Notes A birth registration was found for Laura Geoghan: Year of Registration: 1876; Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar; District: Stafford; County: Staffordshire; Volume: 6b; Page: 3. (Parents: Stephen Geoghan and Louisa Paddison, married 1866 in Staffordshire, England.)
In 1881, Laura Gaghan, 5 years of age, was shown residing at the Stoke Upon Trent Workhouse, Penkhull, Staffordshire, England, along with Stephen Gaghan, 7; Grace Gaghan, 8; Louisa Gaghan, 35, tailoress; and Patrick Gaghan, 13. (Source: 1881 Census of England; Class: RG11; Piece: 2729; Folio: 111; Page: 14; Line: ; GSU roll: 1341654.)
EDITORS NOTE: Father, Stephen Geoghan, Sr., was not on the 1881 England census. He was on the 1901 census, a lodger, but stated he was unmarried. He died of heart disease on November 7, 1913, Highfield Infirmary, Knotty Ash, Liverpool, Lancashire, England. The eldest child, Patrick, was in the workhouse with the mother and other siblings, but disappeared after 1881. Louisa the mother had remarried in 1885 (stating on the certificate that she was a widow) to Alfred Davis, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, England. It is theorized that she may have thought or been told that her first husband was dead, or he deserted her and went to Ireland.
In 1885, Laura Geoghegan, 9 (along with siblings, Stephen Geoghegan, 11, and Grace Geoghegan, 12) arrived at Quebec, Canada, with 136 children, Richard Yates in charge, probably en route to Ottawa. It was at this time that the Geoghan children's names were changed to Gagan.
In 1891, Laura Gagan was shown as a domestic servant to a widow Catherine Hayes in Ontario.
In 1901, Laura Gagan is shown as a domestic / servant to Michael Lally and family in Thurlow, Hastings East, Ontario, Canada. Her date of birth is shown as December 25, 1875, and her immigration year as 1886. (Source: 1901 Census of Canada; Schedule 1 Microfilm T-6472)
In 1911,
On August 8, 1911, at the Church of St. Matthews, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada, a marriage was registered between Laura Gagan, 31, lady, daughter of ? Gagan (dead) and Louise Paddison; and Lawrence Yokker, 28, machinist, son of Gerard Yokker, an Officer in the Navy, and Cornelia Vander Vooroe.
Laura Gagan Yokker died on May 3, 1950, in Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada. She was buried May 4, 1905, at Woodland Cemetery, Section 6A, Row 5 Grave #11, Flamborough East, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada.