Research Highlights

[CLIENT] McMahonHughes1901 IWS1901079mh 15 April 2019

Research Highlights

GOALS

Extend all ancestral lines of Peter McMahon as far as time and records allow. Peter McMahon was born in 1835 in Ireland and was the spouse of Margaret Hughes. Specifically: Where was Peter born in Ireland? Who were his parents and siblings? Extend all ancestral lines of Margaret Hughes as far as time and records allow. Margaret Hughes was born about 1839 in Den, Ayrshire, Scotland, and was the spouse of Peter McMahon.

PROGRESS

Located the passenger lists for James McMahon’s trip to and from the United Kingdom but found no mention of a location in Ireland as part of his itinerary. Determined Peter McMahon was the son of John McMahon and Helen Duffie, all born in Ireland. Identified five potential candidates for Peter’s mother, Helen Duffie, in the Irish baptismal records. Identified Margaret Hughes’s parents—John Hughes and Helen Simond. Discovered the baptismal record for Margaret Hughes. Identified six siblings of Margaret Hughes. Discovered the existence of Margaret Hughes’s illegitimate son, born ten years after Peter’s death.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Utilize the client’s autosomal DNA results to search for Irish (McMahon) and Scottish (McMahon and Hughes) relations who have also taken autosomal DNA tests. To increase the efficiency of the comparison of genetic cousins, it is suggested the client’s father, a direct descendant of Peter McMahon and Margaret Hughes, also participate in autosomal DNA testing. 2. Trace the five Helen Duffies identified in this research session to eliminate those who died in Ireland and/or who married and remained in Ireland after Peter’s birth. 3. If any of the five remain after the previous step, proceed with a search for the birth and/or baptisms of John McMahons who lived in the same townland, or possibly the same parish, and then, following the same procedure, determine if any of those men could possibly be the father of Peter McMahon. 4. Continue researching the information contained in the 1841 and 1851 Scotland Census pertaining to Margaret Hughes, her siblings, and her potential maternal grandmother. Use any information uncovered to extend one or both of Margaret’s lines. 5. Locate the Crown Counsel Procedure Books from 1866 in search of additional information regarding Peter McMahon’s death. 6. Review the Kyle Union Poorhouse records in the Ayrshire Archives, which might include additional information regarding Margaret’s family.

Research Report

The ultimate purpose of this research session was to extend the lineage of Peter McMahon and his wife, Margaret Hughes. Dividing the time evenly between the two families, we were requested to identify the parents of Peter McMahon as well as his specific place of birth in Ireland, identify Peter’s siblings, and then extend his lineage as far back as the records permit. The second goal was to extend the lineage of Margaret Hughes, Peter’s wife, as far as the records extend. The client provided us with a narrative discussion of the known facts regarding Peter as well as access to her online family tree.

A Note on Names

In writing this report, we used the common form of the spelling of the surname McMahon. When the documents utilized a variant spelling of McMahon, such as M’Mahon or McMahen, the report reproduced the spelling as found in the record. Searches for Peter McMahon and his family included variations of the spelling of the given and surnames, common nicknames and diminutives of the given names, phonetic matches for both names, and the use of wildcards when they were available.

If a search for the entire name failed to produce any potential matches for the ancestral McMahons, we revised our searches to include only given names and/or only surnames. Specific date ranges and/or geographic locations were used to narrow the field of potential candidates.

Once we determined the McMahon family were adherents to the Roman Catholic faith, the Latinized forms of the names, such as Petrus for Peter, were included in our searches of parish records. 3

A similar process was followed for the Hughes family. Our searches included phonetic spellings of the name, and we reproduced the name as it was found in our citations, but we used the common spelling of the Hughes surname for writing this report.

