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I wonder if someone can help me trace what happened to the following family.   Agnes Cairns was the mother and she had three illegitimate children.   Jane born Ancrum 1866, James born Roxburgh 1874 and Thomas born 1880 at Ancrum.   Agnes their mother was an Ag. Labourer.   I have not been able to find Jane after the 1881 Census.   At that time she was staying with her mother and brothers and grandparents at Broom Farm Cottage near Ancrum.   Thereafter I cannot trace her.   Agnes and the boys I cannot find after 1891 when they are living at Lanton Mill Cottages.   Agnes's mother Jane Cairns(she was Jane Chisholm) is living there with them too.  Jane (the mother) died soon after so they must have moved away somewhere.

Any help much appreciated as there might be something very obvious that I am missing.

Bina

Hi Solway,

I have checked Sheila Scott's pre-1855 Memorial inscriptions in Peeblesshire and I am sorry to say that I cannot find the names you are looking for.   Maybe they were buried outwith Peeblesshire or did not have a headstone.   I checked the whole of Peeblesshire just in case they were taken to another parish.

Hi Swally,

I have looked up the Valuation Rolls and the first record appears in the Valuation Roll Whitsunday 1921 - Whitsunday 1922.   At that time a Robert Allan was living there and is described as a small holder.  His yearly rent or value was £29.  The proprietor for all the smallholdings is listed as Board of Agriculture for Scotland, per The Secretary, 29 St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh.   Prior to that the previous Valuation Rolls lists the land at Eshiels as belonging to Sir Duncan Edwyn Hay.

In History of Peeblesshire by John Buchan it is written "The later Act was passed mainly for the benefit of the ex-Service men, of whom considerable numbers wished to settle on the land.   Hence much greater funds were placed at the disposal of the Board of Agriculture for settling ex-soldiers..........after negotiations with the proprietor of the Hayston  estate, (this is Sir Duncan Edwyn Hay) acquired the farms of Eshiels and Soonhope.    The lie of the land and the varying tastes and capabilities of the applicants determined the distribution of the land.   About 14 holdings of different sizes were formed, some containing as much as 50 or 60 acres, and others only a few acres.

The settlement was much criticised at the outset by those who were more concerned at seeing a large farm broken up to form the subject of a curious and doubtful experiment than mindful of the claims of the soldiers;  the houses and steadings too were built at a time when building materials were dear."

I hope that this all helps.   I have just picked out what I thought was useful.   There is no mention of criteria though, sorry cannot help you there.

Brina

I wonder if it was the Station Hotel.   I have attached a link which describes it as a "first class family and commercial hotel".   It would not have been too far from Sainsbury's either.

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/sc-51198-1-dovemount-place-the-station-hotel-

Brina

Linda, maybe the following websites will be of use to you.   I think I read somewhere in a local paper that Borders Family History Society have been recording the gravestones at Eddleston so it might be worth contacting them.   

There is also the Heritage Hub at Hawick so I have provided their website link too and they are very helpful if you want to contact them.   Good luck.

http://www.bordersfhs.org.uk/Eddleston.asp

http://www.heartofhawick.co.uk/heritagehub/collections/ancestors.asp

Brina