From Cumnock to Cumnock

by Roberta McGee

 

The origin of the name 'Cumnock' has been debated over the years and several interpretations have been offered.

                                    Com-cnoc  (hollow of the hills)  

                                    Com-oich   (meeting of the waters)

                                    Cam-cnoc   (bent or crooked hill)    

Source: Cumnock History Group           

The name Cumnock seems to be compounded of the Gaelic words com, a bosom, and conoc, a hill; thus signifying the bosom of the hill.  

Source: Family Search                                                   

'The name itself bears witness to an early origin. It would seem to be of Gaelic derivation, although opinion varies whether Cumnock means the hollow in the hills, the sloping hill, the meeting of the waters - or something quite different.'                                                        

Source: The New History of Cumnock - John Strawhorn p11                                                                                                          

People have had different reasons for leaving Cumnock over the years. Usually it was in search of a better life. Whatever reason made them take this huge step some never forgot their roots and they took a little bit of Cumnock with them in their hearts. Some went further and created another Cumnock in their chosen country. 

Australia

There is a small town called 'Cumnock' in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It was originally known as Burrawong Crossroads and renamed Cumnock in 1879. Some sources say the name was suggested by William Ross of Dilga Station who was born in Old Cumnock. However William Ross was born in Muirkirk and he emigrated to Australia in 1845. Another source says that it was named after John Strahorn who arrived in NSW in 1838. It also claims that he was born in Old Cumnock but records show that he was born in Mauchline. Read more about our Cumnock links in NSW, Australia and the Howat family in our blog here.

Canada

James Samson was born in Old Cumnock in 1824 most likely the son of John Samson and Agnes Young. In 1841 we find James living in Hillhouse Farm, Old Cumnock with his widowed mother and his siblings. By 1852 James was living in Nichol Township, Wellington County, Toronto, Canada. He purchased 7,367 acres of land there, and, in partnership with Argyll born John Muir, built The Red Lion Inn. He named the settlement Cumnock after the town of his birth. Cumnock is located north of Guelph and 5.8 miles from Fergus and was part of Nichol Township until 1999.

Later, James and John split and John Muir, in competition with James, opened his own hotel, naming it The British Lion. James Samson added a store to his growing list of businesses and opened the village's first Post Office. The village grew to include a blacksmith, a cheese factory, a shoemaker, a flax mill, a sawmill and a small number of houses but began to decline as the railroads came through the area and the traffic along the roads dwindled. 

"There's mauny a day I dream of the braes and the lochs of my auld land. Then I look to the waters, the trees and the stanes; and I keen I am hame in Fergus, in Upper Canada."  This was written by Thomas Young in 1836. I wonder if James felt the same about his adopted home?

James married Canadian born Emma Jackson and they had four daughters together. He died in 1853 in Cumnock and Emma died in 1919 in Fergus, Wellington County.

In Canada there is a mountain named after our town. Mount Cumnock is located in Jasper National Park in the De Smet region of Alberta's Rocky Mountains. It was named after Cumnock, Ayrshire by mountain surveyor Morrison Parsons Bridgland who would climb to the top of mountain peaks with his camera equipment and take detailed photographs of them. He was a lover of mountains and was a member of the American Alpine Club. He named many mountains and I cannot find an explanation why he chose Cumnock other than that it was named after Cumnock in Ayrshire. 

 

Mount Cumnock

USA

Further south in Lee County, North Carolina, USA we find another Cumnock. Like its namesake, Cumnock in North Carolina was a mining town. It was originally a 2,700 acre plantation owned by Peter Evans who purchased it in 1830. During the American Civil War (1861-1865) it was used by Confederate troops then captured by the Union Army. 

Evans's Plantation House surrounded by Union soldiers
Image - New Berne Historical

"The Cumnock Mine was part of the Deep River Coalfield which spanned about thirty miles from Moore County, North Carolina and followed the Deep River, Lee and Chatham County's mutual border. There were nine documents listed mines but the two largest and most profitable of the mines were Cumnock (Egypt) and the Carolina (Farmville or Coal Glen."

Source: deepriverhistory.com

Cumnock was originally named Egypt. There was a severe drought which affected most settlers in the area. Peter Evans, who owned the plantation, did not seem to have been affected as badly so the residents would make their way to the plantation to purchase corn from him as the Egyptians did from Joseph in the Bible.

