Escape from persecution - from Belarus to Cumnock

By Kay McMeekin with help from Michael Sloane and Judith Kaplan (Updated July 2024)

The Sloane family has been trading in Cumnock since at least 1891! This is their story.

1914

Joel in centre, William in uniform, Bessie standing, Mary seated, Solomon seated front middle and Hyman seated right

Joel Dunitz’s family lived in Slonim, in the province of Grodno, Belarus until about 1888. He was one of 4 brothers. They left because of the anti-Semitic pogroms.  The pogroms were are their worst in 1881-2 so they possibly left before that.

Grandson Michael Sloane thinks they arrived in Leith in 1888. Whether that was planned or whether they thought they were going to New York is unknown.  There are apocryphal tales of immigrants being  landed in Scotland instead of New York.  Joel changed his surname to Slonimsky after their home town as only one family member was allowed to leave. His brothers left under different names.

By 1891 Joel Slonimsky was in Kilnholm Place and working as a travelling draper. He went round the doors with a suitcase and the goods could be paid for by instalments. He was a  "credit draper".

He married Lena Dunitz, his niece, in Protski in Poland in January 1894. Protski is a fair distance from Slonim.  He must have gone back for her. Their son Wolf, later know as William and Michael’s father, was born in Glasgow in November 1894 in Glasgow although Joel’s address was given as Tower st, Cumnock.

Bessie was born in 1895. She married Solomon Zeff a tailor and lived in London.  

In 1901 Joel and Lena were in Tower street

Haym or Hyman was born in 1902. He died in Glasgow in 1969.

Queenie Leah was born  in 1905. She died a few days before her 2nd birthday

Mary was born in 1906

Solomon (Solly) was born in 1908 and  became a doctor in New Cumnock. He was also known as Oliver Stone. He ended up in London. Sadly Joel's wife Lena died in 1909 in Glasgow Royal Infirmary when Solomon was less than 2 years old. She is buried in the Western Necropolis where there had been Jewish burials since 1889.

In 1906, Joel had a partner Mr Michaelson and they had a shop in Barrhill Road with a wide selection of goods. In July 1914 they opened a shop at 18 Ayr Road.  I don't know who Michaelson is. There was a Simon Michaelson, a commercial traveller in drapery, living in Cathcart Glasgow at the time but I can find nothing to link them.

In 1911 widowed Joel 43 and his children and servant Mary Agnew 26 lived in 49 Barrhill Road. Joel was a general dealer.

1906

1914

In the 1921 census Joel 55 is still in Barrhill Road with his children plus a niece Rachael Davidson and her infant son Jack. Rachael  is indeed a niece, daughter of Joel's  brother Israel Brodie. Remember the brothers adopted new names!

1921 census

Joel, a speaker of Russian, Belarusian and Yiddish, was friends with Cumnock socialist Keir Hardie and seemingly taught him some Russian.

William Sloane served in WW1, as a Lance Corporal in the AOC. He married twice and had a daughter Moyra Lena and a son Michael.

1915

By 1930 Mr Michaelson is out of the picture and Joel and his sons are now selling records and gramophones and wireless radios.

Gramophone needle tin

Joel Slonimsky died at 22 Latta Crescent, Cumnock in 1943. The children changed their name to Sloane after Joel died and they moved to Giffnock in 1946 where there was an established Jewish community and a synagogue. They kept their business interests in Cumnock. 

 

1955

William's son Michael, now in his eighties. still keeps his shop in Glaisnock street and delivers to his customers.

They swapped premises with Breckenridge and Henderson about 1957 and moved to 61 Glaisnock Street and Breckenridge and Henderson moved to 18 Ayr Road.

The four Dunitz brothers from Judith Kaplan.

L to R Jacob, Joel, Israel, Isaac Noah

Michael at his shop in Glaisnock Street, May 2024

Photos by Morag Gordon

John Kay, WW1 cartographer

By Kay McMeekin with cooperation of his descendants.

John Kay was born in Cumnock in 1856 to  John Kay and Jean Thomson (More of the Thomson family elsewhere)

He became a tailor in Liverpool and married a widow Ellen Charlotte Jackson widow of Charles Thomas Laidman. She had two little girls Helen and Alice. John and Ellen had a daughter Frances Mary and they emigrated on the Australia to New York arriving in September 1884. They were heading for Cincinnati, Ohio where Ellen's sister Frances and their mother were living in 1880 census. They fetched up in Americus, Georgia by the 1900 census. John Kay was not with his wife and family. He was a tailor's merchant, a boarder,  in Pueblo, Pueblo, Colorado. 

