1. CRAIG-CAMPBELL (1760–1880)

by Alan Craig            Download the PDF for this page (15.6 MB)

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Note: All names in purple are my direct ancestors. Any blue text [inside square brackets] has been inserted to provide additional information, or corrections to the records — that text did not form part of the original documents. Copies of the original documents are held by me in Cloud, and can be made available to interested parties.

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PART A: Watson & Taylor

It was fairly straightforward to track my paternal ancestors back to Thomas [2] Craig and Margaret Watson (my 5g-grandparents), as their son Thomas [3] Craig died in the time of statutory records, and his parents were named on his death certificate. Getting the two generations before that, though, was more difficult, as we had to depend on the baptismal records of various ‘Craig’ children to glean the names of parents. Some baptismal records gave the names of ‘sponsors’ and, from these, we can infer grandfathers and uncles.

So, armed with those names, I discovered that Thomas [2] and Margaret were married in 1785, and the marriage was recorded in two parishes:

1785 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Parish of Carmunnock, Lanarkshire ¹Source: CRAIG, Thomas [2] & WATSON, Margaret; 1785 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages, 631/ 10 373, Carmunnock, Lanarkshire.

Thomas [2] Craig in this Parish and Margaret Watson
in the Parish of Blantyre were Married 16 Febry 1785
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1785 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Parish of Blantyre, Lanarkshire ²Source: CRAIG, Thomas [2] & WATSON, Margaret; 1785 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages, 624/ 10 234, Blantyre, Lanarkshire.

Thomas [2] Craig     Margaret Watson   |  Feby   |  24

The very brief entry in the Blantyre parish records may look a bit terse, but knowing the parish she came from helped us find Margaret’s birth:

1761 SCOTLAND BAPTISMS: Parish of Blantyre, Lanarkshire ³Source: WATSON, Margaret; 1761 Scotland O.P.R. Births; 624/ 10 86; Blantyre, Lanarkshire.

Margaret Dr to John Watson Cooper born Novr. 11th bptd. Novr. 15

So, here we get Margaret’s father, but unusually for Scottish Kirk records, the mother’s name is missing. Sadly, the Blantyre parish records were no better in this regard for any of Margaret’s seven siblings — but while failing to mention the mother in any of those baptisms, they mostly recorded the places the father lived when each of his children were born: Agnes (1752, at Barnhill); James (1756, at Priestfield); Margaret (1761, no place given); John (1764, at Barnhill); Marrion [i] (1767, at Craigmuir); Marrion [ii] (1770, at Kirktown); Thomas (1771, at Kirktown); and William (1773, at Kirktown). All those places are in the Blantyre Parish, and can be found on this map.

In most of these records, John Watson was identified as a “cooper” or “couper/cuper”, which was a person who made barrels, tubs and casks of wooden strips with metal bands. Nothing else is known of that family until Margaret married Thomas [2] (see above). Thomas himself was born in Rutherglen, and was more than six years younger than his future wife:

1768 SCOTLAND BAPTISMS: Rutherglen, Lanarkshire ⁴Source: CRAIG, Thomas [2]; 1768 Scotland O.P.R. Births; 654/0 10 178; Rutherglen, Lanarkshire.

Aprile 19th
C    Thomas [2] Craig L born Aprile 10th
P    James Craig and Isabel Taylor
W  Thomas Craigs elder and Younger [these 2 also for his sister Margaret]

… which decodes as:

Baptised 19th April 1768
Child: Thomas [2] Craig, lawfull, born 10th April
Parents: James Craig and Isabel Taylor
Witnesses: Thomas [1] Craig, elder; and Thomas Craig, the younger

So, our Thomas [2] was born on the 10th, and baptised nine days later. His parents were legally married, and the witnesses would almost certainly be the child’s grandfather and uncle — and this gives us another generation, and one brother. James Craig and Isabel Taylor appear as parents in five other baptismal records, the first being at Stonehouse, about 20 km (12 miles) south-east of Rutherglen: Isobel (1761, at Stonehouse); Agnes (1763, at Rutherglen); Margaret (1766, at Rutherglen); Thomas [2] (1768, at Rutherglen); and James (1770, at Rutherglen). It was only Isobel’s record that gave James’ trade as a “collier”. The last born, James, was witnessed by the grandfather Thomas [1] and William (another uncle) — so we can start to build a structure for this family. We have never found records for Thomas [1] Craig, the elder, but we can be confident he had at least three sons: James, Thomas (the younger), and William (see Chart 1a below).

