My great grandfather James Currie Draffan was born on 5th June, 1846 in Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire and he was baptised on 13th June 1846 (my birthday). It is however his father John Draffan I would like to bring back to life by a little imagination and some help from Rabbie Burns.
"I cheery on did wander:
I thought upon the banks o'Coil,
I thought upon my Nancy,
And I mind't the witching smile
That caught my youthful fancy.
At length I reach'd the bonie glen,
Where early life I sported;
I pass'd the mill and trysting thorn,
Where Nancy aft I courted:"
The Soldier's Return 1793 Having set the scene I ask you all to move forward 48 years to the Spring of 1841. The Trysting Thorn which Burns has so immortalised was still there and as you can see from a Google Satellite map of Coylton, Water of Coyle still flows from south to north crossing the main road very close to the old Weaver's cottages where lived the young 26 year old John Draffan with his Uncle John Tassie.
Now please take a look at this page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coylton The first coloured picture down on the left is of the Old Manse built in 1839. Just two years later we find the wee 22 year old lass Agnes Currie employed as a live in Servant to the Minister Alex Duncan and his wife Euphemia. Just how John and Agnes first met we can only wonder. Perhaps it was at the Old Kirk or the one that took its place? They must though have then met at the Trysting Thorn, for Nancy is a nickname for Agnes.
A new Trysting Thorn now grows elsewhere in Coylton, nurtured from precious shoots sent up from the roots of the Old Tree which expired in 1916. The couple married in Coylton in August 1841 and they were blessed at the end of the following year with the birth of their daughter Jane. James Currie Draffan came along in 1846 as already mentioned, but sadness was soon to strike the heart of John, for 'Nancy' passed away just two years later.