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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Lanarkshire => Topic started by: orkrad on Sunday 16 October 16 00:23 BST (UK)
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Hello and greetings from New Zealand .
A family I have been researching named TENNANT/TENNENT appear in the 1881 Scottish census as living at Springbank Cottage Lanarkshire. They immigrated to New Zealand in 1883.
I am wondering if the cottage still exists. I am having a bit of a problem as I see from an OS document in 1841 the house appears to be called Nursery Cottage and is owned by a John TENANT who is probably a relative of the family. Does the nursery cottage name mean it is part of some local estate? I cant find John TENANT on the family search database and I don't have access to Ancestry at the moment.
Any help on locating the cottage on a map would be appreciated . A picture would be an added bonus.
Thanks Orkrad
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There are references in a Roots Web post of Gavin Hamilton Born: 28 MAR 1764
Died: 22 DEC 1846 in Springbank Cottage, Lethan Rd. Strathaven, Lanarkshire
(I think this is now Lethame Road)
1851 - John Craig & family lived at Springbank Cottage, Latham Road.
NB: Scotlands Places 1858-1861 - Place names found in the parish of Avondale.(Strathaven)
List of Names as written on the Plan Descriptive remarks and/or General Observations
SPRINGBANK COTTAGE A small cottage situated near Townhead occupied by John Millar and the property of Mrs Craig who lives near Hamilton
SPRINGBANK This is a handsome cottage situated near Townhead occupied by The Misses Craig and the property of Mrs Craig who lives near Hamilton.
If you google Springbank, Strathhaven it will show properties of that name but from what I have found I think it is unlikely that Springbank Cottage has survived in the form that it was in 1881.
Colin
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Nursery Cottage seems to be in Kirk Street from the 1881 enumeration list.
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A family I have been researching named TENNANT/TENNENT appear in the 1881 Scottish census as living at Springbank Cottage Lanarkshire.
The trouble is that Springbank is a not uncommon name for a house or farm, and Lanarkshire has a lot of houses!
The critical piece of information you need is which parish you are looking at. If you don't know that, you are quite likely to be flapping around looking at all sorts of wrong places.
According to the LDS CD-ROM transcription of the 1881 census, the Springbank Cottage occupied by Robert Tennant and his family is in the parish of Shotts, not the parish of Avondale, so the one in Strathaven is not the one you are looking for.
This Springbank Cottage is listed on Page 15 of Enumeration District 1 of the parish of Shotts, next to Springbank Farm, between Hillhouse and Kiltarrie, and near Wester Moffat and Easter Moffat.
See http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=55.8674&lon=-3.9177&layers=6&b=1 for the late Victorian Second Edition six-inch Ordnance Survey map which shows Springbank Cottage. The cottage isn't on the earlier map so must have been built after 1859, when the First Edition was surveyed, and before 1881, when the census was taken.
If you click on the blue button in the menu box on the left, and slide it to the left, you can see a modern satellite view. It looks as if Springbank Farm, Springbank Cottage and Kiltarrie have all disappeared. I can't quite make out what is on the site of Hillhouse.
See http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/NS8065 for what the immediate area looks like now.
There is a Springbank Cottage in Avondale but its occupants in 1881 are named Brown not Tennant.
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The 1881 census shows Robert aged 39 and born in Rutherglen. I think his wife is Agnes Ross, and they were married in Rutherglen on 2 June 1865.
The children are John, 1866; Isabella Baird, 1867; David, 1869; Agnes Ross, 1871, Robert, 1873; John and William, twins, 1874.
The Community Contributed (and therefore unreliable) IGI has Robert Tennant, son of John Tennant and Isabella Baird, born in Rutherglen on 1 June 1841.
The 1851 census transcription at www.freeCEN.org has John Tennant, 42, coal miner, born Barony (i.e. Glasgow) with wife Isabella, 32, born Old Monkland, and Robert, 9; David, 7; William, 5; Agnes, 2; and John, 1; all born in Rutherglen.
The Community Indexed (more reliable) IGI lists two more children, Andrew, born 3 December 1855, and Thomas, 1858. 1855 birth certificates are gold mines of information, so if I were you I would hasten to get that one from Scotland's People.
The 1841 census transcription at FreeCEN has a family in Rutherglen consisting of Robert, 60, coal miner; Jean, 45; Robert, 20, coal miner; William, 15, coal miner; Jean, 25; Elizabeth, 15; John, 30, coal miner; Isobell, 20; Jean, 8; and an unnamed male, aged 6 days. As the census was taken on 7 June 1841, this last is clearly Robert, born 1 June 1841.
