by Roberta McGee
Jane, known as Jean, McGlashan was born in Old Cumnock in 1798, the daughter of Alexander McGlashan and Abigail Patrick. When she was 20 years old she found herself pregnant, the father of her child being Hilbert Van Cooten, and she appeared before the Kirk Session on 23rd April 1818.
Kirk Session Minutes
Cumnock 23 April 1818
Constituted with prayer
Present - The Moderator and all the Elders
When Jean McGlashan in the village appeared voluntarily confessing she had brought forth a Child in fornication and accusing Hilbert Van Cooten lately in Cumnock now a medical student in Glasgow as the father of it from whom a letter of acknowledgement to the session was produced. The Session having considered the same agree to take her on discipline according to her request and she was therefore rebuked admonished to repentance and having paid a Guinea to the poor was absolved from the scandal. Concluded with prayer.
The child, who was born 5th March 1818 in Old Cumnock to Jean McGlashan and Hilbert Van Cooten, was named Jean Van Cooten. Jean and Hilbert eventually married nearly three years later on 8th January 1821 at Gorbals, Glasgow.
Perhaps the reason that Hilbert was in Cumnock was that he met Jean's older brother Gilbert McGlashan who was a medical student at the same time. Gilbert was studying at Edinburgh and Hilbert at Glasgow.
(Thanks to Kay for finding this information)
So who was this medical student Hilbert Van Cooten who arrived in Cumnock and captured Jean McGlashan's heart?
Hilbert was born and brought up 4,500 miles away in Demerara, Guiana, South America. Demerara was controlled by the Dutch at the time of Hilbert's birth in 1795. His full name was Theodorus Hermanus Hilbertus Van Cooten, sometimes recorded as Vancooten. His father Hendrik was born in Doorn, near Utrecht, Netherlands in 1750 and his mother was, purportedly, descended from Madagascan Royalty. Hendrik was a carpenter and surveyor who was granted land in the Colony of Demerara, Guiana by the Dutch Royal Family for work he had carried out there on their behalf. He arrived in Demerara from the Netherlands in February 1773 and became the owner of the plantations Vryheid's Lust and Sheet Anchor. He also became the owner of many slaves who worked on his plantations. The main commodities in Demerara were sugar cane and cotton.
Demerara was captured by the British in 1796, restored to the Dutch in 1802, recaptured in 1803 and formally ceded to Britain in 1814. Three territories, Bernice, Demerara and Essequibo, were united as British Guiana in 1831. In 1966 the country became independent under the name of Guyana.
There were many Scots who arrived in Guiana during the Highland Clearances.
Historian David Alston says:
"Guyana offered some prospect of making a fortune, even for those of limited means, if they were prepared to start work as clerks, overseers and tradesmen. The key to success was to own slaves. It was a weird accident that so many people from the Highlands went over. Plantations employed all sorts of people:carpenters, gardeners, bookkeepers and doctors were needed. Scotland had a good education sysytem and the population was mobile. Tacksmen (principal tenants in Highlands after landowners) led immigration and looked for opportunities."
The night of 17th August 1823 was the start of one of the most massive slave rebellions in the history of the Western hemisphere, the uprising in the British Colony of Demerara. Hilbert's family of Van Cootens was right in the middle of it. The English missionary John Smith was arrested and charged with inciting the slave rebellion and Hilbert's father Hendrik was a witness on John Smith's behalf.
Read more about John Smith here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Smith_(missionary)
Whether Hilbert was still in Scotland while this was happening or whether he had returned to Demerara immediately after his marriage in 1821 is uncertain. He was back in Demerara by 1825 and is mentioned in his father's Will.
Hendrik's Will of 1825
That my son T.H. Hilbertus (this is Hilbert) shall act as doctor and daily visit the sick and those who have sores he is to prepare and administer the necessary medicines or remedies for which he is to receive eight hundred guilders per annum. The necessary medicines are to be furnished to him by the administrators at the expense of the plantation. He is to have a boy to serve him and the administrators are to take care that his and the overseers clothes are properly washed.
The four sons Nicholas, Anthony, Lucius and Theodorus Hermanus Hilbertus shall be bound to have the hereafter named coloured children instructed in reading writing arithmetic and a Trade and to maintain them until the age of 18 years viz. Nicholas the Boy Dan born from my slave Brunol Lucius, the Boy Edward born from my slave Eve, and Theodorus Hermanus Hilbertus the Boy Wilson born from my slave Charlotte.
Source: Van Cooten Voices
So, Hilbert was to be a doctor on the plantations and he was also put in charge of his father's son Wilson, his half-brother. Hilbert died at the family plantation of Vryheid's Lust on 7th June 1837. The questions remain - Did his wife Jean and their daughter ever visit Demerara?, did Hilbert go back to Scotland to see his wife and daughter? and was Hilbert's family aware that he had a wife and daughter back in Cumnock?
Back in Cumnock life went on. Hilbert and Jean's daughter Jean Van Cooten married John Wilson on 20th September 1836 in the village and they had four children there. The 1841 census shows John Wilson and wife Jane living in Old Cumnock village along with their daughter Jane Wilson aged 3 years and mother-in-law Jane Cooten. In 1851 they are living on the North Side of The Square, Cumnock with their four children and also Jane's mother Jane McGlashan.
Onward to Australia. 15th September 1852 finds Jean McGlashan and the Wilson family arriving in Melbourne, Australia having sailed on the 'Europa' from Liverpool.
The family settled in Prahran, Victoria, Australia.
John Wilson, who was born in 1811 in Kirkconnel, Dumfriesshire, became headmaster of Taradale Public School, Victoria. He died in 1876 at Chapel Street, Prahran.
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| John Wilson's funeral notice |
Jane Van Cooten, died in 1897 at 43 Perth Street, Prahran.
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| Jane Van Cooton's funeral notice |
Their eldest daughter Jane Van Cooten Wilson who was born in 1838 in Cumnock died in 1912 at 43 Perth Street, Prahran, Victoria. She was Matron to the Industrial Schools, Royal Park, Brunswick, Australia where her late sister Dorothea had been Submatron. Jane was unmarried.
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| Jane Van Cooten Wilson's funeral notice |
John and Jane's second daughter was Dorothea Nicols Wilson who was born in 1842 in Cumnock and died in 1891 at The Industrial Schools, Park Street, Royal Park, Brunswick, Australia. Dorothea was a Submatron at the Industrial Schools. Her Will gives her middle name as Nicholas. Dorothea was unmarried.
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| Dorothea Nicols Wilson's funeral notice |
Their third daughter was Anna Maria Wilson who was born in 1844 in Cumnock and died in 1870 at Cremorne, Brunswick, Victoria, Australia. She died at the residence of William Mitchell, Esq., brewer. Perhaps Anna Maria worked for his family. She was only 25 years old when she died and was unmarried.
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| Anna Maria Wilson's funeral notice |
Their fourth child, and only son, was Hilbert Herminus Theodorus Van Cooten Wilson who was born in Cumnock in 1846 and died in 1911 at 43 Perth Street, Prahran, Victoria, Australia. Hilbert was a grocer and appears to have been unmarried.
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| Hilbert Wilson's funeral notice |
Finally, Jean McGlashan, whose unplanned pregnancy created the Cumnock connection to the Van Cooten line which stretches from Demerara to Old Cumnock and on to Australia. Jean died in 1879 at 2 Barry Street, South Yarra, Australia.
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| Jean McGlashan's funeral notice |
None of John and Jane Wilson's children appear to have married or had children so it seems that this is the end of Dr. Hilbert Van Cooten and Jean McGlashan's line - unless, of course, Hilbert had children in Demerara.
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