3rd Great Grandfather
7th Generation
Born - 6 March 1869 - Carriden, Linlithgow, Scotland
Died - 26 October 1921 - Carriden, Linlithgow, ScotlandWilliam’s parents had been married 25 years before he was born, he was the youngest of 12 children. His father was 48 years old at the time of his birth.
In the 1871 census he was only 2 years old. His father was an Iron Stone Miner who had moved to Carriden from Tranent. His father would have moved for work to Kinneil Iron Works. There was 8 children living at home at the time. His older brothers, Thomas (18), Archibald (16) and Andrew (14) were all coal miners and the others were at school.
In 1881 they are in still in Carriden, and their address is double row, big house 4. I have checked the census record and they are the only family living in the house. His brother Archibald wasn’t a miner in this census, he was drawing income from interest. This leads you to believe they had money however his sisters Jessie and Elizabeth were both field labourer’s so this isn’t the case.
Annie, the youngest sibling detailed above in the 1881, was 6 years younger than William, This would make Janet 51 when she gave birth to Annie. I investigated this further thinking it may have been one of the sister that had the baby out of wedlock. However Jane would only have been 11 years old at the time. As William’s father was from a large family I would be inclined to believe that he had taken on a niece’s child as his own. Annie was still living with them 10 years later, in the 1891 census, as their child. I have detailed the birth certificate below.
William married Janet Burnett in 1891, both of them had been brought up and were living in Grangepans. They gave birth to their first child 2 months after they were married, choosing also to live in Carriden.
In the first 10 years of marriage they had 5 children. They stayed in Furnace Row which was, again, in Grangepans Carriden. By now the Kinneil Iron Works had seized trading due to to low price of pig iron and coal mining was the main source of income.
Carriden is just East of Borrowstounness (Bo’ness), historically it is the easternmost fort associated with the Antonine Wall. It is also the site Antonine Wall site whose Roman name is known. Due to it’s location to the firth of forth there is many historical references to the area.
William was still living in Carriden in 1911. 8 out of 9 of his children were still at home (Janet, Jeannie, Archibald, Andrew, Richard, William, Marion, Annie). Helen was they only one that had moved out and she didn’t move far as she lived in Bo’ness until her death in 1972 aged 77. William’s eldest daughters, Janet and Jeannie were both pit head workers (pit brow lassies). They worked at the coal screens on the pit brow and their job was to pick stones and sort the coal after it was hauled to the surface.
William reminds me of my Di, he doesn’t venture far, doesn’t ask for much – he’s happy with what he has around him. No extravagant stories, no epic journey’s, no local newspaper articles. I was actually shocked when I seen he had moved to Fife by the 1921 census. Then I noticed the reason why – to be with his children. Both Janet and Jeannie had married coal miners and moved to Denbeath for work as had his son Archibald. Both Janet and Archibald lived, with their own families, in the same house as their parents William and Janet. Annie also married George Watson in Buckhaven in 1921, they lived nearby as did my Great Gran Janet Burnett Rae.
This is a present day picture of Barncraig Street, the house the 3 families were living in back 1921 – just over 100 years ago.
Sadly, 1921 is the last year there are records for William as he died due to heart failure at only 51, just 6 months after the census. He however didn’t die with his wife and children around him. He died where he had lived his whole life, back in Carriden. The 26th October 1921 was a Wednesday so it makes me believe he had returned to Grangepans for work and was living at his sister and brother and laws – not expecting to die!
However, not all his family stayed close, two of his sons – Andrew in 1939 and Richard in 1948 emigrated to America and lived in Eire, Pennsylvania. Another part of the world I have distant relatives.
Marie's Genealogy 