Bernard McLaughlin

  General Notes:

His mother Bridget Sheridan disowned him, when he married Clara Klecan, (after being engaged for five years). His older brother joined the priesthood, and since he was the next in line, he was supposed to remain single and care for his widowed mother. She did not see him again until he and his young son (Bernard) were sick with influenza in 1917 (neither were expected to recover, although both did). The first time my grandmother (Mary McLaughlin DeNeen) remembers seeing Bridget Sheridan was when she brought over some cloth at this time so Clara could make the children clothes. My grandmother remembers hating the color and rough texture of the material that she had to wear for years later. Being the third daughter, she not only had to wear the clothes made for her, but dresses made for her older sisters, Clara May and Mildred, that she eventually grew into.

Bernard married Clara Justin Klecan, daughter of Wenzel William Klecan and Mary Elizabeth Kluner, on 25 Jun 1906 in St. Joseph, Buchanan Co., MO. (Clara Justin Klecan was born on 26 Jan 1881 in Hannover, KS and died on 27 May 1964 in St. Joseph, Buchanan Co., MO.)