Poor records

[shaigh]

I would like to know if Janet Russell (Born Kirkland in Carmunnock 1796) applied for church poor assistance after her husband, James Russell born 1796 Galston, died c 1836 -8 probably Neilston.
There were several children under 10 years. The 1841 Carmunnock census lists William aged 7 and Janet aged 4 living with her in a dwelling next to brother Thomas Kirkland. Other young children were Thomas aged 8 or 9 and other children named James, Andrew, Matthew and John.
James Russell. her husband, had several brothers, including Thomas, who also died young and his wife Mary Montgomery applies for poor relief. I have a copy of that but do not know how to search for a similar application in Eaglesham, Loudoun, Kilbride, Neilston or even Carmunnock.

[shaigh]

I should have added that
I live in New Zealand so visiting Glasgow or Edinburgh is difficult though I managed it once before I knew about this possibility.

[LynnC]

Hi Shaigh,

1836 is a bit early for Poor Relief Applications, The Mitchell Library site says from 1845. Additionally Carmunnock wouldn't be in the city of Glasgow itself, although they do hold some records for some outlying areas. It might we worth sending an email with details to them, but there's a strong possibility they no longer exist - very few were retained.

https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/librarie ... -from-1845

[WilmaM]

Another route could be the Kirk Session Records:
https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/virt ... ecord-type

These cover an extensive period of time and much of the country.
Some include Church Accounts and details of funds given as poor relief to needy parishioners.

They aren't indexed other than by year, so it involves an awful lot of reading!

They are free to look at though so that is in their favour,
some have beautiful penmanship, and the best ones have names written in the side column.
It all depends on who was responsible way back then.

[shaigh]

Thank you Wilma M and Lynn C
Such great ideas for me to get working on

[WilmaM]

Another few resources which may help:
Renfrewshire Family History: https://renfrewshirefhs.co.uk/
The Heritage Centre in Paisley : https://paisley.is/visit/heritage-centre/

The Paisley Museum is currently closed, opening now 2025, I'm not sure if the above have the resources that the museum held.

For Louden you'd perhaps be looking at Ayrshire, and Carmunnock is now under East Renfrewshire so spreading the net of your searches could help.