These are probably the family of Robert Tennant and Jean Smith. Their son John was born in Barony in 1808.
The only adult John Tennant/Tennent in Avondale in 1841 is a 64-year-old merchant, living at Bank of Scotland.
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Thank you Colc, Pari Passu and Forfarian for your help in my request.
Forfarian the 1881 census family are the ones who came to New Zealand. The links to mining are most interesting as Robert ( he of the 1881 census ) was a mine manager in New Zealand particularly of the Brunner Mine where unfortunately many miners perished. According to Robert TENNENT's obituary he studied at the School of Mines at the Andersonian Institute and received his mine manager's certificate in 1875 by examination at Edinburgh. He was considered an authority in Mining.
It's a pity the cottage i was searching appears to no longer exist but thanks for the map and grid references. Regards Orkrad
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Glad to be of assistance, Orkrad.
Robert was described as a mine manager in 1881.
You now need to verify the information I dug out by going to www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk and viewing at least some of the relevant documents.
I'd go for
- the original of that 1881 census
- the marriage certificate of Robert Tennant and Agnes Ross in 1865
- the birth certificate of Andrew Tennant in 1855
to start with.
After that you could go for the death of John Tennant to see if he genuinely was the son of Robert Tennant and Jean Smith. He wan't in the transcription of the 1881 census, so presumably died between 1857 (conception of son Thomas) and 1881 (census).
Don't believe anything you find online, unless it's an image of an original document - just use it as a pointer to where to look for the originals. Never, ever, trust any online family tree; some are meticulously researched but others are a load of - well, let's call it wishful thinking. Without checking the sources you can't be sure that I am right.
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Orkrad,
Nursery Cottage is showing on an old map. Google: Lesmahagow Place Names Database. Pick the site at the top of the list, the one that says National Library of Scotland. Click on. A map comes up but don't use the first map, because it is too recent. From the list on right, click OS Six Inch 1843 - 1882 instead.
First image that comes up is very faint. Click the + to enlarge three times or whatever suits you. Home in on STRATHAVON, which is in large letters.
Just below the first two letters of Strathavon, you'll see Springbank Cottage, and just south of it is a manse, so maybe the cottage was a sort of lodge connected to the manse. Now go to the AV in STRATHAVON and just below you will see Springbank and there is a Manse there as well & a Free Church. From there, scroll down from the AV again to find Nursery Cottage.
There appears to be a LOT of manses and churches in Strathaven at this time.
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Thanks Doddsie4 and Forfarian for taking the time to help me out.
Forfarian will follow up your suggestions and thanks for the cautionary remarks. I have been having a bit of trouble navigating the new (and improved?) Scotlandspeople site and am waiting till I have it a bit more under my control before I embark on further research there.
The TENNENT family I am researching are for a friend and will be delighted to know how far we have progressed in a very short time.
Regards Orkrad.
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Just stumbled across a bit of information - Springbank and adjacent farms were the property of Dr Clark of Wester Moffat. When Dr Clark died in 1859 the property passed to his relative William Towers, who took the name Clark in addition to his own, becoming William Towers-Clark of Wester Moffat. He died in 1870 and his son James Towers-Clark became the proprietor, and could have been your Robert Tennant's employer in 1881.
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Thanks for that I wonder if the owner of the property was also a mine owner or investor. That would be an additional link if it could be found.
Regards Orkrad
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Oh, yes, indeed, he owned mines. Just about everywhere in Shotts and New Monkland was mined for coal or ironstone or both.
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Thanks again--another little potential twiglet to add to a family tree ! Orkrad
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Tiny scrap of information, probably doesn't add much to your search.... "Nursery Cottage. This cottage is occupied by Alexander Richmond and the property of John Tenant of Strathaven." This is from: "Lanarkshire Volume 02/Scotlands Places" Problem is, it doesn't seem to give a date for this scrap of information.
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Another potentially interesting item I just came across: http://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/scancatalogue/details.aspx?reference=GB243%2fTD546&st=1&tc=y&tl=n&tn=y&tp=y&k=e+forbes+papers&ko=p&r=&ro=s& (sorry about the unwieldy URL but if I use a tinyurl it will expire and become useless).
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Thanks again Doddsie and Forfarian for providing such interesting information.
Regards Orkrad