James McLaughlin married Mary Ellen Gartlan on January 6, 1838, at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Newport, Herkimer County, New York. I also have a Hugh Gartlan marrying Mary McLauglin on November 28, 1850, at St. Patrick's Church, Newport, Herkimer County, New York. Were they all related? You bet! Mary Ellen and Hugh Gartlan appear to have been brother and sister. Their parent's were James Gartlan and Hannah Fox. James and Mary McLaughlin were cousins. It's kind of funny how that works out. Irish marrying Irish in an Irish Settlement in upstate New York was not uncommon. Also, it didn't hurt that they were all Roman Catholic. So enough said about that....My real issue here is it "Gartlan" or "Gartland"? Well, maybe it's both.
I have come across a limited number of individuals on Ancestry who appear to link into my family tree under my Gartlan line. However, they spell the last name as Gartland. I had a person indicate to me that they did not think we were connected despite some overwhelming information. Really?! Maybe they're correct. I did not spend a lot of time analyzing their tree. I could have sworn that I found them in Herkimer County, New York. I could be wrong and really need to get back into my Gartlan line to look more carefully.
I have created a public family tree on Ancestry for my Gartland with a "D" family tree with 28 people. I deliberately limited the McLaughlin's on the tree to see if I could find connections for the Gartland's with a "D". I found one rather confused person who appears to have over 10,000 people on their tree and can't find where they have Gartland's "tree'd". (By the way, I use "tree" as a verb, adjective, adverb, and noun. How about "tree'd", "tree'ing", or "tree"? I particularly enjoy, "Why does this person tree this way?." I digress.) But for 10,000 people I highly recommend breaking down your tree into specific family lines. Plus this individual said that the lines were all messed up in addition to being private. I'm not sure that they realize their privacy settings are set as such but they are "penlu". Hey "penlu", sorry to call you out in my blog but I'm really making a "shout out". Maybe I can help you or at least help you work through what you have without recreating the wheel!
My supposition here is that Gartlan sounded like Gartland and, thus, over time became Gartland. There were definitely some great census transcribers in the early 1800s that did preserve the name of Gartlan in the various Census. I applaud them. I am also assuming that they spelled the name correctly.
So...I remain at that point of if it is Gartlan or Gartland. Oh but wait a minute, I found Gartlan's in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, Ireland. No "D" on the end of the last name. Let's further explore that I have some notes that my James Gartlan was born 1777 in Carrickmacross.
In our great melting pot of the USA, can you imagine a surname being changed or simply obscured? Of course! I love Disneyland but can you imagine it spelled Disneylan? I think someone must have said, "Let's just add that 'd' on the end to make it look better".
Yes ! They were Gartlan when they arrived here. James was buried as a Gartlan. But his son Hugh (b.1822) changed it to Gartland, and all his children were using that surname. The daughter, Mary Ellen (b.1816) used Gartlan until she married McLaughlin. And the 2nd son Francis(b.1818) remained a Gartlan until death, and all newpaper articles and his gravestone use Gartlan (for some odd reason it's Gartland in Find-a-Grave). Yet Francis lived in Rochester NY and Hugh in Attica NY (50 miles apart) and used different spellings.
ReplyDeleteIn Carrickmacross, County Monaghan where they emigrated, you'll find Gartlan, Gartland, and I've seen Garlan. My surname is Capes, but only when they arrived in Upstate NY from England, Seth Capes was Seth Cape when he left Kingston upon Hull, E.Yorkshire in the 1800's. America, where you can reinvent yourself.
Hi Mike, I tried to email you. Hope you received it!
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