King Family, Motherwell - James, Thomas, Alexander, William Dick

[Lodger]

According to the 1925 Directory for Motherwell, which is indexed by street, not surnames -

Janetta Place, Orchard St had 4 houses (so, probably a little sandstone tenement which must have been quite select and Orchard St was and still is, a beautiful street).

The householder of one of these houses (or apartments) was -

KING William D. Bank clerk.

In the 1925 Wishaw directory -
KING James D. Accountant, The Distiller's Co Ltd. 71 Glasgow Road.

Couldn't find Reith Cottage in the 1925 directory.

1925 for Motherwell House, High Road - Mrs Mary Scott or King.

In the 1911 Motherwell directory, which is more or less a list of householders -

KING Alexander C. Engineer. Motherwell House, High Road.

KING Mrs Janet. 85 Brandon St. (This may have been Brandon House, I'm not sure).

KING Thomas. Carriage Builder, 144 Orbiston St.

KING William. Writer, Archerfield, Douglas St.
Douglas St runs parallel to Orchard St and is also a lovely street. I think Archerfield is a Nursing Home now. A writer is a lawyer.

[SamK]

Wow. Thank you all so much (especially you Lodger, what a fountain of information you are!). You have been so generous spending your time sharing your knowledge.  It means a huge amount to me, as my father has Alzheimers and doesn't react much to anything usually, but when I have told him what I found so far, he showed so much interest and was fascinated.  I will pull all of this together and show it to him.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Lodger]

Hi Sam,

I paid a visit to the Heritage Centre here at Motherwell today and copied this for you.
it is a contract between Hamilton of Dalzell and James King, mason to repair the garden wall at Dalzell House. Signed by James King and dated 19th June 1795. Too early for Homie King perhaps? It may be his father. If you can get a copy of the 1855 death certificate we will know.

[SamK]

Hi Sam,

I paid a visit to the Heritage Centre here at Motherwell today and copied this for you.
it is a contract between Hamilton of Dalzell and James King, mason to repair the garden wall at Dalzell House. Signed by James King and dated 19th June 1795. Too early for Homie King perhaps? It may be his father. If you can get a copy of the 1855 death certificate we will know.

I have the death certificate, I think this must have been Homie's father as he was 75 when he died in 1855. Unfortunately the list of Homie & Catherine's children is hard to read and some illegible but I did decipher Margaret, Helen, James, Catherine, Alexander, Thomas (my great-great grandfather), Jean, John and William.  I'll try to attach it if I can.

[Lodger]

Not the easiest list of children I've ever seen. Badly written and a lot of scoring-out. It may interest you to know that Alexander Whamond the registrar was also the parish schoolmaster! (He was also an author).
This is my version of the list, stating at the column on the left.
Margaret, dec(eased) at 52 in 1854.
Helen Hamilton dec(eased) at (?) in 1814.
James dec(eased) at 43 in 1848.
Catherine dec(eased) at 33 in 184(?).
Alexander dec(eased) in infancy.
M.........  dec in infancy.
Alexander dec in infancy.
Alexander dec at 29 in 1854.
Jean 37.
Thomas 35.
John dec at 17 in 1840.
William 30.

A couple of interesting things about this certificate. The doctor was "S. Thomson". He was Samuel Thomson and he made a fortune as a landlord as the town grew in the 1860s. There was still a Dr Samuel Thomson in the town in the 1960s and possibly 70s, his grandson or great-grandson.

James Prentice was the parish sexton "keeper of the churchyards of Dalziel", 2 churchyards and he was one of a very long line of Prentices who were parish sextons in Dalziel. It was either this one or his son who was eventually sacked for drunkenness. (Drunk in charge of a graveyard!).

[Joseph Jackson]

In the center of the photograph is Windmillhill House, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell occupied by Thomas King (Quarrymaster). He owned a brickworks and quarry in the nearby village of Cleland. At the rear of the house were buildings used for stabling Mr. King’s horses. Later these erections were turned into dwelling houses. On the far right is the spire of Dalziel Parish Church (was it later re-named South Dalziel Parish church?), and you can see the tramway rails on Windmillhill Street. The New Century Theatre opened as a variety hall in 1902, and it seems to be on the left in the background. However it was on Windmillhill Street too. It seems Thomas King's house backed onto Windmillhill Street. If in this image the New Century Theatre is approximately behind Windmillhill House, then looking at old maps; I would say Mr. King's house would have to have been near the intersection between present day Oakfield Street and Windmillhill Street. Or certainly on the southern section of Windmillhill Street between present day Oakfield Street and Airbles Street.

[Lodger]

What a fantastic photograph, I've never seen a picture of Windmillhill Street looking like this.
The side street on the left must have been either Quarry St or perhaps Quarryhall St?
I recognise the big building at the top of the side street, it was still there in the 1950s and early 60s perhaps.
Well done Joseph Jackson!

[Lodger]

Not Quarry or Quarryhall St. According to King's "Motherwell Seventy Years Ago  - And Now", it is Meadow Road (which still exists in a shortened version that begins up at the large building I mentioned, this is at Orbison Street).
According to King, 2 of the houses on Meadow Road were converted from stables belonging to Windmillhill House, they were occupied (in the 1840s & 50s) by William Faulds and William Smellie.
And, according to the author, the row of houses between Windmillhill House and the Church were occupied by the Kirkland, Rankin, Craigen and Brownlie families.

[Joseph Jackson]

Thanks for those great comments. Here's an advertisement from the company dated 1903.