2. PINKERTON: 1735–1887

by Alan Craig          Download the PDF of this page (24 MB)

Story so far: The Wyllie-Harper families emerged from earlier generations in the town of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, with the earliest records dating back to 1666. Eventually, Ann Wyllie was to marry James Pinkerton, and he was descended on his mother’s side from yet another ‘Brown’ family (not related to our main ‘Brown’ line), and on his father’s side from families closer to the coast. Read on …

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N.B. — Throughout this text, all of my direct ancestors are marked in purple. All blue text [inside brackets] represents additional information or corrections, and did not form part of the original documents. Copies of the original birth, death, marriage and census records are stored in the Cloud, and can be made available to interested parties upon request. When reproducing the old parish records below, I have kept the original archaic spellings and text, and also laid them out to reflect how they appear in the original documents.

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The ‘Other’ BROWN Ancestors

We can start this chapter with the marriage of Robert Brown and Sara Duff in Kilmarnock:

1757 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Parish of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ¹Source: BROWN, Robert & DUFF, Sara; 1757 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 597/ 50/ 415; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

Robert Brown Taylor in Kilmk. his 4th marriage & Sara
Duff daughter of the deceast James Duff Farmer in Dundonald
both in this parish were booked in Saturday August 6 – 1757, &
after orderly proclamation three several Sabbaths were
married on Munday August 22 – 1757 by Mr. Hall.

From this record we learn that Robert had already been married three times before, so we can expect that he was not a young man in 1757 — but I have been unable to discover any of those earlier marriages in the records, and cannot identify any children that may have come from them. Likewise, I have never found baptisms for Robert or Sara, but the clues we have from their marriage certificate allowed us to find her parents getting married in 1735:

1735 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Parish of Dundonald, Ayrshire ²Source: DUFF, James & LOVE, Jean; 1735 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 590/ 20/ 19; Dundonald, Ayrshire.

James Duff in Barrassie and Jean Love gave in their names to be pro-
claimed upon the 16th May, and after three proclamations, were married
the 3d. June 1735 years.

We know nothing else about the ‘Duff’ family, and have found no children for them in the records, but Barrassie was on the coast, just to the north of Troon, and in the Parish of Dundonald. However, despite not finding children from Robert Brown’s previous marriages, we did find three with Sara Duff:  Eupham (1760, 1st child); Cumberland (1762, 2nd child); and William (1765, 3rd child). Robert was described as a “taylor” (tailor) in all three baptisms, but the second only had him on his third marriage — probably a scribal error. Cumberland’s record, otherwise, was much like the others:

1762 SCOTLAND BAPTISMS: Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ³Source: BROWN, Cumberland; 1762 Scotland O.P.R. Baptisms; 597/ 20/ 280; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

      Robert Brown Taylor in Kilmk. his 3d. [4th ?] marriage & Sara
Duff had their 2d. child born on Monday May 31 – 1762, & baptized
Cumberland on Thursday June 3 – 1762 by Mr Leslie

The following year, Cumberland’s future wife was also born in Kilmarnock. Jean Dickie was her parents’ sixth child, and the second to be named “Jean”; she was born on Hallowe’en, 1763, and baptised six days later by Mr Leslie:

1763 SCOTLAND BAPTISMS: Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ⁴Source: DICKIE, Jean (ii); 1763 Scotland O.P.R. Baptisms; 597/ 20/ 297; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

 Matthew Dickie Weaver in Kilmk. & Janet Moris, both their 1st. mar-
riages, had their 6th. child born on Monday October 31-1763 & bap-
tized Jean (ii) on Sabbath November 6-1763 by Mr Leslie.

After a bit of searching, we discovered that Jean’s parents, Matthew and Janet, had been married further north in Paisley, Renfrewshire (see below). However, they must have moved south soon after, because all their children were born in Kilmarnock:

1750 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Paisley Low, Renfrewshire ⁵Source: DICKY, Matthew & MORISON, Janet; 1750 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 573/3 30/ 44; Paisley Low, Renfrewshire.

                               May 19
Mat: Dicky & Jan: Morison were booked for
proclamation in order to marriage.

We found seven children in all for Matthew and Janet, and most were conveniently numbered, which helps to verify we have the right family. Also, in every record, Matthew was described as a “weaver”: John (1751, 1st child); Hugh (i) (1753, [2nd child]); Mary (1755, 3rd child); Matthew (1758, 4th child); Jean (i) (1760, 5th child); Jean (ii) (1763, 6th child); Hugh (ii) (1768, 7th child).

As you can see, two of their children had died young and their names re-allocated. Also of note is the 4½-year gap between the 6th and 7th child, which possibly indicates a couple of still-births for the family. We know from other genealogies that Matthew, John and Hugh (ii) all married, but our Jean (ii) was the second of her siblings to tie the knot when she married Cumberland Brown in 1782:

1782 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ⁶Source: BROWN, Cumberland & DICKIE, Jean; 1782 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 597/ 60/ 22; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

16th. Decr. 1782
Ead. die Cumberland Brown Weaver in Kilmarnock
and Jean Dickie after lawful proclamation were married
by Mr. Mutrie

Cumberland and Jean had four registered births over the next 10 years, and once again these are numbered (the Kilmarnock parish were good at this): Robert (1783; 1st son, 1st child); Janet (1785; 1st daughter, 2nd child); Matthew (1790; 3rd son, 4th child); and Agnes (1792; 2nd daughter, 5th child). If you’ve been paying attention, you will have noticed that Matthew had skipped a number — there was a 2nd son / 3rd child not found in the records, so likely an unbaptised stillborn. However, we thankfully have our Janet accounted for:

1785 SCOTLAND BAPTISMS: Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ⁷Source: BROWN, Janet; 1785 Scotland O.P.R. Baptisms; 597/ 30/ 194; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

Janet Brown first daughter and second child of Cumberland
Brown Weaver in Kilmarnock and Jean Dickie spouses their first
marriage, born 9th July 1785 and baptized 10th July 1785 by
Mr. Robertson

We have no other information about her parents’ later lives or their deaths, but we’re going to put Janet Brown on hold for a while as we bring the ‘Pinkerton’ family into the picture.

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PINKERTON: 1749–1784

My great-great-grandmother was Ann Pinkerton, and we know a good deal about her life, which we will read about in the next chapter. Although, we have never found her baptismal record, we know from her death certificate and a number of census records that her parents were Ann Wyllie and James Pinkerton (my 3g-grandparents). The ‘Wyllie-Harper’ branch can be read about here, but we can now trace back her father’s line, and we can start with the birth of John [2] Pinkerton in 1749:

1749 SCOTLAND BAPTISMS: Dundonald, Ayrshire ⁸Source: PINKERTON, John [2]; 1749 Scotland O.P.R. Baptisms; 590/ 10/ 111; Dundonald, Ayrshire.

John [2] Pinkerton son to John [1] Pinkerton Weaver at Collellan was
baptised at Collellan the 7th. July 1749 years by Mr. Jas. Cowan

No mother is mentioned here, and no marriage is found for the father before this date. The Kirk Session minutes for Dundonald Parish are missing for 1748-49, so we have no way of knowing if John [2] was a ‘natural child’ (i.e. ‘illegitimate’) or not. “Collellan” (sometimes ‘Collenan’) was a farm, with an interesting history, nearly 4 km (2½ miles) north-east of Troon, and halfway to the village of Dundonald. Although we have no marriage for John [1] before 1749, we do have one for him seven years later:

1756 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Parish of Dundonald, Ayrshire ⁹Source: PINKERTON, John [1] & Blackwood, Janet; 1756 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 590/ 20 34; Dundonald, Ayrshire.

                                Register of Marriages Anno 1756
John [1] Pinkerton Weaver in Collellan and Janet Blackwood, after their purpose
of Marriage was three several times publickly proclaimed here, were Married
the 26th July 1756 years.

