Happy Autumn Everyone! C'mon in. We have some new cousins, and new stories about "old" ones. There's lots more gossip, so let's sit in front of our lovely log fire. We'll have some tea and a nice vist.

James & Jean

Even though we have now been searching for nearly 20 years, we have found very little more about James Coubrough and Jean Muir than we learned right at the start: They were married about 1784, probably in Campsie parish, Stirling, and they had 10 known children. We think Jean Muir was the youngest child of James Muir and Jean Lapslie, but we have no idea who James Cowbrough's parents were. Jean was probably born in Luketown: we have no clue as to James's birth place, except that Campsie was probably his home parish. On the bright side, we have also known from the start that James was a wright (carpenter) by trade, which has helped. From the few facts at our disposal, we have been able to piece together a bit of his story.

In James's day, wrights and carpenters, along with masons, architects, and other "building trades," were in the upper ranks of tradesmen. A journeyman wright, like our James, would have been a big noise in his neighbourhood. Journeymen (in any trade) were experienced men, who had completed their apprenticeships, and could work, unsupervised, for daily wages, ⁽¹⁾ as a journeyman still does. In the 18^th century, journeyman were not officially allowed train apprentices, but a man like James would have been able to do anything else his trade required. We think that James must have been a senior tradesman, quite possibly a foreman in charge of large building crews. We also think that, as an experienced "calico mill builder," he was probably recruited by the Crums, which is how he ended up in Thornliebank.

The first calico-printing mill in Campsie parish was the Kincaid mill, opened in 1785. Owned by the Kincaid family, the mill was located in"Kincaidland," a couple of miles from the Clachan of Campsie, the village containing the parish church. The second calico factory, opened not long after, was at New Mills (now Lennoxtown). Another early mill was Glorat Field, owned by the Stirlings of Glorat. This mill, which likely started life as a bleachfield, was located just off the road between Kincaidland and the Clachan. It opened slightly later, but in the same era as the other two.

According to the baptism records of his first three children, James appears to have been present in the early days of all three mills:

1785: At Kirkintilloch, Oct. 30. James Coubrough and Jean Muir his spouse in Canderline, Kincaidland, had yr. son baptd. called James. (Canderline is the name of a Kincaid family home, but smaller than the main house.)

1787: September 19, Coubrough, Malcom, Lawful son of James Coubroch Wright in New Mills, and his spouse Jean Muir Witnesses Jn: ⁽²⁾ Adam and Rob: Watson

1789: 5 April, Coubrough, John Lawful son of James Coubrough Wright at Glorat field and his spouse Jean Muir.

Being present at the building of all three of these "works" would have given James a lot of experience in a very new sphere of construction. We don't know why he chose to go to Thornliebank, but chances are good that he was recruited by someone from there, or else recommended by one of his employers. Given that the Kincaid mill was one of the very first in the country, James would probably have been in demand as a mill builder. What does seem certain is that he had the Coubrough itchy feet in full measure--an asset in a trade where men moved with the job. In the case of a mason building a cathedral, a man might spend his whole life in one spot, on the same job all his days. For a calico-mill builder, whose job would rarely take more than a year or two, he and his family would be constantly on the move. This would be especially true of a man whose specialty was huge building projects. After all, any given area can support only so many calico factories.

Regardless of why he made the move to Thornliebank, it is probable that he first went by himself. We don't know exactly when he went, though it was presumably sometime after John was christened in Campsie, in 1789, and before William was christened in Pollokshaws, in 1791. When James arrived to work for the Crums, at Thornliebank, there was, as yet, no village there. In the mill's short previous iteration, under Robert Osbourne, all the workers lived in the mill buildings.

The old Thorny-bank farm, near where the mill was located, had four cottages. These cottages were still in use in the early days of the British census. From the location given in some of these census records, our Thornlibank Sleuth, Barbara McCue, was able to work out that these cottages would have been at the foot of the hill where the East Wood Plantation began, and where the Thornliebank School was later built. The homes built for factory workers were at the other end of the village, near Spiers Bridge, and much closer to the actual factory works. In James's time, these four farm cottages were the foremen's homes.

We believe that James and Jean occupied one of these four cottages, but we don't know when they moved in. From the sketchy information available, it seems likely that when James first arrived, he lived in the existing mill building, with the rest of the workmen. This is why we think he came by himself: there would have been no place for his family to live. His experience and the fact that he lived in one of the foremen's cottages indicate that he was probably a building supervisor. In those early days, most of the mill's machinery would have been run by water power. Quite likely, James's job would have included the building of the mill's wooden gearing, waterways and water tanks, as well as the buildings themselves. As a foreman, his main job would have been to supervise labourers in the construction of all the various wooden parts of the mill, rather than to actually run a hammer every day, as he possibly had on the previous mills.

Another reason James might have first gone to Thorliebank by himself is the difficulty of the journey. Today, it's around an hour's drive, on a lovely paved road, from Campsie to Thornliebank. When James was making the trip, cars were a hundred years in the future. Even carrier carts, forerunners of today's delivery services, were few and far between. Not that it mattered: the tracks that passed for roads were not the sort you could take a wheeled vehicle over anyway. Our James would likely have made the 35-mile trip on foot, with his tools in a pack on his back--saddle horses being only for rich people. He would probably have been at least a couple of days on the road. On a good road, a fit young man could walk 35 miles in a day, but James was not on a good road--possibly not on any road at all for part of the time. Even then, Campsie wasn't all that far from Glasgow, but there was a lot more forest between than there is now.

