4 January 2009

We have at last discovered the parents of Malcom Coubrough who married Jean Buchanan (August 1796, Killiearn parish, Stirling, Scotland). His parents were Malcom Coubrough and Marrion Reid. We have also found what happened to their other five children. 

The two girls, Janet and Jean, don't seem to have ever married. Janet left a will in which her sister was given all Janet's property for her life use. When Jean passed on, any property that  was left was to be mostly divided among the children of their brothers Malcom and James, but with a small annuity to be paid to the youngest brother, Robert. Malcolm, as we have seen, married Jean Buchanan. The second brother, James, married Helen Thomas, also in Killearn, in 1795. Robert married a Jane/Janet Muir in 1800 and had five or six kids of his own. (There are records for two girls name Elizabeth who may or may not be the same person.)

Since we now know them to all be one family, the pages and trees of Malcolm C & Marrion Reid, Malcom C & Jean Buchanan, Jamec C & Helen Thomas, and Robert C & Jane Muir have been combined, and the main index page updated.

We believe we have also found the parents of John Cowbrough of Ellrig who married Helen Stevenson. John Coubrough and Margaret Steinson had five children, of whom the youngest, John, was christened in St. Ninians, Stirling, on December 5, 1661. He would have been about 21 when his first son, John, was born in 1683. We also think that John of Ellrig's wife was probably a relation of his through his mother (Steinson and Stevenson are the same name). However, since we have no direct proof of either of these connnections, neither the trees nor the web pages have yet been changed.

There are two new probable updates to the tree of John Coubrough and Jonet Buchanan, at the head of the "calico factory" line. First, John was almost certainly the son of Malcom Coubrough and Margaret Smyth. Jonet Buchanan's husband was born in 1660. Margaret Smyth's son, christened in February, is the only John Coubrough known to have been born or christened that year. Second, it seems likely that the Malcom Coubrough who married Marrion Reid, above, was the oldest son of John C & Jonet Buchanan. Again, though, we haven't completely proven either of these, so the pages have not yet been combined.

There is a strong probability that Malcolm Coubrough and Margaret Waters were the parents of the James Coubrough who married Jean Muir in Campsie, in about 1784. Margaret Waters had a son James, eighth of her eight children, who was born in 1752. He would have been about 32 or so in 1784. This would fit with a man who seems to have been a fairly well experienced wright by the time his first known son was born. 

Jean Muir's husband is known to have been employed in building the first three calico mills to exist in his home parish of Campsie (Glorat, Kincaid, and New Miln now Lennoxtown). He is also known to have moved to Thornliebank, Eastwood parish, in Renfrew, at the time that Mr. Crum began building his calico "works" there. James is known to have lived in one of the foremen's cottages, so presumably he was a supervisor of some sort. In 1789-90, when James is believed to have moved to Thornliebank, there was no village there: Besides building the mill buildings themselves, one of his tasks seems to have been the building of homes for workers. 

Margaret Waters' son James would have been the right name at the right place at about the right time to have been Jean Muir's husband. However, we have not found a marriage record, and we don't know if Jean Muir's son James, born 1785, was their first son, or just the first one recorded. We know that Jean Muir's father was called James, so the boy was likely named after him, as well as the lad's own father. This does not fit the general Scots naming pattern, but not everyone followed it, and we have seen instances where the first son was named after his mother's father, rather than his father's father as was usual. In most of these cases, the wife's father was either of a higher social status than the husband's, or no longer living at the child's birth. One of these could be the case here, or it could be that there was another Malcolm before James, but there are large gaps in the Campsie parish register, and we may never know the right of the story.

The Coubrough/Cowbrough reunion planned for this coming August (2009) may still happen, but it is more likely to be postponed until next year (2010).

14 June 2008

The fourth Coubrough/Cowbrough International Reunion, which took place 3 -5 August 2007,  in the city of Troy, Michigan, USA, was another success. We had just as much fun as at the first three reunions (August 2001, April  2003, and  August 2005). Come on by and have a look.

The family information for William Coubrach and Christian Dinn (or Dunn) has been updated at last. We have found spouses for all of William and Christian's known children, and even grandchildren, with spouses, for some of them. William and Christian's parents, however, remain a mystery.

Thanks to Merle Whipple, Mary Livingston Fyfe's husband, Malcolm Coubrough, is now connected to the correct family at last. I had previously thought him to be the Malcolm Coubrough who had married Jessie Russell and moved to the USA. Mary's husband, Malcolm Cameron Coubrough, was the daughter of Malcolm C & Mary Cameron. Jessie's husband, Malcolm Andrew Coubrough, was the youngest son of John Coubrough and Catherine Andrew. Mary's husband and Jessie's husband were second cousins, their paternal grandfathers both being sons of James C & Jean Muir. Can't imagine how they got confused! 

Family information for John Coubrough & Christian Dinn's family has been updated, including three more children, some with spouses, for John and Christian's son William, who married Annie Souter. Also, spouses for two more daughters of George Coubrough & Sarah Gibson: Jane m. Peter Strang and Janet m. Colin Moir. You can find them all on the Ellrig family tree (John C & Helen Stevenson).

There are still quite a few people in my mystery lists. If you know who they are, please don't be shy! Some were in the census records and are listed here under Mystery People Cenus Strays. Quite a few other mysterious folks were found in the indexes to the Statutory Registers of Births, Marriages, and Deaths. The people from the register indexes were born and married 1875 to 1901, or died 1875-1926. If you recognise anyone in these lists, we'd sure like to hear from you. 

Thanks to Kathy Wallace, we have one less person in the Mystery list. The 1901 census listed a Margaret Coubrough, aged 30 years, living at Bowhouse Farm. Kathy says Margaret was the natural daughter of Catherine Campbell, who later married John Coubrough. Catherine
C.R. Coubrough is also listed at the address as a domestic servant. Margaret was born January 6, 1871, at Ramoyle, Dunblane. Her father's name has not yet been confirmed, but he was a gamekeeper at Edgehill House, in Logie. Catherine Campbell worked there as a domestic servant, and sought paternity through the courts, February 18, 1872. Catherine married John Coubrough June 7, 1878, and they had at least five children.

Top of page - Home - Intro - E-mail - Pictures - Newsletter - Family Tree Index - Links

Search - Reunion Index -  Sign my guest book - View guest book - Mystery People