1741 SCOTLAND BAPTISMS: Glasgow, Lanarkshire ⁵Source: TAYLOR, Isobell; 1741 Scotland O.P.R. Births; 644/1 120 41; Glasgow, Lanarkshire.

25 [Jan] Sabbath
Daniel Taylor   Janet McKinnie Ld. Isobell   wit. Jas. Lang   Daniel Campbell

Likewise, we haven’t found a marriage for James and Isobel — but, we did find her baptism in the neighbouring Glasgow Parish (right): This record gives us another branch of the family, which takes us back to the marriage of Daniel Taylor and Janet McKinnie in Glasgow in 1733:

1733 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Glasgow, Lanarkshire ⁶Source: TAYLOR, Daniel & McKINNIE, Janet; 1733 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 644/1 250 37; Glasgow, Lanarkshire.

November 1733
Taylor | 29 | Daniel Taylor [&]  Janet McKinnie 

This perfunctory entry is all we know of Daniel and Janet, but they had seven children, all born in Glasgow: Daniel (1734); Alexander (1737); Janet (1739); Isobel (1741), see above; John (1743); and twins Margaret & Mary (1744).

1786 SCOTLAND BURIALS: Parish of Rutherglen, Lanarkshire ⁷Source: CRAIG, James [1]; 1786 Scotland O.P.R. Deaths; 654/ 20 164; Rutherglen, Lanarkshire.

Febr. | 11 | James Craig

We know nothing else of the Taylor family — and we also have no other records for James and Isobel, except for a single entry in the Rutherglen Church burial records (right):

With this cursory entry to end a man’s life, we are left to follow our Craig family through the children of Thomas [2] Craig and Margaret Watson. This couple had at least six children between 1785 and 1795, all born in Rutherglen: Jean (1785); twins Mary & Margaret (1789); an unnamed stillborn (1791); Thomas [3] (1792); and John (1795).

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PART B: Campbell & Inglis

1792 SCOTLAND BAPTISMS: Parish of Rutherglen, Lanarkshire ⁸Source: CRAIG, Thomas [3]; 1792 Scotland O.P.R. Births; 654/ 10 292; Rutherglen, Lanarkshire.

Thos. [3] l. of Thos. [2] Craig & Margt. Watson
was born 18th. & baptized 24th. June

Thomas [3] was born in 1792 with very little fanfare in the Rutherglen parish records (see right).

His future wife, though, was born two years later with just as little fuss, but 7 km (4 miles) north-west in Partick, Govan, on the other side of Glasgow:

1794 SCOTLAND BAPTISMS: Parish of Govan, Renfrewshire ⁹Source: CAMPBELL, Margaret; 1794 Scotland O.P.R. Births; 646/ 20 155; Govan, Glasgow.

[Aug] 1 | Margaret, lawful daughter to Archibald Campbell
                and Ann Inglis

As we will soon see, Thomas [3] Craig and Margaret Campbell were to marry in 1816, but her parents had moved between Glasgow, Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire in the years 1782 to about 1803 as they had at least seven children. No birth has been found for Ann Inglis, but we have a possible marriage for her in 1781:

1781 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Parish of Glasgow, Lanarkshire ¹⁰Source: CAMPBELL, Archibald & INGLIS, Agnes [Ann?]; 1781 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 644/1 260 268; Glasgow, Lanarkshire.

                                  4 May 1781
Archd Campbell Baker in Glasgow & Agnes
Inglis Resid in the Parish of New Monkland

No doubt you’ve already noted the ‘problem’ with this record (see right): it’s for an “Agnes”, not an “Ann” … so, why do we think it’s a probable match for my 5g-grandmother? Well, Archibald is given here as a “baker”, and that is his description on the birth of his son William (1782), and on the statutory death record of his daughter Margaret in 1879. Also, his sons John and Colin were recorded as being ‘bakers’ in other records. And, how many ‘Campbell-Inglis’ marriages can we find in the records for this time? Just this one — so it does seem quite feasible that this is ours, and spelling errors in parish records are legendary.

