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Wednesday, 2 July 2025

Housing

 by Alexandra Watson

Today, Cumnock is a thriving town with a population of 9,000, with a diverse range of housing options. These include modern, private housing estates, individually architecturally designed houses, blonde and red Ballochmyle sandstone Edwardian and Victorian small and large homes, and sprawling council-funded residential areas. There is even a private development initiated by King Charles, called Knockroon, inspired by traditional village ideals. 

However, Cumnock is an ancient settlement. Its status as a thriving town confirmed in 1509 when James V designated it as a Burgh allowing it greater trade opportunities, markets, fairs etc.  A survey of all the parishes of Scotland was commissioned in 1845 (The Old Statistical Account) giving detailed activities and population. Many of the stories in this work relate to the remarkable period of growth in the 1800s.


                                               Cumnock

 1755                                                                         580         persons

 1831                                                                        1600

 1871                                                                         2903

 1881                                                                         3345

  2025                                                                        9000

  Note:  The land areas covered by the town will have varied over the years


History books list the many castles and grand houses in the area. Few advise on the living conditions of the workers or explain how such a small town as Cumnock could accommodate incoming workers enabling the population to expand so remarkably. Farmers and estate holders did provide tied housing but if the employee lost their job or died in service the family would be evicted. The mine and mill owners also offered rented accommodation for the large number of incoming workers and built rows of terraced housing but the standard was poor and variable.  The 1913 Housing Report in Scotland, was commissioned to investigate and report on housing conditions, particularly of the industrial population, both rural and urban, in Scotland. The report published in 1914 included the evidence submitted regarding miners' rows in Cumnock. The Commission's report highlighted the shocking environments. It found cesspits, no washing facilities, wells, widespread dampness, and for one “Row” housing over a hundred people there were only 3 outside toilets with doors and numerous ashpits to be used for sanitary purposes. The Burgh built an initial 12 houses in 1914 and more were planned but these were postponed until the end of the First World War.  Ayr County Council also initiated house-building programmes and the tradition of publicly funded housing continued from then till now. More in depth reading on this topic is available on https://cumnockhistorygroup.org/places-miners-rows/ 

In addition to family homes, Lodging Houses sprang up across the country and a number of these private lodging houses were built in Elbow Lane.  Newspaper reports at the time described such private lodging houses were places where ‘men and women were huddled together promiscuously in dark and ill-ventilated rooms, without any of the conveniences requisite for decent living, not to speak of healthy existence’. Although there is no evidence of such a situation in Cumnock these Lodgings provided only the basics enabling working people to start jobs before finding longer-term housing.  



Cumnock reunion in Glasgow 1890

Ayr Observer - Tuesday 11 March 1890


THE CUMNOCK RE-UNION IN GLASGOW 

Since the resuscitation of the annual reunion of the natives of Cumnock resident in Glasgow, a trio of these pleasant, popular, and interesting social gatherings have taken place; and while they have all been attended with a marked degree of success, it is admitted on all hands that the latest one—that which took place on Friday evening week was by far the most successful of the three. As in former years, the place of meeting was the Trades' Hall in Glassford Street, a building that is thoroughly well adapted for a gathering of the kind, being at once spacious, comfortable, and beautiful; and the attendance was so large as to afford the utmost gratification to the committee, upon the members of which a considerable amount of labour must have fallen, both in making the preliminary arrangements and seeing the affair brought to such a successful issue. The company numbered between three and four hundred, and it would doubtless have been much larger if there had been facilities (as in former years) for the people resident in Cumnock to return home the same evening, many having found it inconvenient to go and stay over night. 

George Torrance Samson, Esq., J.P., who was unable through illness to take the chair last year, occupied the seat of honour upon the platform, and supporting him were :—The Rev. Robert Campbell, Calton Street U.P. Church, Glasgow; Messrs George Torrance, Glasgow; John Torrance, Glasgow; John Murray, Edinburgh; John Boswell, of Garrallan, Cumnock • Robert Brown, schoolmaster, Cumnock; Jas. Ferguson, builder, Glasgow; William Hill, Hartfield, Cumnock; William Ronald, Glasgow; Thomas Ronald, Glasgow; George printer, Cumnock ; Robert ßlack, watchmaker;Glasgow ; John Templeton, shoemaker, Glasgow; Councillor Richmond, Cumnock; and William Miller, baker, Kirkcowan. On entering from the side room, these gentlemen were received with hearty and prolonged cheering. When the cheering subsided, the Rev. Mr Campbell asked a blessing; and tea was served out and partaken of, thanks being returned by the entire company singing two verses of the second paraphrase to that grand old tune, St Paul s, led by Councillor Richmond. 

