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« on: Friday 07 March 25 16:12 GMT (UK) »
Hi Forfarian & anyone else helping.....
3rd of February 1831
Since I began compiling my family tree, some twelve years ago, the final fate of my Great Great Great Grandfather James Strachan has eluded me.
I've finally broken down that brick wall almost by accident. I feel elated and sad all at the same time.
James was born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire in 1800. He lived with his family in New Wynd. A slum by todays standards but probably a pretty normal standard of living back then. He was a shoemaker to trade just like his father.
I knew already that he died young. His wife Margaret brought up their son Peter alone before eventually remarrying. There is no death certificate for James. Death registration wasn't a legal obligation in the UK until 1855 and it cost money. The Strachan's had none.
Tonight, while looking through old digitalised newspapers online I accidentally came across his story. I guess this is his gift to all of our long frustrated family. He's fed up being forgotten and wants his story to be told.
While severe winters and snow storms are common in Scotland, the Winter of 1830/31 was characterised by no such storms. At the time 'Gardeners Societies' started springing up in Scotland. The purpose was a general need amongst working men to secure sickness benefits, pensions and provision for their dependants. Non-gardeners could join most lodges. They were called 'free gardeners' and soon they out-numbered working gardeners. All through the 19th century they continued to found lodges and made up their own rituals and practices, which helped unite the brethren of each lodge.
On the 3rd of February 1831 four men left Hamilton with the intention of travelling to New Cumnock to inaugurate a lodge of free gardeners there. James Wright and George Henderson were weavers to trade and James Strachan and his younger brother Peter were shoemakers, then all members of the Hamilton Olive Lodge.
The journey would be taken by foot and a route was planned from Hamilton via Strathaven and Muirkirk. The journey was estimated to be around 18 hours. Before they reached Strathaven several showers of snow had fallen and it was beginning to gather. They pushed on. They reached Haws Toll and enquired about the safety of continuing but were assured that the 'shillers' (snow plough/road clearers) were out in front of them. The road towards Muirkirk runs southward and is bleak and unforgiving. An ice cold wind attacked them directly with its full force. Henderson and the younger Strachan became ill and both cried out for water. They were given some spirits to drink from a bottle. They continued to walk for 7 miles. It was pitch black and the snow was heavy. It was too late to go back and too late to forge forward. They stopped to rest, hoping they could continue shortly but the darkness overcame them all. Wright was woken some three hours later by James Strachan who had become delirious, his legs heavy with fatigue. The moon was rising and Wright saw that it was 1am. He found Henderson lying on his back breathing heavily, his pet terrier pressed against his body, sharing their heat. He looked up and saw the light of a fire in the distance - a farmhouse - and he made his way to get some aid. John Gibson and his wife owned the farmhouse - Linnburn. John dressed and fetched a neighbour to go to the aid of the men. They arrived back some time later with an unconscious Henderson and both of the Strachan's bodies. When Henderson awoke some time later, three days of his memory were gone. Never to return.
The news of the deaths spread like wildfire and people came from all over to offer help. The bodies were coffined and prepared for return to Hamilton. However it wasn't until the Sunday afternoon that news reached Hamilton - A man travelling from Cumnock to Airdrie carried the message. Amongst the first enquirers he met was Margaret Strachan and to lessen the blow she was about to receive he told her that it was the two weavers who had died and that the two Strachan men were alive.
Henderson and the two dead bodies were brought to Hamilton by cart while Wright made the journey back by foot. The Strachan brothers were buried in the Old Church Yard in Hamilton and a stone erected by their 'brother' gardeners bearing an inscription explaining the circumstances of their deaths.
James and Margaret's son Peter (my great great grandfather) went on to enlist in the 71st Regiment and fought in the Crimean War as well as the Indian Mutiny.
George Henderson never fully recovered and died two years later.
James Wright lived a long life in Hamilton but never forgot his friends. He went to the spot his 'brothers' died every year on the anniversary. He did this for a full fifty years. His last visit being 3rd of February 1881. The Gibson family left the farmhouse but their son became land lord of the Eglington Arms Hotel in Muirkirk.
Margaret Strachan went on to marry Robert Martin in 1834, a shoemaker and friend of her late husband.
Finally James Strachan and his brother Peter are remembered 194 years after their death.
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