1763 SCOTLAND BAPTISMS: Parish of Glasgow, Lanarkshire ¹¹Source: CAMPBELL, Archibald; 1763 Scotland O.P.R. Births; 644/1 140 158; Glasgow, Lanarkshire.

                                             October 6 1763
William Campbell & Christn. Mculloch a L.S. Archibd. Born 6th
 Witt John Robison & Robt. Menzies Weavers 

We also may have found Archibald Campbell’s birth, his parents’ marriage, and also two of his brothers. Although this branch is as yet unverified, it is worth recording here (see left).

If this is indeed our Archibald (my 5g-grandfather), then we have his parents’ marriage in 1758 (below):

1758 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Parish of Glasgow, Lanarkshire ¹²Source: CAMPBELL, William & McCULLOCH, Christian; 1758 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 644/ 1 p.223; Glasgow, Lanarkshire.

                                     Octr. 15 1758
William Campbell Weaver in Glasg: & Christian McCulloch
L.D. of the deceast Ad. [Andrew] McCulloch Taylor in Glasgow

And … ta-da! … we also have the name for a 7g-grandfather: Andrew McCulloch, a ‘tailor in Glasgow’ (see the chart 1a below). William Campbell and Christian McCulloch are only recorded as having two other children, both called ‘William’: William (i) in 1761; and William (ii) in 1769 — presumably the first ‘William’ died before the second was born.

Through the births of Archibald Campbell’s children, we can trace the movements of the Campbell family from Glasgow, to the New Town of Millig (today’s Helensburgh, in Dunbartonshire), to Renton in Cardross Parish, and then to Partick in the Parish of Govan (at that time part of Renfrewshire): William (1782, Glasgow); John (1785, New Town of Millig); Agnes (1787, New Town of Millig); Archibald (1789, Renton); Colin (1792, Partick); Margaret (1794, Partick); and Christina (about 1802, and probably Partick).

The New Town of Millig was developed on land bought by Sir James Colquhoun in 1752. In 1776 he advertised in Glasgow for tradespeople to come to the town, and it is likely this is why our Campbell family moved there. The project wasn’t overly successful, mainly because of poor roads and its unsuitability for shipping. Sometime in the mid-1780s, Sir James renamed the town after his wife, Lady Helen Sutherland, and was thereafter called ‘Helensburgh’. By 1789, the family had left Millig and moved east to Renton, and by 1792 they were further east in Partick, a small village on the banks of the Kelvin River, close to where it flows into the north bank of the Clyde River.

It was here in Partick that our Margaret Campbell was born in 1794 (see baptism above), and she would almost certainly have been baptised in the Govan Kirk, which can be seen in the background of two of the illustrations above. This description of Partick was published before the middle of the 19th century:

The village of Partick is romantically situated on the banks of the Kelvin, which at this place rushes winsomely over a rocky bottom, and is in several places dammed up by artificial barriers for the service of the extensive Corporation Mills. The channel also is here spanned by a time-honoured bridge which commands a picturesque prospect of the old-fashioned little town […]  Partick altogether has a pleasant half-rural aspect, while the reputed salubrity of its air, and its vicinity to the City, has rendered it a favourite place of resort on holidays, and on the long summer evenings, with certain classes of our citizens. Numerous handsome villas and cottages also have recently been erected in its environs, principally by thriving business men from Glasgow […] the inhabitants generally have an appearance of robust health, which contrasts favourably with that of our urban population.

The last child of our Campbell family was Christina, but no baptismal record has been found for her — so how did we find her? Well, Christina’s descendants had her tied to our line because her death certificate of 1874 has Archibald Campbell and Ann Inglis as her parents. She had moved to the Campsie Parish in Stirlingshire, and married David Boyd around 1824, and had nine children (of whom at least three died young). And that is about all we really know about the Campbell family — except that the son Colin (a baker by trade, and born at Partick in 1792) served six years with the 1st Battalion of the Royals Scots, and was with them at the Battle of Waterloo in 1817 — a bit of history indeed!

