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 5	Ship Commerce	N. Coverdale	21 June	Greenock	402 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.

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.

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

     

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.

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.

Professor Robert Ethol Welsh, MA, DD

By Ron Sharpe

                  Professor Robert Ethol Welsh, MA, DD   1857-1935                                                                                                                                                   

                               

 

Robert Welsh was born on 20th March 1857 at Braehead Farm, in New Cumnock, Scotland  He was the fifth son, and the youngest of the seven children born to Robert Welsh and Mary Kennedy of " Hall of Auchincross" Farm.

Theodosia Anderson Marshall

Robert's birthplace was a cold, wet and remote area of Ayrshire, and Hall of Auchincross, Braehead, and Dalricket Mill were farms that were situated close to one another in a glen where the fledgling River Nith started its journey through the southern part of Scotland and entered the Solway Firth just south of Dumfries. Dalricket Mill was  an important element in the Kennedy family, as it was the farm that had raised Robert's mother as well as his uncles and aunts. At the time of Robert's birth the farm was occupied by his grandmother Mary Young Kennedy, and his unmarried uncle James Kennedy.

Little is known about Robert's early life, but we know that he was surrounded by a very close knit religious family.

The nearby countryside had also been the site of violent and bloody religious persecution in the 17th century. The covenanters were a group of simple people who refused to follow the King's instructions on religious matters. Many were hunted down and arrested in the hills and glens surrounding Dalricket Mill for holding illegal religious services. The captured rebels were then taken to Edinburgh for trial. The trial verdicts were mostly foregone conclusions and many of the covenanters were hanged in the infamous Grassmarket area of that city. Others hid in the hills for many months, but were eventually

discovered by the King's soldiers and shot where they stood, for refusing to recognise the King as the head of the church.

 

Covenanters' graves had been discovered in the hills close by and the stories of these heroic, proud and defiant people would have been told around the fires of many of the farmhouses on winter nights.

 

Robert's uncle, the Rev. Alexander Kennedy had been the first Presbyterian missionary to take the religious message to Trinidad and the West Indies in 1835.  

Robert was a six-year-old when he met his Uncle Alex for the first time in 1863, and no doubt he would have been enthralled with his uncle, who, with all his tales of faraway places, strange people and even stranger customs would have appeared as a hero to this young boy. All of these things, coupled to a regular churchgoing ethic would have had a huge effect on Robert’s decision to devote his life to the word of God, in fact he was described as being,” faithful in his attendance at the West Church, Cumnock. And it's documented that regardless of weather, all members of Roberts immediate family walked the seven miles or so, to attend the church in Old Cumnock every Sunday.

 

Robert's father had died from a bout of fever, on the 28th of January 1868, and this would prove to have a huge effect on him. His entire life had revolved around the area for the last eleven years. He had been educated at the local country school of Dalleagles, and had been surrounded by family and friends in all that time.

As was the custom in farming communities of those times, the eldest son usually followed his father, and took over the running of the farm, and George was no different. While there would have been efforts to get the daughters married off to eligible farmer’s sons, the younger sons would receive an education, and this seems to have been the case with the young Robert. By the time of the 1871 census, in April of that year, the document reveals that the fourteen-year-old Robert was still living at "Hall of Auchincross" with his widowed mother, and his elder sister Isabel. Robert's elder brother George and his wife were living at Wellhill Tile works which was just over the hill from the family farm. He is recorded as being a farmer of 28 acres. George would have been living in a house within the tileworks and it seems likely that he was running the day to day affairs of both farms. 

 

Sometime around the summer of 1871, George gave up his small farm and moved into “Hall of Auchincross”. Meanwhile, Robert, his sister Isabel and his mother moved into Cumnock where they stayed with his eldest brother James on the Auchinleck Road. While resident in Cumnock, and for a short time, Robert was a pupil of the Free Church School in Ayr Road. After that he went on to attend Ayr Academy, where he was, once again, described as a distinguished pupil who excelled in mathematics.

