Cumnock to Demerara

By Kay McMeekin, additional research by Roberta McGee

Demerara is now part of Guyana on the north coast of South America. It was under the Dutch until 1815 when the British took over. There were many sugar plantations, worked by slaves until the abolition of slavery in 1833. *

Our story starts in 1847 when Cumnock born Marion McCowan Crawford married sugar planter Alexander Stewart in Felicity House, Demerary. He was 12 years her senior. Marion was the youngest daughter of James Crawford 1773 -1860 a banker in Cumnock and his wife Mary Wylie. I have found out little about him other than this;

 "Jas. Crawford, Esq., Banker, Cumnock, a Director of the Ayr and Dumfries Junction Railway." Glasgow Courier - Thursday 13 November 1845 accessed via British Newspaper Archive.

How Marion came to meet her husband Alexander Stewart who was born in Comrie, Perthshire is unknown. His father was Peter Stewart an innkeeper.

Their first known  daughter Marie Antoinette was born at the Lusignan plantation in 1850. Their next daughter Annie Marion was born in Cumnock in 1853 and their third daughter Elizabeth Stewart was born in Lusignan. n 1858, son Alexander Robertson Stewart was  born at 10 Scotland Street, Edinburgh Newington. His father, Alexander, was a sugar planter in Demerara and the birth was registered by a nurse. This suggests that Marion crossed the Atlantic at least 4 times. 

By the 1861 census Alexander was a retired sugar planter aged 60 and they are all living Northumberland House, 5 Gallowgate Street in Largs, Ayrshire

In 1871 Mary Antoinette is staying in Cumnock with Crawford aunts and uncle. The rest of the family is at Galvelmore Street, Crieff in Perthshire.

By the 1881 census the family is settled at 6 Dryden Place in Edinburgh.

Alexander died in Dryden Place in Edinburgh in 1879 of gout. Marion died at the same address in 1892 aged 68.

When Alexander Stewart made his Will with Messrs Tait & Crichton, Edinburgh, in 1854 he appointed the following as Executors/Guardians/Tutors/Curators to the children. 

Marion McCowan Stewart (wife)

Robert Arnott, Merchant in Crieff, Perthshire

Thomas Forrester, civil engineer in Georgetown, Demerara. Thomas died in 

Demerara and they appointed Charles Mackinley, merchant in Leith in 11/5/1865. 

He died and in 1870 and they appointed James Arthur Crichton Esq., advocate.

Hew Crichton, solicitor, Supreme Courts in Scotland, residing Edinburgh

Hew Hamilton Crichton, Writer to the Signet, also residing in Edinburgh

The Will ‘excludes the Administrator General of Demerara & Essequibo and any others from the Administration of our estates or from any interference as well as of guardianship of our minor heirs.’ So Alexander emigrated to Australia 

He entrusted Robert Crawford, sometime writer in Cumnock, now writer in Edinburgh with his Life Insurance Policy of £400. He left £80 each to his unmarried sisters but cancelled it when they married. More codicils followed as the years went by. When Mary Antoinette married he paid £240 16/10d for her outfit then deducted it from her inheritance. In 1878 they were unhappy with their eldest son Alexander Robertson Stewart who ‘has not of late been conducting himself to our satisfaction’ so he deducted £800 from his inheritance until he improved. Alexander R. emigrated to Australia, found employment with the Union Bank of Australia in Melbourne, married artist Laura Gertrude Beauchamp in Tasmania in 1890, had a family and died there in January 1905.

Another interesting detail about Alexander’s Will is the Crichton family of solicitors who were mentioned. The father of Hew Crichton, head of the firm of Tait & Crichton, who drew up the Will, was Adam Crichton, Factor to the Marquis of Bute. Hew was born in Cumnock and owned and lived in Hillside House where Cumnock Academy was built. His son Hew Hamilton Crichton, Writer to the Signet, built Hamilton Place, in Cumnock. He was unmarried and when he died he left his fortune to his sister Margaret. Margaret funded the erection of the Crichton Memorial Church in Ayr Road in memory of her father and brother.  

Another link to Cumnock is the Van Cooten story. Hilbert Van Cooten married Cumnock girl Jean McGlashan. His family estate, Vryheid’s Lust in Demerara, is only approximately 25 miles from the Lusignan Estate where the Stewarts lived. 

* From http://www.jahajeesisters.org/our-history.html

1838:  Approximately 17,439 slaves gain freedom in Trinidad.  Approximately 69, 579 slaves gain freedom in British Guyana. – An exodus of the ex-slaves off the plantations. – A critical shortage of labor - Without cheap labor the plantations would collapse.

1834:  Immigration schemes are introduced to Trinidad and Guyana to try to solve the post-emancipation labor shortages in the British West Indies (BWI).  Laborers were brought from other parts of the West Indies, Portugal, Europe (Ireland, Scottland, Germany, Sweden, France), Americans from Pennsylvania and Baltimore, China, Manderia, Azores, Malta, West Africa and India.