Egypt Store - Image Larry Pickard

In 1870 the mine closed because it wasn't making a profit but eighteen years later it was re-opened by a new company and immediately went into profit. Miners from Pennsylvania and West Virginia moved south to work there. Half the miners working in the mine were black and about a quarter were foreigners, among them many Scots. The mine was prospering and the future looked good when disaster struck. In December 1895 an explosion ripped through the mine killing forty one men. The name was changed to Cumnock after the disaster to distance itself from the bad reputation that the Egypt mine had acquired. Different sources claim different reasons why the name Cumnock was chosen.  One theory is that it was named after an investor in the mine. Another theory is that it was named after early settlers whose hometown was Cumnock in Ayrshire.

Egypt Coal Mine

Even further south we find Cumnock in Louisiana. It is an unincorporated community in Washington Parish, seven miles from the north of Franklinton, Louisiana. I cannot find any information on where the name of this Cumnock originated. 

Image - Wikipedia Commons

The Surname of Cumnock

Sometimes the name Cumnock doesn't originate from our town of Old Cumnock but is named after someone with the surname of Cumnock.

Cumnock Hall, which is part of the Harvard Business School, the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, was named after Alexander Goodlet Cumnock and one of his sons, Arthur James Cumnock. There are links to Old Cumnock with this family although the 'Cumnock' branch never lived in Old Cumnock. 

Alexander Goodlet Cumnock - Image Find a Grave

Alexander Goodlet Cumnock's grandfather, Alexander Goodlet, was born in Old Cumnock in 1783 to parents Thomas Goodlet and Janet Wilson. Alexander was a weaver and married Margaret Chatham in 1808 in Leigh, St. Mary's, Lancashire, England, his work as a weaver having taken him there. Lancashire was known as 'The Cotton Workshop of the World'. Their first child Thomas was born in Lancashire in 1809. The family then moved up north to Paisley in Scotland where their daughter Margaret was born in 1815 and their son Alexander in 1820.

Paisley was a weaving and textile town famous for the production of Paisley shawls. The weavers were well-educated, well read and radical. Thomas was a weaver and a very successful singer and mimic. He was also a supporter of the temperance  movement and opened a coffee shop in Paisley High Street where many a lively discussion would take place. 

His sister Margaret married Robert McLean Cumnock in 1833 in Paisley and they went on to have six sons and one daughter born in Paisley. The Cumnock family then emigrated to the USA in 1849 and a further two sons and two daughters were born there. On arrival in the USA Robert and his sons found employment in the Lowell Cotton Mills in Massachusetts and the family went from strength to strength eventually building or operating cotton mills in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Their son, Alexander Goodlet Cumnock, was a well-known figure in New England fabric manufacturing and he founded the Lowell Textile School in Massachusetts. He acquired the Appleton Mill in Lowell with a group of family and friends and headed the company until his death when his son Arthur took over the management of the business. In the 1900 US Census Alexander's occupation is listed as 'capitalist'. His son Arthur James Cumnock was described in his obituary as a textile industry leader, President of the Catlin Parish Company and a Harvard American Football star.

Arthur James Cumnock - Image Find a Grave

Moving west to California The Cumnock School of Expression in Los Angeles was a private school for women established in the autumn of 1894 by Mrs Merrill Moore Gregg who was a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Oratory, Evanston, Illinois for many years and who was first assistant of its Director, Dr. Robert McLean Cumnock, for whom the school was named. Later a second department of the institution was established -  a preparatory school known as The Cumnock Academy.

The Cumnock School of Expression  - Image Calisphere.org

Dr Robert McLean Cumnock, son of Robert McLean Cumnock and Margaret Goodlet, paid his own way through a private secondary school because his family could not afford it. He left the school for fifteen months to fight in the American Civil War before returning to graduate in 1864. He began teaching Elocution at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois in 1868 and created a two year diploma programme when he formed The Cumnock School of Oratory. He was Dean of Northwestern's School of Communications from 1878-1913 and Northwestern University awarded him the degree of Doctor of Letters in 1919.

The Cumnock School of Oratory

                                                                                    

McLetchie to Australia

 By Keith Ferguson with Kay McMeekin

My great grandfather, John Robb McLetchie was born about 1833, in the parish of Old Cumnock to Robert McLetchie and Catherine Robb. No records exist for him or any of his siblings.  His father was a snuff box maker in the village in the 1841 census.  He was a ‘joiner’ according to the shipping passenger list that shows his arrival in Australia, during 1854.

He first sailed on the Tayleur which was shipwrecked.

