Shale miners

By Scott Daily

James "Paraffin" Young

After receiving a patent for producing paraffin oil (often referred to as kerosene in many parts of the world) James Young established a refining factory in Addieswell, West Lothian around 1865. To quote from West Lothian Shale Trail "At the start Young’s refinery produced oil for lighting, and also developed new types of light which gave better light. This was much better and cheaper than whale oil, and burnt cleaner. But the increasing popularity of cars meant that the West Lothian refineries produced petrol and diesel fuel. Paraffin wax was used to make candles, and a by-product of the retort process was ammonium sulphate fertiliser." At the same time many areas of Scotland and Ireland were suffering financially and so many were looking for work. As more and more shale mines opened in West Lothian, people began to move from Ayrshire to West Lothian to work. 

There wasn’t much shale mining in Ayrshire but there was a short lived oil works at Kilwinning from 1865 to not long after the 1871 census which showed William Gorman working there as a shale miner. William was born in 1844 in Londonderry, Ireland

There was another short lived oil works at Lanemark in New Cumnock 1864-1867. Most were in West Lothian.

As shown in the Cumnock Connections tree, some who came to West Lothian from other parts either married people originally from Cumnock or moved to the area after working for a time in the slate industry. 

One example of someone who married into a Cumnock family, and whose offspring seemed to have settled for a time in the Cumnock area, is James Baird who was born in West Lothian (to a family who had previously been in Lugar) and is listed in a 1891 census as living in Uphall, West Lothian employed as a shale miner. He had married Catherine Hutchison who was born in Cumnock. Their three children listed in the census were stated to be born in Lugar, Ayrshire. In the baptism records for their daughter Marion Marshall Baird (who later emigrated to Manhattan, New York) it states that James' occupation was "char filler". James is recorded as passing away at the age of 40 (from heart disease) back in West Lothian. 

A second example of a Cumnock woman who married a West Lothian shale miner was Jane Murdoch Price who was born in Cumnock. Jane married William Wardrop who is listed in a 1911 census as a shale miner living in West Lothian.  The Wardrops had also lived in Cumnock in 1875-8 at Glengyron Row.

To give an example of someone orginally from Ireland who came to Scotland to work  and married and settled in Ayrshire, we have William Gorman who was born in Londonderry. He married Catherine Shirkie from Kilwinning. They were married in Old Cumnock in 1864 and in the 1871 he was living in High Doura, Kilwinning and working as a shale miner. in the 1881 census, where William is listed as working as a coal miner, they are shown to have four children, Edward (listed as a coal miner, age 13); William, age 7; Stewart, age 4; and Janet, age 1. The family would later move to Irvine. It would seem the William had various legal problems as there is record of him spending time in prison in Ayr in 1889. He died at  Cunningham Combination Poorhouse in Irvine in 1891.

Allan Cameron had been an iron miner in Cumnock in 1871 and 1881 was a shale miner in Lasswade, Midlothian by the 1891 census.

Recruitment of Scots miners to be farmers in Canada

1927 advert in Cumnock Chronicle

1928-1930

Government scheme

SCOTS MINERS FOR CANADA 

The White Star liner Regina sails this evening from the Clyde for Canada with a good complement of emigrants drawn from all parts of Scotland. There is an increasing number of miners emigrating to the Canadian mines in Nova Scotia, and judging from the number of families now proceeding to join miners already in Canada, it would appear that conditions have been found favourable. The usual number of domestics and ironworkers also figure in the passenger list.  Miners also figure in the passenger list of the Canadian Pacific liner Montclare which sails from the Tail of the Bank to-day for Canada. The party numbers six, of whom two hail from Portobello and one from Dunfermline. Also on board will be a party of domestic servants for Canada. Altogether 150 passengers embark at the Tail of the Bank .

The Scotsman - Saturday 16 October 1926 accessed through British Newspaper Archive

SCOTS MINERS' SONS FOR CANADA. 

The first party of miners' sons from Scotland, numbering about forty, to proceed to Canada under a new free passage scheme, sailed yesterday from Princes Dock, Glasgow, by the Canadian Pacific liner "Melite." The boys, whose ages range from 14 to 17 years, are drawn from the West Fife and Lanarkshire coalfields. Recruited by the Y.M.C.A., the lads will travel to the farm hostel of the United Church of Canada, at Norval, Ontario. The youthful settlers are journeying free of charge to themselves, and each has received assistance towards the purchase of his outfit, while all incidental expenses are defrayed. Mr A. Smith, Secretary of the Cowdenbeath Y.M.C.A., is conducting the party right through to its destination. After some days spent at the hostel, the boys will be allocated to the farmers who have been specially selected by the United Church, and they will be treated as members of the family. They will each receive a week in wages, together with full board and lodging, and wages will be increased according to experience and ability. At the age of 21, the boys will be eligible to acquire land on their own behalf from the Canadian Government. Supervision during their period of apprentinceship will be exercised by the - sited Church of Canada through the manager of their farm hostel, Mr A. McLaren. who is himself a Scot. The hostel at Norval will be regarded as a central home to which the buys can always go if difficulties or sickness arise. The next party of Scots boys will sail on August 3, and lads interested in the scheme should apply without delay to the Secretary. Y. M. C.A. Migration Department, 2 Drumsheugh Gardens. Edinburgh, or 122 Wellington Street, Glasgow. 

Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser - Saturday 14 July 1928

1927 3000 families resettlement scheme 

This article examines the 3,000 Family Scheme, a joint British-Canadian settlement project in which British families, comprised of over 18,000 individuals, were relocated to homesteads as colonisers of Canada's remote areas. There, many endured isolation and hardship, and were largely blamed for their own plight.