If there were inns along the way, he may have stopped the nights there. It would have been a bit of expense, but he could have got a hot meal, a wee dram, and possibly a bed. He would have expected to share this last with one or more strangers, but it was possibly not more dangerous than sleeping outside. We don't know how many "northerners" the Crums hired at the same time as James. It's possible that he made the journey with one or more of his neighbours. Travelling together would, of course, have made the time pass more pleasantly, but it would have been safer, too. Thugs and footpads would be less likely to attack several men in a group than to pick on a solitary traveller. If they stayed at inns along the way, their bed would be shared with friends. ⁽³⁾

Whether he was a building contractor, or merely a foreman, our James was almost certainly bilingual. By the time they moved south, English was coming into use in the Campise area, but James and Jean would have spoken Gaelic as their mother tongue. It was the only language used there until well into the third quarter of the 18^th century, and continued in common use in the area for many years after they left. (They would probably be horrified that most of their descendants no longer "have the Gaelic.") As a housewife in Campsie, Jean probably didn't need anything else, though she probably learned at least some English or Scots when she moved to Thornliebank. On the other hand, as a foreman, James would have had to have had at least a working knowledge of either English or Scots ⁽⁴⁾--and possibly both--in order to talk to his bosses. In Campsie, the Stirlings and Kincaids might have had the Gaelic, but they may or may not have been willing to use it. By the middle of the 18^th century, the aristocracy of Scotland had become somewhat anglicized. In James's day, many upper-class people either knew only English, or refused to speak anything else. They would have expected him to accommodate their lack, rather than the other way around. His workers, however, probably knew little, if any, English. He would have needed the old words to talk to his neighbours.

We still don't know exactly when James and Jean moved to Thornliebank, or whether they had relatives there when they arrived, but we are fairly sure the reason they went was because James had work there. There were both Coubroughs and Muirs within a few miles of where the Crums would build their new village. ⁽⁵⁾ In 1789, there were far fewer Coubroughs than there were 100 years later, so perhaps they did have family to lean on when they arrived. The nature of any relationship, however, is still a mystery.

As noted, we don't know for sure the names of James's parents. Our best candidate is a man born in 1752, the son of Malcolm Coubrough and Margaret Waters. If we are right, our James would have been about 37 in 1789. Perhaps the Crums' mill was his first job as the foreman? We can say that James must have been a senior tradesman, probably a foreman or other supervisor, who probably spoke at least two languages, and whose skills as a mill-builder were in demand. Now, if we could only figure out why none of his six known sons followed his father's trade.

We have long known that James and Jean had at least eight children, of whom seven seem to have grown up. We have known for an equally long time that there is a huge gap of ten years between Robert Coubrough, born in 1795, and our Mathew, born in 1805. We have a number of theories, including illness or separation, but have not found documentary support for any of them. Recently, it has occured to us that this gap may be only missing documents, rather than missing children.

The Church of Scotland, Presbyterian in James and Jean's day, was required to record marriages and baptisms of everyone in their parish, no matter what church had performed the rite. Understandably, some Church ministers were not thrilled with this task. Ministers and congregations of other churches were no more pleased that they had to report all their doings to the Established ⁽⁶⁾ Church. To add insult to injury, a fee had to be paid for all registrations, regardless of the church where it had been performed. Needless to say, the rites of other churches were sometimes scantily recorded--if at all--by the Church of Scotland.

Some of James and Jean's children are known to have been members of the Free Church, and other non-Established congregations. It stands to reason that they might have got some of these ideas from their parents. If James and Jean did not belong to the Church of Scotland, it is entirely possible that, even if the children's baptisms were recorded, the records might not exist any more.

Of the eight children we are certain of, seven are thought to have survived childhood, but only three are known to have married and had families of their own. We know also of a probable ninth child, but we have been unable to completely verify his belonging to this family.

James, the first known son, was christened in Campsie, in October 1785. The reason we think he survived childhod is that no other known sons were called James. Usually, if a child died, the next one of the same sex was given the name. As we have found no further records of this James, however, it is impossible to say whether he actually survived childhood, or was "replaced" sometime in the 10-year gap, died unmarried sometime after his youngest brother William was born, or whether he did in fact marry and raise his own family.

Malcolm, the second son of whom we have record, was baptised in Campsie in September 1787. He was about 20 years old when he married Agnes McKinnon, in Eastwood parish, on June 19, 1807. He and Agnes had at least six kids: James, Ann, Margaret, Robert, Barbara, and Malcolm. Oddly, no children seem to have been named after Agnes's parents, Alexander McKinnon and Frances Thomson, or after Malcom's mother. However, there is a five-year space between Ann in 1810 and Margaret, in 1815, a six-year space before Robert, in 1821, and an eight-year gap before Barbara--any or all of which may have held children for whom we have found no record.

Agne's Malcolm was possibly not the first son of this name. If he was the grandson of Malcolm Coubrough and Margaret Waters, as we now think likely, it is possible that he was the second son called Malcolm, though there is no proof of this. The name of Jean Muir's first known son matches that of her father, rather than her husband's apparent father, so either James Muir was more important that James Coubrough's father, or there was another son before James in 1785, or James and Jean didn't follow the pattern, or we have the wrong man for Jean's father-in-law.

Malcolm was only a few months older than his wife, but he died least 10 and maybe as much as 20 years before her. He was living at the time of the 1841 census, but was gone by the spring of 1851. Agnes MacKinnon lived until September 1862.

John, Jean Muir's third son, was the last one christened in Campsie, in April 1789. He married Catherine Andrew, in Eastwood, on April 9, 1808. John and Catherine had either nine or eleven children for whom we have found records: James, 1808, and Jean, 1810, then no more records until Jane, in 1817, Robert, 1820, John, 1821, possbily William in 1822, and Mathew in 1823, then Catherine, 1824; Barbara, 1829, Andrew, 1831, and Malcolm, 1834. There is some doubt as to whether William, who married Jane Brown, and Matthew, who married Margaret Duncan, were sons of John Coubrough and Catherine Andrew, or whether they were sons of John Coubrough and Catherine Young, but the other nine are certainly the children of Catherine Andrew.

John was a weaver and powerloom tenter, probably at the Crum's factory. He died sometime between the 1851 and 1861 censuses; his widow survived until the end of September 1875.