Following text from Wikipedia

Tayleur left Liverpool on 19 January 1854, on her maiden voyage, for Melbourne, Australia, with a complement of 652 passengers and crew. She was mastered by 29-year-old Captain John Noble. During the inquiry, it was determined that her crew of 71 had only 37 trained seamen amongst them, of which 10 could not speak English. It was reported in newspaper accounts that many of the crew were seeking free passage to Australia. Most of the crew were able to survive.

Her compasses did not work properly because of the iron hull. The crew believed that they were sailing south through the Irish Sea, but were actually travelling west towards Ireland. On 21 January 1854, within 48 hours of sailing, Tayleur found herself in a fog and a storm, heading straight for the island of Lambay. The rudder was undersized for her tonnage, so that she was unable to tack around the island. The rigging was also faulty; the ropes had not been properly stretched, so that they became slack, making it nearly impossible to control the sails. Despite dropping both anchors as soon as rocks were sighted, she ran aground on the east coast of Lambay Island, about five miles from Dublin Bay.

Initially, attempts were made to lower the ship's lifeboats, but when the first one was smashed on the rocks, launching further boats was deemed unsafe. Tayleur was so close to land that the crew were able to collapse a mast onto the shore, and some people aboard were able to jump onto land by clambering along the collapsed mast. Some who reached shore had carried ropes from the ship, allowing others to pull themselves to safety on the ropes. Captain Noble waited on board Tayleur until the last minute, then jumped towards shore, being rescued by one of the passengers.

With the storm and high seas continuing, the ship was then washed into deeper water. She sank to the bottom with only the tops of her masts showing.

A surviving passenger alerted the coastguard station on the island. This passenger and four coast guards launched the coastguard galley. When they reached the wreck they found the last survivor, William Vivers, who had climbed to the tops of the rigging, and had spent 14 hours there. He was rescued by the coastguards. On 2 March 1854, George Finlay, the chief boatman, was awarded an RNLI silver medal for this rescue.

Newspaper accounts blamed the crew for negligence, but the official Coroner's Inquest absolved Captain Noble and placed the blame on the ship's owners, accusing them of neglect for allowing the ship to depart without its compasses being properly adjusted. The Board of Trade, however, did fault the captain for not taking soundings, a standard practice when sailing in low visibility. 

Estimates of the number of lives lost vary, as do the numbers on board. The latter are between 528 and 680, while the dead are supposed to be at least 297, and up to 380, depending on source. Out of over 200 women on board, only three survived, possibly because of the difficulty with the clothing of that era. Of the more than 50 children on board, only 2 survived. The survivors were then faced with having to get up an almost sheer 80 foot (24m) cliff to get to shelter. When word of the disaster reached the Irish mainland, the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company sent the steamer Prince to look for survivors. Recent research by Dr Edward J Bourke names 662 on board.

He finally got to Australia on the Golden Era in May the same year.

By the time, he married Jemima Wealands in 1865, he was using the name John Robb Ferguson rather than McLatchie/McLetchie. 

In this photo John is standing near a timber paddle boat that he had made and patented. One of his daughters is shown seated upon the boat, which had once carried passengers along the Wollondilly river in Goulburn where John, along with his wife and their children lived in George Street. John was a respected elder of the Presbyterian Church. Sadly he did not make a journey back to Scotland. He was affected by the Australian economic depression of the 1890s, and John died in 1901.

He was about 5 feet 3 inches tall (we think) and, sadly, we appear to have no photos of him as a younger man. Additional information is that John had a first cousin – also named John (1828-1888) who had married in Scotland and this family had later migrated to USA, where he had died in Revere Massachusetts. This cousin John was a son of his Uncle William McLetchie who had also been a joiner; and a builder, Provost and Undertaker in Old Cumnock.

Obituary from Goulburn Evening Penny Post 31 December 1901 accessed via trove.nla.gov.au 

Death of an ex Goulburn Resident.

On Sunday evening a memorial service was held at St. John's Church, Paddington, in connection with the demise of the late Mr. John R Ferguson, which event occurred at the deceased's residence Arthur street, Paddington, on Christmas Day. The Rev. J. Fulton, who preached, said that while he was established at Goulburn a few years since, the deceased gentleman was an elder of the church there, and led an exemplary life. The late Mr. Ferguson,who was a native of Scotland, and was 68 years of age, was very well known in the Goulburn. district, where he lived for many years, following the occupation of a builder. He was a man possessed of considerable inventive ability, but was often hampered in his work through lack of means. Some years ago he gave an exhibition in Sydney Harbour of an aquatic bicycle, which, although cleverly designed, failed to attain sufficient speed to make it popular.

Later on he invented a butter-cooler, but neglect to patent it resulted in the idea being borrowed by others, and ultimately the cheap production of ice practically displaced it, excepting in the scattered districts where that commodity is not easily obtainable.

Other inventions of a more or less useful character included a gold-saving machine and a reversible church seat. During the last few years he suffered from paralysis, and he came to Sydney to reside in consequence.

The deceased leaves, a widow, two sons, and three daughters, some of whom are still residing at Goulburn.

Hoping this may lead to further information about these families. Any recollections and thoughts would be appreciated, as I try to piece together a more complete family history.

Keith A. Ferguson

Anna Bay, NSW, Australia

Spanish Ironworkers - from Spain to Lugar

 by Roberta McGee

'In 1856 the Eglinton Iron Company - the Ayrshire subsidiary of William Baird - bought out John Wilson and took over Muirkirk and Lugar Ironworks. Ten years later their new Lugar Works were opened and production vastly expanded.'

The New History of Cumnock - John Strawhorn p114

William Baird and Co Ltd, Glasgow | Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry (scottishbrickhistory.co.uk)

In the early 1890s Scottish coal and ironmasters William Baird & Company purchased mines firstly in Santander, Northern Spain then, in 1893, the Monte de Hierro mine (Mountain of Iron) which was located in the Sierra Morena mountains in Southern Spain. It was a significant site for the rich deposits of iron ore which were crucial for the steel industry. Baird brought in advanced mining techniques and equipment from Scotland which greatly improved the efficiency and output of the mine. The mountainous terrain meant the miners worked in dangerous conditions which led to frequent accidents and health problems. 

In the early 1900s there was a labour shortage in Baird's various ironworks in Lugar, Muirkirk and the surrounding area. They began to actively recruit workers from the Spanish mines to fill the labour gap and so the exodus began. The 1901 census for Lugar shows twenty four Spanish males of various ages and two Spanish married men, their wives and children living in Peesweep Rows which had originally been built for Baird's ironworkers and miners. Read more about the Lugar Rows here.

The arrival of the Spaniards initially caused a lot of tension with the local men who saw them as a threat to their jobs.

North British Daily Mail 11/10/1900

Irvine Herald 27/9/1901

The Spanish iron workers would have sailed from Spain to Ardrossan in a coal boat then travelled to Lugar by train. Lugar, in Spanish, means 'The Place'. Being devout Catholics the Spaniards considered this a sign of good fortune. 

Cumnock Chronicle 1986

Their contact in Lugar was Emilio Gomez Palacio, a Spanish contractor for Baird. Gomez, a father of four,  was a widower whose wife had died in Spain. His four children at times lived with him in Lugar. His brother Ysidro was also a contractor for the Ironworks and based in Muirkirk at the blast furnaces there. The 1901 and 1911 censuses show Emilio Gomez living at Peesweep Rows. According to Bernard Giraldas in an article written by Agnes Stevenson in the Cumnock Chronicle in 1986 Gomez was described as - 'Calculating and shrewd, he was unemotional in his dealings with his fellow Spaniards as an officer for the Dalmellington Iron & Coal Company. It was he who arranged who had to go where and few Spaniards came to Ayrshire except through him.'

Some of the Spanish workers who came to Lugar only intended to stay short term. Others, especially families, settled in the surrounding villages, integrated with the locals and remained in the area for the rest of their lives. 

One of the earliest Spanish workers to arrive in Lugar was Juan M. Rodriguez.  On the 1901 census he is a general labourer living at Peesweep Row. The head of the household is William Robertson, born 1843 in Calder, Lanarkshire and who, according to other records, actually lived in Struan Cottage, Lugar and had been working in Lugar since at least 1881. He was the cashier/accountant for Bairds. Juan married 18 years old Nellie Stakim, who lived at Commondyke, in 1902 at St Patrick's RC Church in Lugar. He was 34 years old and lived at No. 96 Lugar. They set up home at No. 310 Cronberry where their first child was born and sadly died 4 days later in December 1903. By April 1912 they had moved to Bothwell, Lanarkshire. Juan died there in 1936 and his death certificate records that he had changed his name to John Rodgers.  

