2. FERGUSON:

Return to Cumnock (1820–1861)

by Alan Craig           Download the PDF of this page (3.2 MB)

The story so far: Walter [1] Ferguson was born in Cumnock, Ayrshire, in 1774. His father, James, had been an inn-keeper, and his mother, Katharin Goldie, was the daughter of a miller. Walter [1] joined the Lord Elgin Fencibles in 1799, soon after marrying Anne Phillips, the daughter of a revenue boatman from Cork in Ireland. With Anne following as an ‘on-service wife’, Walter served with the Fencibles for one year, then enlisted with the 72nd Highland Regiment of Foot and served throughout Ireland for the next five years — they had four children during this period, but all died as infants. In 1806, Walter [1] and his wife Anne were still with the 72nd when they invaded Capetown and wrested the Cape Colony from the Dutch.

Walter [1] served in the Cape, Mauritius and Calcutta, India, over the next 13 years, rising to the rank of sergeant — and Anne delivered him six more children during this time. When discharged in 1819 due to injury, Walter [1], now a Chelsea Pensioner, and his family (Anne and children Janet, William, Catherine, Walter [2], Elizabeth and Thomas) returned to Cumnock, and eventually moved to Skares.

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PART A: Years 1841–1851

We know almost nothing about Walter and Anne in the years after their return from Cape Colony, though some of their children were making lives for themselves (more on that later). The first information we do have about them is from when the 1841 census was taken:

1841 SCOTLAND CENSUS: Cumnock Village, Ayrshire ¹Source: FERGUSON, Walter [1]; 1841 Scotland Census; 610/ 1/ 3; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

Walter [1] Ferguson; 60 [67]; Army P. ; born Ayrshire
Anne Ferguson [Phillips]; 55 [63]; born Ireland
William Ferguson; 30 [33]; Ag. Lab.; not born Ayrshire
Catherine (ii) Ferguson; 20 [29]; not born Ayrshire
Thomas Ferguson; 20 [22]; not born Ayrshire
William Crawford; 9; born Ayrshire
Joseph Marshall; 5 months; born Ayrshire

By this time, Walter and Anne were living on an army pension in the main part of Cumnock village, somewhere in the triangle formed by the two rivers and the Square. As with most census records for 1841, the adult ages were routinely lowered to the neared ‘5’ (sometimes), and only the ones for the two children in the household can be trusted.  Their oldest son, William, was unmarried, 33, and working as a agricultural labourer. Catherine was 29 years old at this time, and it would be another 16 years before she entered marital bliss. Likewise, Thomas was still single, no occupation is given for him, and he was, in fact, 22.

None of this really gives us much insight into their lives at this time, but the two children in the household provide some interest. William Crawford turns out to be the illegitimate son of the daughter Janet and a snuff-box maker called Alexander Crawford — more about them later. Joseph Marshall remains a mystery, as he has not been found in the records. Given that the 1841 census was taken on the night of 6 June, he was almost certainly born in January or early February of that year — but this census does not give relationships to the head of household, so he could easily be a neighbour’s or friend’s child.

1851 SCOTLAND CENSUS: Skares, Old Cumnock, Ayrshire ²Source: FERGUSSON, Walter [1]; 1841 Scotland Census; 610/ 1/ 3; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

Walter [1] Fergusson; Head; Mar; 76; Chelsea Out-Pensioner; born O.Cumnock
Ann Fergusson [Phillips]; Wife; Mar; 73; born Ireland, Cork, St Bridgets
Catharine Ferguson; Daughter; U; 39; Agricultural Labourer; born Mauritius
William Crawford; Grandson; U; 19; Tailor; born Ayrshire, O.Cumnock
James Fergusson; Grandson; 9; Scholar; born Ayrshire, O.Cumnock

Ten years later, we can see that Walter [1] and Anne have moved to a small hamlet not quite 5 km (3 miles) southwest of the village centre (see the map here). Skares was little more than a workers’ ‘row’, and it lies near the corner of what is now the B7046 and the road that runs north past the old Whitehill Colliery up to the A70. Walter was recorded as being a “Chelsea Out-Pensioner”, which describes a retired NCO who was eligible to collect a cash payment from the Royal Chelsea Hospital (London), rather than living as an “in-Pensioner” at the hospital. Those eligible for a Chelsea pension had to have served 20 years, or been injured in service (as was Walter). Even today, the Chelsea Pensioners can be seen in London wearing their scarlet frock-coats and tricorne hats!