1838 (May 5):  The first ship of Indians aboard the Whitby and Hesperus land in Guyana with 396 Indians, 22 of which are women.

1845:  In Trinidad, imported labor from British West Indies, Madeira, and Europe is halted and Indians are brought there for the first time.

1850’s-1900’s:   Indians are coerced by Estate Owners into staying in Guyana through the exchange of their return passage to India after their 5 year contracts have expired, for a plot of land and a cow.  Most oblige, although some do return back.

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.

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

The Stewarts from Donaldson Brae, Old Cumnock

 By Roberta McGee

Family of Stewarts at Castle Green, New Cumnock

Edward Stewart was descended from a large travelling family of hawkers, scrap merchants, horse dealers and general dealers. He was born in Penrith about 1866 and died on 4/6/1946 at 5 Donaldson Brae, Old Cumnock. He married Catherine McMillan, who was also from a travelling family, on 13th January 1888 at Irvine, Ayrshire. They had sixteen children, four of whom died young. The births of their children give us an idea of the areas they frequented - Kelton Dumfries, New Cumnock, Castle Douglas, Old Cumnock, Dalmellington, Kilmarnock.

Their surviving children were Annie, Mary Ann, William, John, Swales, Lizzie, Edward, Alexander, Louise, George, James and Margaret.

Cumnock Connections Tree

1901 found Edward, described as a general dealer, and his family living in a caravan on Castle Green, New Cumnock, and in 1911 they are in Kilmarnock. Edward is now a horse dealer while his wife and daughters are hawkers and his sons are carters or drivers.

Location of 1-6 Donaldson Brae & yard 

By 1920 Edward and his family had settled in Old Cumnock. He bought a house, 34 Tower Street, and the 1921 census finds the family living there. In 1920 he had also purchased a row of five houses at Donaldson Brae. They numbered 1 to 5 with number 6 being a stable and sheds. On the 1920 Valuation Roll he is also listed as the proprietor of a house at 31 Townhead and a stable and sheds. By 1925 he had sold the Townhead properties and the Stewarts now concentrated on their scrap metal yard at Donaldson Brae.

The Donaldson Brae houses were pretty little cottages, surrounded by well looked after gardens, the previous occupants being William Mackay, Daniel Stillie, miner, James Stillie, the Misses Gemmell and 'Grannie] Bryce.

Before

Fast forward to 1957. There was a complaint made to the Council about the state of the Stewarts' yard in front of the houses. Father Edward had died and the business was now being run by his son Swales. It was requested that a fence be erected around the yard to hide it from view. Swales said that there had been one but tanks ran over it during the war and it had never been replaced. 

After

'Swaley's Yaird' was a playground for the local children. No soft play areas for them back then. They spent many a happy hour playing in the old rusted wrecks of various vehicles. In their imagination they could be car, train or bus drivers. Their fantasies could even stretch to being the pilot of an aeroplane. Of course the yard was also the home to rats from the nearby burn. However, back then no-one really thought about health and safety and the rats kept a low profile!

Travelling was in the Stewarts' genes and just because they had now settled in Cumnock it didn't stop them from spreading their wings - sometimes temporarily and sometimes permanently.

Their oldest daughter Annie was born in 1890 in New Cumnock and died at 4 Alloway Road, Lochside, Dumfriesshire. On 5/4/1916, when she was 26 years old, she married Towson Watson. Towson was a 47 years old horse dealer and the brother of Robert Watson (Dishy). The witnesses on the marriage certificate were John Lowther, hawker and Elizabeth Watson, spinster. Their first child, Robert Watson, was born 7/8/1917 at 19 Townhead Street, Cumnock. Tragically Towson died on 24/10/1918 of influenza. Annie was about 5 months pregnant at the time of his death and their daughter Christina was born at Townhead Street on 7/2/1919.

On 1/2/1929 we find Annie in Canada with her son Robert and daughter Christina. They had sailed from Glasgow to Halifax, Nova Scotia on the 'Athenia'. Also accompanying them was her brother George Stewart. On 24/1/1931 Annie is living at 2563 Delisle Street, Montreal with her brother John. They are joined there by their brother James and sister Margaret. 

On 2/4/1942 Annie, her daughter Christina and Annie's sister Louise arrive at Border Control in Laurier, Washington, on the west coast of the USA. Their last residence is recorded as 95 King Street, Toronto with her brother William. They were en route to Trail, via Paterson, British Columbia. Why had they travelled so far west? Annie's late husband Towson's brother Isaac Watson had died in Vancouver, British Columbia on 15/11/1926 so perhaps he had family there. Another reason could be that Annie's son Robert Watson had arrived at North Port, Washington on the west coast on 3/7/1941 accompanied by his uncle Tom Hodgson, so he may still have been there. 

