Migration between Scotland and Ireland

by Ailsa M McInnes

There are few of us, especially in the west of Scotland, without Irish forbears. We know of the influx of people from before, particularly during, and beyond the great famine of 1845-52. Those seeking work in local farms, coal mining and the other heavy industries of the Cumnock area. However, what of the movement of people in earlier times?

There has always been close ties between Scotland and Ireland - of language, culture and history – not surprising as they are separated at the narrowest point by about twelve miles of sea.

In mythology, the Giant’s Causeway on the Antrim coast with a similar rock formation at Fingal’s Cave on Staffa, tells of Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill challenged to a fight by Scottish giant Benandonner, and the causeway being built so they could meet. (‘The Giant’s Causeway.’ The Dublin Penny Journal, issue 5 p33) Another version has Fionn disguised as his baby son. On seeing the ‘baby’ Benandonner fearful of what size Fionn might be flees back to Scotland, destroying the causeway behind him. (Jones, Richard ‘Myths and legends of Britain and Ireland’ p131)

You only need to stand on the Antrim coast and see Arran from the ‘wrong side,’ (for Ayrshire folk) Kintyre and the islands of Islay and Jura with Mull in the distance. For centuries travel by sea was much easier than by land and this western seaboard was a busy highway.

 

 John Speed ‘The kingdome of Scotland 1610’. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.

 

Undoubtedly, there has been interaction and movement between all of these islands from time immemorial. In the early period of the Roman occupation of Britain Gaelic settlers from Ireland had established colonies in what is now western Scotland and Wales, with only place name evidence surviving in the Rhinns of Galloway and the Lleyn peninsula. (Haggart, Craig ‘The Western Seaboard of Scotland in the ninth century’ Glasgow University p2)

Legend has it that in the fifth century the Scoti from Ireland settled in Argyll and the islands to form the kingdom of Dal Riada, although it would now appear that this migration was much earlier. Documentary evidence shows that Dal Riada was a distinct Irish kingdom. Adamnan described the people of Dal Riada as the Irish in Britain, their language, laws and customs were Gaelic and they had frequent contact with their kinsmen in Ireland. (Haggart p3) Ultimately the name Scoti prevailed once the various kingdoms united.

In 563, Columba an Irish missionary of aristocratic family settled on the Isle of Iona and had a crucial role in converting Scotland to Christianity, sending missionaries throughout the kingdoms and establishing the Celtic Church. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Of course, into this mix of Irish/Gael came the Norse/Vikings, the Gall Gaels (the foreign Gaels) giving their name to Galloway and Galway. (Clancy, Thomas Owen ‘The Gall-Ghaidheil and Galloway’ Journal of Scottish Name Studies 2 2008 p19-50) And let’s not forget the infamous ‘Gallowglass’ elite mercenary soldiers from the Isles, fighting in both Ireland and Scotland between the mid thirteenth and late sixteenth century. (Perceval-Maxwell, M ‘The Scottish Migration to Ulster in the Reign of James I’ p2)

 

Grave Slabs at Saddell Abbey. Photo Credit Andrew McInnes

 

There were strong family ties amongst aristocratic families in both countries. For example, the MacDonnells of Antrim were descended from John Mor MacDonald of Dunnyveg, second son of John of Islay, Lord of the Isles. Edward Bruce, younger brother of Robert, was proclaimed High King of Ireland in 1316 although killed at the battle of Faughart two years later. Sean Duffy suggests that he was probably fostered in Ireland as a child, likely by the O’Neill’s of Ulster. Archie Duncan suggests some time was spent with the Bissets in the Glens of Antrim. The fostering of noble children was a common Scottish/Irish cultural practice. (Duncan AAM ‘The Scots’ Invasion of Ireland, 1315’, in Davies, RR ‘The British Isles, 1000-1500 ‘p105)

The Plantation of Ulster, beginning in 1610, was to change Ireland dramatically, with profound repercussions down the centuries to the present day. Many Ayrshire folk were part of this plantation and a Cumnock laird, George Crawford of Leifnorris, was one of the original fifty nine undertakers. (https://ulster-settlers.clericus.ie)

Earlier in the century Hugh Montgomery, Laird of Braidstone in Ayrshire, James Hamilton, the son of the minister of Dunlop, Ayrshire and Con O’Neill, the principal Irish landowner of North Down had been the precursor to this ‘official plantation,’ carving up the counties of Antrim and Down for themselves. Montgomery had engineered O’Neill’s escape from imprisonment in Carrickfergus Castle (he had rebelled against the English during the reign of Elizabeth I) with the proviso that they divide O’Neill’s lands between them. Somehow James Hamilton intervened and it became a three way split. (Perceval-Maxwell p50-51)