Peter McMahon

According to client-provided information, Peter McMahon was born in 1835 in Ireland.1 A U.S. passport application completed by Peter and Margaret’s son, James, reported Peter was a native of Ireland but provided no specifics regarding the county or townland where Peter had been born.2

Three index listings indicated Peter married Margaret Hughes in 1859 (either 22 May or 9 June) at St. Quivox and Newton in Ayrshire, Scotland. According to the client’s online tree, Margaret was a native of Scotland, born in about 1839 in Ayrshire, but there were no sources to verify this information.3 Index listings also provided the dates and locations of the births of Peter and Margaret’s children: • Helen McMachan, born 29 February 1860 in the parish of St. Quivox and Newton, Ayr, Scotland; • James McMeekin, born 14 October 1861 in Irvine, Ayr, Scotland; • Peter McMahen, born 17 October 1863 in Dalry, Ayr, Scotland; • John McMahen, born 6 January 1866 in Dalry, Ayr, Scotland.

James McMahon’s journey to Ireland and the British Isles in 1924 offered a potential clue to the specific place in Ireland in which his father, Peter, had been born. Although James’s passport application provided only the name of the country of his intended visit, it is

1 Peter McMahon, K2JI-T8H, FamilySearch Family Tree, http://familysearch.org, accessed February 2019. 2 U.S. Passport Applications, 1795–1925, James McMahon, application no. 407725, 1 May 1924. Client- provided document. 3 Margaret Hughes, K2J1-T69, FamilySearch Family Tree, http://familysearch.org, accessed February 2019.

possible specific information regarding his travel plans would be included on a passenger list. Generally, there are no passenger lists for travel between European ports, but if James and his wife traveled between an Irish and a U.S. port, their specific Irish destination may have been noted on that passenger list.4

On 9 June 1924, James and Elizabeth McMahon arrived in Glasgow, Scotland, from New York City on board the Tuscania.5 Their destination was an address in Ayr, with no mention of an Irish visit. The couple arrived in New York City on 26 August 1924 from Glasgow on board the Assyria.6 Again, no mention of his sojourn in Ireland was included on this passenger list.

The only reported destination for James McMahon—41 High Street in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland. DOCUMENT 1.

4 “How to Look for Records of Passengers,” National Archives, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk, accessed February 2019. 5 UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878–1960 (image), James McMahon, S.S. Tuscania, 9 June 1924, https://ancestry.com, subscription database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 1. 6 Ellis Island and Other New York Passenger Lists, 1820–1957 (image), James McMahon, S.S. Assyria, 26 August 1924, https://www.myheritage.com, subscription database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 2.

Acquiring a copy of James’s Scottish marriage record should verify the names of his parents as well as their occupations, his mother’s maiden name, and more. On 11 March 1892, James McMahon, a 30-year-old coal miner, married Elizabeth McInally, a 22-year-old wool mill worker, in Kilmarnock, Ayr, Scotland.7 James reported his parents were Peter McMahon and Margaret Hughes McMahon. Peter, who died before his son’s marriage, had been employed as a coal miner.

Detail from James and Elizabeth’s marriage registration, naming his parents as Peter McMahon and Margaret Hughes. DOCUMENT 3.

Although James and Elizabeth were married “according to the forms of the free Church of Scotland,” James was baptized in the Catholic Church.8 His birth date was recorded as 14 October 1861, the legitimate son of Peter McMahon and Margaret Hughes. James was baptized on 3 November 1861. Charles Terry and Elizabeth Maitland served as his sponsors. James’s baptismal record verified the identities of his parents and his date and place of birth but offered no details regarding Peter’s place of birth. Neither of James’s sponsors appeared to be related to Peter. Based on the place of James’s baptism, it appears likely Peter was a member of the Roman Catholic faith and not a Protestant.

7 Scotland’s People Statutory Registers, marriage certificate for James McMahon and Elizabeth McInally, 11 March 1892, no. 30, District of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per- view database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 3. 8 Catholic Registers, Births and Baptisms, Ayrshire, Parish Church of St. Joseph, birth of James McMahon, 14 October 1861, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 4.