There is no declaration here of this being John [1]’s ‘second marriage’, but the mention of ‘Collellan’ more or less confirms this as our John [1], especially when his first son was to marry a servant from this same farm 23 years later.

Janet Blackwood was to give him at least two more children: Robert (1759); and Janet (1760). Both of these were born in Collellan, and both are, therefore, half-siblings to our John [2].

At the age of 30, John [2] was working as a weaver in Troon when he married Jean Findlay:

1779 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Dundonald, Ayrshire ¹⁰Source: PINKERTON, John [2] & FINDLAY, Jean; 1779 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 590/ 20 58; Dundonald, Ayrshire.

                                 Register of Marriages Anno 1779
John [2] Pinkerton weaver at Troon and Jean Findlay Servant
to William Stewart in Collellan after having their purpose
of marriage proclaimed in this congregation on the three pre-
ceding Sabbaths were married at the Troon the third day of
December seventeen hundred and seventy nine years.

Collellan (sometimes spelt “Collelan” or “Collenan”) was at that time home of William Stewart (1714–1797). This farm still exists, and is situated directly east of the A78 near Loans. It also lies on an historic route that once was in regular use by smugglers. William Stuart would visit the Isle of Man to arrange the shipment of good-quality brandy and rum. When a boat was due, local men, with up to 500 horses, would leave their homes and descend to the beach to carry the contraband inland as speedily as possible — I presume our Pinkerton men were involved in all of this … but who knows!

I have never found a verifiable birth for Jean, but what we do know is that John [2] and Jean Findlay had eight children, the first six at Troon in Dundonald Parish, and the last two in Kilmarnock: John (i) (1780, at Troon); Elizabeth (1782, at Troon); John (ii) [3] (1784, at Troon); Robert (1787, at Troon); James (1788, at Troon); William (1790, at Troon); Thomas (1792, 7th child, 6th son; at Kilmarnock); and Jean (1795, 8th child, 2nd daughter; at Kilmarnock).

Good old Kilmarnock Parish once again provided us with child and gender numbers, which validates all the other records for that family! Obviously the family had moved from Troon to Kilmarnock sometime between September 1790 and September 1792. We have no other information about the parents, but we do know a little about some of their children:

• Elizabeth married John Aird in 1809, but he died 10 years later. She battled on as a widow till 1868, and died aged 86 at Garden Street, Kilmarnock.
• Robert married Isabella Taylor in 1816, but she died a widow in 1877 while living at Kilwinning. We don’t know when Robert died, but he had been a weaver.
• Jean never married, and died at Garden Street in 1863 of heart disease; she was 68. Jean had probably been living with her widowed sister, Elizabeth.

However, we know a bit more about John [3], as he will now connect us back to the ‘Brown’ family.

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John [3] Pinkerton & Janet Brown

4g-grandparents

John [3] was the the first of his siblings to marry when he hitched himself to Janet Brown in 1808:

1808 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ¹¹Source: PINKERTON, John [3] & BROWN, Janet; 1808 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 597/ 60 189; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

                                 October 26th. 1808             John [3]
Pinkerton  | Pinkerton and Janet Brown both in this
                  | parish after proclamation were married.

There were to be six children from this union, each numbered in the parish register. The first three were baptised in the ‘High Church’, and were also given gender numbers; however, the last three were only counted by their ‘child’ number, so presumably in the Leigh Church. You won’t be surprised to hear that, in all records, John [3] was labelled as a “weaver”: Jean (i) (1809; 1st child, 1st daughter); John (1811; 2nd child, 1st son); Robert (1813; 3rd child, 2nd son); Janet (1817, 4th child); James (1819, 5th child); and Jean (ii) (1822, 6th child).

As you will have guessed, the next one in our line was James:

1819 SCOTLAND BAPTISMS: Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ¹²Source: PINKERTON, James; 1819 Scotland O.P.R. Baptisms; 597/ 40/ 348; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

     James 5th child of John [3] Pinkerton weaver and
Janet Brown spouses, was born May 8th. 1819.