It seems unlikely that he travelled the 32 mile round trip on a daily basis, and he may have lodged somewhere in Ayr. In the "History of Ayr Academy" by the renowned Ayrshire historian John Strawhorn, he mentions that some scholars lodged in Ayr, and that both the rector and the mathematics master took in boarders. Education fees were payable, and these ranged from £2 to £2/12/6d per quarter, so when accommodation was added, Robert's education wouldn't have come cheap. After leaving Ayr Academy he was accepted for, and entered Glasgow University. Once again he had to find lodgings and he joined his elder brother Alexander, (later a missionary in South Africa) and his cousin James Kennedy Scott (later a parish minister in Fraserburgh) who were studying theology. It's believed that they all lodged together at Mrs. Thompson's boarding house at 21 Willowbank St., Glasgow.                                                      

 

In 1877 at the age of 20 Robert graduated Master of Arts. It was at this point, that we see Robert listed as Robert Ethol Welsh, for the first time.

In September of 1876, Robert was already writing to the Foreign Mission Board in Edinburgh about his intention to become a Missionary. The transcript below is thought to have been Robert’s earliest correspondence with the Mission Board.

 

                                                                                                                                              

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

26th September 1876                National    Library Ref # 7655                                                                               

 

 

Dear Mr Welsh

I congratulate you on your proposal to enter yourself on the Barker Bursary.

All that you need to do at this preliminary stage is to give in your name to the Rev Dr Jeffrey, The Clerk of Presbytery; and to send me a Medical Certificate, that your constitution is judged to be one which is able to stand a tropical climate. Should you have occasion to test it. This preliminary step ought always to be taken in order to alleviate any unpleasant obstruction at a later stage. It would suffice for you to show your Medical Certificate along with this note before seeing Dr Jeffrey, but I shall be glad to send a separate note to Dr Jeffrey mentioning the Certificate on or before Monday next.

I am Yours Very Truly

Hamilton M Mansfell

  

The ink has faded in places on these old letters and question marks or brackets are inserted where the words are illegible.                                                                                          

 

National Library Ref # 7656  387

9th April 1877

My Dear Sir

I welcome cordially your letter of inquiry, and I hope you will never hesitate to put any question I can answer, and be more communicative and confiding than some students intending to be missionaries seem inclined to be rather hesitant to state to me.

If you find that your (...........) (...........) to facilitate and accelerate your course with a view to Foreign Missionary work. I think it an error to lay down either a full or partial medical education, as a citation? For Missionary work. I know that many (...........) indeed very few can with advantage, take in the literary, theological or medical lore simultaneously. It is like putting enormous luggage into a small bag, both spoiling the luggage and perhaps bursting the bag into the bargain. I could (........) to work on the results. Besides one need only a limited supply of Medical Missionaries, we need more on Jamaica. We need only one at the moment at any station, in India, China, Japan or Calabar, and we have never sought for one for (.????.) or Spain. Much depends on the  ? Whether medical (.....) need be attempted.

Kindly think over these things and let me know your views and wishes. I shall be very glad to hear from you and the (........) confidentially you treat mine, this more usefully for your great (..........) and mine and the Mission Board.

I am very truly yours

Hamilton M Mansfell                                                                                                     

 

 

TO       Mr Robert Welsh

                                                                                                                                                                c/o Mrs Thomson

                                                                                                                                                               21 Willowbank Street

                                                                                                                                                              GLASGOW

 

 

This would seem to be the first letter where Robert is making serious enquiries to the Mission Board. In this letter it looks as though he may have wanted to study medicine as well as divinity, however the Mission Secretary seems to advise against this. The letter was written in early April just before Robert graduated from Glasgow University.

 

Robert applied for and was awarded an Archer Bursary for the two years 1878 and 1879. He next applied for a third year, which would see him studying theology, at the Halls of the United Presbyterian Church, in Edinburgh.