William, born 1791, was the first of Jean Muir's children christened in the Eastwood area. According to the parish register, he was baptised at Pollokshaws, we think because there was no church of the correct denomination at Thornliebank, since that village was less than two years old. We think that this William was the first of his mother's sons to have this name. He most likely died young; he would have been about 19 when his brother William was born in 1810. We can't say exactly when this first William died, but it was probably after his brother Matthew was born, in 1805, and almost certainly before his brother of the same name in 1810. It may have been, however, that there was another boy of the same name in the 10-year gap between Robert and Matthew.

Robert was born in Eastwood, on January 1, 1795, which is all we know of him. The Eastwood parish register says only that "Robert Coubrough, son of James Coubrough and ____ was born the first of January." He may have died young, and probably never married, as we have found no other record of his existence. He does not appear in the 1841 census, when he should have been about 35; if he had a widow, she was remarried before then, and there is no indication that he died after civil registration began in 1855.

Matthew was born in Eastwood parish, February 23, 1805. He, of course, married Jean Allan on March 4, 1831, in Thornliebank. They had ten children, of whom eight grew up and six are known to have married: James, 1831, married Annie MacDonald; Robert, 1832, married Agnes Morton; Jane, 1834, married James Campbell; Barbara Muir, 1836, and Mathew, 1838, both died in early childhood; Ann, 1840, and Margaret, 1849, both unmarried, worked in the Crums' calico factory all their lives; Malcolm, 1845, unmarried, died of TB, aged 27; William, Malcolm's twin, married his cousin Jeanie Deuchar; and Matthew Gibb, 1851, married Margaret Dowall.

Mathew, Sr., a colour-printer at the calico factory, was a widower for many years before his death, aged 68, in 1873, from old age. Jean is thought to have died at or soon after the December 25, 1851, birth of her youngest son, Mathew Gibb. There was no civil registration in Scotland at that time, so all we can say for sure is that her husband was a widower in the March 1861 census, when her youngest son is living with the Joseph Gibbs, and appears to have been there for some time. Young Matthew was not christened with the Gibb name: As an adult, he took it for himself, in honour of his adopted family.

Barbara, Jean Muir's only known daughter, born February 10, 1808, in Thornliebank, was a power-loom weaver in the Crum's factory all her life. Babara never married, but lived with her brother Matthew for some time, then with Matthew's daughter Jane. Barbara was 67 years old when she died of "old age and debility" in July 1876. Jane's husband, James Campbell, was the informant.

William, born March 20, 1810, in Thornliebank, was the last of Jean Muir's known children. We have found no other record of him, so we don't know if he ever married or had children, or even if he survived infancy. Like his brother Robert, he appeared in no censuses, seems not to have left a widow or any children, and there is no record of his death after civil registration began.

We now come to the mystery man, Thomas Couburgh. Born in Eastwood, on May 20, 1793, he was recorded as being the son of Thomas Coubrough and Janet Muir. All attempts to find these people have been completely fruitless. In 1793, James Coubrough and Jean Muir are the only Coubroughs known to be in Eastwood, and James was certainly the only known wright by that name. We think that Thomas must have been their son, and that his father being recorded as Thomas was merely sloppy record-keeping. We have seen other cases where the name recorded for the father was actually the child's name, as well as many places where the mother's name was wrong--if it was written down at all--by the less-than-enthusiastic Church of Scotland clerks.

While we feel fairly certain that 1793 Thomas was in fact the son of James Coubrough and Jean Muir, that is all we have found of him. He should have been about 48 at the first census, but there are no known census records of him, his widow, or any children, and no deaths in the civil registers.

Updates for James & Jean's Descendants

1. Susan Sarah Simpson was the youngest child of David Coubrough and Mary Smith. Her husband, Frank Laurens, was born Francis de Laurens, the son of Peter de Laurens and Fanny Zimmerman. Susan and Frank were married in Detroit, 4 Sept 1924, witnesses Mr. and Mrs. J. Coubrough.

2. Andrew Conbrough, aged 31 years, born Scotland, in 1893, was a mechanic living in Marysville, Michigan, when, on June 21, 1924, in Port Huron, St Clair, Michigan, he married his darling Jessie A. Cobb, a 28-year-old, Canadian-born "stenog" living in Montreal.

Andrew's parents were David Conbrough and Mary Smith. The register gives only surnames for Jessie's parents: ___ Bruce (father) and ___ Macnaughton (mother). Neither Andrew nor Jessie had been married before. The minister was N.B. Sichterman. Being new at the marriage game, Andrew and Jessie seem not to have brought enough witnesses: the first one listed was John E. Bruce, of Montreal, and presumably a relation of the bride; the other witness, however, was the minister's wife, Mrs. N.B. Sichterman.

Ellrig Updates

1. Henry Coubrough died October 29, 1934, at Tacoma, Washington, aged 85 years 11 months 27 days; married to Marie Coubrough, son of Henry Coubrough and Eliza Wiley

My previous estimate of Henry's birth date was November 1848; the age and date here indicate November 2, 1848.

2. Christine Coubrough died December 26, 1926, at Tacoma, Washington, aged 36 years 8 months 25 days, married to Leslie Coubrough, daughter of Francis Suess and Josephine Frodle.

Christine's husband, Leslie Coubrough, was the son of Henry Coubrough and Marie Shellard. Christine died the day after the birth of her only child, a girl called Evelyn Marie. Leslie died in 1974, having never remarried.

3. Marie Rachel Shellard was the husband of Henry Coubrough, above, and the mother of Leslie.

Mary R. Conbrough died December 1, 1916, at Tacoma, Washington, aged 67 years 6 months 29 days, daughter of Benjamin Shellard and Harriett Molmeux.

4. Almost from the outset of this research project, we have had a copy of a family tree, prepared in 1881 by Mr. Henry Manuel, showing John Coubrough and Helen Stevenson at the head of the Ellrig line of Coubroughs. Now, nearly 15 years later, we have unearthed, so to speak, possible parents for both John and Helen. As yet, there is no firm proof for either case, but both are the best guesses we have so far. (The copy we have looks like pages copied from a book, though I have no idea whether such a book might still exist.)

