My primary goals in reviewing and documenting my grandmother’s research are to 1) cite sources for her assertions, and 2) disprove any errors. Naturally, I hope for mostly the former, and very few of the latter.
I think I found the first mistake, however. On page 42 of Descendants of John Laughlin and Tabitha Trimble, we find:
Gen #4 Elmer R. Laughlin m. 1st 1924 Rose Mahaffie
b 20 Nov 1897 divorced
Johnson Co. KS
d 197? Colorado/Calif.
Gen #5 Juanita Laughlin m. Harril Summers (3 children)
Deloris Laughlin (never married)
Carol Laughlin
I recall when Grandma uncovered the “Mahaffie” link, because the Mahaffie family is rather well known in Johnson County (Kansas). Theirs was an early stagecoach stop on the Santa Fe Trail, and their house/farm are now a historical landmark, and the only stagecoach stop still open to the public. I’ve taken my own kids there on field trips. I distinctly remember driving Grandma around trying to locate it — before the days of GPS, it wasn’t easy to find!
I wasn’t intending to research Elmer Laughlin yet, as he’s a collateral uncle, not an primary ancestor. But in the way that rabbit holes go, I found myself examining his marriage today. I’m unable to find any record of his marriage to Rose Mahaffie. In fact, her record on FamilySearch fairly convincingly shows she was married to Theodore Cobb and living in Oklahoma by 1924.
I did, however, find a newpaper announcement for Elmer Laughlin in 1922 — to Miss Rose STEMLIN.
Stemlin-Laughlin
The marriage of one of our finest young girls, Miss Rose Stemlin, of Olathe, and Mr. Elmer Laughlin, of Stanley, took place in Paola, Friday, September 1, at 3 o’clock.
The bride wore a gown of white satin with beaded georgette overskirt. The bride and groom are visiting with her sister, Mrs. Ira Mahaffie but will leave the first of the week on a honeymoon trip in Colorado.
Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin will be at home in Stanley to all their friends, in two weeks.
— Olathe News, Thursday, Sept. 7, 1922, page 4
So here is our Mahaffie link, after all. Elmer’s wife is sister to the wife of Ira Mahaffie. I can’t guess what source Grandma was looking at to mix up the two women; it’s possible she simply missed the “Mrs.”. At any rate, this single newspaper clip does not make absolute proof – who knows, perhaps Elmer divorced Rose S. and married Rose M. – but it’s an enticing new line of inquiry.