It took over two years of planning for the colony of the six escheated (confiscated) counties, and those arriving in 1610 were ‘fitted into a systematically devised structure.’ There were three categories of settler – undertakers (civilian groups so called because of the conditions they undertook to fulfil, and they were not allowed Irish tenants), servitors (military officers and government officials, Irish tenants were allowed.) and Irish grantees. (Hunter, RJ (Editor) ‘Plantations in Ulster, 1600-1641 A Collection of Documents’ p9) There were strict regulations as to what was to happen. Each undertaker was to settle his land within a set time and have ten settler families, a minimum of twenty four adult males per 1,000 acres. He was to build a stronghold with an enclosed bawn (wall). The colonists were to live ‘for their mutual defence and strength’ in village settlements close to the undertaker’s stronghold and he was to provide arms for defence. Native Irish residents were to be cleared from the land. (Hunter p18) Many undertakers breached the rules and let their lands to Irish tenants as they could charge them a higher rent. The government tried to force them to comply but with little success. In practice there was not the wholesale transplantation of Irish from the lands as had been initially planned. (Hunter p38)

 In 1610 George Crawford of Leifnorris was granted 1,000 acres in Tullelegan connected to Mountjoy Precinct, Tyrone. (Perceval-Maxwell p336) Each county was divided into two precincts, save Armagh. Tullelegan was south of Cookstown and possibly survives today as a rather lovely country house hotel called Tullylagan. Three hundred acres of this grant was demesne land. (A piece of land attached to a manor and retained by the owner for their own use. (Oxford Languages Dictionary) The manor of Tullelegan was to be erected, Crawford was allowed to hold a baron court and his rent was £5 6s 8d. His letters patent of denizen are dated August 1610. Basically this was naturalisation making him ‘a free denizen and liege subject of Ireland by patent, empowered to enjoy the privileges of a native true born subject thereof.’ (https://ulster-settlers.clericus.ie) This permitted an individual to purchase property in Ireland and allowed their legitimate heir to inherit otherwise property would revert to the crown after the individual's death.

Unfortunately George Crawford of Leifnorris failed to prosper in Ulster. Of the fifty nine undertakers Perceval-Maxwell states that he was the ‘most backward’ in developing his estate. (Perceval-Maxwell p130) He was in debt, and in July 1610 just before the plantation began, had been imprisoned in the tollbooth in Edinburgh. His son, another George Crawford, fared little better. He too was in debt and had been briefly imprisoned in Blackness castle for feuding and on his release had a sum of 10,000 merks to pay. (Perceval-Maxwelll p336) As well as financial woes, Carew’s Survey of 1611 noted that George senior was ‘diseased,’ with what we do not know. Robert O’ Rorke, his Irish agent, and presumably in Tullelegan had timber felled and was preparing materials for building work to commence the following spring. (https://ulster-settlers.clericus.ie) This would imply that Crawford was not residing in Ulster, nor would it appear were any of his Cumnock tenants. In 1612 he had complained about the high cost of transport between Scotland and Ulster and there appears to have been little progress from the previous year. In 1615, the Crawford family, not in a position to invest either time or money in their Irish estate, sold Tullelegan to a Captain Alexander Sanderson. (Perceval-Maxwell p336)

Sanderson, originally from the east of Scotland, was a mercenary soldier and had served in the Swedish army under Karl IX in Russia. During these Russian hostilities with Poland -Lithuania he was captured. He then entered Sigismund III’s service with the Polish army at the siege of Smolensk. (https://ulster-settlers.clericus.ie) He and his descendants were to do well in Ulster. Pynnar’s Survey of 1618-19 states 'Captain Sanderson, Esq., hath 1,000 acres, called Tullylegan. Upon this there is a good bawne of clay and stone, rough cast with lime, having two flankers, and a very good house of lime and stone; himself, with his wife and family, now dwelling there.’ Around him were houses with sixteen British families, giving thirty six men at arms. (https://ulster-settlers.clericus.ie) Incredibly his gravestone has survived in Desertcreat Church of Ireland. It states that he is the owner of the manor of Tullylegan near Cookstown. He was born in Scotland, a foot soldier in Belgium, a master of horse and infantry in Poland, Justice of the Peace in Ireland and three times a High Sheriff. (Plantation-of-Ulster-Story-of-Scots.pdf)

 

 © OpenStreetMap contributors

 