The 1861 Scotland Census was enumerated on 7 April 1861, six months before James’s birth, but it offers the potential of more detail regarding Peter’s natal town.9 In addition to recording the name, age, marital status, and occupation of each member of the household, the census also noted where the individuals were born. The 1861 census reported Peter McMahon, age 24 and a coal miner, was born in Ireland.10 Margaret, also 24 years old, and 1-year-old Ellen, both of Ayrshire, completed the household.

The Peter McMahon household in the 1861 Scotland Census. DOCUMENT 5.

The McMahons shared a house with Robert and Mary Walker in Irvine. Like Peter, Robert was a coal miner. His wife was a 27-year-old native of Ireland, suggesting the possibility that Mary was Peter’s sister. It is also possible the men knew each other through their place of employment and there was no familial connection. We noted the possible relationship as a clue to pursue if Peter’s parents could not be identified via other documents and continued with our research.

The baptismal and birth records of the other children of Peter McMahon and Margaret Hughes were located. Helen was born on 29 February 1860.11 John Rochester and Margaret Gillen served as sponsors at her 8 March baptism. Peter McMahen was born on 17 October

9 “Census Records,” National Archives, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk, accessed February 2019. 10 1861 Scotland Census, Irvine, Ayrshire, sheet 7, Peter McMahon in the Robert Walker household, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 5. 11 Catholic Registers, Births and Baptisms, Ayrshire, Parish Church of St. Joseph, birth of Helen McMahon, 19 February 1860, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 6.

1863 in Dalry, Ayr.12 Owing to the details provided on Scottish civil birth records, the date and location of Peter and Margaret’s marriage was verified: 28 May 1859 at St. Quivox. Janet Hughes, Peter’s maternal aunt, provided the details of his birth to the registrar.

Peter and Margaret’s civil marriage record should include the names of both parents, including the maiden names of the mothers of both bride and groom. The document was secured, but the copy was discovered to be of very poor quality.13 Peter was a 20-year-old coal miner at the time of his marriage. His father was listed as John McMachen, an agricultural laborer who was deceased. Peter’s mother’s name was very difficult to read, but it appears she was the former Helen Duffie. She was still alive at the time of Peter’s marriage, but we do not know if she resided in Scotland or Ireland.

The original, nearly illegible, version of Peter and Margaret’s marriage registration. DOCUMENT 8.

We contacted the Scottish archive that holds the original marriage record in an effort to secure a more legible copy of the document. The archivist offered to rescan the page for us.

12 Scotland’s People Statutory Registers, birth registration for Peter McMahen, 17 October 1863, no. 506, District of Dalry, Ayrshire, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 7. 13 Scotland’s People Statutory Registers, marriage registration for Peter McMachen and Margaret Hughes, 28 May 1859, no. 11, District of St. Quivox and Newton, Ayrshire, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay- per-view database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 8. 8

While we waited for the newly scanned marriage record to arrive, we continued to gather additional details regarding Peter and Margaret’s family.

Peter and Margaret’s son John McMahen was born on 6 January 1866.14 The names of his parents, as well as the date of their marriage, matched the details of his siblings’ birth records. A neighbor served as the informant for John’s birth record.

Based on the information on John’s birth registration and James’s marriage record, it appears Peter died between January 1866 and March 1892. Scottish statutory death records include the deceased’s place of birth as well as the names of his or her parents, but a search for the death of Peter McMahon between 1866 and 1892 failed to provide any potential matches.

To narrow the date range of Peter’s death as closely as possible, other records for the McMahon family were sought. On 29 December 1882, Ellen McMahon married Malcolm McLaughlin.15 Ellen reported her father, Patrick McMahon, was deceased at the time of her marriage. The reference to Ellen’s father as Patrick rather than Peter suggests the possibility Peter was actually named Patrick Peter McMahon or Peter Patrick McMahon. It is also possible the registrar simply made an error in recording the name of Ellen’s father. We repeated the previous searches for Peter McMahon’s death, substituting the given name Patrick, but found no mention of his death or burial.

