BMDs for LAMONT, Blackcraig, Minnigaff

[Ruskie]

Thanks again Annette. Janet Pollock is a bit of a mystery woman - I have found no birth, marriage or death for her, but she appears on the 1841 and 51 censuses, and is named as mother to William bc 1812.

[Johnner Kid]

This morning I located these two old photographs in the DGFHS Research Centre archives.
They may be of general interest.

[Ruskie]

Thanks Sy! They really help imagine what it must have been like for those living there. It looks lovely - very idyllic, though I'm sure the villagers didn't see it that way at the time. I'm going to have a look at google maps in case some of the houses still survive, though in a different form. Blackcraig looks to have been quite a small village so there may be some survivors.

[Johnner Kid]

The thatched cottages look idyllic but anything I've read about the lead miners' lives in Dumfriesshire and KIrkcudbridgeshire describes a hard, dangerous and unhealthy life.
Here are two photos taken in June 2000.
The original Blackcraig village is long gone.  The hamlet you now see by that name is relocated at the bottom of the hill just off the main route through DG on the way to Stranraer. 

[Ruskie]

THanks for the photos.  :)I think these are the cottages I looked at via google maps. I'll have a look at old maps to see the location of the old Blackcraig and compare with google maps. I know what you say about the thatched cottages - I'm sure it must have been a cold damp existence for anyone living in them back in the 1700's and 1800's. (but they do look nice  )

[Ruskie]

Oh, Sy, sorry I nearly forgot - would you be kind enough to recheck that Minnigaff MI for my Lamonts pleas?. I would like to confirm Margaret's year of death is 1874 not 1864. Thank you. 

Poor William, in a matter of a few months he had lost his wife, son and daughter. Although William is not my direct line, I couldn't resist getting the death certificates of all of those mentioned on the MI - His wife, son and daughter died from variants of TB. 

[Ruskie]

Would you happen to know exactly where the old Blackcraig hamlet was located?

[Johnner Kid]

.....would you be kind enough to recheck that Minnigaff MI for my Lamonts pleas?. I would like to confirm Margaret's year of death is 1874 not 1864. ...

The dates as per the DGFHS booklet are recorded as 1874 for William and 1864 for Margaret.
That may be a transcription error by the transcribers but short of contacting the Minnigaff Heritage group who did the survey I can't verify the dates.

You say they died of variants of TB.  Interesting ? If the family were actually involved in the processing of the galena ore from Blackcraig mines their deaths may in fact have been related to lead poisoning.  Many a mining family of Wanlockhead and Woodend, the two main lead mines in Dumfriesshire, suffered from lead poisoning.
As for the location of the original village -- it and the mines are today forested over.  The land in that area is part of a large Forestry Commission enterprise.

[Ruskie]

Thank you once again. Interesting about possible lead poisoning - as far as I know, this generation were involved in forestry related occupations, but I suppose we don't know what kind of exposure they may have had to lead in their day to day lives. I'm going to try to chase up some information about this.