Duggan Mystery Solved

courtesy of Jody MacKeil - Find A Grave

Thelma Cameron Murdock was the daughter of Samuel Cameron Murdock & Charlotte Ellen Arbuckle was born in 1925 at Avondale, Nova Scotia and she had married twice – first to a Stuart Duggan and 2^nd to a Robert Sweet……but how did I figure this all out back in 2015 and now in 2017, I have found out who Stuart was!

I found Thelma first thru her sister Esther’s 2009 obit back in 2013 where she is listed simply as Thelma; then 2015, I found her again in her brother George’s 1995 obit where it names a sister Thelma Sweet – woot – a step closer.  From there I found the full name and obit for her second husband – Robert Arthur Sweet who died in 1992. 

However I was no closer to finding out anything about this Stuart Duggan ?!? Grrr  I got the first name from a tree on ancestry that has since been removed – oy – I am on my own here.........…..or am I? 

I held onto the fact that Stuart had to have died very young, hence no records BUT he was also a Nova Scotian – there has to be a record somewhere. I scratched my head, tried every creative search I could think of until…..until…….gee persistence pays off!

Viola…..

courtesy of Jody MacKeil - Find A Grave

May I introduce you to….Charles ‘Stuart’ Duggan….the son of Charles Nathaniel Duggan & Elizabeth Stewart (yep, will be haggling over Stu or Stew).  Stuart died in a car accident in Apr of 1959.

Thelma and Stuart had 2 children together – Linda Lorraine, and LouAnne who died in 1977

courtesy of Jody MacKeil - Find A Grave

Chronicle Herald, Tues, 13 Dec 1977

Duggan – Louanne, 21, of Merigomish died Sunday following a car accident in Ontario. Born in New Glasgow she was the daughter of Thelma (Murdock) and the late Stewart Duggan.  She was employed in Fort McMurray, Ontario and was a member of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church.  Surviving besides her mother is a sister, Linda at home.  The body will be at R.H. Porter Funeral Home, New Glasgow after 3:30 p.m. today.  Funeral service will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. in St Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Rev. Kenneth MacLeod officiating with burial in Murray’s Point Cemetery.