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| THE GREGG FAMILY HISTORY PROJECT - CHAPTER 2 |
Newton on Ayr was originally a burgh in it's own right on the north side of the River Ayr, in Ayrshire Scotland. In 1873, Newton on Ayr merged with the Royal Burgh of Ayr, and it was there on 1 March 1878 that Matthew Paton Gregg and Margaret Doyle were married. They were my Grandparents. Margaret Doyle [P513] was born on 28 July 1859 at St. Quivox, an adjoining parish to Ayr. Matthew Paton Gregg[P512] was born on 3 March 1857 in the town of Tarbolton, a few miles away to the north-east. It was the year of the Sepoy mutiny in India and exactly one year after the end of the Crimea war. Tarbolton today is a quiet town, and famed mainly for the presence of the historic 'Bachelor's Club'; an institution renowned of the late 1700's as the meeting place of the famous Scottish bard, Robert Burns. Four generations of Gregg's were born and raised in Tarbolton during a century covering the period 1798 to 1898, and all were employed in the weaving industry producing fabrics of silk, lace and Madras. In those days it was a crowded and bustling place; a commercial centre that had evolved around the manufacture and distribution of fine fabrics of renown. The goods were exported throughout the world. There would be ample employment for whole families, other skilled craftsmen like cabinetmakers, smithy's and stonemasons. Shopkeepers and traders would be busy supplying the needs of the expanding community, and the town's inns would be full to capacity with wholesalers and buyers. The cloth was made mostly at home on hand-looms in the weavers cottages, and then sold on by the wholesalers for transportation to Glasgow and the international shipping ports of Port Glasgow and Greenock, 25 miles to the north. Public records relating to Matthew generally describe him as having been a tapestry weaver, silk weaver, and a Madras weaver. Yet for a short time, ranging from 1878 to at least the census of 1881, Matthew Gregg was described as a wood-turner and box-maker. His brother John Gregg[P507] b. 20 Mar 1855, and their father William Gregg[P489] were also listed as having the same occupation during that same short period. Although they were all skilled weavers, they apparently found a niche in woodworking. Perhaps to fulfil a demand for packing cases for export, or making furniture for the wealthy exporters and traders in the county. Another possibility, could be an involvement with the manufacture of 'Tarbolton Boxes', which are valued antiques and collectors items today. I noted on the 1881 census for Tarbolton that another Gregg, named Benjamin[P268] (Aged 68), was also listed as a fancy wood worker in the town. He was born at Riccarton, a few miles away, and although his listed profession was similar to that of the above mentioned Gregg's, I have so far been unable to find any family connection between them.
Matthew
Paton[P506], who was an uncle to Matthew
Gregg, and brother to Matthew's mother
Agnes Paton[P495]
The name Matthew 'PATON' has been handed down through the Gregg generations to this day.
(This Gregg family lived at Tarbolton between 1878 and 1880 , 1881 to 1886 at Mauchline, and returning to Tarbolton in 1887. By the time of the 1891 Census they had been back at Mauchline since 1889, remaining there until 1898). However, they returned to their traditional trade as
weavers, and in 1888 Grandfather Matthew's young sister
Jean Denholm Gregg[P549] and her father William[P489]
were selected to represent the town in the art of fine lace making at the
International Exhibition of Science, Art and Industry held that year
at Kelvingrove Park, in Glasgow. 'Jeannie' was busily demonstrating
her weaving skills on her fathers loom, it having been set up at the exhibition
centre, when certain visitors made her the envy of all present. The visitors
were none other than Queen Victoria and her family.
