My great-great-grandfather, Patrick Coughter, was born near Castlebar, County Mayo during or close to the year 1800 and was married to Catherine Coughter, also born in or near the first decade of the 1800's. They had two sons, Martin (b. 1835) and Peter (b.1840), and possibly a daughter Bridget and other children. Martin was my great-grandfather and emigrated to the US in January 1852, at age 17, along with his younger brother Peter (age 13). Oral tradition passed down in my family was that Martin always said he came from "near Castlebar" in County Mayo. It has always been a big family mystery as to what happened to Martin and Peter's parents, Patrick & Catherine Coughter. We simply don't know. Did they stay behind in County Mayo and just ship their two young boys off to the US? Had they too gone to the United States, at a different time - but never connected or got reunited, unable to locate one another? We know Martin was pretty much on his own, doing farm work as a hired hand, during his early years in the US until he met and, at age 24, married my great-grandmother in 1859. They had 13 children.
We've searched for years but have never been able to find any confirming evidence for certain, one way or the other, as to what happened to Patrick & Catherine Coughter (of the "Castlebar area"). Perhaps they were in Aglish parish and some record exists of their names, their children's names, and whether or not they perished there either before or after 1852, the year of Martin's emigration to the US. Any record in Aglish parish about Patrick and Catherine Coughter would be most welcomed, indeed!
Bill Dalton
Thursday 6th Mar 2014, 04:39AMMessage Board Replies
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Dear Bill
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out and apologies for the delay in replying to your message.
I have passed your query to a volunteer. Hopefully, they will be able to assist you further in your research
Best wishes
Clare Doyle
Genealogy Support
Clare Doyle
Friday 28th Mar 2014, 03:38PM -
Hi long lost relative!!!! Check out our latest family list I attached to this emil. My name is Laura Harrison and I have been working with other members of our family I've met through the internet we have managed to find three branches of the Coughter family. My email is sillycarrot1@aol.com. I can connect you with the other family members. So happy to have found you. Best regards, Laura
LauraHarrison
Thursday 4th Dec 2014, 01:05PM -
Bill and Laura,
I am a descendant of the above-mentioned Bridget Coughter (GGGrandmother) and would love to compare records!
MaryFave Sister
Saturday 14th Apr 2018, 01:46AM -
Attached Files
Hi Mary:
That's great. Please contact me by email at songhujung@gmail.com so we can compare and share family ancestry info. As you no doubt already know, COUGHTER is an extremely rare Irish surname.
I, Laura, and a number of other people with COUGHTER ancestors have been communicating via email for several years now to compare notes and known info about our respective Coughter ancestors. It would be great if you could join in our discussions. We have yet to conclusively confirm a specific Coughter ancestor that we all have in common, such as the above named Patrick, but we all know our respective Coughter ancestors came from the same small farrming area in County Mayo.
As for a Bridget Coughter you allude to, I am familiar with several, one of whom might be a fit with you gggrandmother. One is Bridget (Coughter) McNicholas (1845-1925), who immigrated from County Mayo as a young girl with her parents Patrick & Catherine Coughter, and settled in Missouri, marrying a widower named John McNicholas and raising a family of nine. She and her parents are buried in Missouri. Attached is a photo emailed to me by one of her descendants.
The other Bridget Coughter is a Bridget (Coughter) Garrity, but I have little if any info on her. Like my ggrandfather, Martin Coughter (1835-1901), she settled in western Masssachusetts after arriving from Ireland but I don't know if she was a sister of Martin.
I also know that there were several other Bridgets born Coughter in the 1800's who never left Ireland but I know little if any about them. Perhaps one of these was your gggrandmother?
Hopefully we can share more info and connect some dots that lead to a common Coughter ancestor!
Regards,
Bill
Bill Dalton
Saturday 14th Apr 2018, 06:33PM
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