Archibald McCowan and wife Sarah Hair and their children emigrated on the Hurricane, Glasgow to Port Phillip (Melbourne) in June 1853 as a farmer.
Gilbert McGlashan, son of Dr Gilbert McGlashan in Cumnock was born in East Kilbride on 24 Oct 1835 and died on 7 Feb 1918 in St Arnaud, Victoria, Australia. Gilbert named his house Glaisnock in St Arnaud, New Zealand
He was an engineer, operated a foundry and engineering works and designed agricultural equipment.
He emigrated about 1859 and married Agnes McCowan daughter of the aforementioned Archibald McCowan in 1862 in Melbourne,
Meanwhile Gilbert's sister Eliza Woodhead McGlashan born 1833 married in 1861 and emigrated to New Zealand with her new husband James Dalglish and his brother.
James Dalglish was born in Barn Street, Strathaven, on 28 Feb 1834 to William Dalgliesh and Catherine Currie. In 1841 he was living in Lanarkshire, but by April 1861 he had moved to Old Cumnock. James lived in Glaisnock Cottage, Old Cumnock, working as a woodcutter with his brother, Hugh.
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| painted by Marie Benseman Dalglish, married to James’s grandson, Ken Dalglish |
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| James Dalglish |
On 27 June 1861, James married Eliza Woodhead McGlashan, the daughter of a surgeon, who had moved to Old Cumnock after his first wife, Eliza's mother, had died.
After the wedding, James and Eliza sailed to New Zealand on the Asterope with Hugh Dalglish, arriving in Wellington on 11 Oct 1861.James and his brother worked as woodcutters in New Zealand, and James purchased a large block of land in Le Bons Bay, Banks Peninsula.Together they set up a sawmill on the land and felled the trees to make a sheep farm, where they lived. James became a significant landowner and businessman, and was a prominent figure in politics in the Canterbury Province.
Letters to Elizabeth Woodhead McGlashan from her brothers Alexander and William from 1846 -1870 have been transcribed.
William McGlashan enlisted about 1850 for 14 years as a gunner in 1st Company 2nd Battalion Artillery and was sent to East India on the ship “Camperdown”. He served in Lahore, Scutari and Dalhousie, Punjab. He suffered numerous bouts of ill health, and is presumed to have died there.
Brother Alexander McGlashan left Cumnock to become an accountant in Glasgow. In 1846 he was working in a Customs House in Liverpool (from correspondence with sister Eliza). In August 1847 a 21 year old Alexander McGlashen was jailed in Liverpool for embezzlement for 3 months. There was no letter to Eliza until November 1847. So it is likely the same man. He likely lost his job and that would be the reason for joining the army,
He joined the 4th Royal Irish Dragoons, and went to fight in Crimea, where he had cholera tended by Florence Nightingale and her nurses in Scutari Hospital. He was also in Bengal and Lahore in 1853. He survived to serve around Britain in Newbridge, Newcastle, Exeter and Aldershot.
He married widow Annie Rowlinson in 1868 (his father's name and occupation on the marriage certificate confirms this) and he died in 1891 in Salford.
Information, in particular the letters, from descendant of Eliza, Kathryn Dalglish Chandler. Letters transcribed 1998 by Margaret Frampton.