The International Genealogical Index for St. Ninian's parish, Stirlingshire, has a girl called Helen Steinson, daughter of William Steinson and Jonat Adam, who was christened April 26, 1657. A girl born this date would be in her mid-20s when the first known Ellrig son, John, was born, in February 1683, and about 32 at the birth of our Helen's last known child, Margaret, in August 1689.

As for Helen's husband, he appears also to have been born in St. Ninian's parish. One John Coubrough and his wife, Margaret Steinson, had a son John christened in St. Ninian's on December 5, 1661. He would have been about 21 in February 1683.

Coubrough not being a common name, the odds of the boy born in 1661 being our John of Ellrig are pretty good. Stevenson is much less rare. While the odds of John's wife being a relative of his mother are pretty good, and we can't say for sure that the Helen born in 1657 was his wife, she was the right name at the right place at the right time, and Jonet Adam's husband had the same name as the Ellrig's second son, William. (Born in 1684, he married Mary Moir in about 1709.)

5. Coubrough of Elrig was a subscriber to a book of sermons: "Faithful Contendings Displayed: Being an Historical Relation of the State and Actings of the Suffering Remnant in the Church of Scotland, ... from the Year 1681 to 1691. ... Collected and Kept in Record by Mr. Michael Shields, ... To which is Added, Ten Considerations on the Danger of Apostacy ...By John Howie

Published by John Bryce, and sold by him at his shop, 1780."

The bookseller and publisher might have been the same person. They were usually small operations, run by the proprietor with, perhaps, one or two assistants. They may have done their own printing, but this was usually done by a professional printer. In 1780 Scotland, while printing was much cheaper than hand-copying, it was still an expensive business. Paper was expensive, and everything was done by hand. A book would have to be printed one sheet at a time, on a hand-operated press. Then printer might fold and stitch the sheets together before binding them into a hand-made cover, or the loose sheets might be sent back to the bookseller for binding.

To make sure there was enough money to cover expenses, people who wanted copies of the book paid in advance, or "subscribed," and only the number of paid copies would be printed. There were no scanners, no photocopiers, and no Chapters store in the mall: Once the book was printed and in the hands of the people who had bought it, the type was taken apart and no more copies could be made until the printer had enough subscribers to bother setting up another edition.

People who subscribed to new books had to have plenty of cash to spare. Not only did they have to fork over the price -- in cash -- they had to be able to do without the money for weeks or months until the book was printed. If Ellrig could buy books, he obviously didn't have cash-flow problems!

In 1780, Coubrough of Ellrig was the eldest son of Henry Coubrough and Christian Wright, Henry, of course, being the second, but probably eldest surviving son of William and Mary Moir. William, who was married to Jean Auld, would have been about 40 at this time, and was still the reigning Ellrig in 1815, when the Falkirk Union Bank went belly-up.

In 1814, when William's cousin John, son of James and Elizabeth Boyd, had got his son William a job as the "Agent" (manager) of the Falkirk Union Bank, on behalf of the East Lothian Banking Company, John, William and other friends and relations had stood surety, to the tune of about ten thousand pounds: "a bond was granted to the said East Lothian Banking Company by the said William Cowbrough as principal and James Brown of Broomage Banker in Falkirk, Peter Muirhead merchant in Falkirk, John Dallas Esq^r of North Newton, William Cowbrough Esq^r of Ellrig, James Cowbrough Esq^r of Bankhead, James Waddell Esq^r of Balquhatstone, William Cowbrough, Merchant in Falkirk, Henry Cowbrough Farmer Dunmore, and John Cowbrough Farmer Thorn as Cautioners, Sureties and full Debtors for and with the said William Cowbrough the principal obligant, whereby they did all and each of them Bind and oblige themselves all conjunctly and severally and their heirs, executors and successors whomsoever...."

I am not sure how the first three of the "cautioners" were connected to the Coubroughs, but all the last six men in the list were young William's relations: William of Ellrig and James of Bankhead, brothers, were first cousins of his father; James Waddell was married to Ellrig's daughter Christian; William of Falkirk was possibly the son of James and Elizabeth Boyd; John of Thorn was young William's father, and Henry of Dunmore was John's brother. The others were possibly more distant relatives: Ellrig's sister Margaret was married to a Thomas Brown; their son James would have been about 28 in 1814, and one of the late 18^th century Margarets had been married to a William Muirhead.

Young William appears not to have been a very good banker. By the time he had been in the job a bit over a year, the bank was heavily over-extended, so when, in 1815, the bank's cashier, Robert Borthwick, absconded with about 30 thousand pounds, the bank failed dramatically. Young William and his backers suddnely had to come up with ten thousand pounds, in cash--that being the amount of the bond--though by the terms of the agreement, each individual had to come up with only "one ninth part" of the total.

Most of the shareholders and some of the other backers eventually, after several years, got some of their money back, but the Ellrig estate, along with James Brown's Broomage, was lost entirely--sold to pay the banks' debts. Everything had to go: land, house, furniture, even the beds and dishes. Except for a few family heirlooms, which one of John's sisters claimed as her own personal property, the Ellrigs were left with little more than the clothes they stood up in. Luckily, they managed so that only the Ellrig lands had to be sold. Most of William's friends and relatives eventually got most of their money back, and they all managed to hold onto their farms. By a little skullduggery, they also managed to transfer some samll parts of Ellrig to one of William's sons before the lawyers got hold of it.

I don't know when the Ellrig estate came to the possesion of the Coubroughs, but, by 1815, they had been there for some time. In his dispositions during the bankruptcy, William said that he had inherited some of the property from his father (Henry), and that he had bought more after his father died, but we don't know if it was Henry who bought the estate, or if he had got it from his own father.

Unfortunately, the parish register entries for the baptisms of John and Helen Stevenson's children don't give the parents' address, so we don't know if they lived at Ellrig when their children were born. Since all their children were baptised in Falkirk parish, where Ellrig was situated, perhaps they did own it then. John and Helen were the only Coubroughs known to have been in Falkirk parish at that time, indicating that Ellrig may have come through Helen's family, or that the Coubroughs had possession of it for much longer than we have found record of.

