Robert Smith, Ochiltree to Eastern Cape Province

By Elaine Corbett

Robert Smith  was a farmer’s son from Whitehill Farm, Ochiltree.

Follow this link to the farm post for Whitehill on our blog Ploughing Up Our Past.

Robert was my 2nd great grand-uncle, brother of my great, great grandfather, David Smith.

He was the third son of Robert Smith and Jane Guthrie born in 1835, and must have been recognised as being a bright lad and encouraged to pursue his studies. The remaining sons all stayed farming. 

The 1851 census finds him in Ochiltree village with, (we think) his great-aunt, Elizabeth Wallace so it is evident he was sent away from the distraction of his siblings to get on with his book learning.

In 1861 he was living in Aberdeenshire as a teacher, and in 1862 he married Margaret Anderson, in Binns Farm, Urquhart. Margaret’s family were interesting, as her father was a farmer and ship owner. Her uncle was a sea captain before he too bought into a shipping company and settled in Glasgow with his Danish wife.

The 1871 census sadly, shows that Robert had gained two sons, William and Robert, but Margaret had died from complications of childbirth. His occupation was now Bank Agent. 

In 1872 he married Mary Mather and they set up home together in Union Street, Aberdeen. They had four children before Mary died in 1888 from Tuberculosis. 

Despite his personal tragedies, Robert’s career seems to have been doing well, and by the 1891 census, he had decided to emigrate to King William’s Town, East Cape Province, South Africa and had become the manager of the Bank of South Africa there. The children were staying with family getting ready to join their father and begin their new life.

The younger boys David Guthrie Smith, and John Ogilvie Smith, and daughter Jessie MacLean Smith were staying with Mary’s sister in Glasgow, while Mather, the oldest of Mary’s children was with Uncle Hugh at Whitehill Farm. The sons from his first marriage seem to have left home and were building their own lives. Their names were Robert Smith, and William Anderson Smith.

Robert stayed in Scotland and qualified as a doctor, and found a medical practice in Assam, India, but unfortunately died there aged just 30.

William Anderson Smith was studying Arts in Aberdeen University, but no trace after that in UK records, until the very last clipping posted here.

There was also an adopted daughter called Elizabeth Anderson, but I can’t find any trace of her, or even who her mother and father might have been.

Of the remaining family, it seems they had an exciting life in South Africa.

The Smith family had not long been in South Africa before the Second Boer War began. Although a relatively short war, from 1899 to 1903  it was quite brutal. Much of it was conducted under guerilla tactics, sieges, and was the first war we saw mention of concentration camps. It was fought using cavalry swords, rifles and bayonets, and cannon. All three of Robert’s sons who were with him immediately signed up to fight.

Mather joined the 1st Battalion, Imperial Light Horse and his record shows he earned four clasps to his medal for seeing action at the relief of  Mafeking, the Transvaal clasp, the Relief of Ladysmith, and Tugela Heights.

He was wounded at Acton Homes 19th January 1900, where 40 Boers were captured, recovered from his wounds then returned to service. He was finally discharged from service 12th October 1900.

When he was staying with his Uncle, before going out to Eastern Cape, he had been studying engineering. When he married Nellie Sweeten, a Cumbrian girl from Penrith in 1911, he was described as being from the Worcester Gold Mining Company, Barberton, so it seems his engineering studies had come to fruition.

Cumberland and North Westmorland Herald 17th June 1911

Arthur Sweeten was publisher of a newspaper in Penrith, and one of his sons was out in South Africa, so perhaps Nellie met Mather in South Africa.

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

Rev. Alexander McDonald Allan, missionary in Colombia

 

by Roberta McGee

Alexander McDonald Allan was born in Netherthird Farm, Old Cumnock on 15/2/1876. His father was Robert Allan who was born in Old Cumnock on 20/2/1837 and his mother was Jeanie Baxter McDonald who was born in Kirkintilloch in 1849.