Jose Manuel Giraldas arrived in Lugar in 1908. He had sailed into Ardrossan by coal boat and his passage was partly paid for by the Dalmellington Iron & Coal Company. After his arrival he was sent to work at the furnaces at Waterside, Dalmellington. He married a local girl, Kate Scally, in 1914 and moved to Benquhat . The Giraldas family then moved to Glasgow where Manuel worked in pits outside the city until 1930 when they moved to Fife. Ill health forced him to leave the pits in 1931. Known as 'Papa Nicolina'  he mended clocks as a hobby and died in Fife in 1950.

  (Source: Cumnock Chronicle 1986)

Manuel Giraldas & his wife Kate - Cumnock Chronicle 1986

Santiago Barrera also arrived in Lugar in 1908. He was sent to the Bank Pit in New Cumnock to work and was given lodgings in Connell Park, New Cumnock. He settled with his wife Fernanda and family in New Cumnock before moving, on his retiral from the pits, to Holmburn Road, Netherthird, Cumnock where he died in 1958 aged 85 years old. 

Pedro Cano was born in 1872 in Almeria, Spain and died in 1934 at the Crichton Royal Hospital, Dumfries. He was an ironwork's labourer. He married Maria Antonio Rinz (perhaps Ruiz) in 1896 at Feron, Sober, Spain. He was part of the main exodus from Spain to arrive in Lugar about 1908 and lived at 96 Lugar Rows. The 1911 census shows Pedro and his family living at Old Linkieburn, Muirkirk. By 1921 the family had moved to Kirkconnel, where he worked as a colliery labourer at Sanquhar and Kirkconnel collieries. Both Pedro and Antonia are buried in Kirkconnel Cemetery. Their son Jose(ph) Cano, who was born in Savinia, Spain, married Maria Consuelo Donis, daughter of Geronimo Fernandez Donis, in 1934 at St John's RC Church in Cumnock. Maria was born in 1912 at Santander, Cantabria, Spain. At the time of her marriage she lived with her parents at Logan Lodge in Cumnock.

Mariano Carballo left his native village of Guilfrey in north west Spain and came by coal boat to Ardrossan with his wife Amalia and little daughter Antonia. They arrived in Lugar between 1911 and 1914. Mariano particularly liked Lugar and Gomez allowed him to work and settle there. In 1921 they were living at 194 Peesweep Row, Lugar and Mariano was a boiler fireman. They later moved to Logan Toll, Cumnock. A quiet, kind man he loved gardening and won many prizes for his dahlias. Mariano and Amalia had a large family. He worked as a miner until his retirement and died at Logan Toll in 1977 aged 88 years. 

Mariano Carballo & his wife Amalia - Cumnock Chronicle 1986

Miguel Cardo Esquierdo was born in 1883 in Sevilla, Spain. The 1921 census shows Miguel, his wife Juona and son Antonio living at 51 Linkieburn, Muirkirk. He is described as a resident Spaniard working as an ore labourer at the furnaces of Baird Co., Pig Iron Manufacturers. The houses at Linkieburn were owned by Baird & Co. and were tenanted mostly by Spaniards. Miguel arrived after 1911 and his son Antonio was born in 1916 at Muirkirk. Antonio married Concha Donis, another daughter of Geronimo Fernandez Donis, in 1939 at Old Cumnock and Antonio and Concha lived in Cumnock for the rest of their lives. Miguel died in Dennistoun, Glasgow in 1939.

Geronimo Fernandez Donis, his wife Basilia and their four children arrived in Lugar in 1914 having travelled from Santander in Spain to Ardrossan in a coal boat and were placed in a large communal house before eventually being given a house in Brick Row, Lugar. When they arrived in Lugar they had practically no possessions but their neighbours, although they didn't have much either, stepped in to help. As the years went by their family increased to eleven children. In an interview with the Cumnock Chronicle in 1977, Basilia recalled that it was a struggle to make ends meet when there was a family of eleven to feed on a wage of only ten shillings a week. Coal and rent were deducted at source from the wages of the men and Emilio Gomez made the arrangements for doing the shopping at the local 'Company Store' for the entire Spanish colony who lived there. Basilia was an excellent dressmaker and made all her children's clothes out of old garments given to her by neighbours. Times were hard, not helped by the fact that they couldn't speak English, and in the article she admits that after a week or so if there had been a road leading back to Spain she would have loaded the children onto her shoulders and walked all the way back home. 