For the first time, we discover that Anne was from St Brigid’s, a parish located in Crosshaven on the banks of the Owenboy River. Crosshaven is on the western side of Cork Harbour about 15 km (9 miles) southeast of the City of Cork, and here her father had been a revenue collector for boats entering the harbour. The last of Walter [1] and Anne’s children still living at home was the 39-year-old Catherine, who was working as an agricultural labourer. The now 19-year-old grandson, William Crawford, was a tailor and still living with his grandparents — and there was a second grandson living with our now ageing Walter [1] and Anne: the 9-year-old James Ferguson. Again, we have a mystery. The only recorded birth of a James Ferguson for 1840–1842 in Ayrshire was the “lawful” son of William Ferguson and Elisabeth Walls (Wales) on 13 June 1841 at Kyle in Auchinleck Parish. It is unlikely this William is a son of Walter [1] and Anne — but there is another possibility, and we’ll read more about that later.

The Choir Invisible

1855 SCOTLAND DEATHS: Old Cumnock, Ayrshire ³Source: FERGUSSON, Anne [Phillips]; 1855 Scotland Statutory Deaths; 610/ 51; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

Anne Fergusson
married to: Walter [1] Fergusson, Weaver, formerly Sergeant in the 72nd Regiment of Foot
born: Crosshaven, Cork, Ireland – Thirty-five years in this Parish
—
died: 13th May 1855  (7:15 am)   age: 77 years    at: Skares
—
father: Samuel Phillips, Revenue Boatman (deceased)
mother: — Philips M.S. Hornebrooke (deceased)
issue:   1. Catharine dec. at 6 mths in 1799;    2. James dec. at 16 mths in 1802;
             3. Margaret dec. at 18 mths in 1804;   4. Elizabeth dec. at 2 years in 1805
             5. Janet dec. at 23 years in 1829;  [probably 29 in 1835]   6. William 47;
             7. Catherine 44;      8. Walter [2] 40;     9. Elizabeth 39;   10. Thomas 37;
—
cause: [not recorded]   buried: Churchyard of Cumnock      informant: William Ferguson, son

After a lifetime of trudging around the world following her soldier boy and delivering him 10 children, Anne Phillips passed away at 7:15 am on 13 May 1855, aged 77 years. She died at Skares where she had been living since at least 1851. No cause of death is given (exhaustion would be a good guess!), but she was buried in the Cumnock Churchyard in Barrhill Road by the undertaker William McLatchie (who we will see later may have an interesting connection with the family in Queensland). All this information was given by her unmarried son William.
Without even a birth or marriage record to herald the milestones in her life, Anne Phillips could easily have slipped through the pages of history with barely a whimper. However, the extra information recorded for deaths in 1855 (but not thereafter) means that those details of Anne’s life can be merged with her husband’s extraordinary army service record to provide her descendants with a reasonably complete picture of their lives. Had Anne died 5 months earlier or 8 months later, this story would have been decidedly less colourful.

1861 SCOTLAND DEATHS: Old Cumnock, Ayrshire ⁴Source: FERGUSON, Walter [1]; 1861 Scotland Statutory Deaths; 610/ 17; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

Walter [1] Ferguson, Formerly Serjeant in H.M. 72nd Regt. of Foot
(Widower of Anne Phillips)
—
died: 22nd February 1861  (1:20 pm)   age: 88 years   at: Townfoot, Cumnock
—
father: James Ferguson, Shoemaker (deceased)
mother: Catherine Ferguson M.S. Goldie (deceased)
—
cause: Senile Bronchitis, Some Years    doctor: James Laurence M.D.
informant: Walter [2] Ferguson, Son, Townfoot, Cumnock

