Thomas McEwan and Catherine Jones

[Lodger]

I had to pay a visit to the Mitchell Library in Glasgow today, so I checked the poor relief claim for Thomas, it makes very interesting reading!
The claim reference for Glasgow City Archives is D/HEW 17/428 - 26697.

Govan Combination Parish.
Claim made on 13th July 1897.
THOMAS McEWAN, Western Infirmary. Aged 60 years. Born Ardee, near Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland. Occupation - ironplater. Marital status - married. Religion - Roman Catholic.
Son of Cormack McEwan a labourer and Mary McGuire, both dead.

Wife -
Catherine Murtha at 49 Hamilton Street, Govan. She is aged 59 years. Born County Monaghan, Ireland. Housewife, Roman Catholic.
Daughter of Robert Murtha a labourer and Mary Fitzgerald both dead.

Family -
John aged 34 years, born 10th September 1860 at HaughHead Home, Govan Road. Married with 5 children, ironfitter, at 29 John Street, Govan.
Catherine aged 24 years, born 26th March 1866 at 16 Victoria Street Govan. Single, a worker at home.
Sophia aged 22 years, born 8th December 1868 at 9 Albert Street Govan. Married with 1 child to Patrick Smith a riveter, at 13 Ure Street Govan.
Maggie aged 20 years, born 2nd March 1872 at 27 Hamilton Street Govan. A mantlemaker at home.
Ann aged 18 years, born 30th August 1875 at 5 South Street Whiteinch (Govan parish). A mantlemaker, at home.
All birth extracts seen by Inspector.

For 6 or 7 years this man has been living apart from his wife, in Alloa, Ayr, Renfrew, Barlinnie Prison and in the Models in City and Barony parishes. He cannot give a detailed statement of his residences, nor can any of his family, he has been so unsettled.

Residences -
(At present he is in the Western Infirmary)
Prior - 49 Hamilton Street, Govan parish. 3 years.
Prior - 55 Hamilton Street, Govan parish. 2 or 3 years.
Prior - 71 Hamilton Street, Govan parish. 7 years.
Prior - 27 Langlands Terrace, Govan parish.  - - -
Prior - 29 Logie Street, Govan parish.  - - -
Prior - 19 Hamilton Street, Govan parish.  - - -
Prior - 5 South Street, Whiteinch, Govan parish.  - - -

Certified - Rheumatism.
Settlement - Ireland.
In no (Insurance) Society, has no means. Been in Infirmary since 7th February 1897. Family wont take him home. Infirmary authorities wish him removed to Poorhouse.
Saw daughter Maggie today who is to get the above needed information. This man has never sent money to his family since being sent out of his house.
Report signed by A.N. Russell. (usually an assistant Inspector of Poor).

27th November 1897 - Left Poorhouse.
8th March 1898 - Poorhouse, no home. In 19th February 1898. Left 13th April 1898.
11th March 1902 - Poorhouse, no home. In 17th February 1902.
22nd February 1902 - Died in Poorhouse. Buried by friends.

(Small note attached to this claim, presumably from his daughter Maggie. it has "M. McEwan 49 Hamilton St, Govan" on it and is dated 13th July 1897. It may what the inspector refers to as "the above needed information"). It reads -
"Sir, I enclose this letter to you as you asked of me in the Western Infirmary. That is, mother('s) name is Catherine Murtha born in (the) town of Dunnamine (possibly should be Donaghmoyne) Co. Monaghan. Her mother('s) maiden name was Mary Fitzgerald. And they (Maggie's parents) were married in Houternhenry (possibly Hutton Henry) Castle Eden, county of Durham".
In pencil on the back of this note, possibly made by the Inspector -
29 John Street since May with son John, after leaving prison. Wife in present house 10 years. Prior  at 55 Hamilton St 2 or 3 years. Prior at 71 Hamilton St 7 years.

----------------------------------------------
All the brackets are mine. The Western Infirmary was in the burgh of Partick, civil parish of Govan. In 1912 the towns of Govan and Partick were incorporated into the city of Glasgow.
"City and Barony parishes" were the 2 civil parish of Glasgow. Govan, after 1912, became the third.
You are very lucky to get the towns (or villages) in Ireland - a real bonus.
Click this link to find out about Model Lodging Houses. always known here simply as "Models".
http://www.theglasgowstory.com/image.php?inum=TGSG00015

Hope you have fun with this. Tell your grandfather that he should be very proud to have Irish blood in him!

Good luck ........ Lodger.