We know very little about James’ siblings, but John married an Ann Stewart in 1837, and left her a widow in 1886 when he died of heart disease aged 74. He was living in Titchfield Street when he died, but we have no information about his wife. James himself married Ann Wyllie in 1840, and we tell their story a little later. However, his father seems to have died before the 1841 census, but his mother was going to carry on for another 28 years — we find her next in 1841, living just 1.5 km (about a mile) south of the village centre:

1841 SCOTLAND CENSUS: Glencairn Square, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ¹³Source: PINKERTON (Brown), Janet; 1841 Scotland Census; 597/ 31/ 5; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

Janet Pinkerton [Brown]; 55; Yarn Winder; born Ayrshire
Janet Pinkerton; 24; Hand Sewer; born Ayrshire
Robert Clerk; 3; born Ayrshire

The 1841 census was fairly frugal with information, but we have Janet, almost certainly a widow, living with one of her daughters and working in the weaving trade (like most of the family in Kilmarnock). Robert Clerk is likely to be Robert Pinkerton, nephew, who we find in the 1851 census (below). Presumably he was a child of one of Janet’s sisters, and living with his aunt.

When the 1851 census was taken, Janet had fallen on harder times, and was then living on the northern outskirts of the town:

1851 SCOTLAND CENSUS: Nº 2 Hill’s Land, Boyd Street, Kilmarnock ¹⁴Source: PINKERTON (Brown), Janet; 1851 Scotland Census; 597/ 3/ 29; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

Janet Pinkerton [Brown]; Head; Widow; 66; Flowerer pauper; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
Robert Pinkerton; Nephew; 12; Tobacco striper; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire

By now all her family had departed, and she was left with a nephew to look after; but she had some years left in her yet. In the 1861 census, Janet was still living in Boyd Street, but now seemingly as a lodger with a David Cairns and his family:

1861 SCOTLAND CENSUS: 27 Boyd Street, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ¹⁵Source: PINKERTON (Brown), Janet; 1861 Scotland Census; 597/ 14/ 20; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

David Cairns; Head; Mar.; 22; Bonnet dresser; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
                                 —— David Cairns family ——
Janet McQueen; Widow; 76; Tambourer; born Craigie, Ayrshire
Janet Pinkerton [Brown]; Widow; 76; Tambourer; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire

Janet was still working at 76, and a “tambourer” was one who made embroidered lace by using a hook to draw threads through a fine net stretched over a frame. The other lodger in this household was the same age, and was also a “tambourer”.

However, Janet Pinkerton (née Brown) was not to make it to the following census, and was still at the same address when she departed this world in 1868. She lived to a very respectable 83. Her oldest son, John (57) was there to sign off on the death certificate (see right), while her youngest son, James (49) was living 600 m (660 yds) to the south at Bank Street, later to become a significant address for our family.:

1868 SCOTLAND STATUTORY DEATHS: Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ¹⁶Source: PINKERTON (Brown), Janet; 1868 Scotland Statutory Deaths; 597/ 473; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

Janet Pinkerton,
Widow of John Pinkerton, Muslin Weaver
—
died: 5th December 1867 (7:05 am)  (time)     age: 83 years
at: 27 Boyd Street, Kilmarnock
—
father: Cumberland Brown, Carpet Weaver (deceased)
mother: Jean Brown M.S. Dickie (deceased)
—
cause: Age      doctor: no medical attendant
informant: John Pinkerton, Son (present)

We left our first story in this line waiting for Ann Wyllie to be married off, and that’s where we will now pick up the next part of the saga — eventually, she was to marry James Pinkerton.

