My Ancestors Stories

I am very lucky to have in my collection several letters written by my maternal great grandfather, Alexander Murray McDougall. He died quite young when my mum was only 8 years old, but she has fond memories of him and visits to the family home in Glasgow. The letters my grandmother kept give us an insight into the kind and caring man that he was.  Alexander was born on 22 June 1885 at 369 Garscube Rd, Glasgow at 11 am in the morning, the first child of George Graeme McDougall, a slater and Martha Orr Campbell Murray.  The family were still living at the same address at the time of the 1891 census.  Alex had three brothers, George Graham born 1887, John Murray born 1894, James born 1896 and a sister, Helen Forrest born 1890.  His mother, Martha died in 1896 when Alex was 11 years old of pernicious anaemia, just three months after the birth of her youngest child, James. Young James also died 5 months later when he was just 8 months of age. They are buried together in L...

Aunt Carrie, my great aunt, was born Caroline McDougall one hundred years ago on 11 September 1921, in the family home at 117 Albert Street, Townhead, Glasgow. She was the youngest of three daughters born to Alexander Murray McDougall and Caroline Anstey Garrett. The family lived in a two room tenement, with a recess bed in each room. Albert Street was renamed McAslin Street sometime during the 1920s.   Also residing in the family home were her maternal grandfather, Albert Garrett and aunt, Lizzie Garrett.  Her grandfather lived with the family until his death in 1939 and Aunt Lizzie until she married in 1941.  After leaving school, Carrie worked as a book pager, however during the war, she worked as an explosives worker at the Ardeer Factory in Stevenston and travelled down from Glasgow on the train for her shifts there. After the war she returned to her work as a book pager.  Carrie married Alexander Campbell, a sergeant in the United States Army at the Barony...