Irish miners who came to Cumnock

by Roberta McGee

This is a list of Irish miners who came to Old Cumnock to look for work in the 1800s. The link will take you to their family history on the Cumnock Connections family tree. 

Armstrong, William, coalminer born 1806 Ireland d 1882 Cumnock In Scotland (Portpatrick) by 1827

Battles, John,  coalminer born 1835 Ireland

Bradford, George, iron miner then coalminer born 1830 Co. Down died 1887 Cumnock. In Cumnock by 1849

Brown, Thomas,  coalminer born 1839 Ireland (possibly Co. Down)

Burns, Owen,  coalminer born 1834 Cavan, Ireland died 1905 Cumnock. In Ayrshire (Ayr) by Nov 1838

Crawley, Patrick, ironstone miner born 1840 Ireland died 1898 Paisley

James Docherty,  ironstone miner born 1833 Ireland

Docherty, Patrick,  irons miner then coalminer born 1843 Derry, Ireland  died 1914 Old Cumnock

Donaghy, Bernard, iron miner born 1837 Ireland

Donaldson, James,  iron miner then coalminer born 1822 Co. Down, Ireland d 1885 Cumnock. In Lugar by 1850 though seem to have gone back and forth to Ireland

Dunlop, Samuel,  coalminer born 1848 Ireland

Ferguson, James, coalminer born 1845 Belfast died 1896 Cumnock

Finn, Thaddeus , ironstone miner born 1845 Co Sligo, Ireland died 1916 Cumnock. In Cumnock by 1868

Gaffney, Dominic,  ironstone miner b 1837 Ireland died 1884 Auchinleck. In Ayrshire by 1851 census

Gilchrist, James, coal miner then iron miner born 1842 Ireland died 1892 Cumnock 

Green, Patrick,  iron miner, born 1834 Co. Tyrone, Ireland

Hill, Samuel, iron miner then coal miner, b 1832 Ireland died 1914 Muirkirk

Hogg, William, iron miner then coalminer b 1842 Ireland died 1904 Cumnock

 Hughes, John, iron miner, born 1834 Ireland died 1881 Old Cumnock.

Jackson, David, coalminer born 1835 Co Down, Ireland died 1909 Cumnock

Jolly, Joseph, iron then coalminer born 1845 Aghaderg, Co. Down died 1903 Cumnock

Judge, Thomas, iron miner then coalminer, born 1832 Ireland died 1911 Muirkirk

Kelly, John, coalminer born 1836 Ireland died 1917 Cumnock

Lang, Andrew, iron miner then coalminer, born 1838 Ireland died 1901 Old Cumnock.

Lang, William , iron miner then coalminer, born 1832 Ireland died 1911 Muirkirk.

Lorimer, Henry,  coalminer born 1839 Co. Derry, Ireland died 1910 Lugar, Cumnock

Lorimer, Hugh,  iron miner born 1835 Co. Antrim, Ireland

Lorimer, John, coal miner born 1841 Co. Derry, Ireland

Lucas, Martin, iron miner born 1829 Ireland died 1910 Ayr

Marrs, Robert,  iron miner born 1849 Castle Dawson, Londonderry, Ireland

Marrs, Samuel,  iron miner born 1851 Castle Dawson, Londonderry, Ireland died 1924 Ayr

Marrs, Thomas,  iron miner then coalminer born 1855 Castle Dawson d 1889 Fife

McCallum, Hugh, coal miner born 1837 Co. Tyrone, Ireland died 1911 Bannockburn Stirling

McCormick, Michael,  iron miner born 1846 Ireland

McDowall, William , iron miner then coalminer born 1853 Ireland 

McGuire, Michael,  pit sinker born 1851 Ireland died 1888 Old Cumnock

McKendrick, David, iron miner then coal miner born 1840 Ireland

McLurg, Thomas, coalminer born 1847 Ireland died 1885 Dalziel, Motherwell

Plunkett, David, iron miner born 1843 Ireland

Potter, Samuel,  coalminer b 1859 Ireland died 1928 Cowdenbeath

Quinn, John,  coalminer/mine cutter born 1851 Creggan Lower, Armagh d 1928 Auchinleck

Ward, Clelland,  iron miner then coalminer born 1855 Ireland died 1918 Auchinleck

Wightman, James, iron miner then coalminer born 1849 Co, Down, Ireland d 1936 Cumnock

From Cumnock to Cumnock

by Roberta McGee

 

The origin of the name 'Cumnock' has been debated over the years and several interpretations have been offered.

                                    Com-cnoc  (hollow of the hills)  

                                    Com-oich   (meeting of the waters)

                                    Cam-cnoc   (bent or crooked hill)    

Source: Cumnock History Group           

The name Cumnock seems to be compounded of the Gaelic words com, a bosom, and conoc, a hill; thus signifying the bosom of the hill.  

Source: Family Search                                                   

'The name itself bears witness to an early origin. It would seem to be of Gaelic derivation, although opinion varies whether Cumnock means the hollow in the hills, the sloping hill, the meeting of the waters - or something quite different.'                                                        

Source: The New History of Cumnock - John Strawhorn p11                                                                                                          

People have had different reasons for leaving Cumnock over the years. Usually it was in search of a better life. Whatever reason made them take this huge step some never forgot their roots and they took a little bit of Cumnock with them in their hearts. Some went further and created another Cumnock in their chosen country. 

Australia

There is a small town called 'Cumnock' in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It was originally known as Burrawong Crossroads and renamed Cumnock in 1879. Some sources say the name was suggested by William Ross of Dilga Station who was born in Old Cumnock. However William Ross was born in Muirkirk and he emigrated to Australia in 1845. Another source says that it was named after John Strahorn who arrived in NSW in 1838. It also claims that he was born in Old Cumnock but records show that he was born in Mauchline. Read more about our Cumnock links in NSW, Australia and the Howat family in our blog here.