John went missing in January of 1910 for a few days as seen in newspaper reports in the Austin American Statesman. No reporting of how or where he turned up again has been found yet.

The WW1 story as related by his grandson-in-law James Beard:

During the First World War, there was no mass media.  The British government paid people in the US to give lectures on what was happening on the Western Front.  Probably with a decidedly British slant.

Papa Kay was born in 1856 in Cumnock, Scotland and had been in the British army as a young man in the 1870s and attached to a cartographic unit.  The Kay family moved from Britain in the 1880s to Americus, Georgia.  The Kays moved to Austin, Texas in the mid 1890s.  Mr. Kay operated a tailoring shop in downtown Austin.

The British Government in 1915 paid £1 British pound a month to the men giving lectures about the War.  A pound was worth about $5 in those days, and Papa Kay, being a good Scotsman, was not going to let that money slip away!  To put this amount in perspective, the best paying industrial job at the time was $5 for an 8-hour shift at the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. Or about 63 cents an hour.  So, $5 for a few hours a month was pretty good!

When Mr. Kay gave a lecture, he would draw a map so people could visualize the troop movements better.  After the war was over, he gathered as much information as he could and created a 20-foot by 40-foot map.  One inch equals one mile.  

Two Aerodromes are delineated, Orly, just north of Paris, and one near Amiens.  The red lines are railroads (I know after a visit here by an officer of the French Consulate in Houston, Texas.  He could not believe how accurate the map was.)

Please note that all the hospitals are outside the city of Paris.  Well, it turns out the so called "Spanish Flu" that supposedly broke out in 1918, was actually killing French soldiers in the trenches in 1916!  The French government was afraid of the flu spreading to the civilian population, so they placed the hospitals outside the city.  Well, that actually helped the guys, because the Spanish flu attacked the respiratory system and Paris was heated with coal at the time and the air in the city was full of smoke.  With the hospitals outside the city, the guys got fresh air and sunshine! 

Remarkable War Map. Copied from The London Times March 31, 1925 from a hand written copy of the newspaper article....the only name on the letter is "Sara"...Perhaps some friend or relative in Great Britain?

(from a correspondent)

In the shop of an Austin merchant tailor, hangs one of the most remarkable maps in existence.  It tells the whole story of the Great War, so accurate is it in detail, so perfect in workmanship and so valuable (illegible word) a historical document, that it is destined to become a treasured national possession.

The creator of the map is John Kay, a graduate of Glasgow University*.  John for many years carried on the profession of a mining engineer.   From day to day, he received every item of War news circulated by the Associated Press of America.  He obtained all the official documents that were available.  He followed every detail of the War Dispatches in "The Times".

The result is a map measuring 40 feet by 20 feet.  There are more than 72,000 names inscribed upon it.  There is not a road in France that is not indicated.  Every line of trenches is marked.  Wherever the American forces were fighting, there is a flag.  The fortunes of the American forces can be followed from the moment they landed in England or in France, to the positions they occupied at the Armistice.   There is a white cross where the first American soldier fell. There is a careful chart of the Battle of Jutland.  The sinking of the (HMS) Hampshire is marked as is the place where the Lusitania was torpedoed, accompanied by the statement, "This brought us into the war."

* not found him in the archives of Glasgow University

Obituary on newspapers.com

Obit found by Joanne Ferguson

From Northern Ireland to Old Cumnock

From Northern Ireland to Old Cumnock

By Roberta McGee

Over the years a great many Cumnockians emigrated world-wide in search of a better life. However, on the other hand, some families saw Cumnock as a thriving, bustling town, the perfect place to work and raise a family. By the early 1900s Cumnock had grown in population and attracted many Irish immigrants who found work in the coal mining industry. 

Elizabeth Clawson was my husband's grandmother. Known as Betty, she was born in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Northern Ireland in 1872. Betty was the sixth child of James Clawson and Margaret Dempsey who were married in 1858 in Rocavan, Co. Antrim. James, a labourer, and Margaret lived in Glenarm, Tickmacrevan, Co. Antrim.

Glenarm is a picturesque village and dates back to before the 17th century. It lies on the North Channel coast about twelve miles north of the town of Larne which is just a short distance from Stranraer in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland. 

After their marriage James and Margaret moved to Carrickfergus where their eight children were born. James worked as a dock labourer. Carrickfergus, which sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, is one of the oldest fortified settlements in Ulster and is steeped in history. 