Possibly George Crawford had been chosen as an undertaker for Tullelegan as his father-in-law was Andrew Stewart, the third Lord Ochiltree. Ochiltree had served the crown loyally, was a member of the Scottish council and had become a Justice of the Peace when that office had been created by James VI/I. (Perceval-Maxwell p98) He was one of the nine chief undertakers and gained 3,000 acres in Mountjoy Precinct, Tyrone. Ochiltree too was greatly in debt, primarily due to a previous foray into the Isles to crush resistance to royal authority. (Perceval-Maxwell p99) In 1615 he sold his Scottish lands and title to his cousin Sir James Stewart of Killeith. (Perceval-Maxwell p107) However, he was to prosper in Ulster, eventually becoming Lord Castlestewart. Of interest, Carew’s Report of 1611 stated that he had brought ‘thirty three followers including gentry ‘of a sorte,’ freeholders and other tenants, artificers and a minister.’ Work on his castle had begun, three houses of oak had been built and there were numerous livestock there or en route. (Perceval-Maxwell p329) It would seem likely that many of those thirty three would have been from the Ochiltree area.  Bodley’s survey of 1613 noted that there were numerous Irish on his land and no additional families had settled. (Perceval-Maxwell p144) By Pynnar’s report of 1618-19 the castle was completed although without a bawm, and there were British freeholders and leaseholders along with their tenants and eighty men could be raised. By 1622 there were fifty British families present, indicating about one hundred men, as well as eighty four Irish. (Perceval-Maxwell p329)

The movement of Scots to Ulster continued throughout the seventeenth century. Modest at first, it accelerated after 1650 and peaked during the final decade of the century. (Scott B & Dooher J (editor) ‘Plantation; Aspects of seventeenth century Ulster society’ p2)

More records for Scottish/Irish migration are available for later centuries. However, the earlier period is fascinating with much still to be explored. Watch this space.

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

Footballers

By Kay McMeekin

Footballers move around a lot.

A lot of local players went to Preston North End in Lancashire, England which was founded in 1880.

John Graham  payed for Preston North End in about 1890 and his brother William Graham played for Preston North End and Newcastle United

 Thomas McCall Smith  Thomas Hamilton also went to Preston North End in the 1920s and 1930s.  They all returned to their roots in Ayrshire.

David Reid McCulley 1895-1962 a grocer in Cumnock played for Ayr United but his professional career was cut short by an ankle injury.

Davy Wells from New Cumnock played for Auchinleck Talbot then Ayr United in 1970 aged 17.

a young Bill Shankly

Bill Shankly born in Glenbuck in 1913 is still a household name!  A memorial in the old Glenbuck on the site of the Shankly house attracts Liverpool fans on pilgrimages from all over.

As a player: Cronberry Eglinton 1931-32,Carlisle United 1932-33,Preston North End 1933-49, Liverpool 1942 as guest and Scotland 1938-39 (5 caps)

As a manager: Carlisle United 1949-51, Grimsby Town 1951-54, Workington 1954-55, Huddersfield Town 1956-59, Liverpool 1 Dec 1959 - 12 Jul 1974

Bill died in Liverpool in 1981.

His brother James B Shankly played for Portsmouth,Sheffield United and Carlisle

John Shankly played for Glenbuck Cherrypickers, Greenock Morton, Carlisle United, Luton Town, Portsmouth, Alloa, Kings Park, Larne

David Thompson McCartney (26 December 1875 – 8 December 1949) was a Scottish professional footballer, best remembered for his time as a centre half in the Southern League with Northampton Town and Watford. He also played in the Football League for Glossop and Chelsea. When he retired, the family emigrated to Australia on the Samaris arriving November 1910. He went back to mining at Aberdare South Colliery.

Andrew Johnstone McCall born Cumnock 1908 played for Cumnock Townhead Thistle, Ayr United, St johnstone in 1935 and Huddersfield in 1939 and after. a few months to Nottingham Forrest. He rejoined Ayr United in 1940. He played for Clyde then Dundee He was manager of Dundee 1958-9.

Ayr United, Andy is front 2nd from right

Eric Caldow - professional footballer and Scotland internationalist, was born 14 May 1934 and raised in Skerrington, Cumnock and attended Cumnock Academy. Eric first played for the Cumnock Academy Football Team at right-back. His first Junior Football Team was Muirkirk but he was soon signed by Glasgow Rangers and played for them until 1964.

Eric was capped for Scotland 40 times from 1957 to 1963. His first cap was on 6th April 1957 against England at Wembley in front of a crowd of 97,520 where Scotland lost 2-1. He played for Scotland on the 6th April 1963 against England at Wembley - where he broke his leg. 

Eric received a civic reception in 1961 because of his fame as a Scottish internationalist. He managed Cumnock Juniors for a short time in 1978.

After leaving Rangers Caldow then played for one season with Stirling Albion before moving south to become player-manager of Corby Town in 1967. He returned to his native Ayrshire to become manager of Junior side Hurlford United in 1970 and three years later was appointed manager of Scottish League side Stranraer. Caldow left Stair Park in 1975 and his last involvement with football was as a scout for Queens Park Rangers.

Caldow was inducted to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2007. He died in 2019.

George Burley, born in Cumnock in 1956, had a distinguished career as a player and manager. He joined Ipswich Town in 1972. He made 18 appearances playing for Scotland and was the Scotland manager 2008-9. 

A relation of his Craig Burley born 1971 was also a successful footballer  playing for Chelsea, Celtic and Preston North End amongst others. He is now a sports pundit for an American TV channel EPSN.

The McCartney brothers David and John went to Australia.