[Matt62]

Dear Lodger,

Thank you so much for transcribing this poor relief claim for Thomas, I truly appreciate this  I am flabbergasted at the detail! It certainly makes very interesting reading. In fact, he seems to have been quite a character and is fully alive to me now. What a crazy situation! His poor family must have been demented by all of his movements, his imprisonment and so on. And it is tragic that his life ended in the poorhouse.

I am impressed that it even gives very clear references to where the family came from in Ireland.

What confuses me though is the surnames...none of the ones mentioned in the Poor Relief document correspond to the death certificates!

On his 1902 death certificate, Thomas' parents are given as Thomas McEwan and Margaret Fitzsimmons, yet in the Poor Relief document they are Cormack McEwan and Mary McGuire 

On her 1902 death certificate, Catherine's maiden name is put down as "Murdoch" (not Murtha) and her parents are Thomas Murdoch and Catherine Jones, yet on the Poor Relief they are again completely different: Robert Murtha and Mary Fitzgerald. 

When the son John McEwan died he thought that his mother Catherine had the surname 'Jones' when she was in fact Murtha/Murdoch.

Can anyone tell me what they think is going on here with all these different names and surnames? I've never seen anything like it   

[Matt62]

Tell your grandfather that he should be very proud to have Irish blood in him!

Oh he is  His father's side is completely Irish. For some reason he thought his mother's side was completely Scottish but it in fact isn't 

[Lodger]

Information on death certificates is always "second-hand". This was not a close family and Thomas had been estranged for a long time, there would have been very little mention, if anything at all, of his parents, while he was away. Who knows how long they had been dead even before Thomas married perhaps? He may even have been orphaned shortly after birth. That's all speculation of course but it puts doubt in our minds.
The daughter Maggie was asked by the inspector of poor about her mother's details. She was unsure, so she went home and asked, then wrote that very day to pass on the information, even down to the exact place where her mother was born and the place of marriage. So, in my opinion, that information is nearer to the truth than the stuff on the 1902 certificates.
As for John's death certificate, you don't say who the informant was? If it was one of his children then this is another generation away from John's parents.
The little note on the letter about Thomas living with John after being freed from prison, could that suggest that John favoured his father and perhaps didn't have contact with his mother? If that did happen then John's children wouldn't have been close to his mother and subsequently didn't know much about her background.
On the other hand, perhaps one of John's sisters registered his death?
I think the "Jones" could have been made-up and the Murtha-Murdoch name is just a simple error, perhaps even on the part of the registrar.

[Matt62]

Dear Lodger 

All excellent information, top notch my friend. I truly appreciate what you have done in hunting down this Poor Relief document, transcribing it and helping me so much with this. Truly I do, it has been extremely interesting and my grandfather says thank you too  Your help has been invaluable in solving mysteries I have had regarding this particular line. Invaluable.

The informant on Thomas' death certificate was his son John, my great great grandfather. It makes sense now that you have pointed it out from the poor relief, that perhaps he 'sided' with his father. Especially if he lived with him after his release from prison. This helps potentially to explain why his knowledge of his mother's maiden name is so scant. Her informant had been her daughter Catherine. For some reason she, like John, had thought that 'Jones' came in here somewhere, this time not as her own maiden name but as her mother's mother, which according to the Poor Relief also isn't true! Perhaps there was a distant family memory of 'someone' on her side having the name Jones.

This has all been fascinating. My next step is to find out why Thomas was imprisoned. I hope it wasn't anything too bad! I'll be looking for that now.

[Lodger]

This has all been fascinating. My next step is to find out why Thomas was imprisoned. I hope it wasn't anything too bad! I'll be looking for that now.

Probably arrested for being drunk and refusing to fight 
Terrible behaviour in Glasgow!

[Matt62]

This has all been fascinating. My next step is to find out why Thomas was imprisoned. I hope it wasn't anything too bad! I'll be looking for that now.

Probably arrested for being drunk and refusing to fight 
Terrible behaviour in Glasgow!

You can say that again 

Oh I imagine drink will have something to do with it. Maybe a pub brawl. It would appear that he would be the kind of man to spend what little money he managed to scrape on alcohol.

The part that gets me is that the Western Infirmary wanted rid of him, so they contact his family and they try to wash their hands of him. I even wonder if he made up the 'rheumatism' just to keep his bed in the hospital! 

[Annette7]

Just caught up with this thread (looked after 2 little ones yesterday).

My oh my - brilliant find by you, Lodger and what fantastic detail.   Certainly holds up to the theory that there was more written down about you when you were poor (and somewhat of a character).

Glad that for the most part it concurred with what I'd discovered about the family.

However, the marriage at Castle Eden is certainly proving hard to find.

Annette