting Poncho Via’s forces at Nogales, Arizona on August 27th, 1918.
He rose to the rank of Technical Sergeant (roughly equivalent to a Sergeant First Class in today’s U.S. Army). His specialty on the promotion certificate says, “Chauffeur First Class” in the 32nd Service Company of the Signal Corps. The only evidence of his earning the Mexican Service Medal is found in a 1943 photograph as a Navy Chief Petty Officer in the SeaBees. The only official record of his service during World War I is found in the Ohio Soldiers in WWI, 1917-1918 online database. It states he enlisted in Casper, Wyoming in the National Army and was honorably discharged December 28th, 1918. The National Army differs from the U.S. Army in that ranks obtained do not transfer to the U.S. Army; and they are of force only during times of War.
Under development …