The CHAIRMAN then rose, amid loud applause, and intimated apologies for absence from the following gentlemen :—Provost Shankland and Mr D. W. Shaw, Ayr; Provost M`Letchie, Rev. J. S. Robertson, Rev. Alex. Macdonald, Rev. John Warrick, Bailie Bannatyne, Councillor Climie, Councillor M‘Geachin, Messrs Arch. Brakenridge, John Bannatyne, and David Smith —all of Cumnock ; Messrs David M'Cowan, James Templeton, and Hugh Kennedy, Glasgow; Rev. Andrew M. Smith, Hamilton; Mr Marcus Bain, Mauchline ; Mr R. M'Cowan, Strathaven ; Mr Andrew M. Torrance, London; Rev. Dr Brown, Paikley ; and Mr David Wardrop, Greenock, The Chairman explained that Mr David Smith and the Rev. Andrew Smith, an well as several others, were absent on account of the death of Mrs David Smith, which, he was sure, they all regretted. Continuing, he said-- I sincerely appreciate the high honour that has been done me in asking me to preside this evening at this our annual re-union, and the pleasure I now feel in being with you is intensified by contrast with the regret I experienced at my inability to be present on the same occasion last year—a regret which I was unable to stifle, even by recalling that often quoted couplet of our national bard, which tells us that—  "The best laid schemes o' mice and men, Gang aft aglee." We are met this evening to renew the ties that bind us to our native town, to recall our old associ ttions, and to fan and keep alive that flame of love and kindly memory for our common birth-place, which deep down in the hear:, of every leal and true patriot burns with a steady warmth, and which makes us feel in the midst of this mighty city like members of one family. In no race, I think, is this instinct of regard for youthful surroundings more strongly developed than in the Scottish, in no part of Scotland is it firmer than in Ayrshire. Many causes combine to produce and foster this feeling. Our lot is cast in pleasant places, and amidst scenes of great natural beauty. We might search for ever and never be able to complain of monotory in the landscape, such wonderfully diversified succession of pictures has been painted for our delight by the hand of that great artist—n .ture. Our hills, our valleys, our woods have been the admiration of successive age; they have called forth some of the noblest lyrics to be found in the annals of literature; and they will continue to be admired when this and many generations will have passed away. • As well might Sir Walter Scott have been speaking of the Coob's Glen as of the Trossachs when he says it was "So wond'rous fair, the whole might seem, The phantom of some fairy dream." (Applause.) But I shall not weary you with tedious and clumsy description of scenes with which you are all as familiar as I am. However pleasant they are to recall, I prefer not to mar your recollections of them by too much of the proverbial " Linked sweetness long drawn out." The aspect of our nature is not, however, the only pleasant feature of our surrounding. In our social instincts we are equally gratified by the,nature and disposition of the people among whom it is our lot to dwell. We move, so to speak. in an atmosphere of sympathy and mutual regard, which seems only to grow in vigour as we grow in years. We are essentially a clannish people, but our clannishness never degenerates into narrowness. We have a commynity of interests, it is true, and a harmony of inspiration which bind us closer to each other, and makes us more naturally dependent than we would be in laige centres. We have a peculiar and absorbing interest in the fortunes of our townsmen; we rejoice in their good fortune; we follow with sager gaze their career when they have gone out from amongst us; and we consider an honour done to them is an honour done to ourselves. (Applause). It has always been so in Cumnock, from the time when our town consisted of a few thatched houses, with rear gables looking out upon the Square, until now, when it forms one of the most important district centres in the county. (Applause.) But notwithstanding this—perhaps I might even say, because of this—our range of sympathies is the reverse of circumscribed. Though we love and cherish old friends, we can welcome new ones, and the constant spread of commercial activity is bearing them in upon us in an ever-increasing stream. But perhaps the strongest of all reasons we in Ayrshire have for regarding with such love and veneration our native county, and the place of our nativity, will be found to consisd in the glorious history we have inherited, and the no less glorious traditions bequeathed us by our worthy ancestors From the earliest times of which Scottish history gives us any reliable information, Ayrshire men have stood in the fore front of every progressive movement, and have ever come forward as the pioneers of civilization. (Loud applause.) The Lollards of Kyle were among the very first to undergo persecution for the sake of their religious beliefs, and the standard then raised has never been taken down. An endless succession of civil, religious, and moral reformers has followed in their footsteps, and each generation has proved itself worthy of their predecessors. Nowhere in Scotland are the graves of the martyrs more thickly strewn. On almost every hillside these stern old heroes have stained the heather with their noble blood, and to-day their memory is treasured and their last resting places held sacred by a grateful and admiring posterity; and well might we write on their tombstones the words o the poet Collins

how sleep the brave, who sink to rest. Ey all their county's prayers blest? When Spring, with dewy fingers cold. Returns to deck their hallowed mould, She there shall dress a sweeter sod Than Fancy's feet have ever trod."

