Hi all, I'm wondering if I could get some help in trying to track down an elusive civil death record for a James McLaughlin, brother to my great grandfather Edward John.
James was born in 1868 to parents James McLaughlin and Rose Anne Walls of Grange, Desertmartin near Magherafelt.
The family story, as I heard it, was that he had drowned in a river at the age of 13, but I can find no matching civil death records for the late 1870s - early 1880s.
Now it's an outside possibility that the story might not be true. Relatives tell me that they remember my great grandfather telling them about his sister Bridget who emigrated as an adult - but the civil record shows very clearly that she died in infancy; 15 days old in 1878, before my great grandfather was born, so there may be an element of 'unreliable narrator'/faulty memory at play.
Still, I'm fairly certain that James was dead at least before 1911 and probably before 1901. In the 1911 census, where the widowed Rose Anne McLaughlin was living alone with Eddie John, the officiant has written '3' for total children born and '1' for children still living. They then crossed it all out when they realised they weren't supposed to fill it in for a widowed person.
Any help in tracking down the above civil record greatly appreciated!