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PART C: Thomas [3] Craig & Margaret Campbell

4G-Grandparents

Just how a 21-year-old baker’s daughter from Partick ended up marrying a 24-year-old quarryman from Rutherglen is anyone’s guess, but the marriage of my 4g-grandparents was only recorded in Margaret’s parish:

1816 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Parish of Govan, Glasgow ¹³Source: CRAIG, Thomas [3] & CAMPBELL, Margaret; 1816 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 646/ 20 323; Govan, Glasgow.

Booked  | Married   |                                                                           |   His Parish   |   Her parish
   July 1  |    July 12   | Thomas [3] Craig  &  Margaret Campbell  |  Rutherglen    |     Govan

Thomas [3] and Margaret were to have 11 children between 1817 and 1842, all of them born in Rutherglen, and only one of them dying in infancy (see the children’s stories below). We know almost nothing of their daily lives until the 1841 census:

1841 SCOTLAND CENSUS: Main Street, Rutherglen ¹⁴Source: CRAIG, Thomas [3]; 1841 Scotland Census; 654/ 4/ 5 & 6; Rutherglen, Lanarkshire.

Thomas [3] Craig; 47; Agricultural Labourer; born Lanarkshire
Margaret Craig [Campbell]; 44; born Lanarkshire
Ann Craig; 23; born Lanarkshire
Thomas Craig; 21; Agricultural Labourer; born Lanarkshire
Margaret Craig; 14; born Lanarkshire
Mary Craig; 9; born Lanarkshire
William Craig; 7; born Lanarkshire
Robert Craig; 4; born Lanarkshire

The children not at the family home in this census were: Archibald (19); John (17); Agnes (11); and Colin [2]. Baby Colin had already died, and Agnes was working as a servant in a home nearby in Main Street. John Craig (my 3-grandfather) was a coal miner, and living with another Craig family (a cousin or uncle?) at Back Row, Rutherglen. The son Thomas was the first of the children to marry when he tied the knot later that year — but he would not survive to the following census.

The 1851 census brings us into the Findlay-Hannah story. John was the second of the children to marry, but on census night, he was living with his parents, while his wife, Rachel Hannah, was living nearby with her mother (see their story here). In the meantime, we can continue with Thomas and Margaret:

1851 SCOTLAND CENSUS: 15 Cathcart Street, Rutherglen ¹⁵Source: CRAIG, Thomas [3]; 1851 Scotland Census; 654/ 5/ 14; Rutherglen, Lanarkshire.

Thomas [3] Craig; Head; Mar; 58; Quarry man; born Rutherglen, Lanarkshire
Margaret Craig [Campbell]; Wife; Mar; 56; born Partick, Renfrewshire
Archibald Craig; Son; Unm.; 27; Labourer; born Rutherglen, Lanarkshire 
John Craig; Son; Mar.; 25; Carter; born Rutherglen, Lanarkshire
Agnes Craig; Daur.; Unm.; 21; Power-loom Weaver; born Rutherglen, Lanarkshire 
Mary Craig; Daur.; Unm.; 18; Power-loom Weaver; born Rutherglen, Lanarkshire 
William Craig; Son; Unm.; 16; Servant; born Rutherglen, Lanarkshire
Robert Craig; Son; Unm.; 14; Servant; born Rutherglen, Lanarkshire
Jean Craig; Grand Daur.; 9; School; born Kilbride, Lanarkshire

I have found no record of the granddaughter, Jean, so any of the adult children could be her parent — she would likely be an ‘illegitimate’ child. Also back in the family home is Agnes, and just 19 months after this census, she would be the third to fly the coup when she married stone mason James Findlay; their particular story becomes important to our family as you will see.

Just 300 metres west of Cathcart Street is Burnhill Street (you can see it on this map), and by 1855, our Craig family was living at Nº 26, and paying £4/10/- an year rent (i.e about £130 a week in today’s money = A$260 or US$170). This house was owned by William Swanston, a grandson of Thomas Craig the Younger, who we talked about above. It was busy decade for the family before the next census was due in 1861. Three more children were to marry (Margaret, Mary and William), and two others died: Archibald (1857); and Ann (1858); neither of these had married. But, just 11 days after William married, Thomas [3] Craig was also to depart this world:

1860 SCOTLAND STATUTORY DEATHS: Rutherglen, Lanarkshire ¹⁶Source: CRAIG, Thomas [3]; 1860 Scotland Statutory Deaths; 654/ 112; Rutherglen, Lanarkshire.