Walter [1] had been a widower for five years, nine months and nine days when he took his last salute; he died just five weeks before the 1861 census (see left). By this time he had moved from Skares and was living with his namesake son, Walter [2] (Robyn’s g-g-grandfather), at Townfoot in Cumnock  — a street in the village that then ran from the southwest corner of the Square down to the River Lugar, and is today a bus parking area. He was likely living with his namesake son, Walter [2] and his family. Walter [1] had  been ill for some years with senile bronchitis, and it is a testament to his toughness that he reached the ripe old age of 86 (the death certificate was out by two years). Not many survived to that age in those days, and none of his children would match it. Walter [1] must have been a towering figure in his family for, in the next two generations, another eight boys were to bear the name “Walter Ferguson” — a fine tribute to a man who had lived and served during the reigns of George III, George IV, William IV, and Queen Victoria.

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PART B: The Children

Walter [1] and Anne may have passed on but, of course, their children still had stories to tell. After his father’s death, Walter [2] left Cumnock with his own large family to forge a new life in the Colony of Queensland — that story is largely told on other pages (start here). However, here is a summary of the lives of the six ‘regimental brats’ who were born in South Africa and Mauritius while Walter [1] and Anne served with the 72nd Regiment of Foot.

Janet Ferguson (c.1806–1835)

Janet was the first of Walter [1] and Anne’s children to survive childhood — she was also the first of them to die. As we know from above, she was born soon after the conquest of the Cape of Good Hope in 1806 or 1807, and would have travelled everywhere her mother went as an ‘on service’ wife. Janet returned with the family to Cumnock in 1820 when she was aged 14, and almost nothing is known of her from that time, except that she had two illegitimate children: an unknown child to Robert Taylor around 1826; and a son, William Crawford (see the 1841 and 1851 censuses above). Two Kirk Session entries for the Parish of Old Cumnock tell the story – the first on 1 May 1826:

❝ Thereafter appeared voluntarily by Janet Ferguson in the village, confessing herself with child in fornication; and being seriously cautioned and admonished to tell the truth in delating⁵“delate” or “delating” in law is: to bring a charge against, denounce or impeach. the Father of her child, she declares that it is Robert Taylor, Potter in Cumnock, and no other, who is the father of her Child. She was rebuked and summoned, apud acta,⁶“apud acta” is a Latin term meaning “among the record or written facts”. to appear before the Session here, at their next meeting on the [blank] of [blank], and they order their Officer to summon the said Robert Taylor to compear⁷“compear” in Scots law is to appear in court personally or by attorney. also, at the same time. Concluded with prayer.❞

Nothing much seems to have happened for the next seven years — until, on 27 August 1832:

❝ Appeared also voluntarily Janet Ferguson in Townfoot of Cumnock craving to be purged of the Scandal of fornication with Robert Taylor of the Pottery (Session minute of the 16th April 1826) and also with Alexr Crawford, Boxmaker in Cumnock, to each of whom she had brought forth a child. The Session having considered the same, cite her apud acta, to appear before them the 1st of October next and order their officer to summon Robert Taylor to compear with her.❞
—
And on 29 October 1832:
❝ Ferguson was called, but compeared not — The Session, in consideration of her laxity of conduct, and her vacillant behaviour in this matter, having also failed to appear to the summons of 16 April 1826, unanimously agree to delay farther proceedings in her case, for the present and debar her from Church privileges till she be purged from the Scandal.❞

Janet, as we see, was a wild one. You will have noticed above that William Crawford was living with his Ferguson grandparents in 1841 and 1851. It is possible Janet died shortly after William was born, but there is no record of her death in the parish records — however, in the Old Cumnock Graveyard records we find an entry for the burial of a Janet Ferguson who died 3 Sep 1835 (no other information is provided).⁸Source: https://www.findagrave.com; Memorial no. 187062407; Old Cumnock Cemetery, Cumnock, East Ayrshire. If this is her, then she would have been only 29. When her mother, Anne, passed away in 1855, her brother William informed that Janet died aged 23 in 1823, but this date must be wrong given the Kirk records for 1826 and 1832.

