Here is an old and a new picture of Townhead Street. The long white building which is demolished where the trees are in the new picture was Martin’s Shed, a local meeting place. Gospel Hall meetings took place there before the Gospel Hall was built in 1897.
I don’t know much about him except that he lived in Muirend Street. Kilbirnie. He became quite well known.
Let me know if you have any further information.
The photo came from The Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald.
This picture is of my Great Great Grandmother Margaret Loughran (maiden name Kane or Cain) from Dunnamore, nr. Cookstown Northern Ireland. Her son John Loughran and his wife Catherine Greenan (my Great Grandparents) and three of their daughters, Maggie, Katie and Rose.
Margaret ended up in Kilwinning living with the family – old people used to say “something happened” which is code for marital problems which would account for her leaving Ireland and going to Kilwinning. She died in Kilwinning in 1908. The family had a tradition of returning people to Ireland when they died so I don’t know if she is buried in Kilwinning or Ireland.
Here is another picture of Catherine Greenan Loughran as a young woman.
Here is a another picture of my Great Grandmother, Catherine Greenan Loughran (also pictured above). She lived in Kilwinning and had a really huge family with my Great Grandfather John Loughran. They were intertwined with the Gartland family, another local family around North Ayrshire. Her daughter Mary married my Grandfather Andrew McTaggart.
She was well known locally as a ballroom dancer, the Barrfield Pavilion, Largs, was one of her places. They used to chalk the heels of her shoes.
She died in Ireland in the late 1920s/1930s, where she spent a lot of her time with John’s family and is buried in St Mary’s Churchyard, Dunnamore, nr Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, in an unmarked grave along with older members of John’s family. John was also taken back from Dalry and interred there when he died.
In this picture she is wearing the infamous sealskin coat which everyone fought over when she died. I believe it went to Anna Mariah Campbell, from Kilmarnock.
Catherine again in this one: Here she is feeding the chickens in Dunnamore, Tyrone Ireland
In this next picture she is wearing the infamous sealskin coat which everyone fought over when she died. I believe it went to Anna Mariah Campbell, from Kilmarnock.
That house was latterly owned by two old aunts and is now a barn. In the 1990s I went there it was owned by Seamus Loughran (not a relative – at least not a close one anyway). My Loughran family were always referred to as Jo Hanna’s Loughrans because Hanna was another family name. This is important because in order to identify the tribe, you need to know the nickname. There are no Jo Hanna’s Loughrans left in the area.
Here are other family photos taken in Dunnamore.
John Loughran
This is Glengarnock School before it was demolished in the 1990s.
Malcolm McTaggart and Janet Smith (my Great Great Great Grandparents) lived in Montgomery Street as well as the Paddockholm area of Kilbirnie and then Glengarnock and were in many ways the parents of most McTaggart families who live in Kilbirne and Dalry today. The others came from his siblings, aunts and uncles.
He died in the late 1890s and she lived until 1919. His first wife was Jane Leitch, with whom he had one child and he is pictured here with his second wife Janet Smith. Together they had a lot of children.
Their parents came from Islay, the island off the west coast and they could only speak Gaelic when they first arrived here in the 1840s. Malcolm was born in Kilbirnie. His father was also married to a Janet Smith, Father and son married Mother and niece. Everybody worked in the steel works.
Malcolm and Janet are buried with their son John and they are one of the first graves as you enter the old cemetery across from the old old cemetery gate.
(John Loughran in Kilwinning)