When and why Betty moved to Scotland is uncertain but in 1893 we find her in Stevenston, Ayrshire, where she married Thomas McGee, a foundry worker aged 22 years. They married in the Free Church Manse in Stevenston on 27th October 1893. Betty's occupation is given as 'field worker'. Her mother, Margaret Dempsey, is recorded as deceased.  

Tom McGee was born in Dimity Street, Johnstone, Renfrewshire. His father was James Campbell McGee and his mother was Elizabeth Menzies, both of Irish extraction. Tom and his seven siblings led an unsettled life. His father was a pedlar and they travelled around from area to area. 

The 1901 census shows Tom, now a bricklayer's labourer, and Betty living in 18 Windmill Street, Saltcoats, with their two children James Campbell McGee who was born in 1894 in Stevenston and Thomas McGee who was born in 1896 at 15 McDowall Street, Johnstone. Betty's sister Maggie and her husband were also living in Windmill Street. 

Tommy, Jimmy, Sam & Alex McGee

In 1901/1902 Tom found employment as an insurance agent and they moved firstly to Tower Street, Cumnock where they had four children, Sam, Alex, Maggie and Neil, then to 98 Townhead Street, Cumnock where they had their youngest child William. 

Tom McGee with sons Sam & Neil at Michie Street

Although Tom's job as an insurance agent brought the family to Cumnock, he soon realised that a mining town would always need a chimney sweep. His main work throughout his life in Cumnock was sweeping chimneys and he supplemented his income at times through the years by being a greenkeeper, lamplighter, town crier, bill poster and J.P. Court Officer. 

Cumnock Chronicle 1914

Tom and Betty's religion was very important to them. They were attracted to Gospel work and Tom would go out into the community to preach the Gospel with his sons Tom and Jimmy who were his Gospel singers. Later they were staunch members of Cumnock Baptist Church, then the Apostolic Church, before moving back to the Baptist Church. Tom was a strong Orangeman and held the rank of Grand Master. He was also a Knight, in the Red Cross Degree, of the Grand Royal Black Chapter of Ireland and his services as a speaker in that connection were much in demand. Betty was also very much involved in the Ladies Orange Lodge in Cumnock. 

Anne Griffiths recalls Irish soldiers visiting her house in Michie Street:

We were neighbours of the McGees and gave hospitality to the many soldiers stationed locally. Whilst visiting us they spotted Mrs McGee's orange lillies growing in her garden and, as the 12th of July celebrations were approaching, they asked her if they might pick some. They arrived back at Pennylands Camp to be stopped and told 'Only one bloom each - we don't want another war here'.

Tom came through the South African Campaign with the King's Own Scottish Borderers in 1900. He enlisted with the Royal Scots Fusiliers when he was nearly 42 years old in 1914 and spent some time in the trenches in France. 

Children of Betty Clawson & Tom McGee

James Campbell McGee (Jimmy) was born in 1894 at Stevenston, Ayrshire and died in 1978 at Ballochmyle Hospital his usual address being 23 Herdston Place, Cumnock. He married Annie (Nan) Harper Armstrong in 1917 at the Baptist Church, Barrhill Road, Cumnock. Jimmy was 22 years old when he got married and had been a coalminer at Whitehill Pit but, at the time of his marriage, he was a Sergeant in the Royal Scots Fusiliers and was based at Randalstown in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.  During WW1 Randalstown was an army training camp housing more than 5,000 British and Irish soldiers in preparation for the trenches of France where Jimmy was sent after his training. After WW1 ended Jimmy became a Sergeant Major in the Territorials and later, during WW2, he was in the Home Guard. 

Jimmy & Nan McGee - family photograph

Jimmy's faith was an important part of his life. He was 13 years old when he joined the Baptist Church which he attended and took an active part in for 21 years before becoming a lay preacher with the Apostolic Church in Cumnock. He also accompanied his father Tom preaching the Gospel in the community and, with his brother Tom, was one of his Gospel singers. He later rejoined the Baptist Church where he served as a Deacon for many years. Jimmy and Nan had no children but they fostered three girls who were sisters. Nan died in 1970 at Cumnock. They had been married for 53 years. Jimmy married a second time in 1971 to widow Mirren McMurray Kerr but sadly she died that same year of acute leukaemia. He married a third time to Mary Brown Jarvis in 1973. 

Thomas McGee (Tom) was born in 1897 in Johnstone, Renfrewshire and died in 1968 in Stirling.He married Kate Scott Ritchie in 1918 at Stirling. Tom was a coalminer but at the time of his marriage he was a Corporal in the 5th Battalion RSF. They had a son Robert Ritchie McGee who died, aged 4 years old, in 1925. At the time of his son's death Tom was an asphalt worker. Kate died in July 1941 at Stirling and he married for a second time to widow Jessie Kennedy Smith. The marriage took place at 2 Urbana Terrace, Cumnock. 