Janet was the fifth of Walter [1] and Anne’s children, and can only have been born in 1806 or 1807, meaning she could be no younger than 26, even if she died soon after William’s birth. She was certainly not in Old Cumnock for the 1841 census, and would be 33 if she died early that year. There is no other information on the graveyard record, but it is a very likely candidate to be our Janet given the date. Her lover, Alexander, a snuff-box maker, never married and died at Pottery Row in Cumnock in 1887, aged 87. The son, William, became a tailor and married a widowed Helen Miller in 1862; he recorded his mother as “Janet Crawford M.S. Fergusson (deceased)” — his death certificate in 1915 says almost the same.⁹Source: Crawford, William; 1915 Scotland Statutory Deaths; 610/ 17, Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

William Ferguson (c.1808–1858)

The second surviving child of Walter [1] and Anne was born in Cape Town around 1809, and it seems he never married. He was only 12 when he arrived in Cumnock and was living with his parents in the village and working as an agricultural labourer in 1841. His parents had moved to Skares by the following census, but William remained at Townfoot, living by himself, and working as a “flesher” (i.e. butcher). As we saw earlier, he was the informant for his mother’s death certificate in 1855, and, the same year he was also the informant for his sister Elizabeth (see below).

However, we have another interesting entry in the Kirk Sessions for 28 September 1851:

❝ Compeared also Agnes Matthieson confessing herself to have been guilty of fornication with William Ferguson, and producing an acknowledgment of the paternity of her child. After being duly rebuked and admonished she was absolved from the Scandal. Sederunt¹⁰“sederunt” : (in Scotland) a sitting of an ecclesiastical assembly or other body. closed with prayer.❞

If this is our ‘William Ferguson’, then we may speculate that the James Fergusson living with Walter [1] and Anne in the 1851 census is this child of Agnes Matthieson. That there is no matching baptism may not be an obstacle, as the child was not “lawful” — but none of this can be substantiated by other facts, so is merely conjecture. William managed to die of a “haemorrhage” on 15 December 1858 — over two years before his father — aged around 50;¹¹Source: Ferguson, William;  1858 Scotland Statutory Deaths; 610/ 68; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire. he was buried in the churchyard where his mother, sisters Janet and Elizabeth, and his grandparents were all interred. William McLatchie & Son (again) did the burial, and his younger brother Walter [2] was the informant.

Catharine (ii) Ferguson (c.1812–1893)

There were two daughters named Catherine born to Walter [1] and Anne. The first was born and died at Cumnock in 1799, probably before Walter [1] volunteered for the Lord Elgin Fencibles. It is likely the name was re-cycled when the second one was born on Mauritius in 1812 as an ‘honour’ name for Walter’s mother, Katharin (spelling was totally fluid in those days). The second Catherine would have been about eight when the family arrived in Cumnock in 1820, and she was to live in Ayrshire for another 73 years. As we saw in the 1841 and 1851 censuses above, she was living with her parents and was eventually working as an agricultural labourer. The second census confirms her birthplace as Mauritius.

In 1857, after her mother and two sisters had died, Catherine married widower John Fullarton, an “iron labourer” (ironstone miner) from Auchinleck, a village just a couple of kilometres (1½ miles) northwest of Cumnock.¹²Source: Ferguson, Catherine (ii) & Fullarton, John; 1857 Scotland Statutory Marriages; 577/  3/ 30; Auchinleck, Ayrshire. She was 45 at the time, and heading for spinsterhood. Both John and Catherine were illiterate, and she was working as a domestic servant. John had two children by his Irish-born first wife, Mary Johnson: Elizabeth (1850) and William (1853). Mary’s death is not recorded, so it is likely she died before 1855, sometime after the birth of her second child.

Catherine and John had no children of their own, and both were living at Main Street, Auchinleck for the four censuses 1861 to 1891; both died at Townfoot, Auchinleck in 1893. She died aged 81 from “senile debility” on 23 March,¹³Source: Fullerton (Ferguson), Catherine; 1893 Scotland Statutory Deaths; 577/ 1  6; Auchinleck, Ayrshire. and the informant was her stepson William; John died on 25 November from the rare St Anthony’s Fire, aged 67.¹⁴Source: Fullerton, John; 1893 Scotland Statutory Deaths; 577/ 1 30; Auchinleck, Ayrshire.