If we don't know when the Coubroughs went there, we don't know exactly where the estate was, either. Presumably in the neighbourhood of Loch Ellrig, "Ellrig ⁽⁷⁾, a lake in the NE of Slamannan parish, Stirlingshire, 3½ miles S of Falkirk. Measuring 5½ by 1¼ furlongs, it sends off a small burn, of some water power, 9 furlongs south-westward to the Avon," it was likely in the southwest part of Falkirk parish. In 1730 ⁽⁸⁾, the southern part of this parish was annexed to Slamannan parish. If John and Helen lived in the area that was annexed, it would explain why all of John and Helen's children were baptised in Falkirk parish, but most of their grandchildren were married and raised their children in Slamannan parish.

Still More Army Coubroughs

Malcolm of the 71st

Some time ago, I mentioned that I had found a Chelsea Pensioner's record for a Malcolm Coubrough, of His Majesty's 71^st Regiment of Foot. Malcolm, aged 14 when he joined the regiment, had been born in Barony parish, Lanark, and was a weaver by trade, though the army trained him as a bugler.

The fact that the army started paying him wages on 6 February 1810 almost certainly means that he came of age that day. Legally, as a civilian, he would still have been underage until he was 21, but the army would have started paying him when he turned 18. Based on this, I believe him to have been the second son of Malcolm Coubrough and Rabina Reid. Rabina Reid's husband was the son of Malcolm Coubrough and Agnes Thomson, one of two branches of the family known to have been in Glasgow in the 1790s.

I believe Malcolm the bugle boy is the father of the Robert Coubrough who was born at Norent Forte, France, in 1820. I also thought Malcolm might have been the grandfather of the Catherine Coubrough born in Niagara, Ontario, in 1851, which guess I am now almost certain of.

The pension record says Malcolm served 29 months in France, 7 years, 4 months in Canada, 34 months in Bermuda, and the remainder [roughly 19 years] "at home." I have recently found a christening record for a Malcolm Stephenson Coubrough, in Chester, Cheshire, England, dated 28 May 1820. The parents were Malcolm and Catherine Coubrough; the father's occupation was "Musician, in 71^st Regiment." Malcolm Stephenson is almost certainly the father of Niagara Catherine, but I still haven't figured out what his mother's maiden name was. Given the son's middle name, it may have been Stephenson, but I haven't found a marriage record for her.

In any case, Malcolm Stephenson followed his father into the army, and was posted to Canada, possibly quite early on in his career. He and his wife, another Catherine, surname also unknown, had five children: Henry, abt 1843; Margaret, abt 1844; John, abt 1845; Catherine, 1851; and James, 1855. They were all born at Niagara, except James, who was born in Kingston, Canada West (Ontario). Malcolm Stephenson, who would have been only about 23 in 1843, is known to have stayed on in Canada after he left the service, and raised his family here. He and his wife both died in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1886. I am not sure what became of the three oldest children, but Catherine married Amos Barnes, in Nelson, Ontario, in December 1869. They had at least two children: a daughter, Louisa Mortie Barnes, and an adopted son, William Strong. Catherine died in 1928, and her brother James in 1921, both in Hamilton. James had never married, nor had any known children. Catherine's daughter, Louisa reported both deaths.

Other branches

1. Some time ago, I reported that Robert Coubrough, son of Malcolm Coubrough and Helen Wood, had died only months after his wife, Ann Shearer, and their baby son, William. Their son Robert had died in 1875, several months before his second birthday. William was born May 7, 1881, and died the same day. His mother followed a week later, May 15^th, and his father in September of the same year. I later found that Helen had married a Greg McShane, and died in1956. Since she was the only one I hadn't found a 19^th century death certificate for, I thought she was the only survivor. I have recently discovered that this was not so.

First I found the family in the March 31, 1881 census: Robert, 29, clothlapper; Anne, 26, daughter Ellen, 5, son Dennis, 3, and Robert's brother James, 21, French polisher. Realizing that Helen's brother Dennis also appeared to have survived, I went looking for him.

In the 1901 census, Dennis, 23, was a Ship's steward, boarding with Archibald Bryce, in the Anderston district of Glasgow. Then, in the New South Wales, Australia, Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1826-1922:

Dennis Couborough, age 29, Port of Departure: Glasgow; Port of Arrival: Sydney, New South Wales; Voyage Arrival Date: 17 Jan 1906; Vessel Name: Isle of Arran

Sadly, the trip to Australia doesn't seem to have agreed with poor Dennis: He died in Glasgow in 1907.

2. Nigel Coubrough, son of James Andrew Coubrough and Jessie Van Dalle Robertson, was a mertchant sailor: The English National Archives has A1053149 Coubrough NE, Born 29/july/1901 Liverpool, in its Registry of Shipping and Seamen.

3. For quite some time, we have had John Coubrough and Jonet Buchanan at the head of what we call the calico factory line, John and Jonet being the progenitors of Anthony Park Coubrough, owner of Strathblane Printworks. The family thus far has been substantiated by parish register records and the huge red granite monument placed by the "calico people" in honour of their ancestors, and almost certainly replacing previous markers, in the Strathblane churchyard. This huge chunk of stone records John Coubrough's birth as 1660, and his death, in 1740, at the remarkable age of 80 years. Here, we were stuck.

Now, after much study, and not a little confusion, we have come to the conclusion that John had to have been the son of Malcolm Coubrough and Margaret Smyth. They are the only Coubroughs known to have had a son called John born in 1660, in Campsie. We can't be absolutely certain, on the evidence available, but he is the best fit we can find, and we have found nothing to the contrary.

We believe that John had a son called Malcolm; we haven't discovered whether he was Jonet Buchanan's son or her step-son. If he was Jonet's son, he was either born before the first girl, Christian (in 1704), or between the fifth daughter (Jean), in 1712, and the first recorded son (John ⁽⁹⁾), in 1717. The reason we think Malcolm could have been Jonet's step-son is that she was 13-28 years younger ⁽¹⁰⁾ than John. We have no evidence that she was his second wife, but we don't know that she wasn't. Either way, at about 44 when Jonet's daughter Christian was born, John was enough to have fathered other children, legitmate or not.