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James Pinkerton & Ann Wyllie

3g-grandparents

From the previous story you will remember that Ann Wyllie, born around 1811, was the 10th or 11th child of 13 for Thomas Wyllie and Mary Harper, and that no baptismal record has been found for her. We do know, however, that her first marriage was to a Daniel [2] Noble, born in 1809, and the 7th child of shoemaker Daniel [1] Noble and his wife Mary Ritchie:

1829 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ¹⁷Source: WYLLIE, Anne & Noble, Daniel; 1829 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 597/ 100/ 202; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

                                             June 12th. 1829
Noble | Daniel [2] Noble & Anne Wyllie both in Kilmarnock
           | after proclamation, were married.  —————

Anne, though, must have been pregnant when they married for, just over six months after their marriage, this pair were dragged before the Kirk Session!

1830 KIRK MINUTES: Kilmarnock, 28th January 1830; p.407

The Session met & constituted. Sederunt The Revd.
W Smith Moderator & the Elders ———
Compeared Daniel [2] Noble & his wife Anne Wyllie, &
confessed they had been guilty of antenuptial fornication
& were rebuked & absolved from the scandal thereof.

It is strange then, given that this couple took the trouble and embarrassment to appear before the Session, that they seem to never have baptised either of their two children: Daniel (~ 1830); and Thomas (~ 1836). It also seems probable, in an era without contraception, that there may have been other children of that marriage, but perhaps ones who died in infancy.

However, we have to assume that Daniel Noble departed this life sometime between the conception of Thomas and Anne’s second marriage (I guess I should, in some way, be grateful — otherwise I would’t be here to write this story!):

1840 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ¹⁸Source: PINKERTON, James & WYLLIE, Anne; 1850 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 597/ 110 297; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

                Kilmarnock 14 December 1840
James Pinkerton in Back Street & Ann Wyllie
in Nelson Street after being proclaimed were this
day married by Mr Main

Anne was 30 with two children when she married James Pinkerton, a man nine years younger than herself — she was also three months pregnant, but seems to have avoided another appearance before the Kirk Session! And, more interestingly, we can account for this couple having at least six children between 1841 and 1854 — but like her two children from her previous marriage, not one of them was baptised. From now on, we trace this family through census counts and statutory marriage and death records — and we find them largely in and around Bank and Nelson Streets in central Kilmarnock.

CENSUS RECORDS: 1841–1861

James Pinkerton and Ann Wyllie had only been married seven months when the first modern census was taken on the 6th of June 1841. As reported in the previous chapter, we know our couple were living around the corner quite close to Anne’s parents, because they were recorded on the same page of the census form:

1841 SCOTLAND CENSUS: Nelson Street, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ¹⁹Source: PINKERTON, James; 1841 Scotland Census; 597/ 20/ 5; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

James Pinkerton; 25 [22]; Carpet Weaver; born Ayrshire
Margaret Pinkerton [Ann Wyllie ?]; 25 [31]; born Ayrshire
Daniel Noble; 10; born Ayrshire
Thos. Noble; 5; born Ayrshire
Mary Pinkerton; 1 month; born Ayrshire

We can only assume that “Margaret Pinkerton” was meant to be “Anne Pinkerton”, and the adult ages are way out — but the children are what we expect. The 1841 census was deficient in many ways, not least because it didn’t record relationships, or actual birthplaces (only whether or not a person was born in ‘this’ county or Ireland or England). Adult ages were, idiotically, expected to be rounded down to the nearest ‘5’, but that very often didn’t happen, so can never be relied on. However, we have the two children from Anne’s first marriage, and a new-born Mary, so we can start identifying her children.

