There were two marriages in our McLaughlin family with children of an Irish-born Patrick Carrigan. Two different Patrick Carrigans, that is. Both of them settled in the Skaneateles area after leaving their native land.

Edward J. McLaughlin (1874-1933), son of Mary O'Hara and Dennis McLaughlin, married Mary Ellen Carrigan (1872-1931), daughter of Mary Jane O'Neill and Patrick Carrigan. Her mother was not related to the other O'Neills on our family tree, so far as I know, and was born in Massachusetts. Her father was born in County Tipperary, Ireland.

Mary McLaughlin (1868-1918), Irish-born daughter of Cornelius "Neal" McLaughlin, left home and joined other relatives who had settled in Central New York. She married Thomas Carrigan (1860-1918), son of one of Skaneateles' most interesting characters, Patrick C. Carrigan, the self-anointed "Irish lord."

PATRICK C. CARRIGAN, often identified by his first two initials, was born in 1829 in Ireland. There he married Mary Riley (1830-1875) and they had a daughter, Mary, in 1852, before they emigrated to the United States. He settled in an area of Skaneateles known as Hart Lot (or Skaneateles Junction), and initially was a farmer, though he became better known for his interest in the Skaneateles Lime Works, first as a partner, then as sole owner.

The company was very successful for several years, making Carrigan a relatively wealthy man. He also was a vain, self-centered individual who referred to himself as an Irish lord and apparently used his wealth to impress the ladies.

Meanwhile, his wife was busy giving him children. P. C. Carrigan had at least 14 children by Mary Riley Carrigan, and six of them died either in infancy or childhood.

CARRIGAN'S PERSONAL LIFE became a mess in the 1870s and a legal battle over his will, after he died in 1895, was inevitable. Stories about the court cases do not make clear how Carrigan's first marriage ended. However, if Skaneateles marriage records are correct, and if the dates on Mary Riley Carrigan's tombstone at St. Mary's Cemetery, Skaneateles, are correct, then P. C. Carrigan's second marriage, to widow Catherine Ryan, took place several months before the first Mrs. Carrigan died. There is no mention in any of the stories about at divorce.

What I did find is a news item from February, 1874, that the first Mrs. Carrigan, identified by the newspaper as the current Mrs. Carrigan, was badly burned when a kerosene lamp exploded.

Six months later, on August 6, her husband remarried. And then, six months after that, almost a year to the day she was burned, the first Mrs. Carrigan died. I've checked several times, thinking perhaps Mary Riley Carrigan had died in 1874, not 1875, but it appears she was still alive when her husband wed Mrs. Ryan, who had HAD two children by her first husband.

On May 23, 1879, an Auburn, NY, newspaper called The Evening Auburnian reported: "Patrick C. Carrigan, of Skaneateles Junction, is the happy father of his twenty-first child, a son."

This child must have died within days of birth because there is no record of him elsewhere, not even at St. Mary's Cemetery. Including Mrs. Ryan's children, who may have been legally adopted by P. C. Carrigan, I can account for "only" seventeen children. Either Carrigan lost count, or four other of his children died at birth or soon thereafter.

ONE THING'S for sure, Carrigan kept track of his children when he made out his will in 1891 and when he added a codicil two years later, which was 16 months before he died, in April 1895.

For all practical purposes, Carrigan's second marriage had ended in 1886 with an agreement that would be disputed after his death. More upsetting to his heirs would be Carrigan's involvement with another widow, Mrs. Phebe (or Phoebe) Larder, who today is a bit of a mystery. Carrigan willed her his winter home in Satsuma, Florida, which included a stable and eight acres of orange groves. This was Carrigan's most valuable piece of property, though its estimated worth — between $12,000 and $15,000 — seems very small by today's standards.

As often is the case, Carrigan wasn't as wealthy as his heirs thought. His will left just $200 each to two daughters, Mary Carrigan of Geneva, NY, and Mrs. Ellen Houser of Aurora, NY. His other daughters — Mrs. Margaret Power and Mrs. Julia McCullom of Skaneateles, and Mrs. Lizzie McPeak of Elbridge, NY — were excluded from the will.

The remainder of the estate, which included a farm in Skaneateles Junction and the Skaneateles Lime Works, was given to his three sons who were named as executors — Michael Carrigan of Jordan, Thomas and Andrew J. Carrigan of Skaneateles.

THE WILL was immediately contested. Mrs. McPeak, one of the daughters excluded from the will, filed suit through lawyer, M. F. Dillon of Skaneateles. And Mrs. Catherine Carrigan did the same through a Syracuse attorney, George H. Sears.

But as the Skaneateles Free Press reported on May 24, 1895:

It is claimed, however, that Mrs. Carrigan, who was Mrs. John Ryan, a widow, when she married Carrigan, had accepted $3,500 at the time of separation from her husband in lieu of dower rights, but this is denied.

That figure, incidentally, was reported else where as $3,050, an odd amount, but one that was used by every other newspaper that followed the Mrs. Carrigan's lawsuit, which proved unsuccessful.

What isn't clear is when Carrigan became involved with Phoebe Larder, who appears to be the reason his net worth, when he died, was so much less than his heirs expected. The key is that line in the above newspaper excerpt: "He lavished money upon her (Mrs. Larder), took her on a tour of England and Ireland, furnished her finery, etc."

According to a story in the Syracuse Post-Standard (July 19, 1898), one reason he cut himself loose from his second wife was that "Mr. Carrigan, who had determined to see something of the world before he died, spent and transferred a large part of his estate."

EVENTUALLY the matter of the Skaneateles portion of the estate was settled when the five daughters agreed to split one-third of the estate, leaving two-thirds to be divided among their three brothers. The property apparently was sold shortly thereafter.

Ironically, considering how the proceeds were divided, it appears Carrigan's second wife, with a payoff of either $3,050 or $3,500, may have benefitted more than any of the heirs, except Phoebe Larder, who, in 1898 she married Alfred Yoran in Fayetteville, NY, or so it was reported in the Skaneateles Free Press.

Interestingly, Alice Carrigan, a daughter of Michael Carrigan, one of P. C. Carrigan's sons, married William Larder. And I believe it's the same William Larder whose mother inherited her grandfather's Florida orange grove.

P. C. Carrigan is buried next to his first wife, Mary Riley Carrigan (1830-1875), in St. Mary's Cemetery, Skaneateles. Catherine Ryan Carrigan, who died in 1910, also is buried in the family plot.