A Visit to My Grandfather

I never knew either of my grandfathers very well, but I was always fascinated by the Southwest Montana city where my dad’s dad, Cregg Coughlin, grew up.  Butte Montana was a mining boom town in its heyday and was settled by immigrants from many different countries but none more than the Irish.

For some reason, I always thought that my family had gone straight from Ireland to Butte, but on a recent visit to the the Butte Silverbow Public  Archives, I learned that my great grandfather William Coughlin actually came to Montana from Minnesota in 1910.

The friendly staff at the archives helped me find many interesting things about my family and the history of Butte.  Among them was my grandfather’s senior picture. 

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing can bring back lost time with family and I wish I’d had a chance to get to know my father’s father better.  I left Butte, however, feeling just a little bit closer to Cregg Coughlin.