Walter [2] Ferguson (1814–1881)

Like Catherine before him, Walter [2] was born on Mauritius, probably in 1814 (see above), and was around six years old when the family arrived back in Cumnock. This Walter is Robyn’s g-g-grandfather, and his life in both Cumnock and Queensland is covered in separate stories. He was the first of Walter [1]’s brood to marry when, at 22 years, he tied the knot with the 21-year-old Margaret McKerrow of Auchinleck, and her ancestry follows after the chart below.  By 1861, Walter [2] Ferguson had lost both parents, his older brother and two sisters — so, at age 47, he took his wife and the seven youngest children to Plymouth in England, where they embarked on the S.V. “Jessie Munn” and headed for Queensland, Australia. But that story is told in the next chapter.

Elizabeth (ii) Ferguson (1816–1855)

Like her sister Catherine, Elizabeth was the second of Walter [1] and Anne’s children to bear the name of a previous sibling. The first Elizabeth was likely born in Clonmel, Tipperary in 1803, and died at Cork (or at sea) in 1805. Again, the re-use of a name is a strong clue to indicate an honour name for a grandparent, but this is not certain. The second Elizabeth was born at sea on 14 Jan 1816 aboard the troopship “Lucy and Maria” as it sailed towards Cape Town from Calcutta.¹⁵Source: Ferguson, Elizabeth (ii); St George’s Cathedral Military Baptisms; FHL 1295055; Cape Town. She would have been just four when the family arrived in Cumnock in 1820.

Elizabeth was not with the family in 1841, and was working as a female servant in the home of spirit dealer James Boyd and his small family; however, in December that year, she married James Douglas,¹⁶Source: Ferguson, Elizabeth & Douglas, James; 1841 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 610/ 40 403; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire. a coal miner — but, in keeping with family tradition, this minute is recorded by the Kirk Session on 25 April 1842:

❝ Compeared […]  James Douglas and Elizabeth Ferguson, confessing themselves to be guilty of antenuptial fornication. They were rebuked, exhorted to repentance and absolved of the scandal.❞

James was the illegitimate child of James Douglas snr. and Jean Craig (no relation). He was born in 1820, but had himself baptised in 1839 at Old Cumnock; he was living with his mother at Pluck Row in 1841. Elizabeth and James had five children between 1842 and March 1854, losing one of them in 1850.

In 1851, James and Elizabeth and their three surviving children were living at Wee Rigg, about halfway between Cumnock and Auchinleck. A fifth child was born to the couple in 1854, but James seems to have died sometime shortly after that; he would have been about 35. However, things were about to get worse for their four little children: Elizabeth died of Phthisis (TB/consumption) at Townfoot in Cumnock in 1855,¹⁷Source: Douglas, Elizabeth (Ferguson); 1855 Scotland Statutory Deaths; 610/ 59; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire. aged 39 — just 47 days after her dear mother passed away. It is possible that TB also killed Elizabeth’s husband and mother.

William McLatchie and Son did the burial honours once more, and William, her brother, was again the informant for another family tragedy. The four children were now all orphans and, by 1861, some of them were registered as paupers. The youngest child, Janet, went to live with Elizabeth’s younger brother, Thomas.

Thomas Ferguson (c.1818–1899)

The baby of the family, Thomas, was born sometime in 1818 somewhere in Cape Colony. Thomas would have been no more than two when he arrived on Scottish soil in 1820, and was living with his parents in the village in 1841. However, by 1844 he had moved to the parish of Monkton and Prestwick, (closer to the coast, just north of the town of Ayr) and there, at 26, he married Mary Orr.

1844 SCOTLAND O.P.R. MARRIAGES: Parish of Monkton & Prestwick, Ayrshire ¹⁸Source: Ferguson, Thomas & Orr, Mary; 1844 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 606/ 30 369; Monkton & Prestwick, Ayrshire.