On 13/6/1946 Annie and Christina were back at son Robert's at 119 3rd Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. Robert, a spray painter,  seemed to flit between Canada and the USA.  Annie died at 4 Alloway Road, Lochside, Dumfries and was buried in the family lair in St. Michael's Cemetery, Dumfries on 16/1/1958 so, at some point between 1946 and 1958 Annie had returned to Scotland. 

On 9/4/1930 Edward and Catherine's second child 37 years old Mary Ann Stewart sailed on the 'Laurentic' from Greenock to Montreal. Whether or not she returned to Scotland is uncertain. There is a  Mary Ann Stewart, whose mother's surname is McMillan, died in Old Cumnock in 1978. Perhaps this is her.

Third child William Stewart sailed on the 'Cameronia' from Glasgow to Halifax, Nova Scotia with his young son Swales arriving on 16/4/1932. His occupation is truck driver. He was joining his sister Annie Watson in Montreal. In 1942 William is living at 95 King Street, Toronto. 

On 18/1/1930 fourth child John Stewart, a motor driver, and his wife Bella, accompanied by his brother Edward, a dealer, sailed on the 'California' from Glasgow to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Their intended place of residence was with his brother Alexander at 115 Sherbourne Street, Toronto, Ontario.  On 24/1/1931 John is living with his sister Annie Watson at 2563 Delisle Street, Montreal. He is joined there by his brother James and sister Margaret. In 1937 John is living at 131 Chatham Street, Windsor, Ontario. That year John, his wife and brother James visit Detroit on an 'occasional visit'. In 1946 he is living in Dundas East, Toronto, Canada. 

On 3/6/1926 fifth child Swales Stewart sailed from Greenock to Quebec on the 'Montclare' to visit his cousin Alexander McMillan in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He was still in Canada in 1929 in Toronto when he was joined by his sister Louise. He must have returned to Cumnock between 1929 and 1946 when his father died and he took over the running of the scrap metal business at Donaldson Brae. 

Child Number 6 is Elizabeth (Lizzie) who doesn't seem to have ventured out of Cumnock, but I would be surprised if she hadn't made a trip to Canada at one point. She was the housekeeper and was the informant on her brother George's death certificate in 1968 at Donaldson Brae. Lizzie had a shop in Lugar Street, Cumnock, next to Jenny Tear's. It was packed to the door with bales of cloth. She used to sit on the pavement outside, in her chair, when she didn't have customers. 

Lizzie's shop on the right

Edward Stewart is the seventh child who travelled on 18/1/1930 to Halifax, Nova Scotia on the 'California' with his brother John to their brother Alexander's in Toronto.

Alexander returned to Scotland and died 14/12/1957 at 15 College Street, Dumfries. He was 49yrs old, single and a dealer.

9th child Louise arrived in Quebec from Glasgow on the 'Letitia' on 9/6/1929 her destination address being her brother Swales in Toronto. She was still in Canada in 1942 living with her brother William. 

10th child George sailed on the Athenia from Glasgow to Halifax, Nova Scotia, arriving on 1/4/1929, two months before his sister Louise. He had been accompanied by his sister Annie and her two children. They also went to brother Swales in Toronto. George returned to Donaldson Brae where he died, aged 59yrs, and was buried on 5/2/1968 at St Michael's Cemetery, Dumfries. 

Children Numbers 11 & 12 were James & Margaret. They arrived at St. John's, New Brunswick, Canada on 24/1/1931 on the 'Duchess of York' their destination being the home of their brother John and sister Annie at 2563 Delisle St., Montreal. In 1937 James's residence is 223 Taylor Street, Toronto. 

 Swales had first arrived in 1926 and there seems to have been a flurry of activity around 1929 and 1931 when a further ten of Edward & Catherine's children crossed the Atlantic. I could not find their mother, Catherine's, death so perhaps this may have been the reason for the exodus? 

The siblings moved easily between Canada and the USA but latterly their main domicile was in Ontario. Distance seemed to be no object . This had always been their way of life. The men would pick up work along the way, perhaps painting farm barns, while the women would hawk around the doors. Some of the men were dealers or salesmen. 

In later years the norm would be to travel down into the USA in the Spring to buy a new trailer to bring back up to Canada. This would be their home for the working year. They would travel and pick up work wherever they could and thought nothing of driving more than 2000 miles across Canada to British Columbia. Before winter fell they would take the trailer back into the USA, sell it and settle down in a house in Canada until Spring when the whole process would start again.  

There is still a strong travelling community in Ontario descended from the Stewarts and Watsons of Old Cumnock. Family is important to them. The Stewarts' old home on Donaldson Brae is long gone. In its place is Rothesay House, the new council building. Swales (or Swaley as the Cumnock folk called him - or indeed  'Swellie') died at 31 Herdston Place which is the last house at the bottom of that street just some yards from where Swaley's old house once stood.