14 Scotland’s People Statutory Registers, birth registration for John McMahen, 6 January 1866, no. 17, District of Dalry, Ayrshire, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 9. 15 Scotland’s People Statutory Registers, marriage certificate for Malcolm McLaughlin and Ellen McMahon, 29 December 1882, no. 210, District of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay- per-view database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 10.

The 1871 Scotland Census included the Margaret McMeachin household in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.16 Margaret was a 35-year-old widow. Living with her were her daughter, Helen, and sons James, Peter, and John. The ages of the children and their respective places of birth verifies this was the family of Peter McMahon and establishes the date for Peter’s death as between 6 January 1866 and 2 April 1871.

This very narrow range of years for Peter’s death indicated the only possible match for the ancestral Peter McMahon’s death was an unusual and incomplete death record we had seen and dismissed due to the lack of any connection to Peter’s family or his previously noted locations.17 The death registration reported Peter McMahon, a married man of 28 years, was “found dead in the morning of 22nd February at Roebank row in the Parish of Beith.”

Excerpt from Peter McMahon’s death registration. DOCUMENT 12.

Peter’s cause of death was heart disease, which was revealed by a post-mortem, carried out under the instruction of the procurator fiscal. In Scotland, the procurator fiscal functions in the same capacity as a United States district attorney, receiving reports of crimes and

16 1871 Scotland Census, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, sheet 33, Margret McMeachin household, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 11. 17 Scotland’s People Statutory Registers, death registration for Peter McMahon, 22 February 1866, no. 41, Parish of Beith, Ayrshire, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 12.

determining whether to proceed with prosecution. In addition, the office of procurator fiscal looks into suspicious deaths in order to determine if a crime was committed.18

The cause of Peter’s death and authorization for the post-mortem. DOCUMENT 12.

The evidence of Peter’s death record indicates he was away from home when he died. Beith is about five miles northeast of Dalry, where Peter and Margaret’s son, John, was born. Why Peter was in Beith was not stated, but it appears he died of a heart attack. Whether he was alone or with others at the time of his death is unknown, but it is likely he was alone when he died, and his body was not discovered until the following morning. With no obvious cause of his death, the procurator fiscal ordered a post-mortem examination by two local physicians.

Peter was identified by someone, and his age and marital status could be determined. It appears no family members were involved in identifying Peter because neither the name of his wife or the names of his parents were recorded on Peter’s death registration. Possibly

18 “About Us,” Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, http://www.copfs.gov.uk, accessed April 2019. 11

Peter had some form of identification on him, but it is more likely someone in the town of Beith was able to identify him.

Although we cannot conclusively state the Peter McMahon who died in Beith was the husband of Margaret Hughes, all of the evidence suggests the two men were the same person. Crown Counsel Procedure Books from 1866 exist and are housed in the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh; however, without reviewing those documents, we cannot know what, if any, information they contain about Peter McMahon’s death.

Margaret’s home at 16 Soulis Street appears to have been a tenement, or what today is referred to as an apartment building, with at least five different families living at that address. Of potential interest to our research is the family listed immediately before the Margaret McMahon household: John and Bridget McMahon of Ireland. John was 50 years old and employed as a collier or coal miner. The couple was too young to have been the parents of Peter McMahon, but it is certainly possible John was Peter’s older brother.

John McMahon, the head of the McMahon family who lived in the same building as the widowed Margaret, does not appear to have been Peter’s brother. According to the marriage record for John McMahon and Bridget McQuillin, John was the son of Francis McMahon and Bridget McQually.19 Peter and John’s shared surname leaves open the possibility the two were cousins or had some other familial connection, but without more information, pursuing this avenue of research did not seem the most efficient use of time.