Cumnock Chronicle 1977

The 1921 census shows Geronimo, Basilia and family living at 415 Brick Row, Lugar. In 1929 they are still in Brick Row but by 1934 they are living in Logan Lodge, Cumnock. In June of that year Geronimo and Basilia visited Santander returning to Cumnock in August. They went on to rent Watston Cottage on the Cumnock to Ochiltree road but they had to vacate the cottage when the farmer employed a farm worker. The only place they could go to was a Nissan hut in Pennylands, the transit camp in Auchinleck, where they lived for about four months before being rehoused in Dalsalloch, Auchinleck. They moved from there to 5 Glenlamont, Cumnock. Geronimo died in 1948 and Basilia died in 1978 at the grand old age of 90 years. Basilia said in her interview with the Cumnock Chronicle that she wouldn't leave Scotland under any circumstances so they didn't regret leaving the land of their birth. 

World War One was declared on 4th August 1914. This meant that there was a vital demand for coal and iron and therefore more workers were needed when the men went off to war. Spain was a neutral country and many Spaniards and their families came to Lugar to work in the blast furnaces to help fill the gap in the workforce. 

1918 brought a serious flu epidemic which killed many. It was also the end of the war. The men returned and many of the Spaniards went back home. However, there was a General Strike in 1926 which lasted for eight months and Bairds were forced to again bring more workers from Spain rather than give in to the miners' demands. When the strike was over most of the Spanish workers returned home. The ones who remained began working in the coal mines. The Strike signalled the end of the blast furnaces at Lugar and they closed down in 1928. 

And what became of Gomez? According to Basilia Donis - 'One morning his cleaner found the door unlocked. She entered and found 13/4d on the mantlepiece and a note which said "adios mujer" - goodbye woman. No-one knew if he returned to Spain. He simply vanished. One thing that they did discover was that he apparently enjoyed a dram. The story is that a hoard of Scotch whisky was found behind a secret panel in one of the walls'.

Image - Europosters.eu

Alexander Gemmell Prospers in England

Alexander Gemmell, Benefactor who never forgot his Cumnock roots.

Link to him on Cumnock Connections tree

By Joanne Ferguson, Kay McMeekin and the late Bobby Grierson

Alexander Gemmell

Alexander Gemmell was born in 1850 when his parents were living at The Green in Cumnock. This is now the area of the staff car park behind the Tanyard Medical Practice and directly behind the Box Church at the Dub.

His father, John, was a Stonecutter Quarryman who married Elizabeth Andrew in Cumnock in 1834. They had 8 children – 3 girls and 5 boys with Alexander being the youngest son. His mother, father and some siblings are buried in Cumnock old cemetery on Barrhill Road.

Alexander married Margaret Murdoch in 1873 at Crossriggs Cottage in Cumnock which is now Crossriggs Veterinary practice. They had six children – 3 boys and 3 girls.

Alexander started his working life as a bank accountant with the Royal Bank of Scotland, Glaisnock Street in Cumnock. Around 1877 he moved to Keighley, Yorkshire, where he was appointed branch manager of Bradford Old Bank. After a succession of mergers and further appointments the bank became United Counties which was then acquired by Barclay and Co Ltd in 1916 when Alexander was appointed branch manager of the Bradford group.

in 1903 Alexander chaired the annual Glasgow-Cumnock Reunion at the Trades Hall in Glasgow. This caricature accompanied the report in the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald - Friday 27 February 1903.

In 1916 Cumnock celebrated the 50th anniversary of Cumnock becoming a Police Burgh in 1886. To mark this Alexander came back to Cumnock and presented the gold chain and badge of office to the Provost James Richmond in his term of office. The chain is 42 inches long and made of enamel and 15 ct gold.

 

The provost’s badge and chain are on display in the Baird Institute Museum in Cumnock.

Post WW1 he provided the Cumnock Parish Medal made of silver and enamel. They were individually inscribed with the soldier’s name and with “In grateful remembrance or for services” and presented to the soldiers or their families at the welcome Home Dance in Cumnock .

Alexander Gemmell died on 13 January 1923 in Bradford, Yorkshire, at the age of 73 and his will reveals he had effects of £20,552.

In 1925 Cumnock Town Council completed a scheme of houses to the south of the town hall and one of the streets, Gemmell Avenue was named in Alexander’s honour.