Though we haven't yet found documentary proof, all of our circumstantial evidence points to this Malcolm being the man who married Marrion Reid. He lived in the same area as John and Jonet, and he is known to have witness the baptisms of at least two of John and Jonet's grandchildren, a task generally reserved for close male relatives. Also based on circumstantial evidence, but with some documentary proof, we are pretty much convinced that Malcolm and Marrion Reid were the parents of the Malcolm who married Jean Buchanan ⁽¹¹⁾; thus:

1. Malcolm Coubrough, born about 1630 married Margaret Smyth, 1659, in Campsie.

2, John, son of Malcolm and Margaret, born 1660, married Jonet Buchanan, about 1703, probably in Campsie.

3. Malcolm, son of John C and Jonet Buchanan, born about 1715, probably in Campsie, married Marrion Reid, 1745, in Strathblane.

4. Malcolm, son of Malcolm and Marrion, born 1754, in Strathblane, married Jean Buchanan, 1796, in Killearn, but lived in Strathblane.

3. John, son of John and Jonet, born 1717, in Campsie, married Agnes Edmonstone, Agnes Lapslie, and Jean Livingstone.

4. John, son of John C and Jean Livingstone, born 1761, in Strathblane, married Euphemia Park, 1806, in Strathblane.

5. Anthony Park, son of John and Euphemia, born 1810, in Strathblane, married Hannah Butler, 1840, in England, and founded the "calico line."

Even with all our evidence in place, we could have the wrong end of the stick. Marrion Reid's husband may not have been Jonet Buchanan's son or he may have been John's son but not Jonet's. On the other hand, Marrion Reid's first two kids are called John and Janet.

4. Quite some time ago, we learned that Jessie Kincaid Cowbro, elder of John Cowbro and Margaret Hardie's two children, had married a Walter Wylie, on August 17, 1875, in Tulliallan, Perthshire. We also knew that they had four sons: William, John Cowbro, Walter, and Alexander James, all born in Perthshire. Then we lost track of them.

We knew that Jessie's brother, John, had married a girl called Christina Lawrenson McLeod, daughter of Colin McLeod and Christina Lawrenson. Sometime after these two discoveries, we also found that Christina L's mother had died young, and that her father had remarried to a girl called Jane McNie. It was no great feat to figure out that Jane's parents were, Jean Coubrough and John McNie, and that John Cowbro's wife, Christina, was the step-daughter of John's cousin, Jane McNie. This little web, while taking some time to work out, was as nothing compared to the almost incestuous tangle of relationships we were about to discover between these three families.

Jessie Kincaid's husband, Walter Wylie, appears to have died sometime between March 1881, when he appeared in the Gargunnock, Stirlingshire, census, and March 1891, when Jessie Kincaid Cowbro appears as a widow in the Springfield, Essex, England, census. Her kids were all still at home; Jessie's step-mother, Elizabeth Simpson, and a boarder, Alexander Campbell are living with them. In 1901, she is in Chelmsford, Essex; Walter, 23, a ropemaker's assistant and one of the twins, is the only one of the children at home, but Hedley Ruffel, visitor, Mary Raven, servant, were also in the house, as was a boarder, whose name appears to have been William Dixsty.

In the same census, William Wylie, 24; John C. Wylie, 23; and Alexr. J. Wylie, 22, were all boarders in the home of Harvey and Elizabeth Nunn, Distr 2, Third Ward, Colchester, Essex, England. Mr. Nunn was a military tailor, but they must have run a boarding house of some sort, at what appears to be 94193 High St. There were 17 people listed in the household, including two servants and three other boarders, besides the Wylies. This must have been unusual: the census taker made a note that it was all one household. William was a grocer's assistant; John was a colorman's assistant; and Alexander was a clerk in the "local Town Clerk's Dept."

Colchester is about 23 miles from Chelmsford, so the "boys" must have gone there on purpose. From the fact that they are all employed, it's easy to imagine they left home to find work. They all appear to have gone back to Chelmsford, at least temporarily. According to the Index of Marriages in England, all four of them married there.

William was the first, marrying either Jeanie Smith Hodge or Mary Major, in the summer of 1909. The index doesn't give spouses' names.

In the summer of 1910, Alexander married May Boardman. They had at least two children: Jessie M. B. Wylie, born in the summer of 1911, in Colchester, and Margaret Wylie, born in the spring of 1915, in Romford, Essex.

The twins were both married in the September quarter of 1914, Walter to Jane L. Critchton, and John to Annie A. Hodge.

I didn't find any Wylie children whose mother was a Crichton, but I did find a couple whose mother was a Hodge. Walter J. A. Wylie was born in Chelmsford, late fall, 1915, and died late spring 1916. Jean A. Wylie was born in late spring, 1917. John and William both had wives called Hodge; it's hard to say, without buying the certificates, which couple was the children's parents, or whether the wives were related, but since both kids were born after 1914, it's probable that they were John's.

Jessie Kincaid Cowbro Wylie died in Chelmsford, in early spring, 1925. She was 81.

5. Walter Wylie, shipmaster and husband of Jessie Kincaid Cowbro, was the younger of two children of Walter Wylie and Ann Gray, who married in 1837, in Tulliallan, Perthshire. Walter and Ann's other child, Elizabeth, never married.

In the 1841 census, young Walter and his sister are living with their Aunt Margaret, in her parents' home on Forth Street, Kincardine. In 1851, Walter and Elizabeth are living with their mother in Tulliallan. Ann Gray's husband was the third son and fifth child of Walter Wylie and Eliza Scott. Nothing surprising there, but....

Walter and Eliza's two youngest daughters, Elizabeth and Katherine, had husbands called Henry and Thomas Cowbrough, respectively. Sons of Henry and Wilhelmina Cowbrough, Henry and Thomas were brothers.

