Andersons from Auchinleck to Braddock, PA

by Joanne Ferguson

George Anderson Sr was born on 16 September 1892 in Lugar, Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland.  George emigrated to the USA in 1923.  He worked as a blacksmith in a steel mill in Braddock, Pennsylvania.  He married Mary McMichael Boyle in Scotland.  She was born on 25 Jul 1902 in Auchinleck, Scotland. George died on 02 Oct 1970 in Braddock, Allegheny, Pennsylvania.  Mary died on 02 Sep 1990 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States of America.

George Anderson Sr and Mary McMichael Boyle had the following children:

John Anderson was born on 16 Aug 1921 in Auchinleck, East Ayrshire. He married Jean Eileen Howat (great-granddaughter of William Howat and Margaret Brown who emigrated from Ayrshire, Scotland in 1867) on 28 Oct 1943 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, USA.  She was born on 20 Sep 1922 in Braddock, Pa.  John served in the US Army during WWII.  John worked as a weight master in the steel works in Braddock, Pennsylvania.  John died on 16 Apr 1975 in Braddock, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Jean was a housewife who died on 14 Dec 1979 in Swissvale, Allegheny, Pa.  

John Anderson and Jean Eileen Howat had one child.  John Anderson was born on 04 Sep 1946 in Pennsylvania. John served in the US Navy in Vietnam.  He married Joyce L. Sprague. She was born in Ohio. He died on 24 Sep 1998 in Braddock, Allegheny, Pennsylvania.  John Anderson and Joyce L. Sprague had the following children: Dawn L., Shawn E., and Brian C.

William Wilson Anderson was born on 20 Aug 1922 in Scotland. He married Lillian Kramer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1923.  He served in the Army during WWII and was injured in battle.  He worked as a weight master for the steel works. William Wilson died on 10 Nov 1977 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.  Lillian died in 1997 in North Braddock, Pennsylvania.  William and Lillian had four children:  Amy, Margaret, Christine, and William, Jr.

Father George Anderson sailed on the Columbia in March 1923 going to his brother Matthew already in Braddock.  His wife was living at 43 Darnconner. 

George Anderson, Junior was born on 08 Aug 1924 in Braddock, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He worked as an ash man for the local government in Braddock.  He served in the Army during WWII.  George never married and had no children.  He died on 13 Dec 1976 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Allan Boyle Anderson was born on 09 Apr 1927 in Braddock, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.  He married Dolores Mekula who was born in June of 1926.  He was a salesman in a men’s clothing store. He served in the Army during WWII.  Allan and Dolores did not have any children.  Allan died on 22 Sep 2019 in Maryland, United States of America.  Dolores died in 2019 in Maryland.  Both are buried in Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens in Baltimore County, Maryland.

Matthew Riggans Anderson was born on 16 Feb 1929 in Braddock, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He was a laborer in the open hearth at the steel mill in Braddock. He married Janet L. Pici on 17 Sep 1960 in Winchester, Virginia. She was born about 1934.  At the time of his marriage, Matthew was a supervisor for military affairs in Virginia.  Matthew died on 24 Jul 2015 in Carlsbad, San Diego County, California.  Matthew and Janet had one son, Matthew Eric.

Agnes Boyle Anderson was born about 1937 in Pennsylvania. She married Ray Edward Curtin in 1961 in Ohio, West Virginia.  Ray was born on 20 April 1929 and worked in the steel mill in Braddock, Pennsylvania.  He died on 7 April 2014 in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania.  Agnes and Ray had two children: Kevin and Sharon.

Jane Riggans Anderson was born on 16 Aug 1942 in Braddock, Pennsylvania.  She married John Harold Lynch on 03 Jan 1974 in Winchester, Virginia. He was born on 03 May 1928.  John joined the Army and served in Vietnam during that war.  John retired from the Army of the rank of E6.  John died on 27 February 2011 in Swissvale, Pennsylvania.  Jane died on 27 Dec 1996 in Swissvale, Pennsylvania.  Jane and John had one daughter, Heather.

The sons and son-in-law of George Anderson and Mary McMichael Boyle served gallantly in the Army and Navy, defending their new country in WWII and Vietnam.

 

From Cumnock to Pennsylvania and Ohio

by Joanne Ferguson

link to William Howat on Cumnock Connections tree

William Howat was born in Cumnock in 1841, the son of William Howat and Jane Hamilton.  William married Margaret Brown in Scotland in 1862.  He studied surveying at Edinburgh University.  Margaret and William had two daughters, Elizabeth and Jane, in Scotland.  In 1864 after going to America and returning to Scotland, he emigrated to America in 1867 with his wife and daughters, Elizabeth and Jane.  He settled near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his family where three more children were born: Bella, William and John Brown.  

