Thomas Laughton was the 2nd son of John Laughton 1801 and Jane Spense 1802. Details on Thomas were initially confused, as the information on the original family tree chart was incorrect. Thanks to Sue Yannaghas (nee Petrie) for her research in Scotland and correction of the information, as noted here.

Additional information on the line of Thomas Laughton was included in the March 2009 package from John Ivan Laughton. Included was a short family tree of Thomas Laughton and a May 1960 letter (in response to his Orcadian posting) from an Annie Jean Groundwater of Montrose, Ontario. Annie Jean mentions that she recalls Tom Laughton and his one daughter Maggie Jean, whom she presume correctly was deceased. Thomas Laughton married Ann Petrie and had one daughter Maggie Jean (December 6, 1865 - June 17, 1940).  Maggie Jean married William Berston (or may be Berstane) on March 30, 1922.

The original family tree charts of Paul Laughton indicate that Thomas Laughton (see John Laughton 1801) died in Canada, apparently in Walkerton. I had always assumed that he must have been visiting his brothers John or Jerome. From the photograph of the homestead in the Orkney Islands (Vigga) we have evidence of Thomas sitting with his nephews John and David, sons of David Laughton 1841. Sue Yannaghas (nee Petrie) raised this question again in her e-mails in February 2009.. Thomas is Sue's Great Great Great Uncle, as he is the brother of David Laughton 1841 who is Sue's Great Great Grandfather.

In searching the death registers for Ontario I could find no evidence of this Thomas Laughton having died in the area, at least not one married to a Margaret or Maggie. What we did find from the LDS Registers was that there were two (2) Thomas Laughton boys born in 1831 in Orkney, Scotland. One of these two Thomas lads born 1831 in Scotland is listed in the 1881 Canadian Census as living in Egremont Township in Grey County (the Walkerton area). A farm owned by Thomas Laughton was found on the Township Maps of that period. That Thomas Laughton is listed on the Ontario Death Registry as having a recorded death of July 9, 1881 at the age of 50 years.

Our Thomas Laughton 1831 appears in the Vigga photograph in 1905 -1910 and certainly appears to be older than 53, suggesting the picture date is correct (in which case the man is 75+ years old). The question then is, did Paul Laughton assume that the Thomas Laughton 1831 from the Orkney Islands that was in the Walkerton area was our Thomas Laughton? Is that then why he noted "died in Canada" on his chart?

The problem was resolved when Sue located a number of critical documents:

This second picture of Vigga, in the Paul Laughton Collection received 2009 shows the homestead as it appeared during the Great War (19114-1919). Although the inscription with the picture (written by Norm Laughton 1917 says that woman (2nd from right) is Jerome's sister Margaret, that is impossible as that woman would have been 88 years old at the time. My supposition, which differs from whoever made the hand-written notes (assume that was Paul and he had Tom confused) is that this lady is the daughter of Thomas Laughton, Margaret "Maggie" Jean/Jane Laughton. The man in the picture just might be William Berston, the farm hand that Maggie would marry in 1922.

A new scan of the photograph was made from the John Ivan Laughton Collection of March 2009. On the reverse of that version, the following is written :

Jerome Laughton's sister Margaret 2nd from right - others unknown. This picture was given to Norman Laughton 1917 by Mrs. Robson, who had been a servant at the Vigga "Farm" when Thomas owned it".