I just lost my great-great-great-grandfather and that is sad. He didn’t die recently though. In fact, I have long known that he died in 1853. I have often prayed for him and other ancestors at his gravestone in Baltimore’s New Cathedral Cemetery. Why am I so sad now? We just figured out that he, almost certainly, was not the father of my great-great-grandmother. DNA evidence is a double-edged sword. Sometimes it confirms the documentation and memories. Other times it corrects it.
Since my Mom was working on the family tree back in the 1970’s, we have long “known” that Michael Loughran (~1804-1853) and his wife, Bridget Flanagan (~1820-1893) were our great-great-great-grandparents. I still have a rough copy of an old family tree that a great-uncle made and my Mother added to from that period. Records found on Ancestry and later DNA seems to support everything on the tree with only one notable exception.
For my family who get confused by who is who - this may help:
First, some verifiable facts…
My memory is still good enough to remember that Mary Levelle Gentry Smith (1933-2012) was my Mother. If my memory does ever fail me, my birth certificate, her obituary and my DNA match with my sister and nephew should go a long way to proving that connection. Beyond that, there is significant documentary proof (and personal memory) that William Daniel Gentry (1896-1968) was really my mother’s father but my DNA match to my mother’s brother, his son and three grandchildren also support that I have the correct grandfather in my tree. Next, granddad’s father was Haden Gentry, Jr. (1843-1905). Again, to bolster the significant documentation, I have an additional 26 DNA matches in Ancestry who are direct descendants of Haden through both of his marriages and through all four of his other children who have descendants alive today. Haden’s second wife was Mary Ellen Levelle (1864-1932). Again, the many family memories of her are generationally fresh and the documentation is clear. Of Mary Ellen’s four children, there was my grandfather and two others who survived into adulthood and had children. Those two accounted for eleven of the 26 DNA.matches mentioned above (nine descendants from William’s sister, Paulina, and two from his brother, Haden).
Now for the sticky part….
Again, there is overwhelming documentation that Mary Ellen Levelle’s parents were Edward Francis Levelle (1834-1906) and Mary Jane Loughran (1842-1879) but there is no DNA proof, at least regarding Mary Jane’s side of the family. Of Edward and Mary Jane’s seven children, three never married; one married but remained childless; one married but only had a single bachelor son; one married and had two daughters who each got married but had no children of their own; and one was Mary Ellen’s large family. Mary Jane had no grandchildren outside of my great-grandmother’s family so I did not have any third cousins to match DNA with in that line. I do, however, have many DNA matches on Ancestry that belong to the Lavelle family from County Mayo so at least I am confident that Edward was my great-great-grandfather.
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| Maery Ellen Levelle Gentry's death certificate showing parents as Edward F Levelle and Mary J Loughran |
Now for the deceptive part…
There is overwhelming documentation that Mary Jane Loughran’s
parents were Michael Loughran (~1804-1853) and Bridget Flanagan
(~1820-1896). Mary Jane’s baptism record
lists her parents as Michael & Bridget Loughran. There is a marriage registration for “Michael
Loughran and Bridget Fann” being married on 31 January 1841 at St. Patrick’s
Church, Baltimore, just twelve months before Mary Jane was born. In the Maryland State Archives, there is a
record of a marriage license issued in Baltimore to a “Michael Laughlin and
Bridget Flannigain” on 5 January 1841”. Mary
Jane is on the 1850 census with her mother, Bridget (Michael was “out of town”
that year – see my later notes). Mary
Jane was also on the 1860 census with her mother and Bridget’s second
(third???) husband and family, after Michael’s 1853 death. Of course, there is also that old family tree
above.
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| Mary Jane Loughran and Edward Francis Levelle's marriage registration |
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| Mary Jane Loughran's baptism registration |
A final connection of the family was their final resting place. Michael and his brother, James, were buried together in the old Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore. When that cemetery was closed, they were moved with their gravestones, to the New Cathedral Cemetery. Later, buried in that same plot were:
Bridget Flanagan Loughran Rousselot –wife of Michael Loughran.
Alice McAllister – Bridget’s daughter with her 2nd husband,
Charles Rousselot
Mary Jane Loughran Levelle – Michael & Bridget’s daughter
Edward F. Levelle – Mary Jane Loughran’s husband
Mary Ellen Levelle Gentry – daughter of Edward F & Mary Jane
Levelle
Haden Gentry – husband of Mary Ellen Levelle Gentry
Four other Gentry and/or Levelle descendants
Surely Michael and Bridget were the parents of Mary Jane Loughran Levelle, right?
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| New Cathedral plot card for the Loughran / Levelle / Gentry gang |
Now for the exciting part…
I was pretty sure that James & Michael Loughran had a sister
named Jane Loughran who married Peter Clarke and after being widowed, she
married Henry Quinn. Michael Loughran
was the Godfather of Jane and Peter’s second son, Michael. Jane had two fairly large families but I
never traced them down to descendants alive today. I was waiting to add them to my tree only
when I found DNA proof to back up the documentation. James only had one child
who died without marrying or having children.
There were also some signs that Michael and James had other siblings too. There was a person named John Loughran who lived in the upper floor of bar that James owned and after his death, his wife managed and it looks like Michael worked there too. There was also a women named “Mrs. Rodgers” in Philadelphia who advertised in a newspaper in 1853 looking for her “brothers” Michael and Stephen “Laughrin” who had emigrated from County Tyrone about 1837 and were living in Maryland at least until 1846.
