I represent Terence McDonagh. I was the husband of Frances Margaret McDonagh and the father of Martha Lucy. I was a widower when I was married to Frances Margaret Thompson, or so the parish records of Westminster, London report. My daughter was born on May 14, 1771 and baptized on May 26. According to the baptismal record, I was the commander of one of the “pacquets.” A packet was a mid-size vessel used during the colonial period to carry mail, official correspondence and passengers. London postal service records show I was considered an employee of the postal service, and my schooner was called the Comet. It ran between Jamaica, Pensacola, and Charles Town. I was in Charles Town the night of January 21, 1774, when I slipped on a loose plank boarding a ship in the harbor, fell into the river and drowned. (The South Carolina Gazette [Charleston], 24 January 1772, p. 2) Postal service records show that my son Michael appears to have taken command of the Comet.
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