By 1851, the family were still in Nelson Street, and now there were five children — but the two ‘Noble’ children are missing:

1851 SCOTLAND CENSUS: Johnston’s Land, Nelson Street, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ²⁰Source: PINKERTON, James; 1851 Scotland Census; 597/ 12/ 24; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

James Pinkerton; Head; Mar.; 31 [32]; Carpet Weaver; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
Ann Pinkerton [Wyllie]; Wife; Mar.; 40 [41]; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
Mary Pinkerton; Daur. Unm.; 9; Scholar; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
Janet Pinkerton; Daur.; 7; Scholar; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
John Pinkerton; Son; 6; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
Margaret Pinkerton; Daur.; 3; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
Ann Pinkerton; Daur.; 3 months; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire

These unregistered children seem to have been coming at regular intervals, and by now even my 2g-grandmother has been born. However, Daniel and Thomas Noble, step-sons to James, are not here. Thomas would have been about 15, and I have been unable to find him in the 1851 census. It seems possible he had died since the 1841 census. However, we do find the 21-year-old Daniel Noble living in Glasgow with his paternal uncle and his family. He was marked as unmarried, and was a “druggist” — and we were able to trace him throughout his entire life (more later on Daniel).

1861 SCOTLAND CENSUS: 39 Bank Street, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ²¹Source: PINKERTON, James; 1861 Scotland Census; 597/ 14/ 20; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

James Pinkerton; Head; Mar.; 40 [41]; Carpet Weaver; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
Ann Pinkerton [Wyllie]; Wife; Mar.; 46 [51]; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
Mary Pinkerton; Daur.; Unm.; 19; Hand Sewer; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
Janet Pinkerton; Daur.; Unm.; 17; Hand Sewer; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
John Pinkerton; Son; 16; Cabinet Maker (Ap.); born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
Ann Pinkerton; Daur.; 10; Scholar; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
William Pinkerton; Son; 7; Scholar; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire

The 1861 census (see left) has the family back around the corner in Bank Street, with one more child being added to our Pinkerton family, but one was no longer with us. William was the last child ever recorded for James and Ann, and though there may have been more, we have no evidence that there were.

Missing here (besides Thomas Noble) was Margaret, who would have been 13. Because she has never been found elsewhere in the records, we can assume she died before 1855 when statutory death records came into force — we will probably never know, as we cannot even find a burial record for her.

Daniel Noble, in the meantime, had become a “dispensing chemist” and had moved south to Bradford in Yorkshire where he married Sarah Ann Mawson in 1856. At this census, he was 31 and the newly-weds were living at 40 White Abbey Road in Bradford; however, it would be his last census. He died on 6 March 1864, and left less than £200 to his childless widow. His widow died in 1905 at Birstall in Yorkshire, aged 71.

YEARS 1871–1887

The 1871 census finds the family still living at 39 Banks Street, and two daughters are still living at home. Interestingly, there are also three marked as grandchildren:

1871 SCOTLAND CENSUS: 39 Bank Street, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ²²Source: PINKERTON, James; 1871 Scotland Census; 597/ 12/ 12; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

James Pinkerton; Head; Mar.; 51; Carpet Weaver; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
Ann W. Pinkerton [Wyllie]; Wife; Mar.; 60; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
Janet B. Pinkerton; Daur.; Mar.; 27; Scotch Bonnet Worker; born Kilmarnock 
Ann Pinkerton [now Brown]; Daur.; Mar.; 20; Scotch Bonnet Worker; born Kilmarnock 
Margaret Reid; Granddaughter; 9; Scholar; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
Daniel McLean; Grandson.; 1; born Glasgow, Lanarkshire
Ann Brown; Granddaughter; 1; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire

The only ‘Margaret Reid’ we can find in the birth registry for Kilmarnock for a child that age was the daughter of Robert Reid and Janet Wilson — we have no idea how these people might be connected to our Pinkerton family.

On the other hand, Daniel McLean was the illegitimate son of the daughter Janet and a Robert McLean, a clothier traveller. Janet had an ‘interesting’ series of relationships that we talk about a little later. The third grandchild was, of course, my great-grandmother, Annie Brown, and we can see that her mother, Ann Pinkerton, was already married — and this introduces us to another branch of the family which we find in the next chapter.

