Kilmacolm: a family history

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Kilmacolm War Memorial

In August, John and I had a day out to Kilmacolm, a village in Renfrewshire not far from Glasgow, to photograph some sites of family history. When we visited Islay last year, I wrote about my great-grandfather, John Joss Sinclair, who was born there in 1866. (See Islay: call to place). At 16 he moved to the mainland, becoming a noted ploughman and marrying a farmer’s daughter.

She was Janet Carson, of The Green Farm in Kilmacolm, who was born in 1864. She had two brothers, Tom and Bob, and at least three sisters, Susan, Bella and Maggie. The latter emigrated to Philadelphia and married Sam Bell. The pictures below show, on the left, Janet’s parents, my great-great-grandparents, with Jenny, one of the Bell children, and on the right, John and Janet with their first two children, John (born 1886) and Margaret (Meg). By 1901 another six daughters had been added to the family, so Janet’s life must have been a hard slog.

The Carsons and Jenny Bell
John and Janet Sinclair with their first two children, John and Meg

In his fifties, John gave up farm work and he and Janet, along with their three youngest daughters, moved into the Bridgend Toll House, which came with his new job as road foreman. The older children had married and moved out of the family home. Young John married Mary and had several children. Below left is Meg, with her husband Donald McPhail, around 1910. On the right, is the McClure family, Catherine (Kate), Stewart and Janet (Nettie or Netta) pictured around the end of the First World War. Netta settled in London and I think I met her only once, but I have clear memories of her much younger sister Isabella (Isa) who remained in the West of Scotland.

Meg and Donald McPhail c1910
Kate, Stewart and Nettie McClure c1918

Three of the children emigrated, Meg and Donald McPhail sailing for Australia in 1924 – the photograph below, recently found by my aunt, shows them in later life. Two sisters went to Canada with their husbands – Isabella (Belle) and Tom Gibson, and Janet (Jen) and Bob Andrew. Both couples obtained sections of land in Saskatchewan, built houses there, and farmed successfully. Only Jen came back to visit – that’s her holding me as a baby (1957) with my grandmother looking on.

Donald and Meg McPhail
Me with Granny and Auntie Jen

My grandmother was Christina (Teenie, later Chris), the oldest of the three girls who moved to the Toll with their parents. Eventually, they all married: Chris to Percy Stroud in 1925, Mary to Tom Stevenson in 1927, and Annabella (Annie) to Bob Maskell in 1931. In the wedding photos below, I’m fairly sure that Mary (centre) is wearing the same dress as my grandmother on the left.

Chris and Percy Stroud 1925
Mary and Tom Stevenson 1927
Bob and Annie Maskell 1931

Mum, also Christina, was born in 1926 and is shown here as a baby and toddler, “Wee Chrissie”, with her grandparents. For reference, Janet must be about the same age as I am now. How times have changed!

Mum and her Granny
Mum and her Grandaddy

The Toll figures largely in Mum’s many happy memories of her childhood, surrounded by loving grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. In the gallery below Mum is carried by her dad in two of the photos, and is also the small girl in a wash tub.

Janet with Chris, Mary and Annie
John and Janet
Chris and Percy
Family group at The Toll
Wee Chrissie with her Mum and Dad
Scotch washing

Bridgend Toll House, shown in the gallery below in an old postcard, is long gone. The site is about a mile from the village, opposite the War Memorial from which you can see two houses which were built in its place.

Kilmacolm War Memorial
Bridgend Toll
Bridgend, Kilmacolm

Mum herself grew up in the centre of the village in a house called Low Shells, also long gone, but the empty space where it stood still retains the name. The picture of Mum sitting on one of the benches is from a previous visit in 2016.

Low Shells
Low Shells
Low Shells 2016

At Kilmacolm Cross, the Cross Café and Parish Church sit opposite each other. Compare to the two old postcards underneath – completely recognisable, though no cows in the middle of the road these days.

Cross Café, Kilmacolm
Kilmacolm Parish Church
Kilmacolm Cross and Parish Church 1907
Kilmacolm Cross

The café has been run by several generations of Pignatellis, currently sisters Alda and Johanna, whom Mum has known since they were born. Because she was not with us on this latest trip, they sent her a box of Cross Café sweeties which we were happy to deliver!

On the other side of Kilmacolm from the War Memorial is the cemetery where we paid a visit to my great-grandparents’ grave.

Sinclair grave
Sinclair grave

As well as being the last resting place of John and Janet Sinclair, the cemetery is notable for having one of the few headstones designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Art Nouveau and unmistakably Mackintosh in style, it dates from 1898 and commemorates James Reid, who was a Telegraphic Superintendent of the Glasgow and South West Railway, and his wife Margaret. They were the parents-in-law of William Davidson, who was Mackintosh’s client at the house Windyhill, also in Kilmacolm.

Reid headstone by CR Mackintosh
Reid headstone by CR Mackintosh

We ended our day with a walk at Glen Moss Wildlife Reserve before returning home with a slightly closer acquaintance with some of my family history.