Thomas [3] Craig, Quarryman (married)
—
died: 12th June 1860  (11:50 pm)   age: 66 [67] years
at: 26 Burnhill Street, Rutherglen
—
father: Thomas [2] Craig, Quarryman (deceased)
mother: Margaret Craig M.S. Watson (deceased)
—
cause: Consumption, for 2 years   doctor: No Regular Medical Attendant
burial: Rutherglen Churchyard     certified: Alex Hunter – Undertaker
informant: Robert Craig, Son (present)

Thomas had lived most of his life in Rutherglen, and had been described variously as an ‘agricultural worker’, a ‘quarryman’, and a ‘carter’.

Tuberculosis at the time accounted for up to 1% of all deaths (and respiratory diseases up to 30%), and this was particularly so for our Norwood forebears (see their story here). Still, reaching 67 was a good result for the time, and only two of his eleven children would live longer; however, he was to be well outmatched by his wife, Margaret, to whom he had been married for 43 years.

The Final Years 1861–1879

For the widowed Margaret, with four of her children already deceased, and four others married, the 1861 census was to look very different to the one in 1851:

1861 SCOTLAND CENSUS: 28 Burnhill Street, Rutherglen, Lanarkshire ¹⁷Source: CRAIG, Margaret [Campbell]; 1861 Scotland Census; 654/ 2/ 4; Rutherglen, Lanarkshire.

Margaret Craig [Campbell]; Head; Widow; 66; Formerly Dairymaid; born Partick, Renfrewshire
Robert Craig; Son; Unm.; 22; Stone Mason; born Rutherglen, Lanarkshire
Helen Findlay; Grand Daur.; 5; School; born Rutherglen, Lanarkshire

30 Burnhill Street, Rutherglen, Lanarkshire

William Craig; Head; Mar.; 23; Stone Mason; born Rutherglen, Lanarkshire
Margaret S Craig [Swanston]; Wife; Mar.; 21; born Rutherglen, Lanarkshire
Thomas Craig; Son; 2 months; born Rutherglen, Lanarkshire
David Craig; Brother; Unm.; 18; Carter; born Rutherglen, Lanarkshire

Only her son Robert was still at home, but she had a five-year-old granddaughter living with her. Helen Findlay was the second child of Margaret’s daughter Agnes, who had married James [2] Findlay, a mason, in 1852. On census night, Agnes was living at David Street, Camlachie, with her two other children. This is the ‘Findlay’ family that steered me in the wrong direction when I first discovered that Rachel Hannah’s parents were David Findlay and Catherine McFarlane (read about them in this chapter). As we will soon see, it turns out these two ‘Findlay’ families are not related.

Also living in Burnhill Street in 1861 was Margaret’s son William, who had married his third cousin Margaret Swanston the previous year (see the ‘Swanston’ chart below). Margaret Swanston’s father (grandson of Thomas Craig the Younger) actually owned the property at Nº 26 Burnhill Street that the Craigs had lived in from at least 1855, and may have owned other properties in that street (see the chart below). Little else is known of Margaret Campbell until the following census, but her daughter Mary died in December 1861, and her son John (my 3g-grandfather) cashed in his chips while living in the Gorbals in 1868. When 1871 rolled round, Margaret Campbell had gone blind, and was boarding with the father-in-law of her daughter Agnes:

1871 SCOTLAND CENSUS: 20 Burnhill Street, Rutherglen, Lanarkshire ¹⁸Source: CRAIG, Margaret [Campbell]; 1871 Scotland Census; 654/ 2/ 3; Rutherglen, Lanarkshire.