In his final year of Divinity Studies, Robert was also learning a Chinese language with a view to serving in the Far East, The Mission (Eastern Branch) was mainly active in the Moukden area of Manchuria.

Robert travelled through to Edinburgh in the autumn of 1879 to undergo the necessary medical check up for mission work.  He was on friendly terms with the Foreign Mission Secretary who advised him that there would be time enough in the spring of the following year to reach a settlement of service.  Meanwhile the Secretary hoped to see Robert "at my home, sometime during the winter".

 

After the completion of his study's in early 1880, Robert at the age of 23 was living at 19 Marchmont Crescent in Edinburgh. He married an 18-year-old by the name of Theodosia (Theo)Anderson Marshall on the 10th of April 1880 in her home town of Lochee near Dundee. It's possible they may have met at Edinburgh, as she would have been too young to be at Glasgow University. Robert's cousin James K. Scott, who he had passed through university with, was by now an ordained minister, and although he didn't perform the marriage he was the best man. It was on the 20th of April 1880 that Robert achieved his goal and after all his efforts was finally ordained as a minister of the United Presbyterian Church. We know Robert preached very little in Scotland, however his first sermon was preached in the village church in Ochiltree, Ayrshire. It must have been very soon after this that they both took leave of their families and set out for the Far East, and Japan, it would prove to be very different from their homeland.

 

THE FOLLOWING SECTION IS COMPILED FROM LETTERS WRITTEN BETWEEN ROBERT E WELSH AND THE MISSION BOARD IN EDINBURGH, 1880 and 1881

 

 

Robert and Theo reached Japan in August 1880. He was now the Rev Robert E Welsh. But Robert's first letter back was full of complaints. The Mission Members, he said, did not know their job. As a background to this, it appears that the board had been slow to discipline a Miss Gamble who it seems created much disharmony at her school in Japan. The other Missionaries mainly passed on the troubles to Robert, and Robert, perhaps in the foolishness of youth, jumped in at the deep end and supported them, this support however, was going to portray Robert as the antagonist as far as his Scottish masters were concerned.

Edinburgh replied to Robert that "gossip appeared to be the reverse side of truth" and it was a little unfortunate that his first communication should have been finding fault with the Board and its Secretary.  In future they would expect to hear of Robert's work and the proofs of the Master's presence within him.

Robert's next letter, October 1880, was worse, as far as the Mission board was concerned.  Robert stated that both Mrs Welsh and he were in ill health and wished to return to Scotland.  Whatever it was medical wise, the problem must have been there before they left Scotland.  The Board replied "why did you not think of consulting us before taking the step you have done? Pray that he who knows the way may find a sphere in which you will be spared to do much earnest and successful work for him, to whom you have ennobled your life.  I will do what I can for your welfare".

The Mission Secretary carefully avoided giving outright permission for the Welshes to return, but anyway they were on their way, and living at Theo's parents' home, in Dundee by March 1881.  The sojourn in Japan had been only a few months duration.  

They had returned on their own volition, the Foreign Mission secretary reminded them, and so Robert had forfeited any claim to salary as from the date of his return. He was also told he had received the Archer Bursary for three years and a condition of that had been that the applicant wished to serve in the Foreign Mission field.  Robert took the Secretary to task for showing his last letter to the Board, but it was pointed out to him, that he had not written in a private capacity.

 

The summer of 1882 found him preaching at Harrogate and living there at 5 Royal Crescent, he would spend five years there during which time a new church was built.

In August 1886 Robert was for the last time in touch with the Foreign Mission Secretary, “was there any possibility of a vacancy as a missionary in the Far East?” The answer was, no vacancy, the excuse made was limited cash resources, expansion in other countries etc. However it may have been the fact that the mission secretary felt he was just too loose a cannon, and that trouble of some sort just followed wherever he went.     

                                          

The following year of 1887 found Robert living in Willesden Green, North London. He was by now the minister of St. George's, Brondesbury. It must have suited him, as he was to remain there for the next 17 years, during which time he oversaw the building of another new church. It is reported at the time that "he entered into the full stride of his ministry" and that it was one of the most important in the presbytery of London North.

