Cambusnethan Cemetery Grave Search - Part 1

[Skoosh]

Thanks for your trouble Lodger, they cropped up later in New Monkland, the most likely origin is Bathgate but I thought C/Nethan might be a possibility, even a negative's a positive, cheers.     Skoosh.

[Jokdy]

Hi Lodger

I'm new here.  I wonder if you have details for a Robert Holmes being buried in Cambusnethan?  He was married to Hessie (we think) but having looked at a couple of birth certficates we can't make out her maiden name.  We think James and Hugh could have been their sons (James married Margaret Crosser), unsure how many other children they may have had.  We believe Robert Holmes was originally from Ireland.  We have him listed as alive in the 1891 census, aged 85.

Your help would be very much appreciated.

[Lodger]

Hi Jokdy,

Looks like your Hessie was really Esther. Here's what I found.
In the old private burial ground between the churchyard and the cemetery. Plot number 222 holds the following -

ROBERT HOLMES. Cambusnethan, aged 16 weeks.
Parents - Richard Holmes and Agnes Kelly.
Interred 21st August 1876.

HESSIE HOLMES. Housewife, Cambusnethan, aged 75 years, married.
Parents - John McAhon and Isabella Duffen.
Interred 11th February 1882.

ROBERT HOLMES, labourer, Motherwell Poorhouse, aged 84 years, widower.
Parents - George Holmes and Martha McMullen.
Interred 13th May 1891.

ROBERT HOLMES, Bellshill, aged 1 year & 9 months.
Mother - Janet Holmes.
Interred 28th September 1908.

JAMES HOLMES, coalminer, Bellshill, aged 75 years, widower.
Parents - Robert Holmes and Esther McGechie.
Interred 20th December 1916.

----------------------

2 more burials, both in public (or common) ground.

WILLIAM HOLMES, Wishaw, aged 9 months.
Parents - James Holmes and Margaret Crossart.
Interred 18th January 1876.

MARGARET HOLMES, housewife, Bellshill, aged 52 years, married.
Parents - James Crossan and Elizabeth Diffen.
Interred 12th September 1908.

I don't understand why the above Margaret wasn't burried in 222 along with her husband. It may have been a mistake on the paperwork, who knows.

At least you have a clue to Esther/Hessie's surname. McAhon nowadays would probably be Mahon.  It's a very Irish surname, it sounds like Mach-on, the way we Scots say loch.  Note also, the spellings of Crossan/Crossart.

Good luck with your research,

Lodger.

[Jokdy]

Thanks Lodger...this is great stuff.  Richard Holmes - a new addition - I'm thinking maybe he was brother to James.  This has been really helpful because we'd reached a brick wall regarding the parents of Robert Holmes.  It says he died in the poorhouse in Motherwell, yet he was listed as living with James only a couple of months previously in the 1891 census, he must have taken ill quickly? 

Yes it is a bit strange Margaret wasn't buried beside James.

McAhon or McGechie?  Hessie is definitely mother of James (he's my link to the family) but howcome his mother is named McGechie on his burial details yet McAhon for her own?  It's quite confusing.

Thanks for your help by the way.

[Lodger]

Jokdy,
Here's another one - missed it earlier, sorry.

ARCHIBALD S.K. HOLMES. Cambusnethan, aged 3 months.
Mother - Esther Holmes.
Interred in common ground, 17th November 1914.

This has to be a granddaughter of Hessie, surely?
The child must have been illegitimate and you can bet your boots that the father's name was Archibald S. with a surname beginning with K.  It was (still is) illegal to add the father's name to an illegitimate child's birth certificate unless the father registered it (or was present at time of registration).
Adding the father's surname as the child's middle name was a way of telling the world (and the neighbours) who the father was.  The birth or death certificate should reveal all.

The poor relief books for Cambusnethan parish are now with North Lanarkshire Council at Lenziemill Archives in Cumbernauld.  The Cambusnethan records don't have much information but the entries for Robert and this child may give you something.
I would imagine that there will be a record there for Margaret who died in 1908. Bellshill is in Bothwell parish, and yet she was buried in a paupers grave in Cambusnethan parish. This tells us that although she died a pauper in Bellshill, she didn't have enough "residency" in Bothwell to be buried by that parish. So, Bothwell sent her to be buried in C/nethan and would have claimed that parish for any expenses incurred.

As for Hessie's surname, my experience is that the early information is always the most accurate.


Lodger

[Jokdy]

That's interesting.  I have an Esther Holmes (born c1879) listed as daughter to James on the 1891 census, so yes she'd be granddaughter of Hessie.

Other children listed to James on the census are: James, Margaret, Janet, and William (they obviously had another son and named him William again since they had lost the previous William aged 9 months as per your listing).

[pia]

Could you please check Cambusnethan Cemetery for Emily Muirhead nee Ford her parents were Edward Ford & Sarah Williams.

Emily died 30 Oct 1891 at 13 Stewarton Street, Wishaw if not to much trouble can you check if there are other siblings buried there

Regards Pia

[Lodger]

Hi Pia,

Muirhead is a very popular name in the Wishaw area, millions of them!

There is a family plot in the old churchyard at Cambusnethan, registered owner (in Victorian times) was Mary Weir. There is, or was, a small headstone that has weathered badly. The lower part of the inscription has gone but the top part reads - "Erected by Robert Muirhead in memory of his wife Mary Weir who died 21st February 1847 aged 22 years. Their son William died 1847"........ (rest of stone badly worn).

The burial records for the old churchyard only begin in the last quarter of the 19th century. Here's what I have for that plot. (all dates are of internment)
In the South lair -
WILLIAM MUIRHEAD, aged 36 years. 11th May 1914.
JANE MUIRHEAD, aged 70 yeas. 26th March 1927.

In the Centre lair -
LYDIA MUIRHEAD, aged 64 years. 11th February 1886.
EMILY MUIRHEAD, aged 24 years. 2nd November 1891.
EDWARD FORD, aged 46 years.  2nd March 1892.

In the North lair -
ROBERT MUIRHEAD, aged 21 years.  29th January 1883.
ROBERT MUIRHEAD, aged 80 years. 13th March 1900.

There is an entry in the Day Book for the above William that reads -
WILLIAM MUIRHEAD, coalminer, Wishaw, aged 56, married.
Parents - Robert Muirhead and Lydia Lithgow.
Interred in the old churchyard 11th May 1914.
So one entry gives his age as 36 and the other as 56. Probably a transcription error.

There are 2 entries in the pauper burial book for this family.
MARGARET MUIRHEAD, Wishaw, aged 3 years.
Parents - Robert Muirhead and Lydia Lithgow.
Interred in the old churchyard 2nd December 1863.

STILLBORN MALE CHILD.
Parents as above.
Interred in the old churchyard, 23rd May 1868.

3 entries in the "modern" burial registers for the Ford family.
The plot is Section E.719 and all 3 are interred there.

CHARLES WILLIAM FORD, ironworker, Shieldmuir, aged 19 years, single.
Parents - Edward Ford and Sarah Williams.
Interred 27th September 1898.

SARAH WILLIAMS FORD. Craigneuk, aged 1 year.
Parents - Samuel Ford and Rachael Harvey.
Interred 7th September 1908.

SAMUEL FORD. Wishaw, aged 12 weeks.
Parents - Samuel Ford and Rachael Harvey.
Interred 27th June 1911.


Hope this helps. Good luck with your research.

Lodger.

[pia]

Lodger,
Thank you for taking the time to look up my Ford family very much appreciated

Regards Pia