Glen Moss
Glen Moss
Family history, Scotland, UK ,

77 Comments »

  2. So interesting to see these old photos. You look like a really bonny baby with your rosy cheeks. People in those days seemed to age much faster than now. Maybe because they weren’t as intent on looking young forever as some folk are today. 😃

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  4. Thank you for your post on your family photos and the war memorial. Imagine that so many of them immigrated to different places in the world? Many of our my husband’s family members did the same and were never heard of again. Recently, he has found traces of them via internet searches. We are Danish.

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  5. I’m an avid family historian myself Anabel so I loved reading about your family. It’s also good to visit places that have special significance for one’s family too. It must have been hard work for your great grandparents bringing up all those children! I love looking at old photos too 🙂

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  6. Hi Anabel – how interesting to read … and fascinating to see you found the grave and were able to get so many pictures to tie in over the years … yes times have really changed … just glad I have a washing machine and hoover! and warm house. Wonderful recollections historical and living … fun -thank you – all the best Hilary

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  7. What a great set of photos. Memories to keep and treasure.
    Family history is fascinating and can be very absorbing – as I’ve discovered when I find it’s the early hours of the morning when I’m doing some research on the Internet. Wish I had as many photos of previous generations as you have.
    And your mum doesn’t look so bad for a lady in her 90’s

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      • believ me it is VERY addictive 🙂
        But you already know quite a lot. Most of us aren’t so lucky to have a surviving older relative to share their memories. I wish I had started before my grandfather passed away as I’ve been unable to trace back beyond his father who is something of a mystery man, to say the least

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  10. Hi Anabel, You remind me how it seemed as if past generations grew up much faster. They were often married with a family before age 20. The photos are priceless. And, yes, it does look like the same dress. A fascinating post and a great keepsake for the entire family.

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  12. It is wonderful that you can trace your family history like this and especially visit relevant sites. Whenever I hear mention of Islay I always think of Queen Victoria’s dog and the lovely statue of it in Sydney.

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  13. How wonderful to explore your family history by visiting locations like this. Brings all of those stories and tales to life doesn’t it? Great photos of days gone by too. Life was a lot simpler then wasn’t it?

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  17. I know I’ve said it before but how wonderful it must be to have such a rich family history! For the most part, even my grandparents are a mystery to me.

    There is an energy to wedding photos that just seems to call to me, even complete strangers. Love, love, love them!

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    • I grew up hearing stories about life at the Toll. We used to roll our eyes and take bets when mum and her sister got together about how long it would be before the Toll was mentioned! It’s only as I’ve got older that I have become more interested. I love the wedding pictures too. It’s interesting how fashions abruptly changed between the 1920s brides and Annie in 1931.

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  18. An interesting and comprehensive history. They still call Kilmacolm ‘The Village’ even though it’s too large now to really fit that title. Been watching Our Yorkshire Farm on TV recently about a hill-farmer family with nine children. No idea how they cope with it all… and run a farm. That’s above and beyond ‘a work ethic’. Two year olds delivering lambs the same size as themselves! A good glimpse of past times perhaps in the rural past?

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  19. I was particularly interested in your Carson ancestors, as that is my maiden name! My dad says he has links to West Kilbride, but also to Wrights in County Armagh. His ancestors emigrated to Canada in the 1800s as well, so perhaps you and I are distantly related! I didn’t think Carson was a common name in Scotland. Back when I first came here and tried to pronounce my surname convincingly, everyone assumed I was saying Curzon. Now I’m intrigued to know more about your Carson ancestors Tom and Bob…

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  24. I loved the photos. It is amazing how old some of the women look. I think they would be shocked to see us in trousers.

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  25. Anabel, I enjoyed seeing your old photos and reading about your interesting family history. Photographers back then must’ve discouraged smiling. The houses aren’t too dissimilar to Devonshire ones. Didn’t you have rosy cheeks back in the day!

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  27. How wonderful to have so much documented history and to know the stories of your ancestry. I love that you have all those photos and know who everyone is and how they’re all related. I have old photos where I don’t have a clue who the people are. And great too that you’re able to visit the town and still recognize places from the past. Great!

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  29. How lovely to have these memories. I know how precious old photographs are. I prize mine, and although I have made copies for other members of the family there is still something special about the originals. I can’t go as far back as yours though, mine only go to my grandparents (around the late 19th century I think) but I have a group school photograph of my mother and five of her sisters taken from a newspaper clipping from 1918. She was a farmer’s daughter and the school catered for the outlying villages so all ages are represented in the photograph.

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    • We don’t have many this old: the picture of the Carsons, my great-great-grandparents, is the only one of that generation, and on the other side of Mum’s family and on both sides of Dad’s there is very little. Maybe this Granny was particularly good at saving photos.

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  30. How wonderful to have so many old photos of your family, and they look to be in good condition too. It’s shame your mum couldn’t be with you on this trip down memory lane, but wasn’t that thoughtful of the people in the cafe to send her a box of their sweets.

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  31. Unbelievable… for all your family portraits I could find one in our family archives looking exactly the same – same poses, same clothes, activities… almost the same backgrounds. What startled me most was your picture of ‘Mum and Granny’. Your great gran looks exactly how I remember my gran – who would have been much the same age as your gran – especially with that lace collar.

    There is something very special about visiting the places our parents and their families grew up. Lovely post, thank you.

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