Time I think to get back to the paternal side of the family and to my great, great, great grandmother Ann Symington. Family Tree Maker allows me to create family charts. I don’t use it often enough. However, I thought it might be useful to see how the family line works.

Ann Symington was born in 1832, the daughter of Robert Symington and Allison Anderson. She was the youngest of 4 children. Her siblings were Robert (born 1824), Margaret (born 1828) and William (born 1830). I believe William died very young, possibly before Ann was born. I cannot find a death record for Allison. She had died or was absent from their lives before 1841. 1841 is the first census available so that is where I had to start looking and it was not easy.

The four remaining members of the family were not living together in 1841. Brother Robert was working as a farm hand at the West Newland farm in Falkirk. Robert and Margaret may have been together but so far I can’t find any record of them. I had almost given up on finding Ann. However, I eventually tracked her down. She was living in Lanarkshire with her maternal uncle and his family. The census enumerator had the worst handwriting and Ann’s record has been transcribed as Ann Stimson.

By the 1851 census siblings Robert and Margaret are both married. Robert married Janet Gilchrist in 1847 and Margaret and Thomas Adams were married in December 1846. I was happy to see that in 1851 Ann is again living with her father. They are recorded in Old Monkland where Robert is employed as a fireman at the iron foundry. There is no occupation given for Ann. She is likely busy taking care of a new baby! Also on the record is 6 month old Allison Roy. The census was taken in March 1851. In July of that year, Ann married Thomas Rae. This leads me to believe that Allison was the illegitimate child of Ann and Thomas.

Sadly that is the last I see of baby Allison. In fact, it is the only record of her I can find. She was born before civil registration in Scotland so I am relying on church records but there is nothing. Just like her grandmother, with whom she shares a name, she just disappears.

The 1851 wedding takes place in Ayrshire. Thomas Rae was born in Dumfriesshire but had also lived in Lanarkshire. Moving around the west of Scotland was not unusual as families went where the opportunities lay. After their marriage, Ann and Thomas went on to have 10 children.

• Grizel born 1852
• Robert born 1854
• Ann born 1858
• Grace Halliday born 1861
• John born 1863
• Janet McKenzie born 1866
• Andrew born 1868
• Sarah McEwen born 1870
• Thomas born 1873
• Mary Dunbar born 1901

By the time the census was taken in 1861 both Grizel and Robert had died. In April 1857 Robert contracted whooping cough and died a few days later without ever having seen a doctor. Grizel died on in 17 June 1858. She drowned at Garlaff in Ayrshire.

In October 1856 Ann also lost her father from chronic hepatitis. He is buried in the churchyard at Auchinleck.

This must have been a particularly tough period in Ann’s life. It certainly would not have helped that in the summer of 1858, her husband Thomas faced legal troubles. He was charged with malicious mischief. He was also charged with breach of the peace. He pled guilty to the lesser charge but was still faced with a fine or a period of imprisonment. He too would have been struggling with the loss of his children. It is not known if the courts took this into account. I very much doubt it.

We move now to the 1871 census and Ann and Thomas are living in Kilmarnock along with Grace, John and Sarah. There have been three further losses. Ann died in January 1865 of gastric fever. She was 7 years old. Janet was just a year old when she died from fever in January 1866. Andrew was also just a year old when he died in August 1869. He had been suffering from diarrhoea for 10 days.

Sometimes when I write these posts I have to take a break. I have Ann’s details on the Ancestry website. It is just a list of facts and dates. It’s not until you start thinking that those names are individuals. Those dates are times of real tragedy. It’s a lot to take in.

In 1881 Ann is recorded as the head of her household at 18 Drygate Street in Larkhall. Along with her are son John who is now a coal miner, Sarah and Thomas who are scholars, Mary who has yet to start school and a grandson, Robert Rae who was 1 year old.

First of all, where is husband Thomas? He is still alive and well but for some reason on that date he was not living at home. He is to be found lodging in Craigneuk, Wishaw with a family called Loggie. He might have been living there part of the week for work. He has not abandoned Ann. They are together once again in the next census.

