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Steve - I'm not a dna expert, but I learned enough about it to use dna analysis to SOLVE the mystery of my great-great-grandfather. Not sure if my method can be of any help to you, but I'll give you the short version of my long process. My great-great-grandmother, Caroline Reid, gave birth to my great-grandfather, John Reid, in a poorhouse in Scotland. He was "illegitimate" and no father named or mentioned anywhere. I became pretty obsessed with discovering who had fathered my great-grandfather, who ended up emigrating from Scotland to New Jersey in the 1880's. This is my paternal line, so I had my father do a Y-DNA for me. If he hadn't been alive at the time, I could have gone to one of my brothers or a cousin to obtain that paternal dna line. When the results came in, there were 13 or so people who matched to my Dad whose surname was McLaughlin. When I contacted them and examined their trees, I discovered all these McLaughlins were from Derry in Northern Ireland. So I figured I'm probably looking for someone named McLaughlin from Northern Ireland! Took me 2.5 years of searching, but finally I identified a man named McLaughlin who appeared on several trees of people who were dna matches to Dad. Turned out, as I found more records, it was this man's brother who was my great-great- grandfather, Dominick McLaughlin. The final confirmation was a census record which recorded him as living 2 streets away from where my gr-gr-grandmother lived. Dad was matching to his brother's descendants because Dominick didn't have any surviving children himself. That is, apart from my gr-grandfather who he likely never knew existed. My gr-gr-grandmother was probably working the streets when she got pregnant for a second time, as she already had a toddler, both out of wedlock. I even eventually found the gr-gr-granddaughter of her elder son living in England, and using dna analysis, we discovered that the two sons had to have been from different fathers. So, dna CAN lead you to the right person, but it takes determination, luck, and time.

So, I still haven't confirmed much about Dominick McLaughlin's family of origin in Ireland. As stated earlier, according to one census abstract of this family, Dominick's parents were John McLaughlin (b. abt 1808) and Jane Quigley (?1815?). And that's it. I know the parents' names from the census abstract and Dominick's (and other of their children's) baptism record. I'm finding Ireland's records much harder to find than Scotland's. I understand there was a terrible fire that destroyed much of Ireland's genealogical records. If I could identify John McLaughlin and Jane Quigley's origins, I'd be a happy camper. I have a theory, but it's only a theory. Apparently, my Dad (of McLaughlin line) matches dna with many descendants of the couple Patrick McLaughlin (1745-1835) and Mary Spence. The thing is, this couple and their five sons all emigrated to USA and died in PA. My theory is that they may have and a sixth son, John, who perhaps remained behind and took over a family farm or business? My Dad matches to at least 7 descendants of the Patrick McLaughlin/Mary Spence couple. So I don't know. The youngest of their five known sons was born in 1804 when the mother was 31 years old, so she certainly could have had another son. So I'm stuck. Any thoughts?

Census records for Caroline Reid reflect the various menial jobs she had, starting at age 13 working as "bleacher" in a thread mill. Later she was listed as "factory worker", and her death record says she was working as a "laundress". I don't have an indication anywhere that she worked outside, but it's very odd ..... I have written a novel about Caroline Reid. Of course I had to fill in the parts of her story that I didn't have records for. In the novel, there is one part that I have her working outside doing landscaping work, like planting shrubs and such. Maybe I was channeling her while writing about her! The other strange thing is this: When I was 3 yrs old, one of my earliest memories, the kid next door hit me in the forehead with a WOODEN RAKE! (said he wanted to see me bleed. this kid is probably in some max security prison now) Maybe I'm being dramatic ... ok, I am being dramatic, but those 2 coincidences have meaning for me. Make of it what you will!

Not a prison record but I wonder if this is she?

Notice that in the case of James Strain, at the bottom, he was given the option of prison instead of paying the fine: perhaps this is what ended up happening in her case.

9 August 1873: Paisley Herald and Renfrewshire Advertiser

Alan, you're a genius! THAT'S HER! Any chance her other arrest would be in the papers? The other arrest was on 5 September 1873 for "malicious mischief and breach of the peace" Thank you so much for your help!

On the topic of Paisley area graveyard/cemetery records .... my gr-gr-grandmother died in a rooming house at age 32 in 1881. She would have been a pauper, I'm sure. Anyone know where the county would bury indigent people? I'm sure there is no marker, but maybe records were kept as to which plot or area where someone was interred. She died in Neilston (next door to Paisley) and had no family.