Neilston Manse - why this address on 1851 Ancestry census

[mazdathomas]

This also initially confused me also as my ancestors were Catholic and their address on the 1851 Census was also the Neilston Manse.  Neilston Manse was the residence of the Church of Scotland minister and his family.  It is not really possible that that three Irish Catholic boys were residing at this residence.   In an effort to understand this record I made contact with a member of RootsChat living in Neilston. 

I am grateful that MurphyZ from RootsChat helped me to understand this.  Here is her reply to me..   

 "I have gone to Barrhead Library and looked through the microfilm of the census; the first section of the census definitely is the Manse with the minister of the parish living there, 6 people at the Manse itself. Then there is clearly a thick line under it and it continues with lots of other entries, which to me mean a new address. But there are no other addresses just pages and pages of names separated by thick black lines. Joel Harkin's entry is quite a bit further down the census from the Manse."

It would seem that the brothers resided in the same area or block as the Neilston Manse (not at the Manse inself) but at a lodging house probably built to accommodate mill workers.  The occupations of their neighbours included bleachers, calico print workers, power loom weavers, spinners, servants, agricultural labourers etc.  The head of the house or landlady was a cowfeeder.  Many of the residents in this area of the town were born in Ireland.  Hope this helps...

[ColinWM]

Thanks mazdathomas. This helps a little, my relatives were born in Neilston and were not immigrants but they were low paid mill workers. What confused me was a Manse as far as I knew was the residence of a Vicar/Priest and to have so many people there it must have been a big house, but reading MurphyZ reply to you it seems to me that the area around the manse  became known as the Manse also in other census forms of my relatives give their address as Neilston Village, I need to look into this further but I am wondering if Neilston Manse was an address used by people living in the general area of the Manse which was more like a shanty town or makeshift properties and later that area became more permanent and became known as Neilston Village. I may be wrong but I am going to try to look into the possibility. Thanks for sharing MurphyZ reply with me.

[RJ_Paton]

Thanks mazdathomas. This helps a little, my relatives were born in Neilston and were not immigrants but they were low paid mill workers. What confused me was a Manse as far as I knew was the residence of a Vicar/Priest and to have so many people there it must have been a big house, but reading MurphyZ reply to you it seems to me that the area around the manse  became known as the Manse also in other census forms of my relatives give their address as Neilston Village, I need to look into this further but I am wondering if Neilston Manse was an address used by people living in the general area of the Manse which was more like a shanty town or makeshift properties and later that area became more permanent and became known as Neilston Village. I may be wrong but I am going to try to look into the possibility. Thanks for sharing MurphyZ reply with me.

Neilston Manse was an isolated building and is shown in the maps of the time as such. As to the theory of Neilston being born out of a a collection of makeshift properties - Sorry, Neilston Village has an old and long history and at one time was a principal Parish of the area pre Reformation.