Robert's brother, who was also called Alexander, served his apprenticeship with Turnbull & Young, watchmakers & jewellers, who had premises in Glaisnock Street, and when the firm decided to sell up, Robert and his brother Alexander acquired it. They traded under the name of R & A Allan - "Sign of the Big Clock". "The Big Clock" or "Allan's Knock" hung above their shop in Glaisnock Street next to McKechnie's. The shop became, in later years, Peggy Lindsay's, draper. 

Allan’s Knock is on the right


        

Sadly Robert died on 10/3/1886 at Viewfield Cottage, Cumnock, where they had moved to from Netherthird Farm. His wife Jeanie moved to 2 Armour Street, Kilmarnock and that's where we find her on the 1891 census with her children Margaret aged 18yrs who is a pupil teacher, 16yrs old William who is a baker, Alexander aged 14yrs & Helen aged 9yrs.

Alexander excelled at Kilmarnock Academy. Here is the transcription of an article from the Cumnock Chronicle from 1936 detailing his extraordinary life. 

Interesting career of a Cumnock native

"On Sabbath last the pulpit in the West Church was occupied by the Rev. Alexander McDonald Allan, a Cumnock native, who, in the course of his service, gave a most interesting account of 26 years' service in Colombia, South America. We have been favoured by a fuller account of Mr. Allan's experiences, and have great pleasure in reproducing them, and we are certain that they will be read with great interest, not only by all in Cumnock who knew him as a boy at school, but by natives of Cumnock, no matter where they reside.

Mr Allan was the son of Mr. Robert Allan, who, 60 years ago, occupied the farm of Netherthird, and who, along with his horse 'Prince', was a very well-known feature of Cumnock streets at that time. On retiring from Netherthird, Mr. Allan, along with his younger brother Alexander, bought the jewellery business of Turnbull & Young, and formed the firm R. & A. Allan, which was in business for many years, and whose name still adorns the big clock in front of the premises they occupied in Glaisnock Street. 

Mr Allan was born at Netherthird in 1876 and his father died 10 years later at Viewfield Cottage, Glaisnock Road. In 1889 the family removed to Kilmarnock, and at Kilmarnock Academy Alexander gained the Paterson Bursary and the Ballochmyle Bursary. At the age of 16 Alex went to sea and for four years served before the mast, during which time he visited Mauritius, Australia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile and Brazil. At the latter place he was shipwrecked and had to swim ashore. He crossed the Equator 18 times, rounded the Cape of Good Hope 5 times and Cape Horn 3 times. All his seafaring experiences were gained in sailing ships.

Returning to Glasgow, he studied two years at Glasgow University, and then went to New Zealand where he was engaged in mission work in the Northern part for some years amongst Maoris and Europeans. He travelled all over the North Island and visited the South Sea Islands for five months in the Anglican Mission schooner 'Southern Cross', and spent some time amongst the cannibals of the Solomon Islands. He spent the next six months in Australia and two years in California, where he continued his studies. Returning to New Zealand in 1904, he spent three years in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Dunedin and two years in mission work.

 He married Margaret Allan, whose grandfather belonged to Riccarton, Kilmarnock, and was one of the first settlers in New Zealand. 

He offered himself for foreign mission work in South America, and was accepted by the Presbyterian Church in USA, and went to Colombia in 1910. He resides in Bogota, the capital, which has a population of 350,000 people and is situated 9000 feet above sea level. The state of Colombia has a population of 8 millions. He has a furlough every six years. He has a family of two; Margaret, who is now aged 22 years and Robert, 16 years, who is accompanying him on a brief visit to Scotland. 

James Fraser, an Aberdeen medical student, went from Paris to Colombia with the British Legion, consisting of 2000 Scotch and Irish, to help General Boliver in the Wars of Independence. After victory, Fraser invited the Presbyterian Church of Scotland to send missionaries to Colombia, but they were already too busy in Africa and India to do so. He wrote to the USA Presbyterian Church and they began to work in Bogota in 1856. They have now 26 missionaries in Colombia. Mr Allan has remained a British subject, but furloughs in USA. In September and October he undertakes deputation work for the churches in Illinois and Ohio.

He and his son sail from Greenock on the S.S. Samaria on August 22nd for New York, to rejoin his wife and daughter at Wheaton, Illinois. He and his wife return to Colombia in March 1937, while his son and daughter will remain in Illinois to continue their studies.

