The mystery that is my Great Grandfather, William Buchanan (Please Help!)

[ThatAndyGuy93]

Hi there,

After searching for many months I finally discovered where it was my Great Grandfather died. He died on 3rd February 1954 at the age of 69 at 6 Burns Street in Glasgow, which I found out was the South Sawmillfield Mill. On the land of the mill there was also a doss-house which was locally known as the (apparently) infamous Rosie's Home, which is where I think he is likely to have died.

I have trawled the internet, especially the Scotland's People site, looking for more details on Rosie's Home and to try to find out where it is the people who lived (and died) there are likely to have been buried, but to no avail.

I enlisted the help of The Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society to try to find out where William was buried. They searched the records of all the local cemeteries via The Mitchell Library and other resources they have access to, but after weeks of helping they admitted they were stumped and had ran out of ideas.

I know very little about the Glasgow area and I'm not sure where to look next. My Grandfather (William's son) is very reluctant to talk about his father, and the rest of the very few people I have to ask about William say that all they know is that there is a "Dark Secret" attached to him, which just teases my curiosity further.

If anyone thinks they can help I would be extremely grateful and I'm more than happy to provide as much information as I can to help find some answers.

Thanks!

Andy 

[Wendy2305]

Hi there,

After searching for many months I finally discovered where it was my Great Grandfather died. He died on 3rd February 1954 at the age of 69 at 6 Burns Street in Glasgow, which I found out was the South Sawmillfield Mill. On the land of the mill there was also a doss-house which was locally known as the (apparently) infamous Rosie's Home, which is where I think he is likely to have died.

I have trawled the internet, especially the Scotland's People site, looking for more details on Rosie's Home and to try to find out where it is the people who lived (and died) there are likely to have been buried, but to no avail.

I enlisted the help of The Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society to try to find out where William was buried. They searched the records of all the local cemeteries via The Mitchell Library and other resources they have access to, but after weeks of helping they admitted they were stumped and had ran out of ideas.

I know very little about the Glasgow area and I'm not sure where to look next. My Grandfather (William's son) is very reluctant to talk about his father, and the rest of the very few people I have to ask about William say that all they know is that there is a "Dark Secret" attached to him, which just teases my curiosity further.

If anyone thinks they can help I would be extremely grateful and I'm more than happy to provide as much information as I can to help find some answers.

Thanks!

Andy 

Hi Andy welcome to rootschat a few questions to narrow down your gt grandfather do you know where he was born who his parents were and do you have the marriage to your gt grandmother where and when was it Wendy

[ThatAndyGuy93]

Hi Andy welcome to rootschat a few questions to narrow down your gt grandfather do you know where he was born who his parents were and do you have the marriage to your gt grandmother where and when was it Wendy

Hi Wendy, thanks for your response.

William was born in Glasgow (15 Tarbet Street) on 24th March 1884.

His parents were William Buchanan (B. 1852, D. 1900) and Elizabeth Reilley (B. 1855, D. 1903).

William's first marriage was to a woman called Elsie Mckay (B. 1886, D. 1915) with whom he had two children, his daughter Elsie Buchanan (B. 1912, D. 1915) and his son William Buchanan (B. 1914, D. 1915). All of these events took place in Glasgow, although William did work away from the city on farms sometimes it seems.

His second marriage was to my Great Grandmother Margaret Grieve (B. 1906, D. 1972) from Stirling. They married at St Mary's Church in Stirling on 28th December 1928. William was working on Drumdruils Farm in Dunblane at the time of the marriage which explains why he was in the Stirling area.

Kind Regards,

Andrew Buchanan

[Dundee]

Do you know how the home was funded?  Was it connected to any particular religion?  Perhaps the Glasgow city council might know?

Debra 

[ThatAndyGuy93]

Do you know how the home was funded?  Was it connected to any particular religion?  Perhaps the Glasgow city council might know?

Debra 

I have absolutely no idea. There is very little info online about the home and the mill. It was on the same site of the mill, so perhaps it was funded by the mill itself? Perhaps it's where the old workers were housed if they had nowhere else to go. I'm even beginning to wonder if those who died in the doss house were buried on the grounds of the mill.

Thanks for your reply

Andrew

[Wendy2305]

a few more questions I'm not from Glasgow but was Rosie's Home the Lodging House that the mill was transferred into if so then your gt grandfather possibly was buried in an unmarked grave have you contacted Glasgow council to ask where the residents would more than likely be buried
 There is a forum which mentions Rosie's Home as a threat to misbehaved children from there mother the forum is Glasgow Guide discussion board maybe a post there would bring some answers It seems to be a place where men who had fallen on hard times lived but a step up from the poorhouse and was still open at the time of his death
As for the dark secret have you searched the newspapers on Find my past for any possible report

[Wendy2305]

This link should take you to the discussion and photo's of Rosie's Home

http://discuss.glasgowguide.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=21001

[ThatAndyGuy93]

a few more questions I'm not from Glasgow but was Rosie's Home the Lodging House that the mill was transferred into if so then your gt grandfather possibly was buried in an unmarked grave have you contacted Glasgow council to ask where the residents would more than likely be buried
 There is a forum which mentions Rosie's Home as a threat to misbehaved children from there mother the forum is Glasgow Guide discussion board maybe a post there would bring some answers It seems to be a place where men who had fallen on hard times lived but a step up from the poorhouse and was still open at the time of his death
As for the dark secret have you searched the newspapers on Find my past for any possible report

I have seen that forum before. That's the only mention of Rosie's Home I can find online. I do not have a FindMyPast subscription unfortunately. I only have one an Ancestry and ScotlandsPeople.

I have searched the Glasgow Herald and Evening News Newspapers from both around the time of William's death and the deaths of his first wife and children, but there are no obituaries in either paper for any of them. It seems he was a very lonely and poor person at face value.

Until his death, William just went off the radar from 1938 onwards. His last child (my Grandfather) was born in 1938. He and my Great Grandmother Margaret Grieve separated for unknown reasons not long after her birth. I suspect this is where the "dark secret" comes into play. it is my understanding that he never saw his children again after leaving. My Grandfather (William's son) knows next to nothing about his father and is very uncomfortable talking about him unfortunately.

Thanks again for the help!

Andrew

[Wendy2305]

Have you checked for any court proceedings around the time of your grandfathers birth as Rosie's home doesn't sound like a place you would choose to go  or maybe he was a heavy drinker and they just separated or he walked out on them which would account for not being talked about