4th Great Grandfather
8th Generation
Born - 1833 - Ireland
Died - 14 May 1886 - Shotts, Lanarkshire, ScotlandThomas was born in Ireland around 1833 however I have no Irish records for him or any idea what part of Ireland he came from.
The first record I have for Thomas is when he marries his first wife Mary Devlin in St Joseph’s RC Church in Glasgow in 1853. Mary was 10 years older than Thomas and was already a widow when they married. She had 2 children from her first husband, Henry and Sarah McColgan.
Thomas was married to Mary for 7 years and during which she gave him 2 children, Rosa and then a son, Thomas. Mary died at 40 years old – cause of death “exhaustion after delivery”. This was after the delivery of Thomas. Unfortunately Thomas also died, he only lived for 5 months. Thus leaving Thomas a widow in his 20’s, a young daughter Rosa and a step son Henry in his care.
Thomas married again the following year – to Mary ANN Devlin! I thought it must have been a sister that had married him to look after the children however certificates show Mary Devlin and Mary Ann Devlin had different parents. Maybe they were cousins but imagine your first and second wife’s name being almost identical!
The 1861 census shows that Mary Ann moved to Bathville to live with Thomas, and Rosa who was now 3. Interestingly Henry McColgan, Thomas’s stepson also stayed in Bathville. He lived only 3 doors along with his young family as he was now 21! I have no record of his sister Sarah McColgan.
Bathville is a village in West Lothian, Scotland. It now forms a section of Armadale. It is located 1 km south of the town centre and 2 miles north of Whitburn. In the middle of the 19th century Bathville comprised only a farm-steading, a coal pit and a row of houses.
Thomas and Mary Ann had 3 children, Agnes, Mary Ann and Peter. All of their children were born in Bathville. However by 1871 the family had moved to Muldron Row in West Calder and Thomas was an Iron Stone Miner.
In the 1861 census we could see that Thomas rented a room to others. They were still renting out a room when the lived in West Calder 1871 and by 1881 when they were living in Shotts with their daughter, husband and their children and they still rented out a room. They must have had very little space! It’s hard to know if they were renting rooms to extended family and friends coming for Ireland or if they were trying to make extra cash to keep them above the poverty line.
By 1886 Thomas had moved to Albert Street in Harthill.
Many of the miners’ rows, one of which was Albert St, were situated behind Main Street. Long lines of cheaply constructed houses, usually brick. There was no running water. Before the pithead baths in the 1920’s, every day, miners’ wives had to heat up enough water to fill the tin bath set in front of the kitchen fire so the miners could wash away the grim from the pits. They all had to sleep in the two-room rented accommodation.
I find it extremely sad when the wrong age is put on death certificate as he was at least 53. His father’s name has also changed, however the death certificate was signed by a John Mooney, Son in Law.
Their daughter Mary Ann had married John Mooney and lived nearby. Mary Ann and John had at at least 10 children. She is buried with one of her sons and his wife in Bearsden.
Inscription read “In Memory of Margaret Paterson Dearly Beloved Wife of Thomas Mooney D. At Bearsden 1.11.1965. Also His Dear Mother Mary Ann Mooney D. 14.1.1950”
Thomas’s stepson, Henry McColgan was born in Tyrone, Ireland and came over to Scotland with them.. He lived near for Thomas for at least 10 years before he emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1867 and opened a grocery store! Sadly he died aged only 41.
His eldest daughter, Rosa, from his first marriage, was only 34 when she died of blood poisoning. Finally his son Peter died on the 19th March 1945 aged 78 in St Joseph’s House, Glasgow, Scotland (Image below, what a bleak end to life)
Daughter – Agnes Brown
Wife – Mary Ann Devlin
Marie's Genealogy 