Hi - I am very new to Roots Chat, but came across your posts relating to John McGuire and Bridget Clark - and your family relationship to them. Which must mean that you and I are in family together.
John and Bridget were my Great-Great Grandparents - with my lineage being through their son John, who was the younger brother of Archbishop James Maguire, (Co-Adjustor Bishop of Dunkeld); John's son - also called John (my Grandfather) - who married Mary McDonald at St David's Church, Dalkeith in 1914; and John's son - my father - Gerald "Gerry" Maguire (born in Loanhead in 1918), who married my mother - Catherine (Kathleen) Smith in Liverpool in 1948. All of which would suggest that we are at least Cousins, or perhaps 2nd Cousins.
My name is John Maguire, and I have five brothers and sisters - all from Dalkeith - Kathleen, Gerald, Molly (Mary), James and Margaret. I am also in touch with Tony Lappin, son of my father's younger sister, Molly Lappin (born in Loanhead in 1923) - who was married to Jimmy Lappin. There are also other living Cousins - the Dunkerleys - children of another sister of my father - Patricia born in Loanhead in 1920), who married Len Dunkerley.
I too have been engaged in researching my family tree - but still at the stage of identifying many family members in Scotland. For example, various Census Returns (1881, 1891, 1901, and 1911) for Loanhead record names of John and Bridget's children - but some of them disappear from the Census Returns e.g. Helen and Bridget - and another sister - recorded as Nora - but appears to have been named Ann in her Birth Register. I know that Bridget - Auntie Biddy - emigrated to the USA - and one of her family members contacted me from Sacramento several years ago. Perhaps some or all of the other sisters travelled to the USA to join her?
So far, I have been unable to trace any records in Ireland for Edward McGuire and Helen Kiernan, the parents of John McGuire. However, I do know - from the 1901 Census Return - that John's older brother, Patrick, a son of Edward and Helen, was living with John and Bridget at that time in Loanhead. Patrick died in Loanhead in 1915. It seems to me that, since both John and Bridget were both born in Ireland, perhaps they travelled to Scotland - before getting married in Dalkeith in 1880? Or perhaps they just met in Scotland and decided to get married. Who knows if John and his brother Patrick traveled to Scotland together - or if one joined the other at a later date?
If you think there is any benefit in our sharing any information we may have, in order to assist each other, then I'd be very happy to do so. I realise that your previous posts date back to 2019 - but if you want to get in touch then let's do so. If not- then hope that some of the information above may be of interest to you. Kind regards.
John Maguire
Son of Gerald, Grandson of John Maguire, Great-Grandson if John McGuire, Great-Great Grandson of Edward McGuire