Again, nothing amazing, but... Jessie's father, John, born in 1810 and married to Margaret Hardie, was the son of John C, born 1769, and Jean C. Jean's husband, who was also her cousin, was the older brother of Wilhelmina's husband, who was, likewise, his wife's cousin! That is, Wilhelmina's Henry and 1769 John were the sons of James C and Elizabeth Boyd, and Jean C was the older sister of Wilhelmina, daughters of William C and Jean Auld. In other words, two sisters married two men who were not only cousins to each other but also to the women they married. Thus:

1. William married Mary Moir

2. William and Mary's second son Henry married Christian Wright

3. Henry ⁽¹²⁾ and Christian's son William married Jean Auld

4. William and Jean Auld have, among others, two girls, Jean 1770 and Wilhelmina

Meanwhile,

2. William and Mary's youngest son, James, married Elizabeth Boyd

3. James and Elizabeth have two sons: John 1769 and Henry 1774

4/5. 1769 John married Jean 1770 and have, among others, Jean 1803 and John 1810

4/5. 1774 Henry married Wilhelmina and had two sons: Henry 1814 and Thomas 1826

5/6. Jean 1803 m. John McNie and had Jane, born 1832

5/6. John 1810 married Margaret Hardie and had Jessie Kincaid C 1843 and John 1846

Meanwhile, in another part of town...

1. Walter Wylie married Elizabeth Scott

2. Walter and Elizabeth, have, among others, William 1812, Margaret 1816, Elizabeth 1826, and Katherine 1828.

3. Elizabeth 1826 W married Henry 1814 C, had a son Henry ⁽¹³⁾, in 1848, and died three months later.

3. Katherine W married Thomas 1826 C and moved to Uruguay

3. William 1812 Wylie married Ann Gray and had Elizabeth A. Wylie (never married) and Walter, b 1839

4/5/6. Walter 1839 W marries Jessie C and has four sons: William, twins John Cowbro and Walter, and Alexander James.

Then...

Jessie's brother, 1846 John, marries Christina Lawreson McLeod, dau of F. Hicks Colin McLeod and Christina Taylor Lawreson. Nothing strange here, except Christina is only the first Mrs. McLeod. Her successor, one Jane McNie, is the daughter of Jean 1803 C and John McNie. Are these folks sounding familiar?

I gave up trying to name all the relationsips between all these people. If anyone manages to work out all the connections, I'd like to hear from you!

6. John Coubrough of Coleraines was probably Jessie Kincaid's brother. Mrs. Christina Coubrough, who had apartments for rent there in 1910 or 1914, was probably his wife, Christina McLeod.

7. Jean Cowbrough McNie's husband died in 1853. In 1861, her sons are running their father's farm and Jane is living with her brother John, helping run his farm. (You remember her: she's the mother of Jane whose step-daughter Christina married young Jane's cousin John, son of Margaret Hardie.) Jane McNie herself died in 1891.

8. In 1778, Archibald Coubrough, bookseller, signed a petition requesting the magistrates to stop the sale by auction of great masses of cheap copies of books that the local booksellers were trying to make a living from ⁽¹⁴⁾. The petition was signed by all 16 booksellers then resident in Glasgow. The first mention of Archibald and his bookstore is in 1776, so his would have been a fairly new business that didn't need any unfair competition.

There might have been something to their complaint, or there could have been some competition from Walter Stirling's free circulating library, which went into business in about February or March 1791. The founder meant the library to be free for everyone to use, but the directors made a subscription fee of three guineas for life membership. Such a large cost would have put the library beyond the reach of most ordinary people, and was likely meant to keep out all but the upper classes. This was much cheaper than the rates the booksellers had to charge to stay in business, which would have been a heavy burden on a struggling business. Whatever the reason, Archibald's bookselling business was bankrupt (so he likely was too), in November 1791.

Possibly the 1791 bankruptcy was a device to facilitate the transfer of the business to someone else without paying huge taxes, or the business really did fail but was bailed out by a relation. Either way, it seems to have been only a temporary setback: George S. Meason ⁽¹⁵⁾ says: "From all that can be gathered on the surface of past society, it appears that trade rather than literature was about this time the peculiar characteristic of the now Western metropolis; and, as an illustration of this, it may be stated, that in 1793, as in 1709, there were only two circulating libraries in the city, the one belonging, as formerly hinted, to Mr. John Smith, in the Trongate, and the other to Mr. John Coubrough, in the High-street; the rather greasy tomes which these well-known bibliopoles kept for the public use and instruction, consisting chiefly of such novels and romances as were afterwards known under the appellation of the 'spawn of the Minerva press.' No doubt the student had always the College library to resort to, while, from 1791, the public had access to the valuable stock of rare and curious books which Mr. Walter Stirling had bequeathed for the benefit of his native city."

This Archibald is believed to have been the youngest child and only son of John Coubrough and Agnes Edmondston, christened June 1747, in Strathblane. John, of course, was the son of John C and Jonet Buchanan, and grandfather of Anthony Park, the calico guy. We have no documentary evidence of Archibald'sparentage, but the name is not all that common in the Coubrough tree; Agnes Edmondstone's son is the only one I know of who was the right name at the right at the right time. And judging by the names and ages of his children, Archibald would have been born between about 1740 and 1760, to parents named John and Agnes.

Archibald had married Isobel Edwards or Richards in 1784, in Glasgow. Archibald and Isobel had nine kids: John in 1785; Archibald, 1786; Agnes, 1788; Isobel, 1790; James, 1792; Janet, 1795; Jean, 1797; Mary, 1799; and Mary, 1801.

The John Coubrough noted as the bookseller in 1793 was most likely either Archibald's father or his older half-brother. Archibald's own son would have been only about six or seven years old and unlikely to be running a business. It could be, though, that Archibald had originally taken over the shop from his father.