Thomas Ferguson and Mary Orr both in this
parish gave in their names to be proclaimed
in order to marriage 6th January 1844 and
after being three times proclaimed were married
on the 19 of the same month by the Rev. John McFarlan

Thomas and Mary were to have at least seven children between 1844 and 1863, and the first of these was called … you guessed it: Walter! By 1851, the couple (with their first three children) were living back at Townfoot in Cumnock, and he had become a tailor. Ten years later they were still quite nearby — at the not quite identified “Long Causay” — with five of their children (the eldest, Walter, had now left home). Also living with Thomas and Mary was their orphaned niece Janet Douglas (daughter of sister Elizabeth),

In 1871, Thomas and Mary Orr, with four children, had moved to Kinholm Place, just north of the village square.¹⁹Source: Ferguson, Thomas; 1871 Scotland Census; 610/ 2/ 5; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire. The eldest daughter, Mary, had married Joseph Tosh at Kinholm Place in 1869,²⁰Source: 1869 Scotland Statutory Marriages; 610/ 28; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire. but they had moved to Glasgow and had four children by 1874. Tragedy struck this young couple when Joseph, at only 31, died of the dreaded TB in March 1878.²¹Source: 1878 Scotland Statutory Deaths; 644/ 11 283; Hutchesontown, Glasgow. By 1881, the four Tosh children were living with Thomas and Mary at Kinholm Place, and were there for the next seven years.²²Source: Ferguson, Thomas; 1881 Scotland Census; 610/ 2/ 3; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

With his parents and most of his siblings dead or emigrated, Thomas and Mary (probably with their widowed daughter, Mary, and her four children) left for the USA in 1889 aboard the S.S. “Waldensian” — they were following their son William, who had taken two of the Tosh orphans to Pennsylvania in 1887. They arrived at Boston, Massachusetts,  on 13 Jun 1889 when Thomas was 70 years old. The family moved to Braddock, Pennsylvania, which is just east of Pittsburgh (for a while spelled ‘Pittsburg’). Little is known of their lives in the New World, however, the daughter Mary remarried to Scottish-born  John Stewart in 1891.  John was a superintendent at the Edgar Thompson Steel Works in Pittsburgh, and that’s where Thomas Ferguson was working when he died on 28 June 1899. His wife, Mary Orr, had died of pneumonia five years earlier.

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PART C: Walter [2] Ferguson & Margaret McKerrow

As we know, Walter [2] was born in 1814 on Mauritius and had returned to Cumnock in 1820 after his father had been discharged from the army and pensioned. Young Walter was five when the family arrived back on Scottish soil, and nothing is known of his life until he married in 1836 — and that introduced us to another significant branch in Robyn’s maternal line: the McKerrow/Hodge families of Auchinleck:

The ‘McKerrow’ family name is quite common throughout the parishes of Auchinleck and Old Cumnock, and this creates challenges when tracing a particular line. As you will see in the chart above, Margaret was the third last of 12 children for John McKerrow and Jean Hodge, and we are fortunate that this family is validated through dna matches that Robyn has with the descendants of two of Margaret’s siblings (William (ii) and Andrew). Similar DNA matches also confirm the parents and some siblings for both John McKerrow and Jean Hodge, and we have their marriages:

1767 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Old Cumnock, Ayrshire ²³Source: HODGE, William & MITCHELL, Jean; 1767 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 610/ 30 32; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

William Hodge Weaver in Cumnock and
Jean Mitchell in Donaldstown were allowed
the priviledge proclamation in order to mar-
riage, May 28th 1767. Married June 13th

1769 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Old Cumnock, Ayrshire ²⁴Source: McKERROW, James & HANNAH, Helen; 1769 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 610/ 30 38; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

Jas. McKerrow & Helen Hannah
were proclaimed in order to
marriage three several times,
last time Novr 12th 1769

Donaldstown is a bit over 400 m (300 yards) southeast of the main square in Cumnock, lying east of Glaisnock Street.  Additional DNA matches have also helped us identify Jean Mitchell’s parents as Andrew Mitchell and Isobel Samson, though we haven’t found their marriage. However, Margaret’s parents were married in 1796:

1796 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Old Cumnock, Ayrshire ²⁵Source: McKERROW, John [3] & HODGE, Jean; 1796 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 610/ 30 142; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

John McKerrow in this parish and Jean
Hodge in parish of Auchinleck gave in their
Names for proclamation of Banns on Friday
the 2nd day of September & were accordingly pro-
claimed on the three immediately following Sab-
baths and no objections being offered were married
on Monday the 12th Day of September 1796.