Canada

James Samson was born in Old Cumnock in 1824 most likely the son of John Samson and Agnes Young. In 1841 we find James living in Hillhouse Farm, Old Cumnock with his widowed mother and his siblings. By 1852 James was living in Nichol Township, Wellington County, Toronto, Canada. He purchased 7,367 acres of land there, and, in partnership with Argyll born John Muir, built The Red Lion Inn. He named the settlement Cumnock after the town of his birth. Cumnock is located north of Guelph and 5.8 miles from Fergus and was part of Nichol Township until 1999.

Later, James and John split and John Muir, in competition with James, opened his own hotel, naming it The British Lion. James Samson added a store to his growing list of businesses and opened the village's first Post Office. The village grew to include a blacksmith, a cheese factory, a shoemaker, a flax mill, a sawmill and a small number of houses but began to decline as the railroads came through the area and the traffic along the roads dwindled. 

"There's mauny a day I dream of the braes and the lochs of my auld land. Then I look to the waters, the trees and the stanes; and I keen I am hame in Fergus, in Upper Canada."  This was written by Thomas Young in 1836. I wonder if James felt the same about his adopted home?

James married Canadian born Emma Jackson and they had four daughters together. He died in 1853 in Cumnock and Emma died in 1919 in Fergus, Wellington County.

In Canada there is a mountain named after our town. Mount Cumnock is located in Jasper National Park in the De Smet region of Alberta's Rocky Mountains. It was named after Cumnock, Ayrshire by mountain surveyor Morrison Parsons Bridgland who would climb to the top of mountain peaks with his camera equipment and take detailed photographs of them. He was a lover of mountains and was a member of the American Alpine Club. He named many mountains and I cannot find an explanation why he chose Cumnock other than that it was named after Cumnock in Ayrshire. 

 

Mount Cumnock

USA

Further south in Lee County, North Carolina, USA we find another Cumnock. Like its namesake, Cumnock in North Carolina was a mining town. It was originally a 2,700 acre plantation owned by Peter Evans who purchased it in 1830. During the American Civil War (1861-1865) it was used by Confederate troops then captured by the Union Army. 

Evans's Plantation House surrounded by Union soldiers
Image - New Berne Historical

"The Cumnock Mine was part of the Deep River Coalfield which spanned about thirty miles from Moore County, North Carolina and followed the Deep River, Lee and Chatham County's mutual border. There were nine documents listed mines but the two largest and most profitable of the mines were Cumnock (Egypt) and the Carolina (Farmville or Coal Glen."

Source: deepriverhistory.com

Cumnock was originally named Egypt. There was a severe drought which affected most settlers in the area. Peter Evans, who owned the plantation, did not seem to have been affected as badly so the residents would make their way to the plantation to purchase corn from him as the Egyptians did from Joseph in the Bible.

Egypt Store - Image Larry Pickard

In 1870 the mine closed because it wasn't making a profit but eighteen years later it was re-opened by a new company and immediately went into profit. Miners from Pennsylvania and West Virginia moved south to work there. Half the miners working in the mine were black and about a quarter were foreigners, among them many Scots. The mine was prospering and the future looked good when disaster struck. In December 1895 an explosion ripped through the mine killing forty one men. The name was changed to Cumnock after the disaster to distance itself from the bad reputation that the Egypt mine had acquired. Different sources claim different reasons why the name Cumnock was chosen.  One theory is that it was named after an investor in the mine. Another theory is that it was named after early settlers whose hometown was Cumnock in Ayrshire.

Egypt Coal Mine

Even further south we find Cumnock in Louisiana. It is an unincorporated community in Washington Parish, seven miles from the north of Franklinton, Louisiana. I cannot find any information on where the name of this Cumnock originated. 

Image - Wikipedia Commons

The Surname of Cumnock

Sometimes the name Cumnock doesn't originate from our town of Old Cumnock but is named after someone with the surname of Cumnock.

Cumnock Hall, which is part of the Harvard Business School, the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, was named after Alexander Goodlet Cumnock and one of his sons, Arthur James Cumnock. There are links to Old Cumnock with this family although the 'Cumnock' branch never lived in Old Cumnock. 

Alexander Goodlet Cumnock - Image Find a Grave

Alexander Goodlet Cumnock's grandfather, Alexander Goodlet, was born in Old Cumnock in 1783 to parents Thomas Goodlet and Janet Wilson. Alexander was a weaver and married Margaret Chatham in 1808 in Leigh, St. Mary's, Lancashire, England, his work as a weaver having taken him there. Lancashire was known as 'The Cotton Workshop of the World'. Their first child Thomas was born in Lancashire in 1809. The family then moved up north to Paisley in Scotland where their daughter Margaret was born in 1815 and their son Alexander in 1820.

Paisley was a weaving and textile town famous for the production of Paisley shawls. The weavers were well-educated, well read and radical. Thomas was a weaver and a very successful singer and mimic. He was also a supporter of the temperance  movement and opened a coffee shop in Paisley High Street where many a lively discussion would take place. 

His sister Margaret married Robert McLean Cumnock in 1833 in Paisley and they went on to have six sons and one daughter born in Paisley. The Cumnock family then emigrated to the USA in 1849 and a further two sons and two daughters were born there. On arrival in the USA Robert and his sons found employment in the Lowell Cotton Mills in Massachusetts and the family went from strength to strength eventually building or operating cotton mills in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Their son, Alexander Goodlet Cumnock, was a well-known figure in New England fabric manufacturing and he founded the Lowell Textile School in Massachusetts. He acquired the Appleton Mill in Lowell with a group of family and friends and headed the company until his death when his son Arthur took over the management of the business. In the 1900 US Census Alexander's occupation is listed as 'capitalist'. His son Arthur James Cumnock was described in his obituary as a textile industry leader, President of the Catlin Parish Company and a Harvard American Football star.