Last week, I had a “hint” in Ancestry because another member had added a photo on her tree of my Mom and Dad’s columbarium niche. Sure enough, Mom & Dad had been added to that member’s family tree. I looked at this member’s tree to figure out how she thought we were related. This happens occasionally and the connection is usually wrong. However, this particular tree looked to be very well documented and it was easy to find our connection. She descended from someone named Stephen Loughran! She had already added the families of Michael, James and Jane to her tree as well. There was a massive amount of documentation in her tree that proves the four siblings really were “all in the family”. That is the moment I started doing cartwheels around the room.
Now for the doubtful part…
After my immediate excitement, I was reminded of a previous
disappointment when I found “proof” of the birth family of my
great-great-grandmother, Sarah Farrell O’Conor.
That time, DNA proved that the “proof” I had found wasn’t worth the
newspaper it was printed on. How could
my new found cousin build such an excellent tree unless she had her DNA tested
with Ancestry? If she was tested, why
weren’t we matches? Why didn’t I have
any unidentified DNA matches in Ancestry that seemed to match family names in
her tree along Stephen’s or Jane’s line?
I had to check. I contacted her
to ask if she had her DNA in Ancestry.
If so, I asked if we could exchange the list of names of our respective
close relatives who have tested their DNA on Ancestry. All of them might not show up as DNA matches
but some of them certainly should.
Now for the sad part…
My new-found relative DID have her DNA in Ancestry. She gave me a long list of cousins in
Ancestry that she matches with and who she has documented as descended from
both Stephen and Jane’s lines. I didn't match with her or any of the others. She
didn’t have any matches in Michael’s line.
What does that mean?
Michael Loughran, almost certainly, was not my biological
great-great-great-grandfather. I still
believe that Stephen, Jane and “Mrs. Rodgers” were Michael’s siblings but
everything else is doubtful. It is
possible that Michael was adopted into the Loughran family so he could still be
my ancestor. It is also possible, but
unlikely, that Michael and Bridget adopted my great-great-grandmother, Mary
Jane Loughran (MJL’s baptism record means that is very unlikely). It is possible that Mary Jane’s daughter, Mary
Ellen Levelle was adopted. That’s highly
unlikely though as I am a DNA match to many distant Lavelle cousins from Co.
Mayo so Mary Jane Loughran’s husband, Edward Francis Levelle, is definitely
Mary Ellen’s father. It’s possible that Bridget may have had another “partner”
while married to Michael. I can’t think
of any other possibilities so I am going with that last theory.
Were Michael and Bridget really engaged in "playing thee field"?
That was not on my radar until recently. I knew that Bridget and Michael had some troubles but I did not know the full extent. Here is a timeline of their marriage and keep in mind that “Loughran” was a very uncommon name in Maryland in the 1840s. “Laughran”, “Loughlin” and “Laughlin” were pretty uncommon too but we often see those spelling variations in the documents:
31 Jan 1841 Michael Loughran and Bridget Flanagan
were married in St. Patrick’s Church, Baltimore.
20 Jan 1842 Daughter, Mary Jane Loughran was born
14 Dec 1843 Son, Patrick Henry Loughran was born
8 May 1845 A person named Michael Loughran was
arrested for beating his wife, named Bridget and “turning her out of
doors”. He paid his $5 fine and posted a
$100 bond that he would not do it again.
21 Oct 1845 Daughter, Rose Ann Loughran was born
Aug 1846 Daughter, Rose Ann Loughran died
13 Nov 1847 A woman named Phoebe Bateman gave
birth to a daughter named Agnes. On the
baptism record, it was noted that the child was illegitimate and the father was
named Michael Loughran.
Jan 1850 A Maryland State representative
presented a petition in the House in Annapolis on behalf of someone named
Michael Loughran who wanted a divorce from his wife.
11 Jul 1850 Bridget was reported on 1850 census
as living in Baltimore with only her daughter, Mary Jane. There is no mention of Michael or their son,
Patrick (who may have died already).
4 Dec 1850 Michael was reported on the 1850
census as living with his brother in Dubuque, Iowa, working as a carpenter.
16 Oct 1851 Son, Joseph Loughran was born (who
was his daddy???)
6 Sep 1853 Michael Loughran died in Baltimore. His death notice in the newspaper and his
gravestone do not mention his wife or children but the newspaper does say that his
last residence was above the Loughran Bar at South & Water Street.
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| Michael and Bridget's church registration of their wedding |
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| Maryland State Archive index card showing the details of the marriage license |
It is not 100% certain that the Michael Loughran mentioned in the
records as the father of Agnes in 1847 or the person asking the state for a
divorce from his wife in 1850 but it sure looks like it fits. The only thing I am certain of is that
Michael Loughran was not my biological great-great-great-grandfather. I hate losing ancestors.
Finally, most of the research supporting this post was provided by
the hard work done by other people. I
owe a huge debt of gratitude to Corinne M. Gentry, Kitty Sullivan McAndrews and
“Latrobe Quinn Genealogy”. Together,
they ruined my day but they set the record straight and that is what is most
important.
What is next…
