I know there is an elephant hiding in that brick wall!

This blog is for all those McLaughlin genealogists who have the answer I need, but just haven't posted it yet. I am going crazy because I keep hitting the same brick wall!!!! I know the answer is there but I am just so close to the wall, I can't see it. I am looking for the parents of my ggggrandmother Mary Adams Damon. Her tombstone in Bradford, IL says that she was born 1800 in Beverly, MA. Lots of people have taken that information and linked her to the Mary Adams that was born in Beverly 1798 to John and Mary Ives Adams. BUT THAT IS NOT HER! How do I know? It just takes a few seconds to find out that THAT Mary Adams married a John Kirby/had a daughter named Mary Adams Kirby. But that is not my Mary Adams. John Adams did have a brother named William Adams that married Nancy Rowe in 1792 (you know, that is so cool that we can find these things out.)and had a daughter Mary Adams in 1797. But I hit another wall of sorts, not brick but pretty tangled. I can't find a will for William or where Nancy is from. However just up the coast from Beverly, there is the town of Gloucester, MA where there is an over abundance of ROWES. AND.......they even have some of the family names that my Mary Adams Damon named her kids, DORCUS (thank you Dad for not letting Mom name me Dorcus) and Fanny. I think I might be on to something. Mary Adams would not be the first to lie about her age at the time she got married (she said that she was 18 in 1818). Maybe she told the story long enough, she just believed it. Or maybe she was actually born in 1800 in Beverly. If that is the case then I am back to the same stupid brick wall. UGH. This is not easy. Hasn't anyone heard that you don't do this to a McLaughlin!!!!

Special moments set in stone

I really appreciate that the family got this head stone taken care of so quickly, it is really nice and I think that they did a good job getting all the right things placed on it. I know that Mom was in the Cadet Nurse's Corp but I am sure that there won't be too many upset that they got it reversed. It is a little difficult to observe and comprehend it all and what it means but I guess you can't talk about the eternities if you can't talk about mortality. Well anyway, I will start getting McLaughlin history posted