Arthur James Cumnock - Image Find a Grave

Moving west to California The Cumnock School of Expression in Los Angeles was a private school for women established in the autumn of 1894 by Mrs Merrill Moore Gregg who was a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Oratory, Evanston, Illinois for many years and who was first assistant of its Director, Dr. Robert McLean Cumnock, for whom the school was named. Later a second department of the institution was established -  a preparatory school known as The Cumnock Academy.

The Cumnock School of Expression  - Image Calisphere.org

Dr Robert McLean Cumnock, son of Robert McLean Cumnock and Margaret Goodlet, paid his own way through a private secondary school because his family could not afford it. He left the school for fifteen months to fight in the American Civil War before returning to graduate in 1864. He began teaching Elocution at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois in 1868 and created a two year diploma programme when he formed The Cumnock School of Oratory. He was Dean of Northwestern's School of Communications from 1878-1913 and Northwestern University awarded him the degree of Doctor of Letters in 1919.

The Cumnock School of Oratory

                                                                                    

Born in Chile

 By Robert Watson

Hugh Blackwood who spent most of his life in Cumnock and died in 1929 is buried in the town Glaisnock Street cemetery. Hugh was born in Chile in 1856. Descendant Robert Watson explains how this came about.

In 1849 The Hudson's Bay Company gained commercial rights to Vancouver Island from the British Government. They aimed to mine for coal on the island, planning to sell coal in San Francisco where prices were high. Their existing labourers and miners were flocking to the California gold rush and unable to recruit native people, experienced miners from Scotland were sought. The Hudson's Bay Company Agent in Scotland David Landale had been commissioned in early 1853 to recruit 40 miners and their families from Ayrshire to emigrate to Vancouver Island. The plan was to travel by train to London where the company had contracted the Colinda to sail to British Columbia - a scheduled 5 month voyage.

Thomas Blackwood, his wife Elizabeth Crawford and their two year old daughter joined 30 other families to travel from Kilmarnock, in August 1853, to London. They boarded the ship The Colinda.

The captain of the Colinda, John Powell Mills, had failed to provision the ship adequately. He proved an incompetent ships master and against a background of increasingly harsh conditions, relations with the ships passengers and crew deteriorated to the extent that they demanded the ship put in to a port in Chile. At one point Captain Mills challenged the ships doctor Henry Coleman to a duel. Through the British Consulate in Valparaiso Captain Mills unsuccessfully attempted to have them tried for mutinous & piratical conduct. Passengers, crew and Dr Coleman testified against the captain and the charges were dismissed. 

The Blackwood family and other miners families refused to continue with Captain Mills to British Columbia. Instead they were recruited by Thomas Garland who in 1852 had set up the 'Compania de Lota' to exploit the coal deposits in that area far south of Valparaiso.

Their son Hugh Blackwood was born in Lota in 1856 and was sent back to Ayrshire to be educated. Initially returning to Dalmellington, Ayrshire to stay with his grandmother Catherine Blackwood nee Campbell, he eventually settled in Cumnock, married Martha Armstrong and raised a large family.

The rest of the Hugh's siblings remained in Chile and successfully raised families and there are now many descendants of Thomas Blackwood and Elizabeth Crawford both in Chile and elsewhere in the world.

A nephew of Hugh (the son of his brother William (Guillermo)) was Juan Manuel Blackwood. Manuel was the 2nd engineer aboard the Yelcho which was the Chilean ship which rescued the crew of the Shackleton Antarctic expedition from Elephant Island in 1916. 

Hugh Blackwood’s family in Cumnock about 1910

 You can read more about the Blackwoods on Robert’s blog HERE.

The photo below is Hugh’s brother William aka Guillermo (seated) and his family in Chile c. 1905.

Miners who moved to Indiana

By Scott Daily 

Growing up in the state of Indiana, I was unaware of the conection between my state and many coal miners formerly from Scotland. Quite a number moved from the Ayrshire area to work coal mines around the city of Terre Haute in the western part of Indiana. 

According to the "Coal mining in Vigo Country Indiana Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Special Report 34",  published in 1985, Vigo county, where Terre Haute is located, was the foremost coal-producing county in Indiana. The value of the total product of the mines in Vigo County, the report states, mounted to billions of US dollars. In just the year 1918 mines in the county produced over 8.8 million tons of coal, almost twice as much as the next largest producing county, the nearby Sullivan county (a county that many Scottish miners also moved to). 

A prime example of an Old Cumnock man who moved to this area to be a miner is Thomas Nicol. Born Thomas McCartney Nicol to parents Thomas Edgar Nicol and Margaret (McCartney) Nicol on the 12th of March 1876. Thomas senior served for a time as a sheriff officer, later (by the 1881 census) working as a pawnbroker and accountant. He made several newspapers listings in 1870 when he was fined for assaulting a John Bryce Clark, listed as a writer from Mauchline. 

Thomas junior, who confusingly at some point appears to have changed his middle name from McCartney (his mother's maiden name), to Edgar (his father's middle name), grew up in a home on Lugar street in Cumnock. In the 1901 census he is listed (along with 10 other people) as living with his widowed mother. He occupation in 1901 is listed as fireman in a coal mine. Later in that same year of 1901 he married Georgina Baird, in Cumnock. 

