Myles Sweenie b 1828 Ireland

[irene_kipyahoo.co]

Hi
I'm looking for info about my gt gt grandfather Myles Sweenie.  Spelling could be Miles Sweeney.

I believe he died in wallace street St Quivox.

He was a coal miner and lived at 72 Crop st Ayr.  Any ideas what coal mines were about this area.  Any records of workers at the mines?

[JustJean]

Yes you are correct..he died at Wallace St....his DC is indexed as this:

1868 SWENEY MILES     M 40 AYR /AYR 578/00 0406

You can purchase a copy of it at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk if you don't have one already.  So sad that his namesake son was born 2 months afterward.

As for mining in the area...well there is a mining website found here: http://www.scottishmining.co.uk/278.html which does have a mention of one pit in Ayr.  It is mentioned in an interview one lad gives to representative of the Child Employment Commission.  These reports were published in 1842 so a bit before the time your Miles was in the area perhaps.  It caught my eye in that the boy mentioned attending a night school on Cross Street run by a wife.

QUOTE
No.35. May 6. David Neavon, aged 12:
Has been hewing coal a fortnight; for two years before was “trapping” [i.e. keeping a trap-door] in Ayr colliery. They go down at five o'clock, or any time before six am, at which time the engine begins to draw up coal. They are generally out of the pit between two o'clock and six in the afternoon. Their breakfast is sent down at nine o'clock, when engine stops to feed the horses which draw the coals below ground. It is gay hard coal. He earns 10d. a-day, and is paid by Maister Gordon [the proprietor]. There are some far younger than him keeping trap-doors - as young as eight. The young ones go down with their fathers; he lives in Kilmarnock-street, Ayr; he has a brother 13 or 14 in the pit. He went to school before he went down to pit, and now goes to a night-school. Was five years at the day-school but reads only “some little;” he is in the Testament. A “wife” keeps night-school in Cross-street, at which he pays 2d. a-week. Goes into school from six to eight o'clock.
ENDQUOTE

Cross Street is the real name of the address you've mentioned in your post above and not Crop.  It is written on the certificate in the old hand style of making the double ss look like fs and you've misreading that "f" for a "p"!

Hope you find this interesting.

Best wishes
Jean

[irene_kipyahoo.co]

Jean

Thank you so much for responding to my enquiry about Myles Sweenie - isn't a terrible shame he didn't see baby Myles.

The extract was really interesting - what a terrible life it must have been.

I thought I was so clever knowing Crop St - duh!  Great to know it was Cross St.

Thanks again
Irene

[jonn]

Hello Irene,

On the 1861. census index, for St Quivox. Ayr. we have this family.

Sweeny Sheals, age 28 years,
Sweeny Lettia, age 27 years,
Sweeny Ralph, age 15 years,
Sweeny Agness, age 4 years,
Sweeny Cathrine, age 2 years.

Was your Miles, married to Letitia Smith, if so then this is your family in the above census, this is only a index to the census, you can purchase the full census at Scotlandspeople. the above spellings are the exact spelling on the original census index.

Regards,
Jonn.

[irene_kipyahoo.co]

Thanks John - yes that's the family I'm looking for - how clever are you!!

Irene

[jonn]

Hello Irene,

Did you know Letitia Smith, remarried after the death of Miles Sweenie, she married a David Colvin, 1873. Ayr. by 1881 she is living in Neilston, Renfrewshire, and she is widowed again, she did not have a lot of luck in her marriages.

Letitia, died 1907. in Neilston, aged 68 Years, her age is out by a few years but its certainly her Letitia Smith Sweenie Colvin.

Regards,
Jonn.

[irene_kipyahoo.co]

Thanks John -I thought she remarried but wasn't sure.  Thanks for confirming.

Irene

[jonn]

Hello Irene,

Do you know who Letitia's, parents were ie did you ever get her marriage certificate to Miles, that would have confirmed her parents.

The reason i am asking there are two Letitia Smith's, a year seperating them in Ayr. in this timeframe, i think they are both related.

Regards,
Jonn.

[irene_kipyahoo.co]

Thanks for your quick response

Letitia's parents were john Smith and Janet Nimmo - don't know anything else.

Irene