RootsChat.Com

There is an excellent article in the Hamilton Advertiser of 7th April 1888 written  by Andrew Hamilton a first class historian from Quarter. It is called "The Mathers and the Mausoleum in Meikle Earnock Burying Ground", and gives a  detailed account and history of the Mather family. Much of the information was obtained from the family bible owned by a William Mather, Goulburn, Sydney, New South Wales. This article is a goldmine for Mather family historians. The last paragraph reads "In a list of Hamiltons and others who were retainers and vassals of the Earl of Arran, Lord Hamilton in 1565, is the name of John Mather in the Nethertoun of Hamilton. He may have been the common ancestor of all the Hamilton Mathers." The Old Hamilton Advertisers can be seen on fiche in Hamilton Reference Library and a copy of the article can be obtained for 45 pence per page. This article takes 7 pages. For any Mather family historian it is a must and you are so lucky to have it. Enjoy.

  Hi, This information may be of interest to you. Mather is an unusual name and the area is right.   W. Bolton

        MEIKLE EARNOCK BURYING GROUND.

Sir, I am curious to know the origin and age of the small graveyard on the confines of the Fairhill property and adjoining the road from Earnock to Meikle-Earnock. Might I ask the author of the “Recollections” which frequently appear in your publication if he can find on the shelves of his memory any impress of the facts relating to it and its dismantled state?  If he could also tell me the history of the ruined wall on the north side of the village of Meikle-Earnock. I should be under an increased debt of gratitude to him.  QUAERO. Ref. Hamilton Advertiser. 7/5/1887. Page 4.


MEIKLE-EARNOCK BURYING GROUND.
Sir, having read in Saturday’s Advertiser a letter from a correspondent seeking information about the age and origin of Meikle-Earnock Burying-Ground. I, along with a few friends, visited it on Sunday night, as I have often done in my lifetime before, and I must say that I was greatly shocked with the state in which I found it, It seems to me that in this awful race for riches the old proverb holds good, “Better a living dog than a dead lion.” The Indians of North America put us to shame in the way they respect the sepulchres of the dead. I must inform your correspondent that according to tradition the origin of this old burying ground is lost in the mists of time Everything points to Meikle-Earnock as being a very ancient place , there being an ancient tumulus, which, though much larger at one time still  measures 12 feet in diameter and 8 feet high. There have ben found several urns in it from time to time. It appears the ancient inheritance of Fairhill and Meikle-Earnock was held by a family of the name of Strang, of which our energetic councillor is a lineal descendant. So far as I have been able to discover o, when the old parish church of Hamilton (of which many of your readers of your readers will remember the portion that stood up to 1852, and was used as the burying place of the Hamilton family) was removed on 1731, the Laird Strang of that day built here a place of sepulture like Abraham of old, in the shape of an octagon tower wherein to bury members of the family. Of course there had been Strang’s buried here before this, as witness the inscription on two flat stones in good preservation:-- “Here lies James Strang, of Meikle-Earnock, who was born July 20th. 1654, and died 31st March 1746, in the 92nd year of his age” –also “Here lies Robert Strang, younger of Meikle-Earnock, who was born 31st October, 1687 and died 6th of May 1737. The Mathers of Meikle-Earnock, who held the estate for a considerable time, came through it by marriage. One of the Lairds of Meikle-Earnock married a Mather, and at his death the estate lapsed into that family, and was held for a time by a Mr Dick, of Glasgow, and is now the property of the much respected laird of Earnock, and I have no doubt if Mr Watson’s attention were called to the state of this old burying ground, he would perhaps hedge it round and plant a few trees in it. I more readily suggest this, knowing that few gentlemen in Scotland have done as much for the improvement and beautifying of their estates, and I have no doubt if this were done he would earn the eternal gratitude of every well-disposed  Hamiltonian. With regard to the high wall at the north end of the village, so far as I am able to judge, and so far as the older inhabitants remembers, it was the garden wall connected with the old mansion house. Yours, Etc. KINGSTON.  Ref. Hamilton Advertiser. 14/5/1887. Hamilton Advertiser. Page 4. 

Hi. Having had the misfortune to have had a stillborn son I can tell you that as far as I know the records for such babies are not available for the public to see.  It was not untill the round about the 1980's that death certificates were issued for these lost babies although their birth/death had to be registered.
It took me 27 years to get a copy of my son's death certificate.

Hi. I have written 2 books about the local coal mines and coal mining families of Hamilton and Blantyre . There is a J. Beecroft from Auchinraith Colliery mentioned as being in the rescue teams at the 1887 Udston Pit disaster when 73 men and wee boys were killed. There is also a photograph of the unemployed miners from Blantyre and Hamilton marching to London during the great depression of 1929. Among the men in the photograph is a James Beecroft. The book is called Black Faces and Tackety Boots/ True stories from the coal mines of Lanarkshire. The Beecrofts appeared to take a very active part in local politics. Hope this is of some help.
W. Bol