When exactly Thomas moved to the United States is a bit confusing. His draft registration card, shown below, is from September of 1918, however his United States Declaration of Intention (also shown below) which has him living at the time in Michigan, states he first arrived in New York in November of 1922 from Glasgow on board the Assyria. It is likely he made several trips back and forth to Scotland, especially as it appears his wife and children remained or returned to Scotland, as they are shown to have lived and died in the Cumnock area. In any case, the documents show that Thomas was a miner who lived in Terre Haute and worked as a miner. 

Thomas Nicol's draft registration (above)
and his Declaration of Intention (below)

There were many more miners who moved from the Ayrshire area to Indiana, such as Samuel Shaw from Dalry, William Welsh from Auchinleck, Thomas McGuire from Catrine, and more. It is difficult to locate exactly which town or village many of the miners came from originally as frequently on the Indiana census reports and other records, they simply state they were from Ayrshire or sometimes just Scotland. It is remarkable how many miners are listed on the censuses for the area in the mid 1900's as coming from Scotland. See for example the 1910 census below, which list many settlers from the area coming form Scotland, such as David Houston originally from the Galston area. Apparently several members of the Houston family came over, many working as miners, including (though I can't be sure he was a miner) James the son of David, who was excused from the draft of the First World War because he had lost a leg, I would be curious if anyone could work out if this was due to mining?

(See zoomed in image to note the Houston family who seemed to primarily setttle around the Sullivan/Dugger area of Indiana for a time, as well as others)

Without question there were a number of miners who immigrated. Sadly, just like the mines in Scotland, those in Indiana began to decline after the two great wars. With the increase in coal mining is such places as West Virginia and Kentucky, the production of  the coal mines in Vigo county for example went from 8.8 million tons in 1918 to only 1 million tons in 1931. Many of the Scottish miners thus moved or found other occupations. 

1910 Census from Indiana, with a long list of miners originally from Scotland
enlarged section showing Houston family and others

Hadden family from Ireland to Ayrshire to USA

By Joanne Ferguson

A family history of 200 years from Ireland to Ayrshire to USA.

Track them on the Cumnock Connections tree Mary Jane Bruce later Hadden then Coulter

Bruces from Country Antrim in Ireland. They moved to Kilwinning in Ayrshire about 1840

Alexander Bruce was born in County Antrim, Ireland, about 1790.  He married Catherine Pollock.  They had five children: Alexander Bruce (1812-1860); Samuel Bruce (1816-1858); Martha Bruce (1820-??); Stewart Bruce (1820 -1893); and Hugh Bruce (1829-1870).

Alexander Bruce married Mary Dougherty.  They had three children: Mary Jane Bruce (1837-1918); John Bruce (1839-??); Martha Bruce (1842-1930); and Alexander Bruce (1849-1925).  After Mary Dougherty’s death (about 1850), Alexander married Janet Grier in 1851 in Kilwinning.  

Haddens in Cumnock, Ayrshire

John Hadden was also born in Ireland in 1839.  He was the son of John Hadden and Janet Jenkins. Little else is known about him in Ireland. He is listed as a miner and as a boarder at High Row in Lugar in 1861.  On June 12, 1863, he married Mary Jane Bruce in Auchinleck.  They had seven children: James Hadden (1864-1916); John Bruce Hadden (1865-1925); Mary Bruce Hadden (1866-1947); Jane (Jeannette) Hadden (1868-1958); Alexander Hadden (1870-1907); Samuel Hadden (1872-1913); and Martha Hadden (1874-1953).

On December 7, 1873, John Hadden died, leaving Mary with six children and nine months pregnant with their seventh child, Martha.

Coulters in Cumnock

Widowed Mary married William J. Coulter about 1875 in Cumnock, although no marriage certificate can be found.  They had four children: William Coulter (1876-1929); Andrew Coulter (1877-1939); Esther Black Coulter (1879-1930); and Bruce Lee Coulter (1882-1921).

Mills from Kilwinning to Scranton

Mary also had another son prior to her first marriage by an unknown partner. That son was Hugh Bruce (1860-??).  Hugh left Scotland with David and Margaret Mills, who had adopted him.  In the 1870 US census, Hugh is listed as Hugh Mills, living with Margaret and David in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and attending school.  Margaret Mills died in 1877 and David Mills died in 1884, both in Scranton.  There were no more traces of Hugh Bruce.

Her sons James, John, and Alexander Hadden had already left for Pennsylvania around 1888, although no immigration records can be found.

The Scots did not appear to be leaving the British Isles for religious reasons.  The Scots were the first group to immigrate to America primarily for economic opportunity.

Mary Jane Bruce Hadden Coulter boarded the Spain in Edinburgh and arrived in New York on February 17, 1887.  She was accompanied by the following children:  Jennette Hadden, Samuel Hadden, Martha Hadden, William Coulter, Andrew Coulter, Alice Coulter (Esther), and Bruce Coulter.  

The migrant miners – Barrowmans from Stirling to New Zealand via Lanarkshire and Ayrshire.

by Alexandra Watson

Barrowman is a “weel kent” name in Cumnock and has various historical associations.

Robert J Barrowman (1847- 1924) is best remembered as the builder of the Royal Hotel in 1892 which still has a commanding role in the town.

Alexander Barrowman (1842 - 1913) journalist and poet was very well known in Cumnock in his day. (The late Bobby Grierson was interested in Alexander and documented his tree on Cumnock Connections). There are not many obituaries that say:

"It is not too much to say that Mr Alexander Barrowman was one of the the most prominent figures in the contemporary history of Cumnock and we make bold to say further that the town held no finer brain than that which he possessed." 