According to Joe Fisher, on the web site The Story of Glasgow, "The earliest Glasgow public libraries took the form of commercial circulating libraries. John Smith, Trongate bookseller, set up the first of these, in 1753, with 5,000 volumes and requiring an annual subscription of ten shillings ⁽¹⁶⁾. About the same time John Coubrough, High Street bookseller, opened his circulating library with 4,500 volumes loaned for 'one penny per night'." A rate of one penny per night would have opened the library to a much wider range of people than the annual subscription of ten shillings (equivalent to a half pound).

Our Archibald would have been only a young boy at this time. Even if he was actually involved with the shop, he would have been much too young to be the owner. We have always assumed that Agnes Edmonstone's husband was a farmer, but it may not have been so--he might have been a bookseller. While we can be sure that the John Coubrough who ran set up the library in the mid-1750s is one of ours, we can't be sure that he was Archibald's father, though it's probably safe to say that he was a close relative.

According to our local Navigator Elf, the address given in the census records for John and Euphemia Stewart Coubrough's home is right at the edge of what was the "Merchant City," and very close to the "book trade" area. He would certainly be well-placed to run a bookshop, and if he was Archibald's half-brother, he might have seen a bail-out as a family obligation.

Various city directory entries list him as Coubrough or Cowbrough (sometimes both), and show the various premises where he conducted business:

Coubrough, Archibald:

1776: librarian, bookseller and stationer, Glasgow

1778: Town and Country Circulating Library High Street above the Cross

1787: 17 High Street

1789-92: Above 19 High Street

1809: circulating library 24 High Street

We see Archibald still being listed in the directories as the proprietor as late as 1809. Possibly he was able to buy the business back from his brother, or maybe he never left the business and just had a loan or mortgage after the bankruptcy. The bankruptcy was a fact, since it was published in the Edinburgh Gazette, but it could be that the writer of the Railway guidebook could have mistaken the name of the proprietor.

As for Archibald himself, we can't be sure of his exact parentage. The fact that he named his first son John and his first daughter Agnes is a pretty good indication of who his family was, but perhaps not as good as the fact that, in 1784, there was only one known Archibald Coubrough: Agnes Edmondstone's son. And since there was only one, he had to be not only "Archibald Cowbrough Burgess and Guild Brother as serving apprentice with John Smith bookseller 15 February 1776, but also the guy who ran the bookshop, and married Isobel Edwards/Richards. I believe this means we have to attach Archibald and his family to their place on the tree as Agnes Edmonstone's son.  Or it could be that there was another Archibald we don't know of: Agnes Edmondstone's son would have been around 30 in 1776 -- a bit longer in the tooth than the average apprentice.

9. Farmer's Magazine, July to December 1859, p 206, has the Highland Agricultural Society Prize List. In the category Mares for Agricultural Purposes, the judges were John Dove, Eccles Newton, Kelso; Wm. Forrest, of Treesbank, Hamilton; Alex. Galbraith, Croy Cunningham, Killearn. In the sub-category Mares, with Foal at foot, foaled before 1st January, 1856, winner of the premium [first prize] of 20 sovereigns was James Coubrough, Blairtummock ⁽¹⁷⁾, Campsie.

This was most likely James Coubrough, son of Malcolm and Jean Buchanan, who married Margaret Smith. He would have been a young farmer with two small children.

A soveriegn was a gold coin worth one pound. Twenty of them was a substantial prize, well worth the trouble of taking the horses to the show: In 1859, 20 pounds would have bought about the same amount of stuff as 3500 Canadian dollars would buy today. I don't know any families where $3500 cash would be unwelcome!

10. William Coubrough, J.P., who witnessed a deposition by Alexander Carlaw on behalf of the inventor of the steam boat, William Symington, 4 Nov 1824, at Falkirk, was probably Margaret Aitken's husband. At about 37, he would have been old enough to be a JP, and he was one of the Ellrigs, so he probably had enough status. Mostly, though, he appears to have been the only adult William Coubrough in Falkirk at the time.

11. The Victoria [Australia] Post Office Directory for 1869 has a Coubrough, M., smith, Fitzroy, who was probably the Matthew married to Margaret Duncan.

12. The only Thomas and Isabella Cowbrough for whom I have found a marriage date (11 Nov 1839) are Thomas C and Isabella McCrow. I have not been able to find a marriage record for Thomas Cowbrough and Isabella Wilson, whose name I found in the IGI as being the wife of Thomas Cowbrough. The Isabellas in the census records, which don't generally give the wife's maiden name, could be either woman. If an Isabella Wilson did, in fact, marry Thomas Coubrough, I suspect that she was a widow and that one name was the one she was born to, and the other probably her previous married name. On the information available, it's hard to say which is which, but since I have found only one set of records, I believe there was only one couple. Of course, if there is only one Isabella, there is probably only one Thomas, too.

All the Thomases married to Isabellas seem to have been Inland Revenue Officers/Excise Officers. The birth dates for "all four" people are consistent: 1812 - 1815 for Thomas and 1812 - 1814 for Isabella. Both facts lend further credence to the "one couple" theory.

The most likely candidate for Isabella's husband is the youngest son of John Cowbrough and Jean Coubrough. Born in 1812, he and Jean McQueen appear to have had a handfast ⁽¹⁸⁾  marriage. They had a son called Thomas, who was born in 1839 and raised by his mother with the family she had by her second husband, John McMillan.

13. John Coubrough Christie Christie, born Glasgow, 1881, Seaman's number: F29938, who I found in the National Archives (England) was the son of John Christie and Christina Coubrough, daughter of John Coubrough and Margaret. Herald. The other Christie children were Hannah, b abt 1886, and Maggie, b abt 1889, both in London. John Christie was a clothier merchant in Barony dist, Glasgow, in 1881; Furnishings salesman in Stetford, Lancashire, England, in 1891 and 1901; John, Jr., was his apprentice in 1901.

14. James Coubrough Woodburn, Honorary Lieutenant, Royal Highlanders, whom I found in the Natioanl Archives (England) Medal Rolls, was the son of John Woodburn and Maggie Coubrough, daughter of James Coubrough and Margaret Smith. The medal roll, doesn't say why he had that rank.

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