From Cumnock to Melbourne - The Howats from Glaisnock Street

 

 by Roberta McGee

'Melbourne was founded on wealth from wealthy graziers, successful gold miners and those known as Squatters who, although not owning the lands they occupied, drew incredible wealth from those lands via Agriculture and grazing, mainly of sheep'

(Source: Melbourne's Lost Heritage - Mansions and Estates)

DAVID WILSON HOWAT was born in 1814 in Old Cumnock. He was a joiner and in 1840 married Sarah Robertson, also born in Old  Cumnock. In 1851 David and Sarah, with their children Mary, George and William, lived in Glaisnock Street, Cumnock. In October 1855 the family sailed into Melbourne on the 'Octavia' to begin a new life a world apart from the one they left behind. 

With the influx of immigrants into Melbourne more houses were required. David Howat capitalised on this. He set himself up as a builder and was a very successful one. When he died in 1885 at William Street, Melbourne, he left real/personal estate worth nearly £10,000. His son David commissioned a series of four single lancet stained glass windows in the Union Memorial Church, Elm Street Hall, North Melbourne, as a memorial to him. 

Image - Cumnock Connections

David and Sarah had four children, Mary, George and William, who were born in Cumnock and David who was born in 1858 in Melbourne but who sadly died in 1865 when he was just seven years old.

MARY MAXWELL HOWAT  was born about 1841 in Old Cumnock and died in 1916 at 'Glaisnock', 458 William Street, Melbourne. Mary was a dressmaker and also housekeeper for her family. She gave her earnings from her dressmaker's business to her father to bank for her. Her father and brothers also paid her for domestic work and this was also banked for her by her father. This amounted to £809 which was repaid to her on her father's death. According to her Will, Mary kept a safety deposit box at the Melbourne Safe Deposit Box (Stock Exchange of Melbourne Co. Ltd). Her father had taught his family the value of money and she invested wisely. On her death she left real estate and stocks & bonds worth nearly £15,000. Mary never married and her Will describes her as a 'gentlewoman'.

458 William Street (turned into a restaurant) - image Melbourne Streets

William Street - Image Old Time Photos of Yesteryear Fb page

GEORGE HOWAT was born in 1844 in Old Cumnock. His first employment was with a company of Stock & Station Agents in Melbourne and he became a Stock Agent. He married Lucy Goodson in 1875 in Ballarat. He was the only child of David and Sarah's to marry. Soon after his marriage he opened his own business and specialised in pure stock, chiefly Shorthorns and Ayrshires. His business went from strength to strength and his success was reflected in the magnificent mansion he built in Royal Park, Melbourne. It was a two storey brick and cemented residence containing thirteen rooms, tower, glass conservatory and conveniences with brick stable, men's room and workshop. He named it 'Cumnock' after the town of his birth. He also owned Gulpha Street Station, Mt. Ridley, Bunker Hill Estate and The Quamby Station, Loch. George died at Gulpha Creek Station in 1919 and left an estate worth in excess of £80,000. 

‘CUMNOCK’

George Howat - Image Cumnock Connections

Image - Agricultural Society of Victoria Oct 1885 

George and Lucy had four children, sons David and George Jnr., and daughters, Elizabeth-Ethel and Sarah. David and George jnr. were both graziers and took over the running of the estates on George's death. Their partnership was terminated in 1943 and the properties sold. 

 

The Argus 27/3/1943

George and Lucy's daughters married well.

Elizabeth-Ethel married Franc Brereton Sadleir Falkiner whose father was pioneer pastoralist Franc Sadleir Falkiner, born in Tipperary, Ireland. The Falkiners were considered to own more freehold land than any other family in Australia. Her husband Franc Jnr was born on the Arafat, Victoria goldfields. He became an Australian politician and grazier and was a world famous stud breeder of merino sheep. He was extremely wealthy and Elizabeth became a very rich widow when he died in 1929. Elizabeth died in 1946 at their mansion on Bellevue Hill, Wentworth, NSW when she accidentally smothered herself. 

In 1921 younger daughter Sarah Howat married , at the age of 37 years, widower Dr Henry Alexander Hagen. Dr Hagen's father was the General Inspector of Aborigines. Sarah and Henry built and funded the Cumnock Private Hospital in Moore Street, Tralalgon in 1926. Tralalgon is in the Gippsland region of Victoria and they operated the hospital for about two years before it was leased out. 

The Cumnock Private Hospital - Image Traralgon History Fb page

It is interesting to note that David Hamilton Weir and his family also lived in Gippsland. David's father was born in Blackfaulds, Old Cumnock. David Jnr. was born at Waterhead, New Cumnock and emigrated to Sydney in 1838.