Source: Cumnock Chronicle 1913

With such an unusual surname, one might be forgiven for assuming that all the Cumnock Barrowmans were from the same family. However, Robert J Barrowman’s lineage goes back to an Irish migrant Daniel Barrowman who married a Jane Pollock in Lanarkshire at the beginning of the 19th century and in comparison, Alexander’s family were originally from Airth in Stirlingshire. What both families had in common was that the mining industry played a major part in their family's migrations and success stories.

Of course, other Barrowman families may also have come to the area but this essay deals with the story of the Airth Barrowmans.

The Barrowmans of Dunmore and Airth

This account follows the emigration story of the father and brothers of Alexander Barrowman who died in Cumnock in 1913.
Located on the River Forth 6 miles north of Falkirk, is the small village of Airth. As early as the 16 century it was a trading port, known for shipbuilding, agriculture, fishing, salt production, and coal mining. 

Source - Falkirk History Club - Airth.

This branch of the Barrowman family appears in the earliest Airth church records from the 1600s. The family grew to be quite numerous in the area but by the 1841 census, the name appears to have died out. 

Source -Scotlands People 

By 1841 there are several Barrowman families (born in Airth) now living in and around Lanarkshire and many are miners. William Barrowman and Susannah Cairns were married on 15 August 1774 at Airth and continued to live there for several years. However, their son John Barrowman moved to Shettleston, Glasgow, and died there in 1829.

John Barrowman married Margaret Matson on 5th August 1803. They had 11 children, all lived to adulthood, and at least 3 of whom emigrated to America.

We are following their 6th child Thomas Barrowman, born 1813 in Shettleston in Glasgow.

Thomas Barrowman 1813 - 1881

Love and War

By Alexandra Watson

 The latter days of the 18th Century

Great events even far away can often impact our surroundings and lives. How many of us who pass through Ayr and see the ruins from Eglinton Street, know that this was the Citadel Fort, commissioned in 1652 and one of a group of five impressive fortresses established following Scotland’s defeat and the establishment of a Commonwealth between England and Scotland. English occupation forces were housed there, with the intention, to repress a still hostile Scots populace. A later addition to the town was The Barracks, built on the south side of Ayr Harbour as part of the British response to the threat of the French in 1795 and it was to there came an English soldier.

The turmoil of the second half of the 18th century saw events that not only changed the world but the individual lives of ordinary people living in Ayrshire. The last Jacobite rising of 1745; the War of American Independence of 1775 -1783; the French Revolutionary Wars of 1792 -1802 and the Napoleonic Wars of 1799 - 1815 and the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Against this background the British government had a real anxiety that there may be alliances amongst disillusioned Scots and Irish and the French. 

In 1794, some one hundred and seventy-five miles away in County Durham, a weaver, John Watson was recruited into the Durham Fencible Cavalry, which changed its name the next year to the Princess of Wales's Fencible Cavalry. It was led by William Vane, who was also Colonel of the Militia.  After spending three years in Scotland, they proceeded to Ireland and were disbanded in 1802. 

“During the French Revolutionary Wars from end 1792 until May 1802 the regiment was tasked with maintaining order as well as anti-invasion duties and for this purpose they were employed outside of their area of recruitment and kept on the move “so as to avoid fraternisation with the local population” 

Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_and_Volunteers_of_County_Durham

Well, as Robert Burns said just about that time in 1785:

“The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men gang aft agley” 

How and where John Watson met the local girl, Catherine Henrie we will never know. She was born on 11 March 1779, in Kirkmichael, Ayrshire, Scotland. They married in St Quivox on 23 August 1797 and it is known that the army moved supplies such as cattle and horses inland to there, away from the Ayr coast, in case of French raids.

The beginning of the 19th Century

When John left the army they settled in her home village of Kirkmichael and John worked as a weaver. They had at least 5 children who in turn had families. Each of the boys had at least 6 children and so this particular branch of the Watsons was established in Ayrshire.

Our interest is with John's son William and then the line from William's daughter Janet. William was born on 21 June 1802. In the church records he and three siblings are belatedly recorded as Irregular Baptisms, maybe harking back to John’s English background and not originally being a member of the Church of Scotland. William married Euphemia Duncan in Sorn, her home village on 6 June 1826. Euphemia was 27 and William was 23. William moved to Sorn and raised his children there but by 1851 he is back in Kirkmichael. William sadly died relatively young at 54 years old in 1856. However, Euphemia moved to Cumnock with her youngest son James, and lived to the age of 77. Sadly Janet Watson, William and Euphemia’s daughter died at the age of 25 in 1857 having given birth to a son out of marriage. He was called George Henrie Watson and it seemed that his paternity would remain a mystery. However, with the advent of DNA testing, we have noticed multiple links to a Howe Family, also resident in Kirkmichael. We also noted the death of a young man John Howe, ages with Janet who also sadly died the same year as the birth of George. 

The mid 19th Century

So we follow George’s line, he remained in his brother James’s household in Cumnock till he married his next-door neighbour Jeanie Crichton in 1873. Both Jeanie's parents' families had originated in Lanarkshire making their way to Ayrshire for work in the coal industry after their marriage in 1843. Coincidently George and Jeanie’s next-door neighbour in the Barrhill in Cumnock was none other than a certain journalist James Keir Hardie, a founding member of the Labour Party.

The early 20th Century

George Henrie Watson and Jeanie had 7 children. These were very hard times ...The Depression; World War 1 1914 -1918; the National Strike 1926. The girls all followed their husbands for work and left Cumnock. The Yuills and Ronalds headed for Glasgow. George was the first to emigrate and he went to New Zealand. Mary and her husband Alexander Vallance of Burnside farm, Cumnock, headed for Canada and then James too decided to emigrate.  James a recently remarried widower took his new wife and family off to Canada. Only Robert (born 1885) remained in Cumnock but sadly he too died at the young age of 37, leaving behind a young widow and three of a family. Only one son to carry on the Watson name in Cumnock - Hugh Watson.

