More Cincinnati mysteries: An unknown marriage and spouses buried in separate cemetery plots

I've just found my 2nd great uncle Thomas Dougherty's death registered in Cincinnati, and it contains new information: he was 56 years old when he died on 15 Dec 1886, and he was born in Vermont. I had surmised, based on other information after I discovered him last year, that he was my 2nd great grandparents' first born, in about 1820 (it's worth repeating how bad cursive handwriting could be in the 19th century) and that as such, that he'd been born in Ireland. This rejigs the order of birth as outlined in my post here.

The information also noted that he was married and died of kidney disease. Below is the extract from the burial register -- it's enlarged as much as possible. The information stretches across the page.

Now, through decades of city directory listings that I've found, if Thomas wasn't living first with his brother James (1826-1860), he was usually listed as living with his other siblings. Rarely, he lives separate from family, and when he does, there isn't a woman living at the same address. Thomas and his brother James lived in Cincinnati as early as 1849, I discovered last year. Who was Thomas' wife and what happened to her?

Continuing the theme of unsolved mysteries, Cincinnati cemetery records reveal that Thomas, his brother Joseph (1835-1886) and his sisters Catharine (abt 1824-1896) and Isabella Dougherty McHugh (abt 1832-1890), along with a niece, Mary McHugh, are buried in the same plot. But, also buried in the same plot is a woman named Diana Mylott, who died 4 Jun 1884.

Who could she be? More record checking indicates that in the 1880 census, Diana Mylott was a widow, a seamstress, with two young adult daughters. Oh, and they lived that year with my 2nd great aunts and uncles and Isabella's children at 138 Baum in Cincinnati.

1880 census, 138 Baum, Cincinnati

The Mylotts also lived at that address with my relatives in at least 1879 and 1881. City directories and censuses back to 1860 show Diana (living without a husband) with her daughters, both of whom died within a couple of years of their mother. Did her husband (whose name apparently was Edward, based on death records) die in the American Civil War? I've never found an Edward Mylott. It's not lost on me that the name Mylott may be an anglicized form of Mailhot or Maillot, French family names. Diana's daughters, Josie and Katie, are buried in the same plot as Isabella's husband James H. McHugh (1827-1905) and their son, Marcus Ambrose McHugh (abt 1856-1912). Then I saw that Katie Mylott (1860-1887), had a will, in which she left half of that burial plot to my 2nd great aunt, Isabella McHugh.

Did Katie sell part of her burial plot because my 2nd great aunts and uncles needed more space? Perhaps it was in lieu of room and board given to her, her mother and sister. We'll never know. Soon after Diana died in 1884, Katie and Josie left 138 Baum, because they then appear at another address in subsequent city directories until their deaths from consumption in 1887 and 1886 respectively.

I'd already decided that Isabella and James McHugh must have had an if not stormy, an unhappy marriage. More often than not, Cincinnati city directories have her living at the same address as her brothers and sisters, with some of her children, while James lives at another address, sometimes with one or two of their sons. It seems that Isabella definitely wanted to make sure that she and James didn't lay at rest together for eternity. But I can't help but wonder about Diana. By 1864, that year's city directory identifies her as a widow. Was she a friend to Isabella or another of my 2nd great aunts or uncles? Or was there a familial relationship between Diana and the Cincinnati Doughertys?

The never ending family story continues.....



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