At some point around 1890 Robert would have returned home to New Cumnock, for the funeral of his mother ,who died that year.

In 1892 Robert and Theo felt the need of a holiday and took a passage for  South Africa, in order to visit Robert's brother Alexander, who was running a mission school out there. They stayed for three months, and on the return voyage, Robert met Olive Schreiner who was a popular authoress of the time. He decided to write an article about her and on his return to Britain he had it accepted for publication in "The Young Woman" a periodical of high standing and good repute in those days. The article attracted so much interest and attention that it led to Robert's inclusion in "Who's Who". 

The success of the article spurred Robert on, and he started to write other pieces. This lead to him becoming a successful, and respected author of religious books. His first book was published in 1895 and “In Relief of Doubt” sold over 100,000 copies on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s thought he wrote around ten books, most of which have been housed in important libraries around the world. All of these books and other examples of Roberts literary work, are still available in the "Scottish Library" in Edinburgh.

 

Although no actual date is known, Robert and Theo became parents when they adopted a daughter. We can assume that this took place after their South African journey. The child was born on the 5^th of January 1893 in the county of Middlesex, and may have been an unwanted child from Robert's own parish. The couple named their little girl Olive Theodosia Welsh. Given that Robert's admiration for Olive Schreiner was well known, it’s very possible that she was named after Miss Schreiner, and Mrs. Welsh. 

 

During those years at Brondsbury he served for some months as the literary superintendent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and on two occasions was asked to take the position permanently, but he declined. His literary activities continued however and he helped to compile the Hymnal "Church Praise" for the Presbyterian Church of England. 

 

Sometime after 1903 Robert felt that a change might be beneficial and he relinquished his charge at Brondsbury and accepted a call to Hove near Brighton. As I have mentioned earlier Robert's cousin, Isabel Baird had married, and settled in Hove with her family, and being surrounded by his "ain folk" would have been a comfort to him. However his stay at Hove was to be brief, for the British and Foreign Bible Society, were once again in contact with him. This time their offer was one Robert felt he couldn't refuse. In 1905 he left on his own for Canada, Theo and their adopted daughter Olive would follow in 1906. Robert had been invited to become the first  General Secretary of the Society for all Canada.                                                                                                                                                                                         Robert arrived in Canada at some point in 1905, and he was soon travelling all over the country "from coast to coast familiarizing himself with the problems and conditions of Canadian life". At the time it would seem he was based in Toronto, as he was a member of the Toronto Presbyterian Church. In 1906, at the age of 49, Robert received the degree of D.D. from the "Knox College". He was now Doctor Welsh.

 

 By 1907 he was living in Montreal at 419 Metcalf Avenue, Westmont, and had been invited by the Presbyterian Church of Canada to accept the chair of Apologetics and Church History in its Montreal college.  He felt he was well enough equipped for the Apologetics end of the task, but he wasn't so sure about the history side of things. However he accepted the position, and it's recorded that he "laboured day and night, even to the peril of his health, to ensure his history work should not fall below his own fastidious standards of excellence". It was in October of 1907 that the now, Professor, Robert Ethol Welsh M.A. D.D. took up his position at The Presbyterian Theological College, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. In a report to the board of management in 1908, he was said to have proved himself to be a most valuable addition to the staff, both as to competence of scholarship, and to teaching ability. There is no doubt that if spared he will render most excellent service to the college and to the church. In 1910 a staff photograph was taken, and Robert is described as being small in stature, with a small tidy beard, and a magnificent moustache.  His studying of Church History must have stood him in good stead, and when the co-operative scheme embracing all the theological colleges in Montreal came into being, he was assigned to the teaching of History and Philosophy of Religion. This was a position he was to hold for a number of years.  Shortly after this his interest in the family tree must have developed and he started the long and laborious task of seeking out his "kin" in all the corners of the globe.