Similarly, Mary Walker, the Irish woman with whom the Peter McMahon family lived in 1861, was not related to Peter. According to the birth record of her son, John, Mary’s full

19 Scotland’s People Statutory Registers, marriage certificate for John McMahon and Bridget McQuillin, 18 October 1869, no. 142, Parish of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed February 2019.

name was Margaret Mitchell Walker.20 She was not Peter McMahon’s sister, and the two families likely knew each other through the work of the two men.

It was at this time the Scottish archive provided us with a new scan of Peter and Margaret’s marriage register entry.21 The scan was much clearer and verified the names of Peter’s and Margaret’s mothers. Peter was the son of Helen Duffie, while Margaret was the daughter of Helen Simond.

Rescanned version of Peter and Margaret’s marriage record provided by the Scottish Archives. DOCUMENT 13.

The evidence concerning Peter McMahon indicates he was born between 1837 and 1839 in Ireland. Peter was the son of John McMahon, an agricultural laborer who died before 28 May 1859, and Helen Duffie McMahon, who was still living in May of 1859, but it is unknown if her residence was in Ireland or Scotland. Although he was married “according to the Forms of the Church of Scotland” in St. Quivox’s Church, Peter’s children were baptized in a Catholic church, suggesting Peter was a Roman Catholic. The history of

20 Scotland’s People Statutory Registers, birth registration for John Walker, 10 February 1855, no. 4, Parish of Irvine, Ayrshire, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed February 2019. 21 Scotland’s People Statutory Registers, marriage registration for Peter McMachen and Margaret Hughes, 28 May 1859, no. 11, District of St. Quivox and Newton, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed March 2019. DOCUMENT 13.

Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church, as explained by the National Records of Scotland, clarifies why a Catholic couple was married in a Protestant church: Due to a complicated legal situation, the Church of Scotland was seen as the only legal place for banns to be called. In some cases, this means that you will find a Catholic marriage being recorded in Church of Scotland Old Parish Registers, however it is highly likely that the marriage actually took place elsewhere in the presence of a Catholic priest.22

The Challenges of Irish Genealogical Research

The first step in most genealogical research is to study the existing census reports. Designed as a means to count the population for a variety of years, the census of Ireland is taken every ten years, with the earliest records available in 1821 and continuing through 1911. Used for genealogical purposes, the census can give a snapshot of the family at the time the census was taken, as well as provide invaluable information such as the birthplace of the individual being recorded, occupation, birth year, and familial relationships. In addition, elderly parents, or widowed mothers, aunts, or sisters, can be discovered living with younger members of the family. Drawbacks of using the census for genealogical purposes include inaccurate name spellings, inaccurate age reporting, and inaccurate assumptions made by the enumerator.

Today, only the 1901 and 1911 Irish Census records remain in full.23 The years of warfare, both within Ireland and the two world wars, caused both accidental and intentional destruction of the census records over the course of fifty years or more. Although there are fragments of the 1821–1851 census records, there are no existing records for the 1861– 1891 census reports.

22 “Catholic Parish Registers–Marriages,” National Records of Scotland, https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk, accessed March 2019. 23 “History of Irish Census Records,” The National Archives of Ireland, http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie, accessed January 2019. 14

Irish vital records, namely birth and baptismal documents, marriage records, and records pertaining to deaths and burials, are not as readily available as they are in England, Scotland, and the United States. This is one of the difficulties of Irish genealogy: the loss of so many important records as a result of the fire in the Public Record Office of Ireland in Dublin in 1922.24 Parish church records were destroyed in the conflagration as well as the majority of wills and related records and nearly all local government records from before 1922.

"Four Courts Conflagration" [30 June 1922] by National Library of Ireland via Wikimedia.

As a result of the destruction of so many records, genealogical research occurs at a much slower pace in Ireland. If baptismal, marriage, and burial records remain intact, they are often simple registers naming the person who was baptized or married but offering no other family names, or dates of birth, or occupations. Common surnames, such as McMahon, make it difficult to determine if the records we discover are relevant to the

24 Caitriona Crowe, “Ruin of Public Record Office Marked Loss of Great Archive,” Irish Times, 30 June 2012, https://www.irishtimes.com, accessed January 2019. 15

ancestor we seek. This is when knowing where a person was born, or the names of his parents, or even siblings, can come in handy.

