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Well I went into the different spellings (and with some substituting for Irish brogue) as was suggested, looked at the documentation, and I must say that the Gaffigans might have missed some census, or been very lightly documented, they are "certifiable" as such.  On the marriages I looked for the Amos and came up empty as the spouses go.  I even went for different Goffigans, and so with John and Patrick.  So, unless someone has a better suggestion I will keep this as a job done as complete as possible.   

Well, I have been chasing the goose and have come up empty. 

This time I attempted to locate the two sisters, Anne and Isabella but have struck out in every iteration that I could think of.  When using the Amos (maiden name) and looking at marriages from 1849 on (and neither of them could have been around during the 1841 census, but checked it off), I looked at the marriage documents and they did not tell me anything. 

So, I guess I will have to put this on a shelf and attempt some other way in the future.  It is apparent that the Gaffigans had it wrong and the father was not a horse trader - but a carter. 

Any suggestions, anyone?

I tried it a number of ways, but without the transcript, I am unable to lock it down.

McGeogh   John   —   —   1854                Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Marriages   -  Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland

this was a marriage.

Another, this time the spelling is correct:
McGeoch   John   —   —   1855                 Scotland Marriages 1561-1910   Wigtownshire, Scotland

However, the event was blank, and we don't know if that is the birth we have been working with.

But, this is followed up with birth records of:

McGeoch   John       1856   —   1856                  Scotland Births & Baptisms 1564-1950   Wigtownshire, Scotland

However, this was strangly accompanied with the following:

McGeoch   John        1856   —   1856                   Scotland Births & Baptisms 1564-1950   Wigtownshire,

   You have gotten the juices flowing on this matter of research that you raised Rosinish.

The simple matter is to take the easy road, and say that John was born 24 May 1858 in Paisley Refrenshire (and leave it at that, because there is good background on that date).  His bother Thomas was born 24 May 1856 in Coatbridge, Lankashire.  Note that the dates have a similarity.

We have struggled with the Amos name, and while we have good feelings on it as far as San Francisco goes - it was not easy to find this Irishwoman in Scotland.

However, along comes JAP  a while back that came up with a clinker.  No, it wasn't just that the dates duplicated each other but that there were other complicating factors.

To put it in a nutshell, he came up with evidence that seems to indicate that Mary Amos did in fact have two children: John and Thomas.  They had birthdays that were similar to those previously reported, but a little different.

This is what JAP found:

At the ScotlandsPeople site, http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, he found:

Statutory Births, Ref 573/01 0232; 1858, Births in the Parish of High Church in the Burgh of Paisley.

(Name) MCGEOCH, John
(Born) 1858, May seventeenth, 5h 0m am, 14 Broomland Street, Paisley
(Sex) M

(Father) John McGeoch, Dealer in Cattle
(Mother) Mary McGeoch, maiden name Amos

(Informant) Mary Torbett, Her X Mark, Aunt, Present (at birth); (signed) Louis Stream(?), Registrar, Witness (i.e. to Mary's Mark)  (Registered) 1858 May 20th, At Paisley, Louis Stream(?), Registrar

Note that Aunt Mary Torbett signed with her mark.  As JAP noted, "perhaps she could not read and so had no idea what name the Registrar had recorded; also, perhaps she had a strong Irish accent (and the Registrar might have had a strong Scots accent!)."

This is a very interesting development in that "McGeoch" was never known to have existed prior to this.  It could very well be that she assumed the name McGaffigan or Gaffigan, never letting her children know of the true name.  But we just don't know, at this point.

The problem is that I have lost track of JAP in my way from this board.

Good Luck, Rosinish

There may be some of the Gaffigan Clan that would like to bury this development in the darkest part of the closet, but there may be some that would wish to track it down - if possible.

  Thank you aghadowey; I guess we would not how to work these things without your input!