William Howatt, Sr. studied civil and mechanical engineering and took a position with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Baltimore, Maryland.  His skills in Baltimore were highly esteemed.  Here is a newspaper clipping from his 50thWedding Anniversary celebration that details his work in Baltimore.

Sadly, Jane died at the age of 11 and Bella died at age three in Driftwood, Pennsylvania.  Both are buried in the Driftwood Cemetery.  William Howat, Jr. was fatally injured in a railroad accident at the age of 31.

William became the superintendent of the department of public works in 1882.   He went to Baltimore in 1890 to help Baltimore with a tunnel, then returned in 1896 to Braddock County.  He worked in Braddock until 1909.  Margaret Brown died on July 13, 1915 and William Howat died March 16, 1916.  

William, Sr. and Margaret’s Children

Both Margaret and William had moved to Ohio to live with their daughter, Elizabeth Howatt Carr.  

Elizabeth’s husband, Thomas, had died in 1913.  Thomas was a brick layer.  Elizabeth and Thomas had four children:  Margaret, Robert, Elizabeth, and Ida.  

Their second child, William, married Caroline Geyer in 1892 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.  William worked for the railroad as a machinist near their home in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.  William died in an accident at the railroad yard.

William and Caroline had three children:  William, Margaret, and John Brown Howat.

John Brown Howat married Ida Boyle in August 1897.  John was the owner of a hardware specialties store making nuts and bolts in Sharon, Pennsylvania. 

                                                                                    1908

John and Ida had no children.  At his death in 1954, John’s occupation was listed as a construction engineer on his death certificate.  Ida died a few years later in 1957.

William and Margaret’s Grandchildren-

Elizabeth Howat and Thomas Carr’s Children

Margaret Carr married George Maxwell on October 29, 1912.  Margaret worked as a bookkeeper at a bank and moved back to live with her mother after George’s death in November of 1914.  Margaret and George had no children.

Robert William Carr was a salesman in a hardware store.  He married Janet Flynn in 1923.  By the 1930 census Robert was the owner of the hardware store.  By the 1950 census, Robert was the vice president of a hardware manufacturing plant.  Robert died on July 22, 1955.  Janet and Robert had no children.

Elizabeth Thomasina Carr married James Foster and they had two children:  James, Jr. and Margaret.  James was the owner of a garage in New Castle City, Pennsylvania, and later became a real estate and insurance salesman.  James and Elizabeth had two children:  James B. Foster and Margaret J. Foster.  James died in 1965 and Elizabeth died in 1981 in New Castle, Pennsylvania.

Ida Jane Carr married Henry Noville Boucherle in 1922.  Henry was a plumbing engineer in Youngstown, Ohio.  Ida was a bookkeeper at a bank.  They had two sons:  Thomas and Robert.  Henry died in 1939 and Ida died in 1969.

William, Jr. and Caroline Geyer Howat's Children

Margaret Howat married William Cloyd Gibson in November 1912.  William Gibson worked as a clerk for the post office in Braddock.

Caroline Geyer lived with Margaret until her death in 1945. Margaret died in March of 1950.  William Gibson died in September of 1952.  

Margaret and William Cloyd Gibson had no children.

John Brown Howat married Jennie Elizabeth Miller in 1922.  John was a postal clerk in Braddock, Pennsylvania.  They had one son, Jack.

Jennie Elizabeth died in Braddock in 1957. John died in November of 1978 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

William Howat married Hannah G. Flaherty in Petersburg, Virginia on February 21, 1918.  William worked as a plumber.  Hannah died in 1957.  They had three children: an infant who died in 1921, Jean E. Howat, and William Cloyd Howat.

William and Margaret Brown Howatt's Great Grandchildren

Ida Carr and Henry N. Boucherle’s Children

Thomas Carr Boucherle married Zetta Jane Murray in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 24, 1948.  Thomas was a heating engineer at a retail heating and plumbing company in Youngstown, Ohio.

Robert Boucherle was an architectural draftsman in Youngstown, Ohio.

James B. Foster and Elizabeth Carr’s Children

James B. Foster, Jr.  married Yvette Lapeyre Mitchell in 1942 in Lawrence, Pennsylvania.  James was a real estate broker in New Castle, Pennsylvania.  James and Yevette had three children:  James Byers Foster III, Susan L. Foster, Sherry Anne Foster, and William Mitchell Foster.

James died in January 1995 and Yevette died in 2018 in New Castle, Pennsylvania.

Margaret Foster became a nurse and emigrated to Brazil for a period of time.  On her return, she worked as a nurse for the Gulf Oil Corporation in Pittsburgh and was a hostess for Capital Airlines.  She married William J. Schelien  who worked as a supervisor for Jones and Laughlin Steel for 41 years.  He passed away in April of 2004.  Margaret died in 2016 in Pennsylvania.  William and Margaret had one child, Elizabeth. 