For now, though, we will finish off the story of the Pinkerton family. By 1881, all of James and Ann’s children had left home, and we find them living by themselves at 27 Bank Street:

1881 SCOTLAND CENSUS: 27 Bank Street, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ²³Source: PINKERTON, James; 1881 Scotland Census; 597/ 26/ 4; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

James Pinkerton; Head; Mar.; 61; Woollen Carpet Weaver; born Kilmarnock 
Ann W. Pinkerton [Wyllie]; Wife; Mar.; 72; born Kilmarnock, Ayrshire

As the years went on, the recorded ages for both James and Ann were getting closer to the truth. Nothing is known of their daily lives in the following years, but both were to die within four months of each other, and were still at Nº 27 Bank Street. The first to pop off was James, who died of what was then called ‘Bright’s disease’, which was the old name for ‘acute glomerular nephritis’, a hardening and inflammation of the kidneys:

1887 SCOTLAND DEATHS: Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ²⁴Source: PINKERTON, James; 1887 Scotland Statutory Deaths; 597/ 145; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

James Pinkerton, Carpet Weaver
Married to Ann Wyllie or Noble
—
died: 3rd April 1887 (8:45 pm)    age: 65 [67] years
at: The Infirmary, Kilmarnock
usual residence: 27 Bank Street, Kilmarnock
—
father: John [3] Pinkerton, Muslin Weaver (deceased)
mother: Janet Pinkerton or Brown (deceased)
—
cause: Bright’s Disease, Chronic, 2 years
doctor: John C. McVail M.D.
informant: John Pinkerton, Son  
of: 55 Naburn Street, SS Glasgow

As we can see, their son John was the informant, and he was by then living in the Southside suburb of Glasgow Gorbals. John was also on call when his mother died 107 days later of long-term heart problems (see below).

John Pinkerton and Ann Wyllie had been married for 46 years, and had six children we know of, none of whom had been baptised. As far as we know, this couple had never set foot outside of the town of Kilmarnock, where they had been born, married (Ann twice), worked and died. Below we offer a summery of the eight children that Ann Wyllie had from both her marriages to finish this part of the story.

1887 SCOTLAND DEATHS: Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ²⁵Source: PINKERTON (Wyllie), Annie; 1887 Scotland Statutory Deaths; 597/ 306; Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

Annie Pinkerton
Widow of (1) Daniel Noble, Shoemaker (Journeyman)
and (2) James Pinkerton, Carpet Weaver (Journeyman)
—
died: 19th July 1887 (5:30 am)     age: 77 years
at: 27 Bank Street, Kilmarnock
—
father: Thomas Wylie, Carpet Manufacturer (deceased)
mother: Mary Wylie or Harper (deceased)
—
cause: Heart Disease, 12 years    doctor: D. Macleod M.D.
informant: John Pinkerton, Son of: 55 Naburn Street, Glasgow

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Children of Ann Wyllie & (i) Daniel [1] Noble; (ii) James Pinkerton

Daniel [2] Noble (c.1830–1864) — like all of Ann’s children, Daniel was never baptised, but he must have been born shortly after his parents were dragged before the Kirk Session for ‘antenuptial fornication’. He was 10 at the 1841 census, and living with his mother and step-father in Nelson Street (see above). By the time he was 20, however, he was living with a paternal uncle in Glasgow, and was already a ‘druggist’. Sometime after the 1851 census he moved to Bradford in Yorkshire, England, and in 1856 married Sarah Ann Morton. This couple were still childless and living at White Abbey Road, Bradford, in 1861 — but Daniel, a ‘dispensing chemist’, died there in 1864. Sarah remained a widow and died near Bradford in 1905.

Thomas Noble (c.1836 – bef. 1851) — had a brief and virtually unrecorded life. Never baptised, we have no record of his birth, and only find him in the 1841 census aged 5. Since he does not appear anywhere in the 1851 census, we can presume he died before this, and deaths were rarely recorded before statutory death records came into force in 1855.