(Applause.) It is to these men we must look for the origin of many of the finest traits in the Ayrshire character. In them we find the weighty gravity and steady constancy of the Roman, together with the pathos and subtle humour of the Greek; to them we must trace that stern, unbending integrity and deep religious feeling so prevalent among our peasant farm. a century ago; from their influence alone arose these beautiful customs of filial piety and affection of which the poet speaks in these immortal words : 'From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, That makes her loved at home, revered abroad. Princes and lords are but the breath of An honest man's the noblest work of God." (Applause.) The mention of Burns leads me to state another of the many causes upon which we value our descent and our country; but it is too late in the day now, even if it were at all relevant to the purpose of our gathering here to-night, for me to begin a panegyric on him to whom the unanimous verdict of an appreciative age has awarded the crown of lyric song, who has clothed in the garb of immortality the woods and . glades of our native Ayrshire, who, in some measure ' reflects upon us a little of his neverfading lustre. Friends, I might, like Tennyson's brook, go on for ever, heaping up the causes we have for gratulation, and harping upon things that have long been to you all, trite, hackneyed and stale; but there is a limit to everyone's patience. A few general remarks, and lam done. Undoubtedly, one of the greatest tendencies of the age, and one which has brought us here to-night, is the tendency to centralisation. Yearly, daily, I might almost say hourly, the best and brightest of our youth are leaving the homes of our ancestors to mix in the bustle, the strife, the worry, and the business of our great commercial centres; not infrequently they attain to the highest honours open to them; many of them prosper and acquire great wealth, most of them are a credit to the place in which they first sr.w the light, but we may wonder when the tide of centralisation will cease to flow, and when the cities will cry enough. Assuredly, it cannot last for ever, it must one day stop; our little island cannot become one hideous wilderness of brickfields nnd smoking chimney stalks; without some of the fresh green country our race would deteriorate and decline, and we should suffer a worse fate than that of the native Australians so vividly depicted by Froude —a fate all the more terrible by contrast with the glory we once enjoyed ; the problem is one of iotense and general human interest ; but the Almighty will work it out in hit own good time. I shall not detain you longer. I have already spoken too long; but allow me before concluding, to express the hope that we may be spared to enjoy many other such re-unions as this, that we shall, as the years roll by, find in each of those meetings a more deep and lasting pleasure; and we shall continue to prosper as a town ; and to extend our sphere of usefulness as individually; that we shall ever zealously foster and cherish the associations and friendship of our youth; that we shall endeavour to live ever upward, ever onward, till that happy time is reached, and the poet's prophecy fulfilled, when  "Man to man the world o'er Shall brithers be for a that." The Chairman, before resuming his seat, expressed the c mlial hope that every one would spend a very happy evening. 

The Rev. Mr Campbell, at a later stage of the proceedings, was introduced, and briefly addressed the meeting. After several jocular observations, he proceeded to speak in the following terms :—One well known to many of us here was expected to be present to-night, but apprehensive lest he should not be able to come, he sent me a note asking me to be sire and attend. If Mr Smith had asked me to go to Hamilton and preach a sermon for him, or conduct any other meeting, I should only have been too glad to comply with his request, but to come and address a re-union is to me an entirely different thing. (Laughter.) Ido not think anyone present, however, will be disappointed if I do not address you at length. lithe people who attend the Cumnock re-union are like those who attend other re-unions, I am sure they will be clear on one point, viz., that speech-making might be dropped off altogether. (Laughter.) Ladies and gentlemen, I am a Cumnockian. (Applause.) Some of you may perhaps say that New Cumnock is the place to which I belong, but the truth is I belong to both of the Cumnocks. My ancestors belonged to both of the Cumnocks, and I may fairly claim to have the same right and privilege. (Laughter and appl.) I can arsure you that I have very great pleasure in being here to-night ; and although I may be a stranger to you, and although many of you are strangets to me, I am assured of this fact—that your grandfathers and grandmothers, and the same relations of myself, were well known to each other in days long since gone by. (Applause.) I think it is a very becoming thing that we who hail from the same place should meet here in a meeting of this kind(applause)—and if we have not met or seen each other before this time, me have an opportunity of enjoying that pleasure and privilege now—(applause) —remembering the close relationship that there was unquestionably between our common ancestors. (Applause.) I suppose we are all Cumnockians or people hailing from the district or neighbourhood of Cumnock, and I suppose there is no one here whose heart is not going back at this moment to the old spot. " Breathes tlit.re a man with soul so dead This i; my own, my native land'?" And I think we may feel the same thing even to a g..eater degree regarding the place from which we have sprung. (Applause.) My memory to-night has been very busy, and Cumnock occupies the foremost place in my mind. We are here because Cumnock could not keep us. (Laughter.) There was no room in it for us, and with a spirit of enterprise we left the place that was dear to us to fight the battle of life in this great city—(applause)—and I am glad to say that, so far as I know, Cutunock people have been fighting that battle bravely—with honour to themselves, and reflecting credit upon the place from which they have come. (Applause.) My mind has been wandering backward, and I have been looking into ancient history. I have been thinking of some who have gone forth into business and into professions—sof the manner in which they have conducted themselvesand I have come to the conclusion that Cumnock has ' no reason to hide its heud because of any of its sons. (Applause.) Long may this satisfactory and gratifying state of affairs continue, and long may those in Glasgow be ever ready to extend a hearty welcome to Cumnock's soas who are continually pouring in the native town to this great city, in order to find full scope for their energy. (Applause, and a Voice—" The daughters, too.") Oh, no; we don't want the daughters to come here to lose the bloom of their rosy cheeks. (Laughter and applause.) We wish them to remain in the country until they are fully matured and developed, and then the young men can go back and bring them here as wives. (Renewed laughter and applause.) In going over the past I was thinking of those with whom I had the great pleasure of being associated with long since. I was thinking, Mr Chairman, of your brother John Samson; I was thinking of another dear friend, George Drummond, who was closely related to your wife; and I was thinking also of another excellent friend, Duncan Ballantine—all of whom have gone over the border and joined the majority. But, oh ! they lire in our hearts and memories" Still o'er those scenes my memory wakes, And fondly broods with miser care i Time but the mpression deeper makes, As streams their channels deeper wear.' (Applause.) From your own remarks, Mr Chairman, and from other things, I have been thinking of the mighty influence Burns has been in your region. (Applause.) I remember when I used to ramble about in the vicinity of Aird's Moss I had an old copy of Burns—l forget whether it had " batters "or notand it was very dear to me. I don't know what our young friends can really do better than read, after the grand old Book—the Book of books—the works of our poet Burns—(applause)—and if they get the same inspiration from them that I have received, they will get a great blessing indeed. (Applause.) Looking back into the past, it seems but yesterday since I came away from the old place. Why, it is a quarter of a century since I attended a Cumnock re-union in the Merchants' Hall there, and it will soon be twoquarters of a century since I came away from Cumnock ; and yet, do you know, I just feel as closely, even more, attached to it than when I left. (Applause.) The Chairman to-night gave us a good speech. One fine thing he said was about the fens in Cum ock. In days to come, when you have made your fortunes here, what better thing could you do than go back to the old place and settle where you first began? (Applause.) Let me again assure you of the very great pleasure I have had in being here to-night, and in listening to what you, Mr  Chairman, have said, and in seeing so many friends in here before me. My mind was going back to the time when I was a lad, and I would like to quote you the following lines of Motherwell

