Hawkers,Basket Makers,Tinsmiths & Tinkers

[GarryMcCallum]

Hi Guys

I come from a long line of traditional Travellers in Scotland. My Grandfather Edward McCallum was the last person in our family to be Born in a Bow Tent, He was Born in 1929 on Shewallion Moor in Ayrshire. In my blood line I have McCallums,Stewarts & McLarens. I also have McPhees and Drummonds in there too. I have McCallums & Stewarts that married into each others family lots of times ie 1st Cousins Marrying 1st Cousins.

My descendants are all from a large Travelling family and from 1780s-1940s they were travelling between Kilfinnan-Dundee. Between the 1851-1915 they were mostly living around the Balfron & Drymen areas of Scotland, But as you can imagine they were living all over the place Between Dumbartonshire & Stirlingshire. They all lived mainly in Bow Tents and Lived and worked on the Farms, Their Jobs were Spoon Makers,Basket Makers, Tinsmiths etc & the women were mostly Hawkers, selling their Husbands Goods door to door and in the Towns & Villages.

At the moment i am the first person to have traced my family line, I have met Two Cousins through my research and i would love to try and trace any one who might be related to me. I would also like to hear from anyone who is still from the travelling comunity who might know of any of my descendants or even see a picture of any of them.

If you have any one in your tree that is from these areas or infact had any of these Professions please get in contact with me, it would be great to exchange trees. If anyone would like any info on any of the people on my tree, give me a shout.

I am particularly interested in the family names of McCallum,Stewart & McLaren.


Kind Regards

Garry McCallum

[sillgen]

Duplicate post.  Please see http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=521786.msg3768268#msg3768268

[heatherwalsh]

none of your surnames are familiar to me, but i am looking for travellers from ireland. in the 1941 census for durham england there is a francis collagan age 45, james collagan age 14, thomas corrigan age 30 and frances corrigan age 35, all hawkers, all born in ireland.  now this surname gets spelt many ways, especially when it comes to censuses. collighan, colligan, corrigan, callagan, colligun.. it usually depended on whether the person writing the name down, could understand the accent, or knew how to spell.
anyway this is the family name i am searching for, if you come across it anywhere, let me know.....i'll do the same for the names you are looking for...kind reguards from heather

[GarryMcCallum]

Hi Heather

Have you considerd the name Colgan? My wifes family are originaly from Ireland and they were all Colgan. I have to mention that none of them were from the Travelling background.

Garry

[heatherwalsh]

hi garry, no i've been down the colgan path and no  connection there.  i have our family tree from now going back to the one person i am looking for now, the francis colligan.  he was born 1796 in ireland and also had a twin brother....i am relying on family stories to help me go in the right direction. some branches seem to be travellers, others do not. ...the family tree that was given to me has my francis 1796, but his spouses name was blacked out...also his parents names were blacked out....apparently no one knows why...........another interesting thing on the family tree, it is the colligan family, but on top of every page it says, descendants of charley farley.. i think the pages i have must have come from a larger tree. my father ( long deseased ) used to tell me that he was descended from travellers, going back, but as i have discovered , he was slightly deceived about his correct place in the family. he used to tell me that he had a favorite great aunt and uncle., which i have discovered were actually his granparents !!!!! he never knew...... the story goes on and on..........anyway, needless to stay, my curiosity can not be tamed now, so digging up the past has become   quite an obsession for me now !!!!!....best wishes from heather

[JaneyJ]

Hi Gary,

I have a few Stewarts in my tree, one, Bryce Stewart 1891-1927 b: Ayr, d: Stirling, married Margaret Young in Ardrie in 1907. My main line is the Young's.

His parents came from Northumberland, though they all seemed to move to Scotland in the late 1880's,  all were Basket Makers, Tin Smiths, Hawkers etc.

The earliest Stewart I have is Bryce's Grandfather William Stewart b: abt 1827 in Scotland, so it looks like they moved down from Scotland in the 1850's (all William's children born in Northumberland).

If these connect with any of yours I can give you birth dates, places etc if you need them, though most of this info is from census returns I do have a few birth, marriage and death cert's.

I don't have any photo's I'm afraid, but I'm sure someone on this site will, they are so helpful.

Yours Jane

[scunscan]

none of your surnames are familiar to me, but i am looking for travellers from ireland. in the 1941 census for durham england there is a francis collagan age 45, james collagan age 14, thomas corrigan age 30 and frances corrigan age 35, all hawkers, all born in ireland.  now this surname gets spelt many ways, especially when it comes to censuses. collighan, colligan, corrigan, callagan, colligun.. it usually depended on whether the person writing the name down, could understand the accent, or knew how to spell.
anyway this is the family name i am searching for, if you come across it anywhere, let me know.....i'll do the same for the names you are looking for...kind reguards from heather

I have Colgan in my ancestry from Co Roscommon which was written down as Colligan. Corrigan is seperate name entirely and comes from a different source although I can see how it could be easily confused in England by someone unfamiliar with an Irish accent.

[Sharon01]

Hi,

Just to point out that my Carrigan family from Ireland who ended up in Northumberland were often mis transcribed ar Corrigan,  Carrighan & Carrigon.

Sharon

[rob g]

hi, garry, sorry for the late thread, i just caught it now. re your search, i used to camp at stirling near the laprock, by the castle, i have relative who are stewarts, and know the mcphees, and the drummonds, i have camped with both for over fifty years, since i was a child, be cause of the restriction on living people i cannot comment more, but the family you mention are old travelling and well know in the romany circles. good luck rob .g