Margaret Coughlin, 2 1/2, was the daughter of John and Katherine Coughlin and sister to John Coughlin, Jr. and Jeremiah Bernard Coughlin. She was born in Butte, Montana, United States in 1912 and was thus an American citizen.
The entire family was traveling aboard Lusitania to return to Ireland, as the family had sold their house and possessions. Margaret and her father were lost in the Lusitania sinking.
On the day of the disaster, 7 May, Katherine went to the lavatory to wash some little things for the children about a half hour after lunch. She had left Jack and the boys upstairs while she took little Margaret with her. She was there no more than ten minutes when she heard the torpedo impact. She picked up Margaret in her arms and ran out to the deck to where she had left Jack and the children just a few moments earlier. Katherine called for her husband but could find no trace of him.
Jack had left the older of the two boys on deck so that Katherine mother would see him. Jack must have been searching for life preservers, but had been unable to make his way back. No trace of Jeremiah Bernard was found at the time. Katherine clung to Margaret and waited for the end, whatever it might be. A wave came and washed them overboard just before the Lusitania sank, and she and the child were separated. Katherine went under, and when she came to the surface her face was covered in rubbish that felt like cloth. Clearing it away, she swam around trying to locate Margaret but did not see her again.
Margaret’s body was recovered and identified, #62. Her mother Katherine came to see Margaret’s body at the railway station in Skibbereen, County Cork on the night of 10 May 1915. Margaret is buried in Common Grave B of the Old Church Cemetery in Cobh (Queenstown).
Related pages
The Coughlin Family at the Mixed Claims Commission
Links of interest
Lest We Forget: The Coughlin Family
Contributors
Mr. and Mrs. John Sullivan (relatives of the Coughlins)
Shelley Dziedzic, USA
Jim Kalafus, USA
Senan Molony, Ireland
Michael Poirier, USA
Jean Richards Timmermeister, USA
References
Mixed Claims Commission. Docket 2489, pg. 513.
Molony, Senan. Lusitania: An Irish Tragedy, pg. 26 – 27. Mercier Press, 2004.
Poirier, Michael and Jim Kalafus ( 2010 ) Lest We Forget : The Coughlin Family Titanic Research (ref: #11647, accessed 26th October 2011 07:02:45 AM)
<http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/lest-we-forget-the-coughlin-family.html>
I thought Margaret Coughlin was only 3 going on 4 when she perished in the Lusitania.
Would you please give proper credit before using other people’s photos on your projects Alyssa