Above is a page from the 1928 directory for Butte, Montana. I searched for my family name in Butte when I learned that lots of families from West County Cork, where the Coughlin's came from, emigrated to Montana and worked in the mines around Butte. These families included Coughlin's, Crowley's, and Lavin's, all family names. Recently I was looking at a Montana map (because one of my daughters just moved to Montana) and, to my amazement, found a place called "Coughlin, Montana." Coughlin is not actually a town, but what the government calls a "populated place." When you look at a Google map, you find Coughlin, Montana near the intersection of Route 200 and Route 141 in Powell County, just south of "The Bob," the Bob Marshall Wilderness, where one of my daughters will be working this summer. I am really amazed at the presence of so many Irish people and even so many Irish place names in Montana.
The 1928 Butte directory lists many familiar Coughlin names: James, Thomas, John, William, and Jerry--and 2 Julia Coughlin's, one of whom is a public school teacher like my own daughter Julia.
For a clearer view of the above image, try this link: http://distantcousin.com/directories/mt/butte/1928/Image/110.jpg
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