The Search for the McMahons in Ireland

There were no boys named Peter McMahon baptized in Ireland between 1833 and 1843, whose father was John McMahon and whose mother had the given name of Helen/Ellen or the surname of Duffie.

A search for evidence of Helen McMahon living in Ayrshire, Scotland, revealed no census reports for a woman of that name born in 1820 or earlier, nor were there any records of a second marriage in Ayrshire for Helen McMahon after 1859. We located five baptismal records for girls who were given variations on the name Helen Duffie for the years between 1790 and 1820.25

There were several hundred possible baptismal records for John McMahon in County Kildare, County Cork, and Dublin between 1789 and 1820. Although there is no record of the marriage of John McMahon and Helen Duffie under any spelling variations of any of their names in either Ireland or Scotland between 1820 and 1840, it is possible the couple met and married in Ireland and the record of their marriage no longer exists.

25 Church Baptism Record, baptism of Helena Duffy, 26 November 1805, Castledermot, County Kildare, RootsIreland, http://ifhf.rootsireland.ie, subscription database, accessed May 2019; and “Baptism Records,” baptism of Nelly Duffy, 1 March 1801, South Parish, County Cork, Irish Genealogy, https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie, accessed May 2019; and “Baptism Records,” baptism of Ellen Duffy, 23 June 1805, South Parish, County Cork, Irish Genealogy, https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie, accessed May 2019; and “Baptism Records,” baptism of Ellen Duffy, 19 July 1820, St, Catherine, Dublin, Irish Genealogy, https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie, accessed May 2019; and “Baptism Records,” baptism of Ellen Duffy, 29 September 1819, St. Mary, Pro Cathedral, Dublin, Irish Genealogy, https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie, accessed May 2019. 16

To determine if any of the five Helen Duffies was the mother of Peter McMahon it will be necessary to trace each of the five girls forward in time, identifying their respective dates of death and/or marriage to eliminate those women from consideration. If any of the five remain after that initial search is made, the next step would be a search for John McMahons living in the same parish or townland who did not marry another woman or die before the birth of Peter.

It is likely, because no record of their marriage exists, that the search described above will only provide one or more individuals likely but not conclusively proven to have been Peter’s parents, without additional documentation or DNA-based evidence to support the conclusion regarding the place of his parents’ origins.

Margaret Hughes

The research goal for Peter’s wife, Margaret Hughes, was to extend her ancestral lines as far back in time as time and records permitted. According to her 1859 marriage registration, Margaret was born in about 1840 to John Hughes, a deceased coal miner, and Helen Simond.26 The 1861 and 1871 Scotland Census reports listed Ayr, Ayrshire, as her place of birth between 1835 and 1836.27

The baptismal registers for the Catholic Church of St. Margaret’s in Ayr reported the baptism of Margaret, the legitimate daughter of John Hughes and Elizabeth Simond, occurred on 19 February 1835.28 Margaret’s birth had taken place three days earlier, on 16 February. Her sponsors were Mary Cruickshank and John Harrigan. There was not a

26 See DOCUMENT 13. 27 See DOCUMENTS 5 and 11. 28 Catholic Registers, Births and Baptisms, Ayrshire, Parish Church of St. Margaret, birth of Margaret Hughes, 16 February 1835, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 14. 17

baptismal record for a Margaret Hughes the daughter of John Hughes and Helen Simond. The mother’s name of Elizabeth on this baptismal record varies from the name of Helen on the marriage record. Further study into Margaret mother’s name in her death index also records her name as Elizabeth making it likely that it was a clerical error in the marriage record.

The baptism record for Margaret Hughes. DOCUMENT 14.