 "0 morning light, 0 morning love, 0 'lithesome days and long, When honeyed hopes around our hearts Like morning blossoms strung." (Loud applause.)

Some of these scenes are living in my memory, 'twould he a shame if I could forgot them. (Applause.) God bless Cumnock and all its people; and when you go home tell them that, though fifty miles lie between us, we lovingly think of them, and hope they reciprocate our feelings—that we entertain good wishes towards them, and trust they may do the same for us. (Loud applause.)

 Mr Brown, schoolmaster, at the close of the musical programme, said—ln rising to address a few words to you, I may say that I think I am rather out of place, as I am not a native of Cumnock, although I have spent more years in it than a great number of natives have done. (Laughter.) I have spent more time in Cumnock than I have spent, or shall spend, in any other place. But, that aside, a very pleasing duty falls upon me—that of proposing a vote of thanks to the committee. (Applause.) They really deserve it, for they must have wrought hard to being so many people together ; and if you have not had the experience of my native parish (Ochiltree), I hope you will go on increasing, and when you have come to your thirtieth, your fortieth, or perhaps your fiftieth re-union, "may Ibe there to see." (Laughter and applause.) As time is far advanced, I will not detain you. I simply ask you to return a hearty vote of thanks to the committee for their great labours in connection with the get-up of this meeting, and for the success, apart from myself, with which they have filled the platform. (Loud applause.) 

Mr John Strathdee NICOL, the energetic and courteous secretary, who on rising was received with loud applause, acknowledged the vote of thanks in a remarkably neat speech. Ile said—On my own behalf and on behalf of the committee I have to thank you most cordially for the hearty manner in which you have responded to the proposal made by Me Brown. You must all know, as Mr Brown has told you, that the labour in getting up a meeting of this kind is enormous, but in our committee there is so much spontaneous enthusiasm that the labour upon the individual members is reduced almost to a minimum. (Applause.) When we see such a large concourse of Cumnock people here tonight we are almost inclined to believe that this re-union, like Alladin's palace, has been the outcome of a single night rather than the result of any labour on the part of the committee. (Applause.) The pleasure we experience in seeing such a large turn-out amply repays us for any labour we have expended, and I can only say that so long as YOU continue to support us in such numbers as you have done to-night, the committee will leave no stone unturned to cater successfully for your enjoyment. (Loud applause.) In future years we will do as much, if not more than we have done at the present time. (Loud applause.) 

Mr John Boswell, in proposing a vote of thanks to the Chairman, said ex-Provost Samson was certainly one of the most successful of our Cumnock men, and he had done an amount of work on behalf of the community that was almost incalculable. (Loud applause.) 

The Chairman in responding, asked the young men in the meeting to remember, when they met a Cumnock person in the streets of Glasgow, to go forward and extend to him the right hand of fellowship, and he hoped that in days to come the good old town would be made even more famous than it had been in the past. (Applause.) The concert that was given in the course of the evening was one of unusual excellence. This year the committee made a departure from their usual custom, and engaged a professional company instead of securing the services of amateurs; and, with all due deference to the ladies and gentlemen who gave their services in the past, we heartily congratulate the committee on the change. It is a great improvement in many respects, and although it does entail a deal more expense, it obviates a large amount of trouble to the hard-wrought committee, while it also avoids in its entirety that petty ill-feeling which too frequently arises in connection with the selection of amateur vocalists, as those who have experience in such matters very well know. The company was engaged through Mr J. W. Hodge, a native of Cumnock, and consisted of the following artistes :—Miss Maud Bruce, soprano; Mr Fmlayson, tenor; and Mr R. D. Cross, Scotch comedian. They are all well known as standing in the first rank in their respective lines, and it is sufficient to say that they acquitted themselves to the satisfaction of the audience and in a manner worthy their reputations. As a reader and reciter, Mr Dickson Moffat afforded a treat of a rare order, and he was highly appreciated. The proceedings, which were characterised throughout by enthusiasm, refinement, and socialibility, were brought to a conclusion by singing "Auld Lang Sync.' Thereafter the hall was cleared out, and an assembly took place, which was attended by close upon a hundred couples—a galaxy of youth and beauty—and never did a more jovial or good-natured company assemble "to chase the glowing hours with flying feet." Lauchlan's splendid quadrille band of five players was in attendance, and as each fresh tune was struck up, the words of the poet were verified "On with the dance, let joy be unconfined." 