John Brown and Jennie E. Miller Howat’s Children

Jack William Howat married Julia Green in Pittsburgh in 1944.  Jack worked in the banking industry in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.  They had three children. 

William and Hannah G. Flaherty Howat’s Children

William Cloyd Howat lived in Braddock, Pennsylvania and worked as a lockman for the water locks.  He was not married.

Jean E. Howat married John Anderson on October 28, 1943 in Braddock, Pennsylvania.  John was the son of George and Mary Boyle Anderson from Auchinleck, Scotland.  George and Mary emigrated from Scotland in 1925 to Braddock, Pennsylvania.  John was a weight master at the steel works in Braddock.  Jean and John Anderson had one son John Cloyd Anderson.

links to https://langscotsmilecumnock.blogspot.com/2024/04/George%20Anderson%20and%20Mary%20McMichael%20Boyle.html

Anderson extended family to New Jersey

By Kay McMeekin

This is the family of John Anderson author of "the last mile hame."

His mother was Annie White (born 1874 in Pictou Nova Scotia) who was married to first Douglas Kennedy Anderson. When he died, his brother John married her. The Andersons below ( apart from the first one, her sister) are all her children.

The first Anderson to leave Cumnock for New Jersey was Elizabeth Anderson born 1870 and her husband John Pettigrew who was a mason in 1901.

They left on the Ethiopia in 1906. Their daughter was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1907. They lived in Long Island and they finally settled in Hempstead  Nassau, New York. John was in the building trade. Elizabeth and 2 year old daughter Jeanie made a return trip to Cumnock in 1909 in 1914 and again in 1924.

1924 passport photo 

Jeanie Pettigrew age 16 in 1924 passport photo

Elizabeth's niece Jeanie Anderson was next to emigrate but not until 1926. Her husband Peter Stewart gave uncle John Pettigrew as the person in the USA they were going to.

They sailed on the California from Port Glasgow to New York. Their final destination was Roosevelt, Long Island. In the 1930 census he was working as a hod carrier in Madison, New Jersey,  Living with them were Jeanie Anderson's sister Mary Connel Anderson and her husband Hugh Torbet. Mary and Hugh returned to Scotland in 1931.

The youngest sister Annie Anderson went out in 1928 aged 15 on the Cameron also going to sister Mrs Jeanie Stewart. She married Anthony Infinito in 1937.

Lastly in 1930 the oldest son John Anderson, the author of "the last mile hame" went out on the Transylvania. He too was going to sister Jeanie Stewart. He never married and was still living with the Stewarts in 1950 census in Madison. He returned to Cumnock for a visit about 1950 bringing football boots for his nephews Bobby and Ian Kelly, Madge's sons.

John Anderson

John Anderson left Cumnock for America when he was just 16. It would be another 30 years before he came home.

On his long journey home he wrote this poem called

THE LAST MILE HAME

When I was just a wee bit boy, my mither said to me

When you grow to be a man, John, what would you like to be?

And I told her all I'd like to be and all the deeds I'd dare

For I was then a dreamer building castles in the air

I had the urge to travel in those days so long gone by

For I was young and full of life and all my hopes were high

I'd sail across the ocean and my mither she would greet

But I'd bring hame lots o' treasures and lay them at her feet

My memory always takes me back through all the years thats sped

As I listened to my mither and this is what she said

you may sail to places far away and riches you may gain

But you'll hunger for the treasures, John

You left behind at hame

Now the years are far behind me and my mither, she is gane

And I seek no more adventure for I am coming hame

When I come hame to Cumnock and I flee across the sea

Nae man in aw this wide world will be happier than me

Now I dream of all the things I'll dae an all the scenes I'll view

For the day I land in Cumnock will be a dream come true

And nothing will annoy me in the noises that I hear

For the humming o' the engines will be music to my ears

It will seem to me they're saying as they're singing their refrain

I carry precious cargo I'm bringing Johnnie hame

An they'll aw be there to meet me my freens an aw my kin

Waiting there to greet me when the plane is coming in

My you're looking weel John I ken that's what they'll say

An you hivnae changed a bit, John, in the years you've been away

And when I pass through Mauchline I feel like I could cheer

For I'm almost in my ain toon when Auchinleck is near

Then coming down through Auchinleck

Wi' my patience nearly gane

The longest mile o' any journey is the last mile hame

And when at last my journeys ended then I will declare

This is the finest place on earth

For this is Cumnock Square

I'm thinking o' that last mile as I write these lines today

When I journey to my ain toon three thousand miles away

And speaking o' that last mile this truth I'll always claim

The longest mile of any journey

Is the last mile hame