Ancestral Places - Ayrshire, Scotland - Haste ye back
My mum was born in Ayrshire, Scotland and although we always knew that her paternal ancestors were from Ireland we had presumed that her maternal ancestors were all Scottish. However as you can see in her birthplace tree below, research revealed that one branch of her maternal tree was actually English and another was also Irish!
Since 2017, Mum has taken several DNA tests with different companies to help me with my research. Over the years, she's become more and more Scottish each time Ancestry update their DNA Ethnicity Estimates. AncestryDNA calculates ethnicity estimates by comparing your DNA to a reference panel made up of thousands of DNA samples from people with a long family history in one place or within one group.
When you look at the Ancestry map it depicts the long history of movement among the places that fall under their Scotland region, from the early Celtic settlers of Great Britain and Ireland to the 17th-century Plantations in Northern Ireland.
This is also reflected in Mum's family tree, as we know that her paternal Irish ancestors were from County Down in Northern Ireland.
Over the years, I have visited Scotland on several occasions, but in 2010, my friend Susan and I spent a few days visiting many of my ancestral villages along the Ayrshire coast. Not so much a research trip, but just to visit the locations where my ancestors lived and worked and to see if any landmarks still remained.
Ballantrae and Colmonell
On route on our first day we stopped in the misty Galloway Forest Park and the village of Colmonell where my 4 x great grandmother, Jean Earl was baptised at St. Colmon Parish Church on 26 December 1776. The present church is the third on the site overlooking the river at the west end of the village, with the first recorded church built in 1591. The church was substantially rebuilt from foundation level in 1772, but eventually this building became too small for the congregation and was recast in 1849 to seat 400 worshippers. To avoid disruption to weekly worship the new church was built around the old – when completed, the old one was demolished.
We decided to base ourselves at the lovely Cosses Country House, situated within 13 acres of beautiful countryside, just south of the village of Ballantrae in South Ayrshire. Sadly, I note that the property has since been sold and is no longer operating as a guest house.
Girvan
Girvan was originally a fishing port, but the opening of the railways at the end of the 1850s encouraged the development of Girvan as a seaside resort with beaches and cliffs. It was also the home of my 4 x great grandfather, Andrew McDougall, a cotton weaver and his wife, Jean Earl. Andrew and Jean had three sons and six daughters between 1798 and 1818. At the time of the 1841 and 1851 census they were living in Ailsa St, but at the time of Andrew's death in 1861, he was living with his son, Alexander at Wilson St.
Andrew and Jean are our most prolific DNA couple as I have identified 166 DNA matches back through 5 of their children, but that's a story for another post!
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| 4 Wilson Street (left) and Ailsa Street (right) |
Alexander, my 3 x great grandfather, married Helena Annie Forrest on 18 September, 1835 and they lived in Girvan with their 10 children at 4 Wilson St. Their youngest son, George Graeme McDougall, my 2 x great grandfather became a slater and settled in Glasgow. He married Martha Orr Campbell Murray on 24 November 1882 at Dalrymple where she was born. How they met is unclear as she had been working in Ayr as a domestic servant at the time of their marriage.
Dalrymple
Martha's parents were Alexander Murray and Sarah Campbell who had married in Dalry in 1848. At the time he was a carter but in 1851 they were living in Kirkoswald and he was working as a rabbit catcher. The family settled in Dalrymple, at Old Knockjarder by 1855 where Alexander was a gamekeeper. The following description of Old Knockjarder is from the Ordnance Survey Name Books 1855-57:
This had once been the farmsteading but now occupied as a Cothouse on the farm of Knockjarder - one Storey high, thatched and in a bad State of repair. Property of the Marquis of Ailsa.
Dundonald
Alexander Murray was born in Dundonald on 22 April 1820, the family were residing at Byrestone Hill, however had moved to Shewalton some time before 1822 and lived here when the remainder of their children were baptised and at the time of the 1841 census, however moved to Dalry some time before 1848. The Murray's have been noted in the parish registers for Dundonald for several generations back to Alexander's grandfather, also named Alexander who was born about 1767.
Dalry
Alexander's wife, Sarah Cockburn Campbell was born in Dalry on 16 March 1828, daughter of William Campbell and Janet Ritchie. Her father, William was described as a servant of Pitcon, believed to be Pitcon House. At the time of the 1841 and 1851 census, the family were living at Pitcon Cottage and William was working as a gardener. We found a property still referred to as Pitcon Cottage but the current residents were not sure if this was the same building that would have existed at that time. They also showed us the old well in the back garden which we did think was likely to have existed when the Campbell family lived there.
Saltcoats
No trip to Scotland would be complete without a visit to Saltcoats where mum spent a lot of her younger years. The view is across to the Isle of Arran where I suspect we also have more distant connections, based on some of our DNA matches!
You will see this sign on your travels throughout Scotland - Haste ye back - meaning come back soon. I hope it's not too long before I'm back again to visit my mother's homeland.
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