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The Glasgow Evening Citizen, 16 Jun 1880, re. William Smith states "He was married, but leaves no family". This does not rule out children predeceasing him.

That's a good point and I suppose if you had lost two young daughters, you might want them memorialised as street names. 

Quote from: Vendee on Yesterday at 17:26

Ah yes I see that under the illustration but at the bottom of page 104, continuing onto page 105 it says" James Smith Dixon gifted a site at the junction of Dixon avenue and Cathcart road for a burgh hall". I wonder which statement is correct?

Not on my copy - William Smith Dixon is mentioned on page 105 (not on 104) but as the feuer of the lands of Govanhill. The first mention of a gift of land for the Halls is on page 106.

That's odd. My online edition is a reprint dated 1998.

Hmm... I'm just reading Aileen Smarts book at the moment and it refers to the land the Dixon Halls was built on being donated by James Smith Dixon in the 1870's. So either that is a typo or... it means that William Smith Dixon wasn't childless and had a son. And if that is true, there is a chance that he had a couple of daughters too. It would be nice to see the records that confirm that though.

Thanks again to everyone... so much information. I knew that several streets were named after Dixon's ironworks, namely Gartuck street, Carfin street and Calder street. I knew that Belleisle street was named after Dixons residence in Ayrshire. I knew that Allison street was named after Sir Archibald Allison and predates the other streets above that lead off it. I've seen reference to the Ailleen Smart book before and its nice to learn that it can be downloaded but her assertion that Daisy and Annette were William Smith Dixon's daughters are at odds with this reference :- http://www.glasgowwestaddress.co.uk/100_Glasgow_Men/Dixon_William.htm which states of Dixon:- He died in London in June, 1880, having married in 1851 Catherine Anne, daughter of David Napier, merchant, of Singapore, by whom he had no children, and who died in 1884

A bit of an odd one but this is related to where I grew up and not my own family tree. I grew up in the Govanhill area of Glasgow. I lived in Daisy street and a couple of streets down there was Annette street. The story that is widely told is that these two streets were named after a prominent industrialist's daughters. The only problem is that there is no evidence behind this story.

The industrialist was William Dixon and in fact there was three generations of them:- William Dixon 1753-1822, his son William Dixon 1788-1859 and his son William Smith Dixon 1824-1880. The Dixons were really big in the area, owning collieries and iron works. They had a reputation of looking after their workers and were well respected. In Govanhill we have the Dixon Halls, Dixon avenue and Dixon road. There are also three further streets named after his ironwork factories outside the city. So its not unreasonable that Daisy and Annette streets are connected to the Dixons. These streets appear on the maps about 1880-85, just after William Smith Dixon's death. William Smith Dixon had no children but he had a wife and an unmarried sister. His wife's maiden name was Napier and was apparently out of Singapore. So it would be nice to find out if the wife and sister were Daisy and Annette.

Thanks in advance for any help.