Mary Pinkerton (May 1841–1871) — was born just before the 1841 census, and lived with her parents until she married Johnstone McFarlane in November 1861. Mary and Johnstone had four boys between 1862 and 1868, but the middle two died of tuberculosis in December 1864. Mary died of the same disease at 39 Bank Street in February 1871, aged 29.

Janet Brown Pinkerton (c.1844–1887) — was the wild one of the family, and her story is complicated. Her first marriage was in 1863 to John McFarlane, a brother to her older sister’s husband. We know this couple were separated by 1865, because Janet declared on the birth certificates of two of her children that she had no contact with him from that year. She must have moved to Glasgow by 1869, because her first illegitimate child, Daniel, was born there to a travelling clothier named Robert McLean. Daniel was the grandson living with James and Ann in the 1871 census (by the following census, he was at St Marnock’s Reformatory School). Janet had returned to Kilmarnock in time for the 1871 census (above), and her second illegitimate child, John, was born there in 1875, and he was blind from childhood. The Sheriff’s Court declared John Blane, shipman, was the father of this child, but we never hear from him again. However, Janet was to have two more children before she married for a second time. George Pinkerton McFarlane was born at Robertson Place, Kilmarnock in 1877, but was living with his mother, his blind half-brother John, and a man called John Mitchell at Eglinton Lane, Glasgow Gorbals, in 1881. This family seems to have returned yet again to Kilmarnock, because Janet’s last child, James Mitchell Pinkerton, was born there in 1884 — she married his father (declaring herself a widow) in December 1885. Janet’s chaotic life, however, came to and end just a few months after her parent’s died, when she succumbed to typhoid fever in October 1887; she was just 43. In 1891, her blind son, John Blane, was recorded as an inmate at the Glasgow Asylum for the Blind in Dennistoun (picture left).

John Pinkerton (c.1845–1908) — was a cabinet maker when he married Mary Graham in 1864. I have no recorded children for John and Mary, but they had moved to Glasgow by 1869, because Mary died of Parkinson’s disease at the Gartnavel Lunatic Asylum in March 1869. In 1870, John was 26 and living in Florence Street, Gorbals, when he married Mary Cameron, a fancy box maker (like my great-grandmother, who lived nearby). This couple had at least one son we know of. John was living in Naburn Street, Gorbals, when he was the informant for his parents’ deaths in 1887. He died of cardiac failure at Crown Street, Gorbals, in 1908, aged 63. His second wife was still at Crown Street in 1918 when she also died of heart disease, aged 76.

Margaret Pinkerton (c.1848–c.1855) — could not have been more than seven when she died between the 1851 census and the introduction of statutory death records in 1855. All we know of her is her entry in the 1851 census above, when she was 10 and at school.

Ann Pinkerton (c.1851–1929) — is my my 2g-grandmother, and her story is told in the next chapter. Briefly, though, she was born in January 1851, and married James Brown, a cork-cutter, in June 1869. By 1881, they were living in Dalkeith near Edinburgh with their first four children. However, by the next census, Annie was living in South York Street, Hutchesontown, Glasgow, with seven of her children, a son-in-law and two grandchildren. Very little is known of her husband, James, as he seemed to be working away a good deal of the time, but he probably died in London around 1901. Annie died a widow in 1929, aged 78. She lived longer than of any of her siblings.

William Pinkerton (c.1854–1915) — was a “hammerman” (a blacksmith trade) when he married Mary Chalmers in 1874. Mary sadly died in childbirth in 1882, after having two children, one of whom had died aged two. He was living a little further south in Riccarton when he next married Elizabeth Forsyth in 1883. It’s not clear if this couple had any children, but William was working as a blacksmith in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, when Elizabeth died in Kilmarnock of a cancer in 1910. He was still in Motherwell for the 1911 census, but died in Glasgow of tuberculosis in 1915. William was 61 when he died and resident at 61 South Wellington Street, not far from his sister Ann and her family.

 

 

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• North & East Ayrshire
• Kilmarnock Town
• Glasgow City
• Hutchesontown, Glasgow
• Craig & Brown Migrations