George Watson (born 1892) had a successful life in New Zealand. He was widowed after 40 years of marriage and then decided to visit Cumnock again. He stayed with his nephew Hugh (mentioned above) and coming home by sea he succumbed “to a shipboard romance” marrying again on his return to New Zealand. The Cumnock Chronicle ran quite a story on George and his visit. 

Happily, James (born 1890) who was also widowed young had married his employer’s (The Craigs from the Guelt Farm, Glenmuir) daughter and set off with his family and new bride to Canada and received a land grant. James fathered five children and his two boys' children established quite "a Watson Clan", in Fredericton, New Brunswick. These Watsons are regular visitors to Scotland as are their children and the connection is as strong as ever. We also hear from the Vallances in Ontario who recently made "an eighteen-strong party expedition" to Scotland.

World Wars

Young Hugh, the son of Robert, was born in 1917 and only 5 when his father died. He was brought up by his mother Elizabeth Crawford Blackwood (1885 - 1963), a well-known and respected figure. Hugh had a very happy life with his mother two older sisters Martha and Jean and his young cousin Jean that is until war intervened. 

Hugh was a grocer and at the outbreak of the war, he went with two friends to enlist. The three of them were attracted to the glamour of the Air Force, the queue was long and being processed alphabetically so the W’s were last to be signed. His two friends successfully were enrolled into the Air Force before him but Hugh had to take the army. Sadly as the attrition rate was high in the Air Force it might come as no surprise that Hugh’s friends never made it home.

Hugh was in the Black Watch and was taken prisoner on 11 June 1940.

source:  https://51hd.co.uk/history/valery_1940

This is not the place to record the horrors of the situation, the enforced marches, the near starvation, the deaths and the misery of war. Hugh was the most optimistic and positive man you could meet. At home, his widowed mother and sisters feared for his life.  

Calum MacIver bottom right and Hugh Watson top left in Stalag XX1D (Poland)

Hugh did make it home but fate brought that twist of love and war exactly like in the John Watson & Catherine Henrie marriage, meeting his wife only because of the war. 

The first John Watson’s home in Durham had been one hundred and seventy-five miles away from Cumnock. At an even longer distance of three hundred and twenty-eight miles in a tiny village on the Hebridean island of Lewis, a baby was born to Murdo MacIver and Isabel MacLean. She was Eiric Mhuruchaidh Iain Aonghais and spoke no English till the age of six. Effie, as she was known, was a really clever girl and wanted to be a nurse. In those days you had to pay for your training, so she went to the capital city of Edinburgh and worked as a servant till she raised sufficient money. She had two brothers and a sister named Barbara. The latter came to Edinburgh with her and their brothers enlisted; John into the navy and Calum into the army. In 1940 the family was advised that Calum too had been taken prisoner by the Germans. Effie worked hard and eventually became a Ward Sister in the prestigious Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. In those days women who held those positions did not marry and had rooms on site. The war was hard for her too as not only did they treat civilian patients from the city but British soldiers and German soldiers too – an irony when her brother was imprisoned there.

Effie far right

Calum and Hugh were in the same prisoner-of-war camp and became very close friends. The end of the war came and Calum came home and married his sweetheart Cathy and in those days a Lewis wedding lasted for days. Effie, Barbara, and one of Barbara's friends, Mary Dougan, went up north for the wedding. Not long after the wedding Effie decided to visit Barbara's friend who was now married and living back in her native Ayrshire. The friend knew Hugh Watson and the connection between Calum and Hugh and arranged for Effie to meet Hugh...and the rest is history. 

There are no Watsons from Jeanie Crichton and George Henrie Watson's line living in Cumnock but all have a piece of Cumnock in their hearts.

Chester Kerr

By Stanley Kerr, edited by Kay McMeekin

Czeslaw Sobiesniewski was born on 29th May 1915 in Waplewo Wielkie (Gross Waplitz) which at that time was on the East Prussian border of Poland, north of Lubicz. Although the population was Polish, it belonged to Germany until the end of the Great War. So his birth certificate states he was born in Germany.

He served with the Polish Navy from 1938. 

His first ship was the motor torpedo boat ORP Masur, then the destroyer ORP Grom. At the outbreak of World War Two the Grom was seconded to the Royal Navy, based in Rosyth, and it was used as a convoy escort in the North Sea. Czeslaw was promoted to Able Seaman in April 1940. On 19th April ORP Grom was sent to Narvik and became part of the Norwegian campaign. The ship's duty was to patrol the fjords and harass the German shore batteries around Narvik. It was so successful and accurate with the guns that the Germans came to hate the Polish ship and made an all-out effort to destroy it. They finally succeeded in May 1940. It sank with the loss of 59 lives. 

Czeslaw was transferred to ORP Gydnia which was based at Plymouth and later the ORP Ouragan . 

In 1940 he was transferred to ORP Piorun which was built in Clydebank in 1940 as the RN destroyer HMS Nerissa. It was loaned to the Polish Navy and renamed Piorun. It served in the western approaches as a convoy escort. In March 1941 it was in Clydebank for repair at the time of the Clydebank Blitz. The crew of the Piorun used their anti-aircraft guns in a continuous and deadly barrage too deter the bombers. They had to throw buckets of seater onto the gun barrels to keep them cool. A memorial dedicated to the crew of the Piorun was erected in Clydebank  in Solidarity Plaza in Clydebank. Czeslaw earned his first Cross of Valour that night.

