William Caldwell and Janet McFarlane of Kilbarchan

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derbyfour
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:48 pm

William Caldwell and Janet McFarlane of Kilbarchan

Post by derbyfour » Sun Aug 12, 2012 3:10 am

Hello, my first post, apologies in advance for any assumptions or errors. Whilst born in Glasgow, I live in Australia so rely on the internet for my research. I am interested in trying to trace William Caldwell and Janet McFarlane of Kilbarchan. I believe that William was born in Boghouse Kilbarchan but not sure of where Janet was born (although I assume Kilbarchan). The OPR indicates that William and Janet either married or had banns read in the Parish of Kilbarchan on 22 Jan 1762 (568/00200126). William is listed as being from Boghouse, no record of Janet's area. Based on this date and the birth of the children that I know about,(William 1763, Robert 1766 and Patrick 1768). I guessed their birth to be circa 1740 and 1741 respectively. On William's OPR birth it advises that William and Janet are both in the Parish of Kilbarchan, however the OPR birth of Robert and Patrick show William specifically to be from Boghouse in the Parish of Kilbarchan. On 2 Jun 1768
"Patrick lawful son of William Caldwell in Boghouse and Janet McFarlane his spouse was born June 2nd"
. From the 1841 onwards census records it would appear that Patrick and his family were weavers (silk HLW and cotton HLW) and resided in New Street, Kilbarchan. The OPR is incomplete for some years due I believe to the lack of a minister and also general non recording. I thought that the way that I could trace William and Janet would be through cemetary records if they exist. Trouble is I am not sure if there is more than one cemetary, which one I should look at or even if they would be recorded. Any help or hints would be very appreciated!

StewL
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Location: Perth Western Australia

Re: William Caldwell and Janet McFarlane of Kilbarchan

Post by StewL » Sun Aug 12, 2012 4:24 am

Hi Derbyfour
[TS_welcome]
I had a quick look in IGI and SP for a birth or marriage for William and Janet with, no luck with a birth for them. But as you probably know, the records may have been lost or destroyed, as you know there is a Banns/Marriage on SP for them.
As for assumptions and errors, we have all done that before.
As our lang deid yins get further back in time (1700's etc) we find they become more elusive :lol:
From another expat Scot all the best with your hunting.
Stewie

Searching for: Anderson, Balks, Barton, Courtney, Davidson, Downie, Dunlop, Edward, Flucker, Galloway, Graham, Guthrie, Higgins, Laurie, Mathieson, McLean, McLuckie, Miln, Nielson, Payne, Phillips, Porterfield, Stewart, Watson

Russell
Posts: 2559
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Location: Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire
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Re: William Caldwell and Janet McFarlane of Kilbarchan

Post by Russell » Sun Aug 12, 2012 10:43 am

Hi Derbyfour

I'm actually in Kilbarchan and can confirm that your assumptions about poor OPR recording was due at that time to absence of a minister and disruption in the Kirk for quite a few years ending in 1789 with a group of weaving parishioners seceding and forming a Relief Church which became Kilbarchan Free Church and is now reconnected with the Established church. A Burgher Church had already been formed at Burntsheilds -just outside the village - in 1744. So your chances of finding accurate church records are fairly low. The original Established church is now called the West Church and I have looked for burial lairs and memorial stone records for years without success. The only record of stones is the Mitchell's recordings done some years ago. Many of the stones are now covered or too weathered to read. Since the family were connected with weaving there is a strong possibility that they were part of the breakaway and were part of the congregation attending the Free church (Kilbarchan East church).
there were several Caldwell families in the village in the early 1800's and one East church lair (A103) belonged to Peter Caldwell. Often a Patrick would change his name to Peter because of the religious connotations. Kilbarchan was very anti-Catholic in the 1800's jealously protecting their weaving industry against the influx of Irish weavers at the time of the Irish famine.
Burials in the lair were
7/9/1871 Mrs James Caldwell or Rutherford age 65 Bridge of Weir.
29/1/1872 Mrs Janet Caldwell age 34 New Street. occ. Weaver
1875 Elizabeth Caldwell age 29 Bridge of Weir occ. mill worker
5/4/1874 Mrs Wm Caldwell or Muir no age given New street
11/7/1874 John Caldwell age 84 Threeply Farm (pronounced threeplie locally)
7/5/1975 David Wylie no age Blacksmith Gateside Place
9/7/1877 One other burial - no name or age given Gateside Place.
I have access to the original Lair records for the East church so if you post other family names I will look them up. We may find some leads.

Kilbarchan was/is a fairly large parish with good farmland so there are many farms named on the various maps at NAS however it would appear that later generations of your Caldwells moved into the village where the weaving was concentrated.
With a few more names and dates I can maybe locate the family better.

Russell
Working on: Oman, Brock, Miller/Millar, in Caithness.
Roan/Rowan, Hastings, Sharp, Lapraik in Ayr & Kirkcudbrightshire.
Johnston, Reside, Lyle all over the place !
McGilvray(spelt 26 different ways)
Watson, Morton, Anderson, Tawse, in Kilrenny

LesleyB
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Location: Scotland

Re: William Caldwell and Janet McFarlane of Kilbarchan

Post by LesleyB » Sun Aug 12, 2012 12:10 pm

Hi derbyfour
...and welcome to Talking Scot :D
Just an observation on the OPR for both the marriage you mentioned and the christening of a child:
I believe that William was born in Boghouse Kilbarchan
William is listed as being from Boghouse, no record of Janet's area.
Quote:
"Patrick lawful son of William Caldwell in Boghouse and Janet McFarlane his spouse was born June 2nd"
William may well have been from Boghouse, but the mention in the OPR only suggests that he was living at Boghouse at the time of the marriage and christenting of the child. He may have actually been from somewhere else, either nearby or some distance away, moved to Boghouse for work when a young man and is subsequently noted as being "in Boghouse" at the time(s) of these events.