From the old burial records, we find that James McKerrow died in 1832 at the Toll Bar,²⁶Source: McKERROW, James; 1832 Scotland O.P.R. Deaths; 577/ 10 74; Auchinleck, Ayrshire. just south of the village of Auchinleck, but we have very little information about the family until the 1841 census — except for this appearance before the Kirk Session:

1836 KIRK SESSION: Cumnock, 30th May 1836, p.36

❝ Compeared voluntarily […] Walter [2] Fergusson and Margaret MacKerrow, Spouses; all confessing themselves guilty of antenuptial Fornication. They were rebuked, exhorted to repentance and absolved from the scandal.❞

1836 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Old Cumnock, Ayrshire ²⁷Source: FERGUSON, Walter [2] & McKERROW, Margaret; 1836 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 610/ 40 378; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

Walter Fergusson of this parish, and Margaret McKerrow
of the Parish of Auchinleck, after proclamation of Banns
of Banns at their several Parish Kirks the two preceding
Sundays, were intermarried the 22nd of April, 1836.

1836 SCOTLAND MARRIAGES: Auchinleck, Ayrshire ²⁸Source: FERGUSON, Walter [2] & McKERROW, Margaret; 1836 Scotland O.P.R. Marriages; 577/ 20 290; Auchinleck, Ayrshire.

Walter Ferguson of the parish of Cumnock and Margaret McKerrow
of this parish were married at Cumnock on the 22nd April 1836
by the Rev. N. Bannatyne after having been thrice proclaimed on
the two preceding sabbaths.

Naughty, naughty! Their first child (yet another Walter, and hereafter called Walter [3] ) was born on 6 May 1836, only two weeks after the couple married (see left), and a confession and repentance was necessary for the child to be baptised — and, as we know, they were not the only ones in the family to be dragged before the Kirk elders (see Janet, William and Elizabeth above).

We also saw above that Walter [1] Ferguson and Anne Phillips were living in Cumnock Village in 1841 with three of their children and a couple of illegitimate grandchildren, but the younger Walter [2] was living close by with his wife Margaret and two of their three children:

1841 SCOTLAND CENSUS: Cumnock Village, Ayrshire ²⁹Source: FERGUSSON, Walter [2]; 1841 Scotland Census; 610/ 1/ 11; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

Walter [2] Fergusson; 25; Agricultural Labourer; not born in Ayrshire [Mauritius]
Margaret Fergusson [McKerrow]; 25; born Ayrshire
John Fergusson; 3; born Ayrshire
William Fergusson; 8 months; born Ayrshire

However, their oldest child, Walter [3], was living with Margaret’s widowed father at Woodhead, a workers’ row about 2 km (1.25 miles) south-west of the village:

1841 SCOTLAND CENSUS: Woodhead Row, Old Cumnock, Ayrshire ³⁰Source: McKERROW, John; 1841 Scotland Census; 610/ 4/ 1; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

John McKerrow; 65; Agricultural Labourer; born Ayrshire
May McKerrow; 30; born Ayrshire
Helen McKerrow; 20; born Ayrshire
Walter [3] Ferguson; 5; born Ayrshire

The name “Woodhead” will appear again later in this story, but about 16,000 km (10,000 miles) away!