Baby Robert (my great grandfather) is the son of daughter Grace. She was working as a farm servant when she met a young man called Robert Armstrong. She discovers she is pregnant. She hopes that Robert will do the right thing. However, he has other ideas. He also has another girlfriend who falls for his charms and falls pregnant. Robert has to choose and sadly for Grace, she is not the one. Grace is on her own.

After discussion with the family it is decided that Ann and Thomas will take care of baby Robert. He is close in age to their youngest child and so from then on he is known as their son. Grace went on to marry and have 4 other children and in 1888 along with her new family she emigrated to Australia.

In 1891 Ann and Thomas are both in Craigneuk along with John, Mary and Robert. Thomas is now in his 60s and is a labourer at the coal pit. John is a miner and Mary and Robert are in school. Son Thomas has joined the army. Sarah is taking care of Ann’s brother Robert up in Stirlingshire.

Times are hard and Thomas is not in the best of health. In December 1891 the family are forced to turn to the parish for support.

Now I hate to see my family in the poor law records but they do provide a lot of information. Thomas has to provide details of his dependants and list the occupations and earnings of other family members. It is from this record that we can see that Thomas is in desertion from the army which must surely be a source of stress for his parents. He was offered a payment to tide him over. However, he has to return in January 1892 to again plead his case for help.

Thomas died on 21 May 1892. He is buried at the Globe Cemetery in Motherwell in a paupers grave.

So Ann is now on her own taking care of two teenagers. In 1897 Mary brings her the news that she is pregnant. Like Grace before her there is no father in the picture to help take care of the child. Baby Annie Symington Rae was born in September 1897 at the family home. In the 1901 census little Annie is living with her grandmother and uncles John and Thomas.

Ann has more than just the girls to worry about. Seventeen-year-old Robert brings Ann the news that she is going to be a great grandmother. His girlfriend Margaret McGarrity is pregnant. While committed to the relationship the young couple feel unable to take care of a child.

It is big sister/aunt Sarah who steps in to help. She and her boyfriend quickly arrange a marriage which takes place within the family home on 31 December 1897. Sarah is now Mrs Archibald Smith.

After baby Thomas’s birth on 28 February 1898, he is registered as the son of Robert Rae and Margaret McGarrity. However, Sarah and Archie take on parental responsibilities. In fact, after his tragic death just 6 months later he is recorded (illegally) as the child of Sarah and Archie.

Did Robert and Maggie learn a lesson from the unplanned pregnancy? No they did not. This time however, they decided they were ready for parenthood. They were married in April 1899 and their daughter Sarah was born in June. They had 10 further children. Baby Grace died in March 1907 of tuberculosis at just a year old.

Mary had another daughter, Sarah who was born in June 1900 again at the family home. This time, however, the father was involved Mary and John Woodloch were married on 1 January 1901. A happy occasion for Ann to see her daughter married and settled but the happiness was not to last. Mary died on 24 September 1901. The cause of death was erysipelas and septicaemia.

Mary had been living with her in-laws in Holytown. But, in February 1902, when little Sarah contracted measles, it appears Mary was no longer with the Woodlochs. Sarah died on 22 February. Her death record shows her to have been illegitimate. No father is listed, suggesting that John Woodloch was not actually her father. He had married her mother and was prepared to look after her, but after Mary’s death, he relinquished responsibility. Sarah is also buried at the Globe cemetery.

On 31 December Thomas married Elizabeth Kennedy. Their son Thomas was born in September 1902. They had 4 more children

We move forward to 1909 and the last record of Ann. Ann Rae née Symington died on 21 June 1909 having suffered a stroke some months before. She outlived her 3 siblings, 7 of her 11 children, 2 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.

She supported her husband and family throughout their lives and helped the children out when they were in trouble. She got to meet 8 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren one of whom was my grandfather Archie. I would love to find some newspaper reports or other records relating to happier events. Unfortunately, normal family stuff doesn’t make the news.