From Glengyron Row, Cumnock to the Lady of the Manor - Mary Rogan (1857-1950)

By Alexandra Watson

William Armstrong was born in Portpatrick, SW Scotland in 1802. His parents were from Drumbeg and Drummore in County Down, Ireland.  He was one of 8 children and married a local girl Mary Bryden, whose parents were also Irish. William was an Ironstone Miner. Mary and William moved to Ayrshire living first in Troon, then Irvine and by 1851 settling in the Beith area. Their daughter Mary Armstrong married Thomas Knox in Dalry on 29 April 1864 and then the Knox family moved to Lethanhill, Dalmellington. It would appear in due course Mary and William Armstrong followed the Knoxes to Dalmellington.

By 1881 William is retired and he and Mary are living in Glengyron Row, Cumnock, a miners' row of 44 2-roomed houses. Both live to a good age, William dying in 1882 at Glengyron Row and Mary passed away in 1900 at the age of 84.

Another of their daughters, Agnes married Bernard Rogan from Ireland but sadly Bernard died at the young age of 35.   Bernard and Agnes had 5 children and this story focuses on Mary Rogan – one of Agnes Armstrong’s daughters with Bernard Rogan. The family also used the name Logan, less Irish sounding?

Link to Mary on Cumnock Connections tree

Mary Rogan appears next appears in the 1861 Census with her mother and father Bernard living in Dalry, Ayrshire. Following Bernard’s death Agnes re-married a John McCulloch also Irish. Then Agnes and John and all the children also moved to Dalmellington and then Cumnock to join her sister and her parents the Armstrongs.  By the 1871 Census Mary Rogan aged 14 is a servant for a cattle dealer and his family in Kirkmichael, Ayrshire but by now she is registered as Mary Logan. Is this a transcription error or a fashion of the time/ economic imperative revising her surname to make it sounds more Scots?

Apparently not an error, as Mary Rogan in all official documents from now becomes Mary Logan, as again in the 1881 census Mary by this time 23 year old is still registered under the name of Logan. In 1879 Mary Rogan/ Logan has had a daughter Mary to a miner who was killed in a pit accident. That daughter is living with her grandparents William and Mary Armstrong (mentioned above) at 43 Glengyron Row in the 1881 Census.  

Meanwhile Mary Logan/ Rogan now 23 has found employment as a servant far away in the north east of Scotland and her employer is Mr William Aiton, a Land Owner aged 57 resident at Sandford House, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. 

1881 Scottish Census
Sandford House, Peterhead

William Aiton 57 landowner

Mary Logan 23 servant b Dalry

Mr William Aiton her employer is a very interesting character. Looking back over previous census while Mary Rogan was a 4 year old living in Dalry with her parents in 1861 William Aiton in his census return is a Railway Contractor age 37 with 5 children and a wife 16 years older than himself living in Crow Road Glasgow, a leafy west end suburb. 

The career of William Aiton was quite astonishing - among his many exploits

• Built railways in Ayrshire

• Surveyed the Pyramids of Giza

• Went to Paris & negotiated a large contract with Ferdinand De Lessops and the Suez Canal company.

• Was contracted to build 46 miles of the Suez Canal. This contract was so lucrative        for Aiton the Suez company had to terminate it and compensate him to the tune of £20,000

• Travelled widely in the Middle East with many adventures (some drunken)

• Returned to Scotland and bought an estate in Aberdeenshire from the Earl of Aberdeen

• Became a Justice of the Peace for the County

• Funded numerous improvements to the local economy including the building of the Harbour at Boddum, Aberdeenshire. 

The Boddam Estate comprised not only Sandford House but many acres, a ruined castle, lighthouse, and other properties.

Image of Sandford Lodge built about 1800

Sadly the roof of the fine Georgian house is now off. And it is situated right beside Peterhead Power Station

In the 1891 census Mary is still registered as Housekeeper at Sandford House but they had a daughter Barbara in 1888, registered as Logan. On 15 December 1891, in Edinburgh, she officially becomes Mrs Aiton.
In innumerable articles William Aiton is referred to as the Laird, so Mary the servant from Glengyron Row married her “prince” (after the death of his estranged wife Marion) and became the Lady of the Manor. Although from the many newspaper cuttings over the years “Mrs Aiton” had been a regular attendee at functions and regularly “handed out the prizes” at the picnics and events held in the grounds of the house.  When her husband William died in 1893 he left Mary his entire estate.
Mary gave birth to their son William in May 1893 - 3 months after the death of her husband in February. After her husband William died Mary bought and became a lodging house keeper in Aberdeen.
Note that her oldest daughter Mary (junior) who had been left with her grandparents the Armstrongs also moved to Aberdeen and on her marriage, in March 1901, is actually using the name Aiton.
THOMPSON-AITON By special licence, at Aberdeen, on 4th Inst., George Thompson, clerk, to Mary Logan. daughter of the late William Aiton, Sandford, Peterhead. 

Barbara Aiton married schoolteacher William Brebner in 1919 in Aberdeen. Her address was 74 Ferryhill Road, Aberdeen. At the time of their silver wedding anniversary their address was 33 Marchmont  Crescent, Edinburgh.
Son William born 1893 moved to Canada, married and had a large family. He died at Owen Sound, Ontario in 1970.
Mary Aiton nee Logan/ Rogan moved from Aberdeen to Edinburgh dying at 33 Marchmont Crescent, (the  home of daughter Barbara) Edinburgh, in 1950 aged 93...53 years after the death of William.  

 

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

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.