The McGloin Sisters of Largydonnell

I have one more story to tell this week which stems from DNA matches and subsequent research.  In corresponding with descendants of these matches, I learned about three sisters:

• Honora "Annie" McGloin, b 1844 Leitrim, m Michael Duggan after emigrating to NY, d 1935 in Bronx, NY
• Catherine "Kate" McGloin, b 1856 Leitrim, m Terrence McGowan in Ireland, lived in Brooklyn and later Newburgh, NY, d 1963 in Newton, NJ
• Bridget "Bessie" McGloin, b 1860 Leitrim, m Philip Clarke in NY, lived in Brooklyn, d 1950 Brooklyn, NY

There's a wonderful photo of these sisters in their later years, probably taken in New York in 1930s.

The kicker here is that these sisters were daughters of Francis McGloin and Bridget Crown!  I am making the leap that Bridget is the source of our DNA matches!  But I find no records about Bridget other than her death in 1899 in Ballina, Ireland at the age of 86 (b 1813), and her subsequent probate record.  Her husband, Francis McGloin, can be found in the 1857 Griffith's valuation in Largydonnell, where the family story says that the sisters were born.  Francis died in 1887.

But we have one other piece of evidence provided by Bridget herself.  In 1896, Bridget McGloin was writing letters to her daughter, Annie Duggan, from Glenade.  Bridget was asking her daughter to come visit her because she was feeling weak and feeble.  We don't know if Annie made it back to see Bridget or not, but the letters survived, still in the hands of Duggan descendants.  What a treasure!

I have found evidence of Crown families living in Loughmuirran, which is literally a walk of 1202 yards from Glenade, and a little farther down the road to Largydonnell.  The records on these Crowns are sparse, and it's hard to know if Bridget Crown McGloin was related to them.  Alternatively, the Lurganboy and Poundhill Crowns were just over 6 miles down the road to  Manorhamilton. Perhaps the McGloins traveled to Manorhamilton from time to time, and Francis McGloin might have met the fair young Bridget on one such trip, they married, and she moved to his home land. We don't know, yet.

The DNA matches from McGloin descendants in America tell us that Bridget Crown of Glenade is related to us somehow, but how does she fit in?  Each puzzle piece holds some part of the big picture, which at some point will reveal itself to those of us looking.