James [1] Findlay; Head; Married; 73; Weaver; born Rutherglen, Lanarkshire
Janet Gay Findlay; Wife; Married; 68; born Bonhill, Dunbartonshire
Margt Craig [Campbell]; Boarder; Widow; 76; Blind; born Partick, Renfrewshire

James [1] Findlay was another property owner in Burnhill Street, and Janet Gay was his third wife. It turns out that James [1] had three children by his first wife, and another three by his second — working all that out required some deep research, and is one of my genealogical success stories (see the ‘Findlay’ chart below). James [1] Findlay was to die in November of 1871. His widow, Janet Gay, then moved to Cathcart to live with her younger brother, Alexander (they both died two days apart in April 1883). Just what happened to our Margaret after James Findlay died is completely unknown, and the next we hear of her was when she died:

1879 SCOTLAND STATUTORY DEATHS: Rutherglen, Lanarkshire ¹⁹Source: CRAIG , Margaret [Campbell]; 1879 Scotland Statutory Deaths; 654/ 144; Rutherglen, Lanarkshire.

Margaret Craig,
Widow of Thomas [3] Craig, Free Stone Quarryman
—
died: 27th June 1879  (11:00 am)    age: 87 [84] years
at: 42 Burnhill Street, Rutherglen
—
father: Archibald Campbell, Master Baker (deceased)
mother: Ann Campbell M.S. Inglis (deceased)
—
cause: Diarrhoea, One Month  doctor: James Gorman, Surgeon
informant: James [3] Findlay, Grandson (present)

Margaret Campbell had been a widow for just over 19 years when she was finally laid to rest. She had outlived at least seven of her children, and even her younger sister (on average, her children only lived for 43 years). We presume that, at the end, she may have been living with her widowed daughter Agnes at 42 Burnhill Street, because that’s where Agnes was living with her youngest child in the 1881 census.

CHILDREN of Thomas [3] Craig & Margaret Campbell

Ann Craig (1817–1858) — was given as a “domestic servant” on her death certificate, and almost nothing else is known of her. Ann never married, and was not found in the 1851 census (though an entry for Surry Street, Gorbals, looks feasible). She died of inflammation of the lungs at Mill Street, Rutherglen, aged only 39, and was the fourth of her siblings to die.

Thomas Craig (1819– c.1848) — was recorded as an “agricultural labourer” in the 1841 census, and later that year he married Christina Weddell at Rutherglen. They had two children, one of whom died in infancy. Sadly, Thomas did not make it to the 1851 census, dying unrecorded around 1848, aged about 28 years. His widow remarried in April 1851, and had two more children before emigrating, with her new family, to Victoria in 1859. Christina died at Ballarat in 1890, aged 68.

Archibald Craig (1822–1857) — had been documented as both a “labourer” and a “carter” in his life but, like his older sister, had never married. He died aged 35 at 28 Burnhill Street of encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), the third of his siblings to pass over to the other side.

John Craig (1824–1868) — was my 3g-grandfather, and his story is mostly told in the chapter on the Hannah family. In 1841 he had been a coal miner in Rutherglen, but thereafter was always referred to as a “carter” or “haulage contractor” in the records. Though fathering his first child (my 2g-grandfather) out of wedlock, he married Rachel Hannah in 1850, and this couple went on to have seven children, who all survived into adulthood. They married in Rutherglen, and the first three children were born there; however, the next two were born in Bridgeton, and the last two in Hutchesontown. He died at 43 McNeil Street in 1868 of a heart attack, aged only 44 years. Rachel outlived John by nearly 41 years, and died in 1909 at Hutchesontown; she was 82.

Margaret Craig (1826–1908) — was to outlive all her siblings, dying aged 81 in 1908. She had been a ‘house servant’ before marrying Peter Morrison at Rutherglen in 1854, becoming the fifth of her siblings to marry. Margaret and Peter had nine children between 1855 and 1873, but at least four of those died young. They had moved to Tradeston by 1861, but for most of their lives they lived in Glasgow’s East-End (Calton, Camlachie and Bridgeton). Peter Morrison died at Bridgeton in 1893, aged 61, and Margaret outlived him by more than 15 years, finishing her life as a ‘boiler attendant’.

Agnes Craig (1829–1899) — was the third child of the family to marry when she tied the knot with James [2] Findlay, a mason, in 1852 at Rutherglen; she was working then as a power-loom weaver. This couple had six children: three in Rutherglen, two at Bridgeton, and one at Jarrow in England. James’s was to inherit properties his father owned in Burnhill Street in Rutherglen, and his in-laws were to live at those for many years. Agnes and James were back in Rutherglen when he died of tuberculosis in 1877 — at that time he was given as a “grocer and portioner”, no doubt owning a shop and renting properties in Burnhill Street. Agnes lived for another 22 years, dying of pneumonia at 299 Caledonia Road, Hutchesontown, in 1899; she was 70 years old, and had outlived two of her daughters and all but two of her siblings.