Mr James Arthur acted as M.C. with much acceptance, the dances under his supervision being promptly started and carried out with great spirit and hilarity. Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves thoroughly, and we have no doubt all who were present will retain pleasant recollections of the event until another re-union comes round to blot them out and leave more pleasant ones in their stead.

Friday, 13 June 2025

McLatchies to Canada

from Brenda Turner (see other post by Elaine)

According to Howard Lively Harris, who wrote the history of the Harris Family (published in 1982 and a copy kept in the Quebec Government Archives in Hull), Hugh and Sarah Lockie McLatchie emigrated to Canada somewhere in 1820 from Old Cumnock, Ayrshire, with their 5 children.

Sons of John McLatchie of Sykeside farm

Hugh McLatchie and his son William arrived in Canada in 1820, on the ship the Commerce. They came alone, with their family remaining behind. I have not yet found a record of the arrival of their families.

Arrived at the Port of Quebec 
Aug 5Ship CommerceN. Coverdale21 JuneGreenock402 settlers(Lanark county settlers)

the Ship's List https://www.theshipslist.com/ships/Arrivals/Canada1820b.shtml (site no longer available)

Located some answers to the question, "Why did they leave Scotland?" in an old book, Muirkirk in Bygone Days by J.G.A. Baird, (Col. J.G.A. Baird of Wellwood) printed in Muirkirk by W.S. Smith, Main Street, Muirkirk, in 1910. Pages 8 - 10: In the middle of the 18th century agriculture in Ayrshire was in a deplorable condition. It was described in a report drawn up by Col. Fullarton for the Board of Agriculture in 1793, quoted by William Aiton, writer of Strathaven, in his book "A Survey of Ayrshire," published in 1811, and corroborated by his own experience. Too lengthy to be given here, some extracts taken together will serve. "There were no practicable roads. The farm houses were mere hovels moated with clay, having an open fireplace in the middle, the midden at the door. The cattle starving, and the people wretched. The land, overrun with weeds and rushes, was gathered up into ridges, the soil on the top of the ridge and the furrows drowned in water. No green crops, no sown grass, no carts or waggons. No garden vegetables except a few Scotch kail (kale) which, with milk and oatmeal, formed the diet of the people, with the exception of a little meat salted for the winter. The people, having no substitute for oatmeal, were at the mercy of the seasons. If these were bad, famine ensued. Indeed, after a succession of wet seasons at the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries, the people were obliged to subsist on a little oatmeal mixed with the blood drawn from their miserable cattle." This, it must be remembered, is a picture of Ayrshire as a whole, including the most fertile districts; what the state of matters was in this neighbourhood, what the squalor and poverty, can hardly now be imagined....... But this state of matter in the wrong place was by no means confined to the above-named villages; it was common throughout Scotland. Indeed, the capital was very far from free of the reproach of dirty and abominable customs. The fact was that, in respect of cleanliness and sanitation, Scotland was still in a primitive condition.

Brother Robert McLatchie emigrated to Edwardsburgh,Ontario,Canada between 1819 and 1822.




Thursday, 12 June 2025

War bride from Auchinleck to Canada

 by Laurie Ann March

29 December 1944

My mother, Janet Jack  was known affectionately as Jenny and born at Templeton Place (nicknamed Mulligan’s Mansions) in Auchinleck on 15 June1926. Her mother died in childbirth a few years later so Jenny was raised by her father Robert and her Aunt Bella. When she was a teenager, she met a Canadian soldier from a small mining town named Worthington, near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. His name was William Henry Langman, and he was stationed in England. Langman was acquainted with her father and older brother and had come to visit. Langman was known to his friends and other members of the RCA as Harry, but Jenny always called him Bill. 
Bill and Jenny didn’t really like each other when they first met and on top of that he had a fiancée in Canada. He did two tours of Italy, and he would send word to Scotland whenever possible. During Bill’s deployment Jenny’s father asked if she would take over the task of writing to Bill’s mother and fiancée with updates and Jenny reluctantly agreed. Bill always visited Auchinleck when he was on leave. Eventually, the engagement to the Canadian lady was broken off and he and Jenny fell in love. He proposed to Jenny from the top of the Ballochmyle Viaduct in Ayrshire. She would tease him later by saying that she should have jumped instead of accepting his proposal. 

at Ballochmyle Viaduct


In 1944 Bill applied for permission from the military to marry Jenny and they were married just before Hogmanay that year. In the summer of 1945, despite his request to remained stationed in the UK, he was shipped home to Canada for repatriation. Jenny was pregnant by then and her passage did not take place until February 1946. She travelled from Liverpool to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada with a 3-month-old baby on the Scythia, with hundreds of other war brides. The journey was not a smooth one. Waves during the fierce Atlantic storms were splashing over A-deck and this made both her and the baby quite ill. 