Six years ago the clerical-conservative government gave way to a transition government. Two years ago a Liberal government got into power, and it is now busy seeking complete separation between Church and State, and the liberation of the public schools from clerical control, and endeavouring to increase the number of schools, and further the general development of the country along democratic lines, but avoiding the extremes which are causing so much trouble in Spain today.

Altogether there are eighty Protestant missionaries in Colombia, from various societies, and the people receive them well as an element of progress, providing schools and bibles, and a new outlook on religion, but in this work they are opposed by the priests. In 1912 Mr. Allan founded a paper entitled 'El Evangelista Colombiano' and since that time it has been published every month, and 1300 copies are sold monthly. It is a religious and popular paper for those interested in Protestantism.

Mr. Allan has been a pastor of a church in Bogota, where all the work is done in Spanish, the language of the country. He has now under his care 8 country schools, 10 country congregations and he itinerates one third of each year over a territory as large as Scotland. In spite of all their difficulties, their congregations are increasing and developing, and contrary to popular belief, mission work is easier in South America than in Asia. However, all Mission Boards are sorely tried today, through the increased cost of living in foreign lands, and the decreased gifts since the crisis at home, at a time of enlarging opportunities."

Both Alexander and his wife, Margaret Gordon Allan, became American citizens in 1955, their residence given at that time as 755 Mayflower Road, Claremont, California. Their children, both of whom were born in Bogota, were resident in the USA - Margaret in Pomona, California and Robert in Kansas City. 

Margaret Gordon Allan died 29/12/1960 in Los Angeles, California and Alexander died 22/1/1973 also in Los Angeles. 

As for "Allan's Knock", Well it didn't have such a peaceful ending.

1963 Cumnock Chronicle

 

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)

 

 

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. 

Put title here - Instruction

How to use Blogger.

ADD NEW POST  

Click on  +NEW POST on top left

TITLE goes above the orange line at the top. This determines the URL of the post, so although you can go back and edit the title, the URL won't change. 

TEXT

Start typing in the large space.  Start with your name  eg By Kay McMeekin

Or if you already have it typed in, say, Word  you need to copy your  text (text only, not images) and paste it in using  Paste and Match Style  from the Edit menu, so that your post looks the same as all the others in respect of font and size. (Strangely, I don’t get this option in my iPad - it’s a bit weird! EC)

PHOTO

Add a photo by clicking on the icon with mountains on. 

I keep the photos I want in my usual photo file on this iPad.

Click ‘Upload from computer’ and select the picture you want to add from your photo file. Do ‘Choose files’ and ‘Select’.

 Christmas cake 2023!!

Click on the image to see the options

You can Align centre (second from left)

You can choose the size (4th from left).  Large usually works fine. If any larger, the photo may overlap into the sidebar.

You can Add a caption  below the image by clicking on the orange A and typing your caption.

LINK

And then you may want to add a link to the Cumnock Connections tree or something else on t'internet!

In a new window or tab, go to the tree and find the person you want to link to.

Copy the page detail where it gives the address of the page and copy it.

Go back to the blog post and make sure the cursor is where you want the text to be,  and then click on the chain link icon

Type in the text you want to link to eg Robert Smith

Then copy in the link address from Cumnock Connections

Tick Open file in a new window.

Robert Smith my grandfather smoking his pipe in our farmyard….note the old car tyres in the background ready for weighting down the silage clamp!

LABELS

Add Labels from Post settings, top right. Click on the arrow to see what's been used already or type a new one above, where it says Separate labels with commas.

eg USA or Mormons or 1890s or make up a new one.  

for names - Surname only then the surname so Surname Smith, Surname Smart, Surname Anderson,

this will keep all the surnames together for a potential index.

PUBLISH 

You can then go ahead and ‘Publish’ it for public viewing by clicking on the orange "Publish" at the top right of the page, or just leave it. If you have published and want to return to Draft  ‘Save’ it as draft in the 'Preview’. 

You can always come back and make changes or additions.

I will leave this as Draft just for editors to see. Use Preview to view it.

Hope this helps. Elaine