The 1871 census reported the widowed Margaret lived with a number of her children, employed as a hand sewer to support her family. By 1881, three of her sons were supporting her while working as coal miners.29 James, Peter, and John—all between 15 and 19 years old—were coal miners. A fourth son, 6-year-old William, born in Kilmarnock, was an unexpected addition to the household. A copy of his birth registration was located, which reported William was illegitimate, born on 29 July 1874 in Kilmarnock to “Margaret Hughes widow of Peter McMahon who died at Dalry 21st February 1866.” 30 Although William’s father is not named, his birth registration verifies the Peter McMahon who was found dead in the streets of Beith in 1866 was the ancestral Peter McMahon.

29 1881 Scotland Census, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, sheet 37, Margaret McMahen household, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed March 2019. DOCUMENT 15. 30 Scotland’s People Statutory Registers, birth registration for William Hughes or McMahon, 29 July 1874, no. 627, Parish of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed March 2019. DOCUMENT 16. 18

Detail of William Hughes/McMahon’s birth record noting Margaret was the widow of Peter McMahon who died in 1866. DOCUMENT 16.

In 1891, Margaret was living as a boarder in the home of James and Ellen McAulay.31 The family does not appear to have been related to Margaret. Margaret and Peter’s daughter, Ellen, had married Malcolm McLaughland, a general laborer, while Margaret’s landlord, James McAulay, was a dyer.32

By 1901, Margaret was an inmate in the county poorhouse (Kyle Union Poorhouse), where she remained through the 1911 census and until her death in 1918.33 The death registry listing reported Margaret, age 83, was the widow of Peter McMahon, a coal miner, and the daughter of John Hughes and Elizabeth “Simond,” both deceased.

31 1891 Scotland Census, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, sheet 7, Margaret McMahon in the household of James McAulay, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed March 2019. DOCUMENT 17. 32 See DOCUMENT 10. 33 1901 Scotland Census, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, sheet 6, Margaret McMahon, line 6, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed March 2019. DOCUMENT 18; and 1911 Scotland Census, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, sheet 4, Margaret McMahon, line 33, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed March 2019. DOCUMENT 19; and Scotland's People Statutory Registers, death register for Margaret McMahon, 13 September 1918, no. 419, Burgh of Ayr, Ayrshire, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 20. 19

Detail from Margaret’s 1918 death registration. DOCUMENT 20.

There are no existing records for Poor Relief applicants, but there are Kyle Union Poorhouse records in the Ayrshire Archives that might include additional information regarding Margaret’s family. We recommend pursuing this avenue of research if other methods of extending the Hughes and Simond lines are not successful. With the identity of Margaret’s parents verified by means of her death registration, the next step was to attempt to locate their marriage record. Because their marriage occurred prior to the era of civil registration, we turned our attention to parish records. Although Margaret had been baptized in the Catholic Church of St. Margaret, her parents’ marriage was not recorded in any Catholic parish register but in the St. Quivox (Church of Scotland) parish register.34 John Hughes and Elizabeth Simond were married on 3 November 1822. Both were residents of that parish, but there was no indication of their ages, the names of their parents, or if they had also been born in that parish’s jurisdiction.

Margaret was one of at least six children born to John and Elizabeth. Her siblings included the following children:

34 Old Parish Registers, Marriages, Ayrshire, parish church of St. Quivox, marriage of John Hews and Elizabeth Simmond, 3 November 1822, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 21.

Name Date of Birth Remarks Mary35 17 March 1825 Sponsors were Daniel Hughes and Mary Divan Charles36 24 February 1828 John37 21 February 1829 James was erroneously listed as the daughter of John Hughes James38 7 March 1832 and Elizabeth Simond Elizabeth39 12 May 1838

No additional information about either parent was noted in the parish registers and, with the exception of Mary’s sponsor, Daniel Hughes, no individuals with the Hughes or Simond surname were mentioned. A search of the available records revealed Daniel “Hews” married Mary Divine on 4 August in St. Quivox’s parish.40 This event occurred only three months before John and Elizabeth’s marriage and in the same parish church, suggesting a familial relationship between the two men, but without more information, we cannot know if they were brothers or cousins. The possibility also remains that the men were not related to each other in spite of the shared surname and close proximity to the other.