It seems pretty unlkley that either of this couple will still be around in 1841 where we might have had confirmed in what county they were born (though again, this is not 100% accurate!)

Best wishes
Lesley

Russell
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Location: Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire
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Re: William Caldwell and Janet McFarlane of Kilbarchan

Post by Russell » Tue Aug 14, 2012 4:12 pm

Hi Derbyfour
I had a dig round my records for the Caldwells and there were several families in the village in 1841.
Caldwell

Kilbarchan 1841 Census

Place/Street Name age occupation where born

Auchens Caldwell Mrs 60 indpependent outside county
John 25 Farmer R
Martha 25 Farm servant R
Marion 20 Farm servant R
Alexander 20 Ag. M. servant R

Over Johnstone
Caldwell Thomas 40 Cott H.L.Weaver I
Janet 40 I
William 14 H.L.W.app R
John 12 H.L.W.app R

New Street
Caldwell John 52 Silk H.L.W. R
Jane 44 R
James 18 Silk H.L.W. R
Elizabeth 16 Silk H.L.W. R
Janet 13 R
Jane 10 R
Margaret 8 R
Agness 7m R

New street
Caldwell William 82 Wright R
Elizabeth 40 Embroiderer R

New street
Caldwell Martha 24 Embroiderer R
Mary 4 R
William 2 R

Steeple Street
Caldwell Agness 40 outside county
Peter 6 R
Margaret 4 R
Robert 2 R

Ewing street
Caldwell John 65 Linen H.L.W. R
Janet 20 Embroiderer R
Sarrah 15 Embroiderer R
Peter 15 Cotton H.L.W. R
Sarah 65 R

Barrholm street
Caldwell Isabell(widow) 65 Sewer UNK
Margaret 60 Silk embroiderer UNK
Mary 55 silk embroiderer UNK
Barrholm street
Caldwell James 55 Silk H.L.W. R
Bethia 55 R
Bethia 25 Silk embroiderer R
Elizabeth 35 R
Walter 25 Silk H.L.W. R

R = born in the county of Renfrewshire
I = born in Ireland
UNK = place of birth unknown

HLW = Hand Loom Weaver
I wondered if any of the names ring any bells with your family.

Russell
Working on: Oman, Brock, Miller/Millar, in Caithness.
Roan/Rowan, Hastings, Sharp, Lapraik in Ayr & Kirkcudbrightshire.
Johnston, Reside, Lyle all over the place !
McGilvray(spelt 26 different ways)
Watson, Morton, Anderson, Tawse, in Kilrenny

derbyfour
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:48 pm

Re: William Caldwell and Janet McFarlane of Kilbarchan

Post by derbyfour » Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:33 am

Sorry for the tardy response, I have been away. Thank you all for your guidance! The New Street Caldwell's look promising (only because of that address on a census lol). I also appreciate the lair references to look into- one looks promising. Might I ask how you managed to get hold of that one?
I do love a mystery.

Russell
Posts: 2559
Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2005 5:59 pm
Location: Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire
Contact:

Re: William Caldwell and Janet McFarlane of Kilbarchan

Post by Russell » Thu Aug 23, 2012 1:03 pm

Hi Derbyfour

A bit more digging and you might make the connections.
If the Lair record is the correct one I have access to the original Lair Register and could take a photo of the entry. Although not actually connected to the church I somehow ended up as their burial ground record keeper/historian and there is a great fascination in linking up the researches of our members with their Kilbarchan ancestors.
New Street these days looks nothing like the original street. Back in the mid 18oo's it was lined with single storey cottages which have all been swept away and replaced by local authority housing.Keep the questions coming as other folk out there may gain something from the answers :D

Russell
Working on: Oman, Brock, Miller/Millar, in Caithness.
Roan/Rowan, Hastings, Sharp, Lapraik in Ayr & Kirkcudbrightshire.
Johnston, Reside, Lyle all over the place !
McGilvray(spelt 26 different ways)
Watson, Morton, Anderson, Tawse, in Kilrenny

derbyfour
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:48 pm

Re: William Caldwell and Janet McFarlane of Kilbarchan

Post by derbyfour » Fri Apr 03, 2015 1:59 pm

Hello All

Back again. I had to take a bit of a break from this family line as it was doing my head in ](*,)

Spent the last few days looking up Kilbarchan and Renfrewshire family history. You may see me pop up again.

Researching: Caldwell, Anderson, Walker, Wilkie(son), Kinloch, Paul, Glen, Scott, Rowan

wibblewolf
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:51 pm

Re: William Caldwell and Janet McFarlane of Kilbarchan

Post by wibblewolf » Thu Mar 29, 2018 3:34 am

Hello,

I’m currently carrying out my family history and I came across this. Have you came across any other information on this?

If I am right in saying that the William Caldwell married Janet McFarlane and had the following children William Caldwell, Robert Caldwell, Patrick Caldwell and John Caldwell

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