Mary Craig (1832–1861) — was only 29 when she died in childbirth. She had married James Freebairn, a calico printer, in 1853. This couple had four children by 1860, all born in Rutherglen (some in Burnhill Street), but the first two had died as infants. James Freebairn’s luck was not to improve. He had an ‘illegitimate’ child with a Jane Weir in 1855 while still married to our Mary. He next married Rachel Watson in 1863, but she died 12 years later (no children). James seems then to have moved to Bonhill in Dunbartonshire, where he married Jessie Jardine. James was 62 when he died of Bronchitis and heart disease in 1897 at Renton, Dunbartonshire.

William Craig (1834–1872) — in 1860, he married his 3rd cousin Margaret Swanston, the great-granddaughter of Thomas Craig the Younger. Margaret’s father, like James Findlay, owned properties in Burnhill Street. William and Margaret had a tragic tale, and lived their entire lives in Rutherglen, where William worked as a stone mason. They had five children in all (including three named Thomas, the first two of those dying as infants). Margaret died in April 1869 of blood poisoning, just five days after the birth of their third Thomas. William then married Margaret Forsyth, a thread-mill worker, in 1870, and had one child the following year. However, William died of chronic bronchitis at 24 Burnhill Street in August 1872, and was only 38. The widowed Margaret Forsyth lived on at Rutherglen for more than 36 years, dying of  senility and heart failure in May 1909.

Robert Craig (1837–1902) — lived longer than many of his siblings. Like his brother William and brother-in-law James [2] Findlay, he was a stone mason. He married pottery worker Agnes McNeil at Calton, Glasgow, in 1863, but their first child was born at South Tyneside, England, in 1864. Robert and Agnes only had four children in all, and two of those died in Akron, Ohio (in 1953 and 1961, respectively). However, Robert and Agnes moved to the East-End of Glasgow by 1871, and were still there when she died of ‘syncope’ (sudden loss of blood pressure) in June 1866; she was only 46. By 1901, Robert was living alone at Burnhill Street, but the following year he died aged 64 at the Poorhouse in Paisley, Renfrewshire, of Bronchitis. On his death certificate, he was called a “miner”.

Colin Craig (1839– bef. 1841) — was the only child of Thomas [3] and Margaret to die in infancy. He cannot have been more than two years old, because he was born on April 1839 and does not appear in the June 1841 census. Given that he died before the statutory recording of deaths (after 1855), nothing is known about him other than he was the 10th child of his parents, born on 18 April 1839, and baptised the following month.

David Inglis Craig (1842– ) — was born in Rutherglen (11th child), and bore his maternal grandmother’s name of “Inglis”. The last record we have of him was in 1861, when he was 18 and unmarried. In the census of that year he was given as a “carter”, living at 30 Burnhill Street. Despite exhaustive efforts, we have found no records of David after this time — we cannot say if he married, or died shortly thereafter, or left Scotland (thousands did). His life remains an enigma.

Go to the next story in the series: 2. Findlay-Hannah ➤

 

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See the relevant maps (maps open in new browser tabs):

• Dunbartonshire and Clyde Estuary
• Strathclyde – Argyll & Bute
• Glasgow City
• Hutchesontown (Glasgow)
• Rutherglen (Glasgow)
• Craig Migrations

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The chart below shows the Craig family connections to the Findlay family who owned properties in Burnhill Street, Rutherglen. In her later life, Margaret Campbell boarded with James [1] Findlay and his 3rd wife, Janet Gay. The informant on Margaret’s death record was her grandson, James [3] Findlay. However, this ‘Findlay’ family is not otherwise related to Rachel Hannah’s maternal family of Findlay/McFarlane/McNicol who came from the Buchanan district on the east side of Loch Lomond.

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The next chart shows the connections between our Craig family and the ‘Swanston’ family of Rutherglen. Like the Findlays (above), William Swanston was the proprietor of properties in Burnhill Street, often occupied by Craig family members. William Craig and his wife Margaret Swanston were third cousins.