 


Once they arrived in Halifax the war brides disembarked and as they walked from Pier 21 into the city, a brass band played “Here Comes the Brides.” She said it was awful and that she felt like a spectacle—like they were a herd of cattle. A few days later, Jenny left Halifax with baby John on a train to Ontario, and they ended up in the tiny isolated rural village of Springford, ON. Springford was in the “snowbelt” and experiencing the thick of a Canadian winter was quite a shock.
Life in farming community of Springford was not easy for Jenny, nor was living with her mother-in-law who treated her like she was not good enough for Bill. It wasn’t just dealing with culture shock from being thrust into rural Ontario life; Jenny was also trying to reconcile the differences between her expectations and the reality. It didn’t help that Bill was dealing with the ramifications of what he experienced as a soldier and trying to repatriate into civilian life. Being a war bride was not as romantic as it sounded and Canadian women were sometimes unkind. Bill had something akin to PTSD, and that added to the challenges. 
At one point, she was so lonely, heartbroken, and homesick that she wrote her father to arrange passage back home. He convinced her to stay, and she persevered. Eventually, Jenny and Bill decided that he would take a position as a correctional officer in the city of Guelph, and they moved into a small house near the city’s downtown. Their life in Guelph improved their situation and reduced the social isolation that Jenny had been experiencing. 
The Langmans remained in the Guelph area for close to forty years until Bill passed away in June 1987. Jenny spent her remaining years in Wasaga Beach, Ontario. Jenny had five children between November 1945 and November 1968. They had a very happy marriage despite the rocky start. She was an artisan and made everything from clothing to beautiful heirloom quilts and embroidered works. Jenny shared her Scottish traditions and cooking with friends and family and was legendary for her shortbread. It was always important to her that these traditions be passed down to the next generation. Her life was full of sadness, and she outlived three of her five children. She was determined to live to the fullest, despite the grief, and carried on with grace and strength. 
Jenny never returned to Auchinleck, but her older brother Jim and her best friend Jessie, would visit every few years. She always asked them to bring treats from her homeland for the children. Her nephew and his family still reside in Scotland, and they came to see her several times before she passed away in January 2013 at the age of 86. 
Jenny never forgot her Scottish roots and never lost her accent or sense of adventure. Scottish war brides like Jenny, were resilient young women who changed the fabric of Canada for the better.


Friday, 6 June 2025

The Lakas Family - Lithuania to Cumnock to Chicago, USA

 by Roberta McGee

The Lakas Family - Lithuania to Cumnock to Chicago, USA

Antanas Lakas, a coalminer, was born in Kovno, Lithuania in 1882. He married Marijona (Mary) Baksauskas an Kairin, Lithuania and they had three children there before moving to 37 Townhead Street, Cumnock. Anton found work with the Garrallan Coal Company as a miner/hewer and the couple went on to have four more children in Cumnock. Tragedy struck in 1918 when two of their children died. Alexandria was only one year old when she died of measles. Three days later her brother Wencantas, aged two years old died of pneumonia. The 1921 census shows that they were still living at 37 Townhead Street. However, Antanas was 'out of work'. There was another Lithuanian, with the very British name of Charles Brown, boarding with the family. He was 43 years old, a Russian resident, who had also been working for the Garrallan Coal Company, but he was 'out of work' too. 

A few months later in June 1921, Antanas sailed out of Glasgow on the Cameronia heading for New York. He was alone, with $25 in his pocket, his final destination being to his brother-in-law John Baltrunas in Chicago, Illinois. Mary and the children joined him a year later. The sailed to New York on the Columbia. Mary and their five children were travelling under the surname of Liakaviciene. Antenas seems to have changed his surname too. He was now Anton Lekas Liakaviciene and their new address was 731 Jackson Street, Chicago, Illinois. On the Passenger List the name of the person in the old country was Kazemeras Baksauskas, a friend, 37 Townhead Street, Cumnock, where Mary and Anton lived while they were in Cumnock. 

                                                                            Passport photo


The family made their permanent home in the USA and became American citizens. The children Americanised their names. Jonas became John, Broni became Bernice, Learnovera became Laverne and Broneslofski became Bruno. On the US Naturalization Index it was recorded that son Anthony changed his name by Court Decree from Antanar Liakaviciene to Anthony Michael Lakas. 

Daughter Laverne, who was born in 1920 at 37 Townhead Street, Cumnock, disappeared in 1941. The family weren't overly worried because she had the habit of disappearing for long periods. In 1947 Frank Hertle, an itinerant handyman, finally confessed to police, because his conscience troubled him, that he had strangled her in 1941. He also confessed to strangling another woman in Chicago that same year.

Laverne's body had been found by police six years previously but she had never been identified. 


Lancashire Daily Post 24/3/1947

                                                            
Anton Lakas died in 1954 and his wife Mary died in 1956, both in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois and are buried in Saint Casmir Catholic Cemetery there. 

Image - TripSavvy
     





Tuesday, 3 June 2025

Cumnock Pottery

By Kay McMeekin 

The creation of Cumnock pottery required skilled workers to be brought in from elsewhere. There were many potteries around the Prestonpans and Portobello areas and skilled workers from there came to Cumnock.

Work began at top of Greenbraehead to build the Cumnock Pottery in 1792. The pottery was initially set up to produce graphite crucibles to enable the 6th Earl of Dumfries to develop a blast furnace complex to exploit the ironstone and coal deposits on his estates. Only the pottery was put into operation and was managed by James Taylor born May 1753 in Leadhills, Dumfriesshire who made dramatic developments in ship engineering.

Things did not go well for Taylor when he first came to Cumnock. He brought two Glasgow potters James and John Henderson to set things up in Ayrshire but it seemed that nothing would go right. The graphite they used was inconsistent in supply and impractical to make into crucibles. The 13 men employed were forced to make conventional earthenware from the local clay. It was not until 1812 that the pottery was economically viable.

The original pottery workers are listed in the booklet The Cumnock Pottery by Gerard Quail. They were:

William Inglis (thrower), William Fisher (wheelman), Robert Young (helper to the wheel), William McMillan (fireman), James Baird (fettler), William Johnston (2nd thrower), Thomas Stoddart (2nd fettler), Hugh Thomson (apprentice), George Dickinson (turner), Andrew Thomson (boy), James Lambie (boy), James McCowan (pan man) and Thomas Ferguson (Warehouseman).

William Inglis was born in Prestonpans, son of a potter

James Baird was born probably in Cumnock and his descendants were also potters

Thomas Stoddart was born 1785 in Cumnock. A fettler was a pottery worker who smooths greenware with a knife, felt, emery, and a wet sponge.


Pottery workers were housed in terraced cottages near the pottery in part of Glaisnock St called Pottery Row. These cottages are still standing. James Baird 1841-1931 the grandson of the aforementioned James Baird, also a potter lived in Pottery Row at 97 Glaisnock street all his life. It was likely the house of his grandfather too,


James Baird outside his house in Pottery row

 

The 1841 census for Old Cumnock lists the following eight potters

Robert Murray (born in Sorn, Ayrshire)

Thomas Walker 55 (birthplace outwith Ayrshire)

William Scott 40 (Portobello)

John Thomson 20 (Portobello) stepson of the above William Scott

Lockhart Noble (Glasgow) 

James Baird (probably Cumnock)

James Nichol 20 salesman and potter (Cumnock) This is James McGavin Nicol  who  was appointed the manager of the Cumnock Pottery & Tile Co. in 1852 and 4 years later became the new proprietor. Under his management the business realised its full potential and Cumnock Pottery became known throughout the country.

The Nicol family had been tenant farmers on the Dumfries Estate for several generations. James McGavin Nicol was the eldest son of James Nicol, a Cumnock grocer. When he assumed control of the Pottery in 1857 he was 36 years old. Under his ownership the Motto Ware was properly marketed and grew in popularity. This was achieved by opening up premises in Cumnock which was at that time a thriving town and by using the new railway system to expand the sales market. This was also the period of an increase in travel for pleasure and sport – with town-dwelling day-trippers buying Cumnock Pottery as a gift or memento. By the Census of 1871 the Pottery employed 9 adults and 6 young persons.

In 1881 James McGavin Nicol and his wife Annie Clarkson were living at Herdstone Cottage 109 Glaisnock street. Also at home were sons James (20) William (18) John (9) and Marcus (10 months) and Nicol’s stepson David Robert Dunsmore (26). The Nicol family also had a servant Betsy Black. Senior potters were William Baird (54) and George Simpson (40) and Alex Nicol of Mauchline. In 1881 a total of 20 people were employed in the Pottery.

After old Mr. Nicol died in 1885 the pottery was managed by the stepson David Dunsmor, who ran the office side, but the practical work was overseen by son James Nicol. Dunsmore was now the driving force behind the Pottery. He was a time-served potter, had good management skills and had progressive ideas about marketing the pottery. The Ppottery under his management reached its maximum output and widest market.

In 1920 Dunsmore decided to close the Pottery and wind up the business. The main reasons for closure were economic – with a shortage of easily dug clay and the fashion change towards imported china.

Much later potters from Portobello wee still coming to Cumnock, notably Joseph Hunter aka Pottery Joe born in Coalsnaughton in 1855 and a potter at Portobello. He seems to have moved between Ayrshire and Portobello. 

Joe's Brig

Built to replace the old stepping-stone ford at Greenholm just downstream from the present Greenholm Brig at Asda.

Joe Hunter, a potter at Cumnock Pottery in Glaisnock Street first petitioned the Town Council to build a bridge at Greenholm to replace the Stepping Stone Ford in 1909. Joe and his family lived at 112 Townhead Street and he regularly used the Stepping Stones as a short cut to work but as he had fallen in on one occasion and traffic was increasing over the ford, he kept up his request to the council. By 1914 his representations to the council bore fruit and they agreed to hold a count of how many people crossed the ford in a single day. The number was over 500 so Joe’s persistence paid off and the council agreed to build the bridge. The bridge was described in the Cumnock Chronicle as “Situated about 20 feet further up the Glaisnock Water than the Stepping Stones, the bridge is rustic in design and in addition to its usefulness as a footway is a most artistic landmark. It is built on three strong concrete piers reinforced with ironwork structure. The wood is larch throughout and all locally grown. The foundation consists of four stout trunks bolted to the piers while stout angle brackets and a firm bracework support another four trunks two feet higher up. Binding bolts three feet long secure the structure at various points. The rustic work along the sides, the wood for which was taken from Barshare, rises from the lower trunks to a height of five feet high. To minimise danger to children the inside of the rail-work has been wired. From end to end the bridge measures 45 feet and the footway is three feet wide. Concrete steps have been erected at either side and probably a simple fence will complete the pleasant effect and lessen the risk of pedestrians missing the entrance in the dark. The old stepping stones will be utilised as a breakwater for the central pier.”

The new bridge then quickly became known as Joe’s Brig in honour of this tireless campaigner. This brig remained in constant use until 1927 when the now defunct Rifleman's Brig was offered to the Town Council as a replacement. This was considered but not accepted. The wooden Joe’s Brig was now becoming unsafe and was replaced around 1930s with a brand-new metal brig which served the public until 1967 when it became dangerous and was taken down – the decision not to replace it was taken in the light of the Greenholm Brig being wider and newer. However, the brig was put into storage by the council then repaired and moved to span the Glaisnock Water at the new Ayr Road car park around 1973 and remained there until 1977 when it was replaced with the new Keir McTurk Brig which remains today.

Thursday, 29 May 2025

The Zilinskis

 by Roberta McGee

George Zilinskis (sometimes spelt Zelensky) was born about 1878 in Lithuania (Poland-Russia) and married Ona (Anna) Rudzeviclute  in 1897 in Garlecva, Poland. Their first child Steffina Agnes was born in 1903 at Kelme, Kelme District Municipality, Siaulial, Lithuania. George was a coalminer and by 1907 they had moved to Glengyron, Old Cumnock, where their son Anthony was born, followed by Levonas in 1908, Lana in 1910, George in 1913 and William, who was born in 1918 at Waterside Place.

Both George and Anna remained in Cumnock. George died in 1930 at Waterside Place and Anna in 1949 at 55 Keir Hardie Hill, Cumnock.

Their daughter Steffina Agnes sailed out of Glasgow on 9 March 1921 on the Columbia , arriving in New York on 20 March 1921. Her destination was to her uncle Antanas Rudzeviclute in Century, Barbour County, West Virginia. She was only seventeen years old and a few months later on 29 May 1921 she married John Edward Prutsok in Century. John was a miner who was born in 1895 at Lucerne, West Virginia. His parents were Austrian. 

Steffina’s Wedding - Cumnock Connections 

John and Steffina had three sons but sadly John died in 1935 leaving Steffina a widow aged 32 years. Steffina married again in 1941 to Russian born Michael Superfisky and spent the rest of her life in Barbour County, West Virginia where she died in 1963.

Anthony Zilinskis was born in Glengyron Row in 1907 and married Auchinleck born Annie Gibson Pooley in 1932 at Auchinleck. At some time he changed his surname to Rogers. Anthony was a motor mechanic and died in 1914 in Mauchline. 

Levonas (Leonard) Michael 'Scotty' Zilinskis was born in 1908 at Glengyron, Old Cumnock. He sailed out of Liverpool for New York on the Cedric arriving there on 17 September 1928. He gave his occupation as miner. Although his parents were still alive and living at Waterside Place, Cumnock, he gave his nearest relative in Scotland as his uncle Peter Kilvites, Beechwood Square, Auchinleck. His final destination in the USA was to his brother-in-law John Prutsok, his sister Steffina's husband, Century, West Virginia. 

On his Draft Card of 16 August 1940 he gave his address as Mellette, Spink, West Virginia and his employer was The Century Coal Co. Scotty joined the US Army on 2 September 1942 and was married that same year to Lillian Anna Hamilton who was born in West Virginia. He became naturalised in 1943. Scotty died in 1967 at Buckhannon, Upshur, West Virginia.

Image Cumnock Connections

A description of Century in the Cumnock Connections Tree presumably by one of Scotty's children
            
            The town we grew up in was called Century. The name originated because the
            company who opened the coal mine thought they had about a century of coal,
            plus it opened at the beginning of the 1900s. The Mine was Bethlehem 101. It
            was owned by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, out of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
            It was a very nice town with an elementary school and two churches;one Catholic
            and one Methodist. We rode a school bus to high school, which was about eight
            miles away. Very close knit community.


                    Scotty, front row centre, representing Bethlehem Steel in a first aid & mine rescue team
                                                            Image - Cumnock Connections

Lana (Ellen) Zilinskis  was born in 1910 at 54 York Street Lane, Ayr and married John Drain Brown in 1933 in Cumnock. However, they divorced in 1939. Ellen then married Hugh Loy in 1841 in Cumnock and she died in 1978.

George Zilinskis was born in 1913 at 13 Glengyron Row. On 22 March 1950 he sailed out of Southampton on the Queen Elizabeth  arriving in New York on 28 March 1950. Aged 36 years and single, he was en route to Century, West Virginia where his brother and sister lived. George was naturalised in 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio and died there in 1973.

William Zilinskis was born in 1918 at Waterside Place, Cumnock. He changed his name to William Rogers legally in 1939 at Cumnock. At the time he was a miner living at 55 Keir Hardie Hill, Cumnock. Sometime afterwards he went to Rhodesia to work as a miner. 8 July 1947 finds William, aged 29 years, arriving in Southampton on the Carnarvon Castle having departed from Capetown, South Africa, his country of last permanent residence being West Rhodesia and his proposed address being 55 Keir Hardie Hill where his mother was still living. William's mother died in 1949.

                                               William Zilinskis Rogers - Image mandyerogers

Five years later, in 1954, William was living in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia and had acquired a wife, Tryphena Edith Rogers. He was a miner. Possibly he was a goldminer. It was at Kilgoorlie that Australia's famous Gold Rush took place in 1893 and goldmining remains a major industry. However, by 1968 he had changed his occupation and become a linesman. William died in 1977 at Geraldton, Western Australia and is buried at Utakarra in Greater Geraldton City.