35 Catholic Registers, Births and Baptisms, Ayrshire, Parish Church of St. Margaret, birth of Mary Hughes, 17 March 1825, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed March 2019. DOCUMENT 22. 36 Catholic Registers, Births and Baptisms, Ayrshire, Parish Church of St. Margaret, birth of Charles Hughes, 24 February 1828, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed March 2019. DOCUMENT 23. 37 Catholic Registers, Births and Baptisms, Ayrshire, Parish Church of St. Margaret, birth of John Hughes, 21 February 1829, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed March 2019. DOCUMENT 24. 38 Catholic Registers, Births and Baptisms, Ayrshire, Parish Church of St. Margaret, birth of James Hughes, 7 March 1832, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed March 2019. DOCUMENT 25. 39 Catholic Registers, Births and Baptisms, Ayrshire, Parish Church of St. Margaret, birth of Elizabeth Hughes, 12 May 1838, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed March 2019. DOCUMENT 26. 40 Old Parish Registers, Marriages, Ayrshire, parish church of St. Quivox, marriage of Daniel Hews and Mary Divine, 4 August 1822, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed February 2019. DOCUMENT 27.

A systematic search for the birth or baptismal record of John Hughes and Elizabeth Simond failed to reveal any potential matches in Ayrshire. The search included both Catholic and Church of Scotland parish records. The civil birth records were not searched because their births occurred prior to the institution of civil record registration. We also searched for their death registrations, John before 1859 and Elizabeth after 1859, but found no matches for either of Margaret Hughes’s parents. Other online family trees were searched for both John and Elizabeth, but there were no matches for either of Margaret Hughes’s parents. Searches for the family were made in the 1841, 1851, and 1861 censuses, and with one exception noted below, those searches also failed to provide any positive matches.

An 1841 census report from St. Quivox listed Margaret Hughes, age 6, living in the home of 65-year-old Margaret Simond, a grocer, and 18-year-old Jannet Hughes.41 There are no indications of the connection between individuals in this census report, but it is possible Margaret Simond was Margaret Hughes’s maternal grandmother and Jannet was the oldest daughter of John and Elizabeth Hughes.

Margaret and her presumed sister and maternal grandmother in the 1841 census. DOCUMENT 28.

Margaret appeared as a 15-year-old visitor in the home of Isabella Rosh in the 1851 census.42 Across the street and a few doors down lived her brother Charles and his wife and

41 1841 Scotland Census, St. Quivox, Ayrshire, sheet 18, Margaret Simond household, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed March 2019. DOCUMENT 28. 42 1851 Scotland Census, St. Quivox, Ayrshire, sheet 13, Margaret Hews in the Isabella Rosh household, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed March 2019. DOCUMENT 29.

children.43 Living with Charles was his brother, James, and his sister, Jean. Jean was 27 years old, suggesting this was the Jannet Hughes in the 1841 census. Additional research into the individuals listed in these census reports should be conducted to learn more about the siblings of Margaret Hughes in an effort to learn more about their parents and grandparents.

Conclusion

During this research session, we successfully identified the parents of Peter McMahon and Margaret Hughes. We also determined the dates of Peter’s and Margaret’s deaths and determined William was not Peter’s son. Finally, we identified six of Margaret’s siblings.

We also provided a number of recommendations designed to extend the McMahon, Duffie, Hughes, and Simond lines. These include DNA, online, and onsite research opportunities.

It has been a genuine pleasure to research the McMahon and Hughes families. We look forward to continuing research in the near future, according to your direction.

43 1851 Scotland Census, St. Quivox, Ayrshire, sheet 14, Charles Hews household, http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk, pay-per-view database, accessed March 2019. DOCUMENT 30. 23