Coal Mines

By the mid 1800s, Cumnock’s main industry had become coal and iron mining, and that is probably what attracted our McKay and McMeekin families to come there in the 1860s. The Ferguson family had been weavers and agricultural workers after returning from their colonial exploits in South Africa in the 1820s, but by the 1851 census, we see some of the younger generation joining the ranks of coal miners. Though Walter [1] and Anne had moved to Skares and were living on an army pension, Walter [2] and his family were living in the miners’ rows at Mid Changue:

1851 SCOTLAND CENSUS: Mid Changue, Old Cumnock, Ayrshire ³¹Source: FERGUSON, Walter [2]; 1851 Scotland Census; 610/ 5/ 6; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

Walter [2] Ferguson; Head; Mar; 35; Ironstone Miner; born East Indies (British Subject)
Margaret Ferguson [McKerrow]; Wife; Mar; 34; born Auchinleck, Ayrshire
John Ferguson; Son; Unm.; 12; Miner; born Cumnock, Ayrshire
William Ferguson; Son; 10; born Cumnock, Ayrshire
Jane Ferguson; Daur.; 8; born Cumnock, Ayrshire
Agness Ferguson; Daur.; 6; born Cumnock, Ayrshire
David Ferguson; Son; 2; born Cumnock, Ayrshire
Marion Ferguson; Daur.; 7 days; born Cumnock, Ayrshire

This census introduces Robyn’s great-grandfather, David for the first time. We only have this and the 1861 census as a guide as to when David was born, as we have never found his baptismal record (his death certificate gives an exact date, but it is clearly wrong). And, once again,  Walter and Margaret’s oldest child, Walter [3], was still living with his maternal grandfather and an aunt at Woodhead:

1851 SCOTLAND CENSUS: Woodhead Row, Old Cumnock, Ayrshire ³²Source: McKERROW, John ; 1851 Scotland Census; 610/ 4/ 4; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

John McKerrow; Head; Widower; 78; Agricultural Labourer; born Old Cumnock, Ayrshire
Helen McKerrow; Daur.; Unm; 30; employed at home; born Auchinleck, Ayrshire
Walter [3] Ferguson; Grandson; 14; Scholar; born Auchinleck, Ayrshire

However, John McKerrow and Walter [1] and Anne Ferguson all died before the 1861 census, and this was to be a seminal year for the family. In April that year, the younger Walter [2] and his family were living at Barrhill, a mine row immediately to the north of Cumnock Village:

1861 SCOTLAND CENSUS: Barrhill, Old Cumnock, Ayrshire ³³Source: FERGUSSON, Walter [2]; 1861 Scotland Census; 610/ 2/ 29; Old Cumnock, Ayrshire.

Walter [2] Fergusson; Head; Mar; 45; Miner (ironstone); born Port Louis, East Indies
Margaret [McKerrow] Fergusson; Wife; Mar; 44; born Auchinleck, Ayrshire
William Fergusson; Son; Unm; 20; Miner (ironstone); born Cumnock, Ayrshire
David Fergusson; Son; 12; Scholar; born Cumnock, Ayrshire
Marion Fergusson; Daur; 10; Scholar; born Cumnock, Ayrshire
James Fergusson; Son; 7; Scholar; born Cumnock, Ayrshire
Helen Fergusson; Daur; 3; born Cumnock, Ayrshire

By now, the two youngest children had arrived (James and Helen), while the two older boys had married: John in 1859 (to Elizabeth Pollock), and Walter [3] (to Agnes Wilson). John was living in the village and also working as an ironstone miner, while Walter [3] had moved to Roadside, about 2¾ km (1.7 miles) south of Cumnock. Walter [3]  was working as a tailor, like his uncle Thomas, who was also living in the village with his wife and five children. However, this was the last time the Ferguson family were to be living close together. Sometime around October, Walter [2] and Margaret McKerrow, with their seven youngest children, took the journey to Plymouth in England and, on the 26th of that month, boarded the sailing vessel “Jessie Munn” and sailed for Brisbane in far-off Queensland. The two older boys remained in Scotland.

Follow them to Queensland …

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

• Parish of Old Cumnock and Auchinleck
• Town of Cumnock
• Ferguson migration in and out of Scotland
• Australia (East Coast) showing family migrations to the country from 1850–1950
• South East Queensland showing the family connections to Albert River and the Gold Coast.