Youngest son of David and Sarah Howat was WILLIAM HOWAT who was born in 1850 in Old Cumnock, Ayrshire. He never married and died at 'Glaisnock', 458 William Street, Melbourne. William was a significant figure in Melbourne during the late 19th century.

He was an accountant and for four generations served as manager of the extensive Clarke estates owned by the Hon. Sir William Clarke, Bart., one of Australia's wealthiest men. Sir William was a stud breeder, philanthropist and agriculturalist. William was so trusted and respected by the Clarke family that he was appointed an executor in the Will of Lady Jane Clarke. The Clarkes were leading socialites and entertained lavishly in their magnificent homes of Cliveden and Rupertswood. In 1882/83 Rupertswood became famous due to hosting the first ever 'Ashes' series between Australia and England when the touring English cricket team went there to play a friendly game of cricket which they won. Lady Clarke took the balls, burnt them, placed them in an urn and presented them to the English captain as a trophy - the birth of the 'Ashes'.

Image - Cumnock Connections

The Howats showed that they never forgot their roots in Old Cumnock by naming their homes 'Glaisnock' and 'Cumnock'. This seems to have been a common thread with our emigrants. There is a small town called 'Cumnock' in the Central West of New South Wales. It was originally known as Burrawong Crossroads and renamed Cumnock in 1879. Some sources say the name was suggested by William Ross of Dilga Station who was born in Cumnock. However, William Ross was born in Muirkirk.  He emigrated to Australia in 1845. Another source says that it was named after John Strahorn who arrived in NSW in 1838. It also claims he was born in Old Cumnock but records show that he was born in Mauchline. See links to the Cumnock Connection Tree.

Cumnock NSW also has a Royal Hotel

Born in Chile

 By Robert Watson

Hugh Blackwood who spent most of his life in Cumnock and died in 1929 is buried in the town Glaisnock Street cemetery. Hugh was born in Chile in 1856. Descendant Robert Watson explains how this came about.

In 1849 The Hudson's Bay Company gained commercial rights to Vancouver Island from the British Government. They aimed to mine for coal on the island, planning to sell coal in San Francisco where prices were high. Their existing labourers and miners were flocking to the California gold rush and unable to recruit native people, experienced miners from Scotland were sought. The Hudson's Bay Company Agent in Scotland David Landale had been commissioned in early 1853 to recruit 40 miners and their families from Ayrshire to emigrate to Vancouver Island. The plan was to travel by train to London where the company had contracted the Colinda to sail to British Columbia - a scheduled 5 month voyage.

Thomas Blackwood, his wife Elizabeth Crawford and their two year old daughter joined 30 other families to travel from Kilmarnock, in August 1853, to London. They boarded the ship The Colinda.

The captain of the Colinda, John Powell Mills, had failed to provision the ship adequately. He proved an incompetent ships master and against a background of increasingly harsh conditions, relations with the ships passengers and crew deteriorated to the extent that they demanded the ship put in to a port in Chile. At one point Captain Mills challenged the ships doctor Henry Coleman to a duel. Through the British Consulate in Valparaiso Captain Mills unsuccessfully attempted to have them tried for mutinous & piratical conduct. Passengers, crew and Dr Coleman testified against the captain and the charges were dismissed. 

The Blackwood family and other miners families refused to continue with Captain Mills to British Columbia. Instead they were recruited by Thomas Garland who in 1852 had set up the 'Compania de Lota' to exploit the coal deposits in that area far south of Valparaiso.

Their son Hugh Blackwood was born in Lota in 1856 and was sent back to Ayrshire to be educated. Initially returning to Dalmellington, Ayrshire to stay with his grandmother Catherine Blackwood nee Campbell, he eventually settled in Cumnock, married Martha Armstrong and raised a large family.

The rest of the Hugh's siblings remained in Chile and successfully raised families and there are now many descendants of Thomas Blackwood and Elizabeth Crawford both in Chile and elsewhere in the world.

A nephew of Hugh (the son of his brother William (Guillermo)) was Juan Manuel Blackwood. Manuel was the 2nd engineer aboard the Yelcho which was the Chilean ship which rescued the crew of the Shackleton Antarctic expedition from Elephant Island in 1916. 

Hugh Blackwood’s family in Cumnock about 1910

 You can read more about the Blackwoods on Robert’s blog HERE.

The photo below is Hugh’s brother William aka Guillermo (seated) and his family in Chile c. 1905.

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.