a few years ago I wrote a bit of a narrative of the story of George Simpson, his father and his brothers.
In case others come across this thread - here is the text. If there is interest, contact me, and I'll send a copy of the PDF that includes all the references.
Damon
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John Simpson with his wife Catherine Morgan and their growing family lived in Buckhaven, a small town in the Wemyss parish situated on the banks of the Firth of Forth just north of Edinburgh. my great grandfather George was born in 1883, the second youngest of seven children – two girls and five boys1.
In November 1896, George’s mother Catherine Morgan (b. 1847) passed away2 at the age of 46 leaving the widower John to care for the family. The seven children ranged in age from 10 to 25 years old. John, the father and a coal miner in the Wemyss mines near Buckhaven, would remarry3 two years later in February 1898 - to a Mary Chisholm. John was 53 years old and Mary, a widow herself, was 46. The marriage ceremony took place in Glasgow, and it was likely during his time there that John would have seen the passenger ships at the piers making their way to Canada and the United States. She passed away only a year and a half later in 1899 and I believe it is due to her death that John, a widower for the second time, would make the decision to have a fresh start for his children4.
In 1902, a 19 year old George, having taken on the family trade of coal mining, would make for the New World - George and his father made their way to Glasgow and boarded the S. S. Sarmatian an Allan Line passenger ship. On the 16th of September they arrived in Quebec5. The ship’s manifest had two other miners from Fife – Peter Keddie and James Lany (likely friends or acquaintances) and the four of them having declared their final destination to be Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.
Glace Bay was a thriving community at the beginning of the 1900s with a population around 7,000 people. It would be almost triple that number a decade later – primarily due to the booming growth in the coal mines of the region.
It would seem the father and son liked what they saw – less than two years later, father John would return home to Buckhaven. His oldest son James now with a blooming family of six children in Wemyss, would also be persuaded to move to the New World. Father John and son James (who would leave his family behind while he established himself overseas) as well as Alex and John (also both married) and along with young William, boarded the S.S. Pomeranian in Glasgow. On the 4th of July 1904 they would arrive in Quebec destined for Sydney6.
Just over a month later the family reunion at an end, George along with his father John and together with brothers, James and young William departed by train headed to the US. On August 18th 1904, they crossed the border at Niagara Falls into Black Rock (part of Buffalo) New York. Their destination was a family friend Joe Raddock in Dubois, Pennsylvania7.
Brothers Alex and John, their visit to Cape Breton at an end and their patient wives waiting back in Scotland, headed home to Wemyss to rejoin their young families where they would spend the rest of their days.
William also went back to Buckhaven and was married in 1906 to Joan Kinnear and had two daughters and three sons.
Within a couple of months, on the 29th of October 1904, brother James’ wife Agnes Dewar (Adamson) and children leave Wemyss and boarded the S.S. Columbia in Glasgow. A week later on November 7th they arrived in New York City8. Agnes, travelling alone with her children (daughters Agnes age 10, Catherine age 4, Annie age 2, and infant Mary along with sons John age 7 and William age 3), arrived in Dubois to settle and make a new home.
Dubois, it won’t surprise the reader is another coal town. James and Agnes plant deep roots in Pennsylvania – they go on to have an additional eight children between 1905 and 19209.
Meanwhile, within two months of arriving in Pennsylvania, great-grandfather George would marry his wife Jessie Robinson on the 30th of September 1904 in the neighboring community of Falls Creek10. Two years later, in 1906, they would head to Glace Bay to be near Jessie’s mother. Jessie’s mother - Mary (McGregor) Robinson had lived in Boston, but when her husband Alfred passed away she moved to Glace Bay with her children to run a boarding house.
Jessie and George would have 6 children in Glace Bay11 over 8 years starting in 1905 – the youngest of which was my grandmother Charlotte Caroline Simpson, born in 1913. Unfortunately George would only live to the age of 36, passing away in 1919.
Lastly – George’s father John would head back to Wemyss, eventually moving in with his daughter Catherine and her husband Thomas Arnott - as recorded on the 1911 Census in Wemyss12. John would pass away on the 24th of February 1915 and was buried with his first wife Catherine Morgan in Wemyss along with several of his children and grandchildren.
Written by: Damon Brodie, January 2018
Updated: July 2019 (William Simpson)