During the course of the war Czeslaw  was awarded the Cross of Valour twice, the Sea Medal four times, the 19439-45 star the Atlantic Star, the France and Germany Clasp, the Italy Star, the War Medal 1939-45 and the Arctic Pin.

When the Second World War, ended the Russians were given control over Poland as a communist state. This meant that the majority of Poles were concerned they could not return to their native land for fear of reprisals. Their fears were justified and word started filtering back during the following months that Poles who had returned were inprisoned and some had been shot.

Czeslaw decided to stay in Britain and remain in the Navy as an instructor until 20th February 1947 when he transferred to the newly formed Polish Resettlement Corps which was set up by the British Government to help integrate the thousands of Polish servicemen into jobs and houses in Britain.  

He met his future wife Pearl Campbell Kerr from Cardonald during the war. They moved to Hut no 9 Crookston Camp in Glasgow where they were married on 22 January 1944. By now he was known as Chester Kerr.

Hut no 9 was just a bare wooden building with a corrugated iron roof. Czeslaw a practical man set about erecting partitions  to create rooms  and made all the furntiure himself.  Tom and Bill were born and the family moved to another camp Hangingshaws in Prospecthill Road Glasgow where Allan was born in 1949.

When Chester came off the reserve list he became a civilian and had to find a job. His qualifications were left behind in Poland so he had to find work as a labourer. He got a job with William Arrol and Company and worked on the Loch Sloy dam at Loch Lomond.

The family moved to Bellshill in 1951 and in 1952  a new estate Netherthird in Cumnock, was built to house miners and the Kerrs were one of the first families to move in with their first four children Tom, Bill, Stan and Allan to Holmburn Road. Daughters Audrey and Isabella were born in Cumnock. Chester was now a miner first at Knockshinnoch and at the Barony and finally at Killoch. He studied at night school to qualify as a colliery deputy. He retired in 1976. He didn't get a long retirement, though, as he was struck with cancer of the colon and died in 1980 aged 65.

gardening in Netherthird

John Allardyce from Lugar to Pennsylvania

By Joanne Ferguson

Link to Cumnock Connections tree

John Allardyce was born in Kilwinning in 1837.  In the Scotland Census of 1881, he is listed as a coal miner living in  Lugar, Auchinleck with his second wife, Agnes McCartney, and his six children.  In 1882, he left Scotland and settled in Pittston, Pennsylvania, a coal mining area of Luzerne County where jobs would have been plentiful.  Agnes, John D, Robert, and Thomas followed in 1883.  Some of his children by his first wife stayed in Scotland.

On the 1900 US census, John and his sons are listed as day laborers.  In the 1910 US census, seventy-three year old John was listed as a coal miner.  His son, Robert was listed as a locomotive watchman.  John died in 1912 having been a miner for most of his life.

John's oldest son with Agnes was John D., who married Anna Bell Williams.  In the 1925 Pittston City Directory, he is listed as a laborer working in the mines.  He then bought a cigar store with Thomas Allardyce.  At the time of his death in 1950, he was a salesman for the Scranton Tobacco Company.  John had one son, Clyde.  Clyde remained in the Pittston area for a period of time, then moved to New York, and then moved to Montana. 

(Note: His middle name was Becket or Bicket after his mother. The D was possibly misheard: John B and John D sound similar!)

John’s second son was Alexander.  He married Louisa Priscilla Pitts in 1904.  In the 1896 Pittston Directory,  Alexander was listed as a laborer and in the 1908 Wilkes Barre City Directory, he was listed as a boilermaker.  On his WWII registration in 1942, Alexander lists his occupation as a janitor at Coughlin High School in Wilkes Barre at 64 years of age.  Alexander died in 1955.  He and Louisa had three children:  George, Agnus, and Robert Alexander.

George took a job at the Hamilton Beach Company in Clinton, North Carolina.  Agnes stayed in the Wilkes Barre area.  Robert Alexander lived in Ashley, Pennsylvania and was employed by the Wilkes Barre Publishing Company in the composing room for 45 years.

John’s third son was Robert Hope Allardyce.  Robert lived in Pittston and was employed as an electrician by the Pennsylvania Coal Company.  He was tragically burned in an accident in 1955 and died several days later.

John’s youngest son was Thomas.  Thomas came to the US as a baby with his parents.  He married Mary McHale and they had six children.  He was employed by the Lehigh Valley Railroad for a number of years.  He then became a policeman in Pittston.  He became the police sergeant and then was appointed detective. 

Thomas’s son John J. married Florence Daily and had one son, Thomas.  John served as a policeman after working as an apprentice at the Coxton shops of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. He was elected to the Pittston City Council in 1945.  In 1948, John became mayor of Pittston, Pennsylvania.

Thomas’s son, Thomas, Jr., worked for the Railroad Company in Pittston all his life.

Thomas’s third child was Mary, who married James Allardyce.  James was an assistant foreman in the coal mines.  They lived in Pittston and had three children.

Thomas’s fourth child was Alice Ellen, who married Harold Myers.  Harold was a manager for Western Union and Mary was a homemaker.  They moved to Altoona, Pennsylvania where Harold was a manager of a Goodrich Tire Store.  They had two daughters.

Thomas’s fifth child was James, who was working for the Pittston Coal Company in 1940.  James then worked for the railroad company and was an engineer at the time of his death.  James married Margaret Clifford and they had three children.

Thomas’s sixth child was Donald Edward.  Donald worked as a signalman for the Lehigh Valley Railroad.  Donald married Louise Flynn and they lived in Pittston all their lives.  They had three daughters.

The Allardyce Brothers 1925

Seated: John 1876-1950, Thomas (1881-1937), William (1861-1939) Standing:  Alexander (1877-1955) and Robert (1879-1928)  Missing is James (1870-1897)