Samuel Menzies McGee (Sam) was born in 1903 in Tower Street, Cumnock and died in 1989 at 13 Michie Street, Cumnock. Sam served with RSF 15th Platoon. He married Marie Matilda Drummond Biggham in 1934 at Bridgeton, Glasgow. He and Marie met on a visit "Doon the Watter" to Girvan. Marie lived in Glasgow where her family had moved to from Perth. She was born in 1905 in Glasgow and  lost her mother in 1913. She died in 1991 in Ayr County Hospital. Sam and Marie had four children two of whom are still living. 

RSF 15 Platoon - Sam McGee top row 2nd from right

Sam & Marie McGee’s Golden Wedding

Alexander McGee (Alex) was born in 1905 in Tower Street and died in 1989 in Cumnock. He married Annie Murdoch Stewart in 1926 at Skares. Annie died in 1988.

'On leaving school Alex began an apprenticeship as a slater with Messrs. Baird at Lugar. After his marriage he became a miner at Whitehill Pit. In 1946 he went into partnership as McGee & Murdoch and their premises were in Barrhill Road, Cumnock. In retirement he became a Lollipop Man at the Tanyard. They were staunch members of the Baptist Church and had five children, Tommy, Betty, Ferries, John and Margaret." 

Extracted from Golden Wedding Notice Cumnock Chronicle 2/4/1976

Annie & Alex McGee - family photograph

Two of Alex and Annie's daughter emigrated. Betty who was born in 1931 in Cumnock met her future husband Tom Houston when he was 14 years old and she was 13 years old. They began seeing each other 3 years later. Betty had been baptised into the Baptist Church. Tom was baptised in 1951 and left for America to study the ministry in 1952. Betty followed 10 months later and they were married in Calvary Baptist Church, Niagara Falls where they stayed for 11 years. Tom became a Pastor and they eventually settled in Texas where Tom had his own church.  Sadly Betty died there on 13th April 2024.

Their youngest daughter Margaret was born in 1941 in Cumnock. She married and emigrated to Zimbabwe but was forced to flee with no possessions and no money when the white landowners were evicted from their properties. She died in Ashford-in-Kemt, England in April 2019. Her sister Ferries died a month later at Ayr University Hospital. 

Margaret Dempsey McGee (Maggie) was born in 1908 at Tower Street, Cumnock. She married Robert Watson ('Dishy'). After father Tom McGee died her mother Betty went to live with them in Townhead Street. Read more about Maggie in our 'Many a Lang Scots Mile' blog here. 

Maggie McGee with brother Alex - family photograph

Neil Martin McGee was born at Tower Street, Cumnock in 1910 and married Maggie McCartney Stewart Dunn in 1937 at the Wilson Hall, Catrine. Neil and Maggie lived in Catrine all of their married lives.  Neil died there in 1983.

Neil and Maggie - family photograph

William McGee (Willie) was born in 1913 at 98 Townhead Street, Cumnock. He was a Corporal with the 13th King's Regiment (Liverpool) and volunteered to become a Chindit. The Chindits were special operations units of the British and Indian armies during WW2. Their primary mission was to operate behind enemy lines in Burma and disrupt Japanese communications. Willie took part in the first Chindit expedition, known as 'Operation Longcloth' which began in February 1943.                                                                              

Willie was taken prisoner by the Japanese on 7th May 1943 and taken to Rangoon Jail. He was fortunate to survive and return home at the end of the war. Of the Longcloth Chindits who became prisoners of war and were held in Rangoon Jail, 62% did not return home. Willie was awarded the Military Medal for acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire. When he returned from Burma he settled in England and married widow Gladys Nuttal in 1946. He died in Lancashire in 2003. 

William McGee MM - family photograph

Tom and Betty led happy, successful lives in their adopted town of Old Cumnock. They were the first occupants of the newly built house at 15 Michie Street in the early 1930s. Tom sadly died in 1937 at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow. Some years after his death Betty moved in with her daughter Maggie Watson at 89 Townhead Street, which was across the road from where Tom and Betty lived when they first came to Cumnock. Betty died in 1965, the oldest lady in the Burgh, in her 93rd year.

4 Generations - Betty Clawson, son Alex McGee, granddaughter Ferries and great grandson

Betty Clawson McGee, son Sam & grand-daughters Rona & Christine