 

The actual time scale of Robert's family research is unknown, but it would seem to have been completed by November 1912. It is contained in a concise booklet containing 452 names, from over 70 separate families’, who are spread all over the world. From, Scotland to New Zealand, India to Paraguay, among many others. In the introductory note to the booklet, Robert gives us an insight into just why his interest in "the family" came to the fore. 

It would seem he had been contacted by a writer who had written a short life story of his uncle, the Rev Alexander Kennedy, of Canada. The writer expressed an interest in Alexander's parental family, the initial reason for this is unknown. However this must have stimulated Robert's curiosity, and he set out on the monumental task. He mentions "increase of family's since some of the returns were dispatched" this seems to suggest that at least a year was spent on the project, but it was probably a lot longer than that. With the help of another one of his cousins, Mary Scott of Edinburgh, he sent out letters to all the heads of the relevant family's. On the strength of the answers he received, the booklet was compiled, produced, and dispatched back to the families. Robert met all the costs incurred.

 

During his years of service in Canada, we have no evidence that he ever acted in a ministerial capacity, but we know he shared in the compilation of the Canadian Presbyterian "Book of Praise" and was convener of the committee that prepared the "Book of Common Order" for the Presbyterian Church of Canada.

Very little else is known about Robert's career until 1925, when Church union came into being. He had joined the United Church of Canada in that year. Following Church union he acted as principal of the college, a position he later withdrew from to become Dean of Graduate Studies. He was assigned the task of drawing up the form of service for the great Act of Union, in Toronto on the 10th of June 1925. After this he once again assisted in the creation of the "Hymnary" of the United Church of Canada. By the time 1930 dawned Robert had decided to retire, he was now 73 years of age, and in the course of one week in April he had completed fifty years in the ministry, celebrated his golden wedding, and retired from active work. Robert longed to spend his final days back home in his beloved Ayrshire, so by the Autumn of 1930 Robert and Theo had said farewell to all their friends and colleagues and sailed away from the country that had been their home for 25 years. Scotland, and home was just over the horizon, and she was pulling them back to their "ain folk".   

 

  

They returned to Ayr where Robert had been educated, and took up residence at 22 Wellington Square. Robert's nephew had his home and a law practice next door at number 21, and also owned number 22. They were home in time for Christmas, and Robert had plans to write at least another two books, but the new year of 1931, was not to prove a happy one, as Robert's wife, Theo, his partner of over fifty years, died on the 7th of November, at the age of 69.  

He must have found this a difficult cross to bear, we know he continued to write, but none of his efforts seem to have been published. He was involved with various charitable organizations, and it would appear he entered the pulpit of some local churches again, on more than one occasion, in fact his last sermon was preached at Ochiltree, in Ayrshire, around 1934. During the service he divulged that he had preached his very first sermon there as a young man.

 

Reverend, Professor, Robert Ethol Welsh,M.A. D.D. passed away early on the morning of Sunday 1st September 1935, at 22 Wellington Square, Ayr, Scotland. The cause of death was given as cerebral thrombosis.

 

That morning the Rev R.T. Cameron at the close of his sermon in the Sandgate Church, Ayr, spoke to his congregation saying that he could not forbear a brief reference to Robert. he said "Dr. Welsh was a student to the end, always planning fresh literary ventures, and working up to the limits of his strength and sometimes beyond them, to complete tasks that he had laid upon himself. Many of them would long remember those beautiful and fragrant discourses which from time to time he preached from that pulpit in his own, quietly impressive way. Now he was gone from their sight, but his memory would long abide. To his adopted daughter in New York, and to his kinsfolk at home they sent their warmest sympathy".

