Re: Abe Laird married to Mary Kemp, railroad conductor, lived in Junction City Kansa
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In reply to:
Re: Abe Laird married to Mary Kemp, railroad conductor, lived in Junction City Kansa
Tim Scanlon 1/28/07
My wife & I made our maiden voyage to Scotland this year.When inquiring in the town that her G-Grandfather came from, the women @ the library gave us the phone number of a Mr. Robert McLeish, who got our email address and sent the following:
This is Robert McLeish in Lesmahagow. Thank you for leaving me a note of your email adress etc., at the Library. My apology for the lateness of this reply, but it is that time of year when I get inundated with genealogical enquiries and have to deal with them in their order, which I'm sure you will understand.
On your behalf I have checked various research sources I have to hand and found that Abraham Laird was born at Bankend near Coalburn in the Parish of Lesmahagow on the 30th of October 1858. Bankend was a small mining village or hamlet about 1 mile south west of the village of Coalburn and 4 miles south of Lesmahagow. It no longer exists. The village was demolished during the 1920's. The inhabitants were removed to new housing in Coalburn.
Abraham Lairds Father was Allan Laird and his mother was Christina Hailstons. Allan was born in Old Monklands (Coatbridge) Parish, Lanarkshire on the 7th of May 1833 and Christina was born in Bathgate, West Lothian Parish near Edinburgh circa 1838. They were married in Hamilton, Lanarkshire on the 2nd of October 1857. (Hamilton is a town some 11 miles north of Lesmahagow.)
At the time of their marriage Allan was living in Bankend and Christina was living in Quarter, a mining village about 2 miles west of Hamilton. They were also in residence in Bankend at the taking of the 1861 census. I could not find them in the Census for 1871 or 1881, but they may have emigrated by that time. In the 1861 Census Abraham was their only child.
In the next house to them in the 1861 Census was a Andrew Hilstons, who may have been Christina's brother, but I have no definate proof.
An interesting point: The Birth register entry (Old Monklands) for Allan, has an ammendment to the entry informing that Allan was originally registered as William, but changed to Allan on the instruction of the father Abraham Laird.
Allan's father was Abraham Laird and his mother Janet Rennie, ther were married in Cumbernauld, Dumbartonshire on the 27th of December 1822.
Christina's father was Frank? Hailstons and her mother was Margaret Walker, I have not been able to find a date of marriage for them.
I trust my finding will prove of intrest to you, and should you wish to consider further genealogical research, might I sugest the Scotlands People web site, which may provide further nformation on your Laird connection with Scoltand,
Trusting this finds you both in the best of health and spirit.
Kindest regards from Lesmahagow.
Robert.
PS. I have also attached a photograph of Bankend, (also known as Brockley). It is the only one that exists of the village that I am aware of.
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1910 Brockley Bankend.jpg