52 ANCESTORS 52 WEEKS - DNA

Around 2010 I was contacted through Ancestry.com by a women named Myrna McGuigan.  She indicated that her husband, James J. McGuigan was a distant cousin of mine.  Myrna had looked at my tree and said her husbands family was connected to my Patrick McGuigan from Tynan, Armagh, Ireland.

Patrick is my 2nd Great Grandfather.  I was excited because I haven’t been able to find out what his father’s name was and hoped they had that information.  James’ great grandfather, Michael McGuigan left Ireland around 1835 and lived on Prince Edward Island for the rest of his life.  The grandson, Austin McGuigan, immigrated to California

Several years after that initial contact, Myrna and James McGuigan went to Ireland.  They went to the archives and found many documents pertaining to the McGuigan family.  They then went to the town, Middletown in Tynan, Armagh, where the family came from.  They spoke to several members of the McGuigan family while there.  They had two of the men take a DNA test so they could compare it with James’ DNA.  They wanted to verify that they were related.

The DNA came back as a match!  One of the men that did the DNA, Peter McGuigan, is a grand nephew of my Grandmother, Mamie McGuigan.   Peter lives in the house that was owned by Patrick McGuigan, then my great grandfather, Thomas McGuigan.  My grandmother, Mamie McGuigan was born in the house, so it has been in the family for many years.  Myrna and James said the house has been renovated and doesn’t look anything like it did back in the 1880’s.

McGuigan Farm 

Unfortunately, none of the records we both have found indicated the father of Patrick or the father of Michael McGuigan.  We haven’t been able to figure if Michael is a brother or uncle  of Patrick.  Patrick and Michael were both born about 1820.

 52 Ancestors 52 Weeks -

 Should have been a Movie

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MARGUERITA CLARK

Their life should have been a movie.  In fact she was a famous movie star in the early days of movies, mostly the silent screen movies.

He was born in Louisiana to Frank and Emily Williams. Frank owned the largest Cypress Lumber Company in the country and his son worked with him.

I am talking about my maternal 2nd cousin 2x removed, Harry Palmerston Williams b. 6 Oct 1889 and his wife.  His wife was Marguerite Clark b. 22 February 1883 in Ohio.

Harry Williams was a pioneer in the field of aviation.  He owned the Wendell-Williams Air Service in Patterson, Louisiana.  He was also a Lieutenant in the Army assigned to the Corp of Engineers in Washington DC.  He met his wife while they were both rallying for Bonds during the First World War.

Marguerite Clark, was the darling of the silent movies.  She made dozens of movies and was working even as they got married on 12 August 1918 in Greenwich, Connecticut.  After finishing her contract and he was released from the service they moved to New Orleans, Louisiana.  They lived a whirl wind social life and were involved with many charity organizations. 

Harry continued working and flying.  The day he died he had been in conferences with the Governor of Louisiana to further the aviation field. He was flying from Baton Rouge to Patterson, Louisiana when the plane crashed.  He and his co-pilot died that day, 23 May 1936.

Marguerite died at the age of 57 in New York on 25 September 1940 and was buried beside her husband in Louisiana.