 

At a meeting of the Ayr Presbytery on the 4th of September 1935 the Moderator, the Rev. D. G. Milne, referred to the loss sustained by the Presbytery and the church generally, by the death of Professor Welsh. Though not an active member of the Presbytery, he was certainly a great power in the religious world, on both sides of the Atlantic. He had made his impress on theological thought, not only in our own country, but beyond the seas. They appreciated the services he had rendered to the church at large; they regretted his loss, and sympathized with those he had left behind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Details of Will,

 

Welsh Robert E.           TES: SC6/46/63              INV  SC6/44/117

 

Reverend Professor Robert Ethol Welsh, sometime of the Presbyterian College, Montreal, formerly residing at The Manse, Walm Lane,Willesden Green,London. and thereafter at 419 Metcalf Avenue, Westmont, Montreal, Quebec,Canada. Latterly of 22 Wellington Square, Ayr. Died 1st September 1935, at Ayr Testate. Confirmation at Ayr, 29th January 1936, to Robert Welsh Solicitor, 21 Wellington Square, Ayr. and Doctor James Kennedy Welsh, 5 Mayfield Gardens, Edinburgh. Executors of Will dated 25th June 1908, recorded with other writs at Ayr 16th January 1936.

 

VALUE OF ESTATE: £619.5.1.

 

COMMENTS

 

Robert was certainly a very religious man, and he was probably looked up to and admired in many social circles. But it appears that he had an extremely high opinion of himself. In all of the research I’ve completed over many years, I have never came across any reference to his humble agricultural origins. He was a prolific letter writer to many of the broadsheets while a resident of both Harrogate and London. The subject matter seemed to vary from what he saw as a local injustice, to the state of the pavements. He did return from Canada to Scotland on at least two known occasions. Once in June 1913, when he preached the Sunday service at The West Church in Ayr Road, and August of 1924 when he stayed with his nephew Robert Welsh in Ayr. On his return to Canada after a month’s holiday, he was required to complete a Canadian entry document. When the document asked “Can you read?” his reply was “I can write too!” Next question, “What language” English and others. 

 

Another point worth noting is that Robert's middle name of "Ethol" is not on his birth certificate, in fact the only reference to "Ethol" I have uncovered is the name of a cottage in Cumnock, that his brother was residing in for some time. It may have been just vanity on Robert's part that he felt a middle name would give him a little more standing in his position. There is nothing to make us think that "Ethol" is an old family name that has been passed down through the years. On his death certificate he is referred to as Robert Ethol Welsh, formerly Robert Welsh.

 

Robert Welsh led a deeply religious life, and although in his early days as a missionary in Japan he seems to have been a little impatient, not to mention foolish, he nevertheless continued to dedicate his life to the work of God. 

As a member of the Kennedy family he is without doubt one of its most successful sons, although not one of its richest. However, to the ever expanding clan of Kennedy descendants, Robert's greatest achievement must be the initial family history research he carried out in the early 20th century. There can be no doubt that without the efforts of Robert Welsh and his cousin Mary Scott, a considerable amount of our knowledge, relating to our family history, would have been lost to us. I don't suppose he could ever have imagined that his efforts would still be generating interest in the 21st century, and that the descendants of James Kennedy and Mary Young are slowly, but surely, getting in contact with one another again. I feel sure he would be very proud of that.

 

                    " We have proved we have hearts in a cause, we are noble still,                 

                               I have felt with my native land, I am one with my kind." 

Robert Ethol Welsh     

 

                                                                                                                         

 

 

 

Written by: Ron Sharpe, Rosehearty, Scotland. January 2001. Modified April 2025

 

Letters written between Robert and the Mission Board

Researched and written by: George Sanderson, Penicuik, Scotland. 1997.

 

Contributions: Scottish Records Office, Edinburgh, Scotland.

 

                        Carnegie Library, Ayr, Scotland.

 

                        McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

 

                        Ayr Advertiser Archives, Ayr, Scotland.

 

                        Ayrshire Post Archives, Ayr, Scotland.

 

                        Cumnock Chronicle Archives, Cumnock, Scotland.

 

                        Baird Institute and local history centre, Cumnock, Scotland.

 

                        The Original Family Tree.  By Robert E. Welsh.

 

                        Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland,