Cambusnethan Cemetery Grave Search - Part 1

[_deedles_]

Thank you fifer1974 The other William Dowling I will presume to be my fathers brother who is buried with him having died in 1996 (or there abouts).

will the website u have shown also give information on marriages? As its actually my grand mother on that side that I am interested in?

Thank you for your help

Dee

[_deedles_]

Thank you I found all the info I was looking for my Grandmother was Agnes - helps to at least know her name

Dee

[Leia]

A way back in 2008, post #28 / 29, I was given some very valuable information on my Grandfather's first wife's burial. It seems that the family in Scotland have not been to the cemetery to locate the grave but I am on my way over in September.

I am wondering if there are any other Amos buried there (so as not to miss them this trip, if there are any) and also if there is a way to find out where Section E is, if I happen to be so unlucky to arrive at the cemetery when the groundskeepers are not there.  I will make every attempt to get there during regular hours but last trip over I happened to hit it on the Friday of a bank holiday weekend and it seemed everyone was taking off early!   

[NZDawn]

Kia ora Cottontail

I was looking through Cambusnethan records as I wanted to visit the area when I come to Scotland in 2012 and then I saw the message - you were enquiring about my family! My great grandmother was Helen Hamilton Merrilees, b about 1858 daughter of Agnes and William Merrilees. Robert, who apparently disappeared was her brother. Other family members were Margaret (Maggie), Agnes m Miller and Alex. Helen married Dr Patrick Fletcher and emigrated to New Zealand c 1875. I have family letters spanning nearly 20 years from the 1870s to the 1890s. They were all written from Maggie, Agnes and Alex from Trotter Bank which appears to have been the name of their orchard. I know from their letters quite a bit about their orchard and their relatives, many of whom died of lung diseases at quite young ages. I know that the sisters married, but I lost track of Alex who ceases to appear in census records. I would be interested to know if anyone has information on him and possible descendants. I did not have the death dates for the parents so that is new information for me.

I went to the Merrilees world clan gathering in Dunedin, New Zealand, a few years ago and met the Canadian descendants of Robert. I assume his wife must have emigrated to Canada with their children after he disappeared. According to my letters he was a ship's engineer and when they hadn't heard for a long time they assumed he was lost  at sea. I have seen other suggestions.

It is so exciting to have family information jump out from the screen in such an unexpected way. I hope to hear from you.

NZDawn

[Lodger]

Hi NZDawn,

Welcome to Rootschat, this is a great List, everyone is very friendly and we keep ourselves to ourselves............... 

Plenty of your Mirrilees family buried in Cambusnethan cemetery + the old churchyard + the ancient burial ground at Kirkhill.
I'm just rushing out to a friend's funeral at the moment (not at Cambusnethan!) so I will post what I have later.
But, just to put you out of your misery, the following entry from the gravedigger's Day Book -

ALEXANDER MERRILEES, labourer, Glasgow, aged 53 years, married.
Parents - Robert Merrilees and Agnes Roger.
Interred in the old churchyard on 14th February 1879.

(I also found his wife, Rebecca Russel)
Much more to follow,

In haste,
Lodger

[NZDawn]

Kia ora Lodger

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. I think that Alexander Merrilees could be an uncle of the Alex I am seeking. He was a young person in the letters I have from the 1880s. I need to check my tree information for more details. Both parents were also still alive and working the orchard at that time.

It is great to know that I can find so many links. Having ancestors with an uncommon name seems to make tracing them easier, but I have learned not to jump to premature conclusions. I am especially hoping that I can find the location of the Trotter Bank orchard. There seems to be a possibility in the Overtown direction near the junction of the road to Law. Is that possible?

NZDawn

[Lodger]

Hi Dawn,

I thought I'd cracked the case with that burial! Never mind, here's what else I found.
I should say that the "new" cemetery was opened about 1861 and is adjacent to the old churchyard at Cambusnethan village. The "Clyde" burial ground pre-dates the old churchyard and is the original parish graveyard, next to the river Clyde at Kirkhill. The original parish church was there until it was abandoned around 1648. The successor to this church, on much higher ground at Cambusnethan village, was itself abandoned about 1820 and sits in the "old churchyard".
So, although the burial ground at Kirkhill was used very infrequently as the centuries went on, the last internment there did not take place until the 1950s. But, it was only used by real old Wishaw/Cambusnethan families, also by farmers and orchard keepers on the Wishaw Estate. (Trotterbank would have been leased from Lord Belhaven of Wishaw House).
There were only 2 recorded burials at Clyde/Kirkhill in 1929.

From the Cambusnethan cemetery Day Book -

(all dates are of internment)

JANE S. NAPIER. Trotterbank Orchard, aged 11 weeks.
Parents - James S. Napier & Margaret S. Merrilees.
Interred in the new cemetery, plot D311. 15th April 1890.

AGNES MERRILEES, housewife, Trotterbank. Aged 65 years, married.
Parents - Alexander Smyth & Helen Hamilton.
Interred in the new cemetery, plot C316. 3rd August 1893.

WILLIAM MERRILEES, orchard keeper, Trotterbank, aged 78 years, widower.
Parents - Robert Merrilees & Agnes Roger.
Interred in C316. 10th April 1900.

Next, this is the Alex I've given you already but to keep it all together, he is interred in the old churchyard, the records do not exist for internments there prior to about 1875. For this plot however, there is a headstone with the following inscription (note the spelling)
"Alexander Mirrilees died 11th February 1879 aged 51 years. His wife Rebecca Russell died 6th January 1912 aged 85 years. There daughter Margaret Reid died 28th February 1871 aged 5 years".
From the plot book for the old churchyard, the owners of the above plot were Alexander Merrilees & Rebecca Russell.

All of the following were interred at the Clyde burial ground -

ROBERT MERRILEES. Farmer, Erskine Bank, aged 82 years, married.
Parents - Robert Merrilees & Margaret Fleming.
4th September 1861.

ROBERT MERRILEES. Carter, Gowkthrapple, aged 49 years, married.
Father - Robert Merrilees. No mother's name stated.
16th October 1861.

AGNES MERRILEES. Housewife, Erskinebank, aged 78 years, widow.
Parents - William Roger & Agnes Kilpatrick.
15th June 1865.

ANN MIRRILEES. Gowkthrapple, aged 49 years, widow.
Parents - John Scott & Jane Cleland.
24th November 1866.

AGNES MERRILEES. Housekeeper, Wishaw, aged 64 years, single.
Parents - Robert Merrilees & Agnes Roger.
18th December 1879.

You don't mention a David in the family but this next one may be a son of Robert Merrilees & Ann Scott, especially as he is at the Clyde burial ground too.

DAVID MERRILEES. Wagon driver, Wishaw, aged 45 years, married.
Parents - Robert Merrilees and Ann  - - - - - . 
10th April 1878.
(I think David's wife may have been Agnes Prentice?)

finally, one of the 2 entries in the Clyde register for 1929 -

MARION MERRILEES, aged 68 years.
10th July 1929.

I'm pretty sure Trotterbank is still there, at the foot of the Brownlee braes near the junction of Horsely Brae between Overtown and Garrion Bridge. Erskine Bank is still there too, half-way up the Horsely Brae on the left.
I'll check the Cambusnethan registers again for any of the Merrilees clan I may have missed.

Also, I found this entry and wondered if perhaps the informant didn't know the correct names of her parents -
JANET STEEL. Wishaw, aged 72 years, widow.
Parents - John Merrilees and Janet Roger.
Interred in the old churchyard, 27th October 1913.

Lodger

[Lodger]

Just a few more.

The Day Book entry for the wife of Alexander who died in 1879.
REBECCA MERRILEES. Housewife, 55 Crossburn Street Glasgow, aged 82 years, widow.
Parents - John Russell & Margaret Reid.
Interred in the old churchyard 9th January 1912.

This one is a possible - the fact that he is on a farm and is interred at the Clyde burial ground.
JOHN T. MERRILEES. Coltness mains, aged 2 years.
Parents - John S. Merrilees & Catherine Thomson.
Interred at Clyde, 26th April 1877.

These last three are all children of David Merrilees & Agnes Prentice and are all interred at the Clyde burial ground, Kirkhill.

STILLBORN FEMALE MERRILEES. Sneddon's Rows.
20th September 1864.

JOHN MERRILEES, Cambusnethan colliery, aged 3 years.
29th October 1874.

ELIZA C. WALLS, housewife, Wishaw, aged 21 years, married.
18th January 1881.

I think Sneddon's Rows were about Gowkthrapple - Overtown area (coal miners houses) and they must have been living in a colliery house when the 3 year  old died in 1874.

Lodger.

[MonicaL]

This thread has been running now for many years and can be confusing for many wishing to make new enquiries sometimes because of its length.

A new thread entitled 'Cambusnethan Cemetery Grave Search - Part 2' is to be found here www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,566572.0.html

Please use the new thread for all posts on the Cemetery.

Thank you 

Monica