The expression bachelor, in those days, equates broadly to a 'country chap'. The comment regarding William Gregg, the Burns dance tutor is of particular interest and will be further explained in chapter 5. The birth of Matthew's wife Margaret Doyle[P513] in 1859 coincides with the date of Charles Darwin's publication of 'The Origin of Species', later known as the theory of evolution. She was 19 years old in 1878 when she and Matthew married. On their marriage certificate she was described as a domestic servant. She was the Granddaughter of Michael Doyle[P521], and her maternal Grandfather was Thomas McCutcheon[P516]. Following the severe Irish potato blight of July 1846, when untold thousands of people were starving and leaving Ireland on what were known as the 'Coffin ships', the Doyle and McCutcheon families migrated to Scotland and settled in Ayrshire. Margaret's parents were Thomas Doyle[P514] b.1835, and Catherine McCutcheon[P515] b.1833. Both were born in County Down Ireland, and were married in 1855 at the Ayr Catholic Chapel, Ayr Scotland. Margaret's father Thomas portrays a most interesting character working in jobs ranging from port labourer and ploughman to drainage contractor. He and Catherine lived in various locations and produced at least 12 children, some born in Ayr, and others in Kilmory on Bute. Thomas most certainly had a hard working life, and his many children it would be assumed could care for him and his wife in old age. Yet Thomas, who featured as 'head' of the Doyle household on the census returns for 1861, 1871 and 1881, was conspicuously absent on the return for the family home at Ayr in 1891. Was he just working away, or in his late 50's did he leave Catherine for another woman? Perhaps the possibility that Catherine 'pit him oot!' for only she was listed on the 1891 return at 59 Allison Street Newton-on-Ayr. Catherine died four years later in 1895, and although Thomas was named as informant on her death certificate, the details he gave regarding Catherine's family were inaccurate to say the least. Thomas eventually died in 1904, aged 69, alone and in the 'Kyle Union Poorhouse' at Ayr. The poorhouses had been sponsored on a parish-by-parish basis until the establishment of the poor-law unions in 1845. They were governed by a board of guardians, and were not abolished until 1948 when the Welfare State became responsible for those less fortunate citizens. The elderly who were taken to the poorhouse under the Poor Law usually remained there until they died. Invariably they were buried in the most undignified of circumstances with no medical certification and placed in unmarked graves. Strange, all those children, and none attended nor paid towards Great Grandfather Doyle's funeral, and so he was buried in a pauper's grave. Matthew and Margaret Gregg[Doyle] had thirteen children - the largest recorded Gregg family in our family tree. From 1878 until 1898 they lived at addresses in Montgomery Street Tarbolton and Wilson Place in the nearby town of Mauchline. It was during this period that Matthew, and hundreds of other skilled craftsmen, would have experienced that which would be a disaster to the long tradition of hand weaving in Ayrshire. The hand weaving trade would eventually succumb to the industrial revolution and be replaced by the new steam powered machinery being set up in those dark satanic mills; and that would signify the end to an era. By the late 1890's prosperity arrived in the wake of the lace industry and the whole society benefited. In the first twenty years of their marriage, Margaret had given birth to eleven children - nine of whom survived. In 1898, they finally moved 12 miles north-east to Darvel, where the last two children of the family were born at 65 East Main Street. They were my father Robert Paton Gregg[P529] b.1899 and my aunt 'Bella (Izabella[P568]) b.1902.
Photo 27 :Click to View The photograph of East Main Street in Darvel was taken in the late 1890's. At this period the town would normally have been a hive of activity, and the picture perhaps misrepresents this. There are horse-carts in the roadway, but one surmises that it may have been taken early on a Sunday morning, for there is very little sign of human activity, and the horses were probably stabled at the time. The scene, looking east, clearly shows Loudon Hill in the distance and gives a good indication of the period style. An old Darvel Song declares: "The tap o' Loudoun Hill is aye
clad wi' weans. Some are pickin' daisies , ithers chipin stanes. Grandfather Matthew was one of only four children[F158]. His brother and sisters were John and Jean as described above, and another sister named Catherine Seaton Gregg[P511] born 1859. To date no record has been discovered telling us if Catherine ever married, and it is assumed she did not. She died aged 50, on 29 November 1909. The name Catherine Seaton was passed down from her father's maternal Grandmother, and the name was repeated three more times in Matthew and Margaret's own children. Child mortality was high in that period with almost 50% of children dying before they reached marriageable age, and it was common practice to use their names again for children that followed. This was the case with Matthew and Margaret, for they had two daughters who died in childhood. Each was named Catherine Seaton Gregg[P556,P557] born 1879 and 1895. They then gave that name to a third girl born in 1897 who survived to become my Aunt 'Kate'[P567]. She was of course an older sister to my father, and moreover, the last child of our family to be born in that 100 year period in which four generations of Gregg's lived in Tarbolton. She was born in the same year as Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubilee. Throughout the years Matthew and Margaret's children were born, they would see much technological advancement. Not least would be included the invention of the typewriter by Sholes, the pianoforte by Broadwood, the phonograph and movie pictures by Edison and the first hand held camera by Eastman. Medical advance was also progressing rapidly. Vaccines for Diphtheria and Rabies were discovered, the pioneering of antiseptic techniques, and the isolation of Tuberculosis. The invention of the Aspirin probably seemed like a miracle. As the 1890's progressed, more technology would lead them into the 20th Century, out of the Industrial Revolution, and into a new age. 1899 was the start of the Boar War which lasted until 1902, and during which time Queen Victoria's long reign eventually ended and Edward VII became King. Robert Paton Gregg(Greig)[P529] and Isabella Gregg(Greig)[P568] were also born at Darvel in that time. 1909 was a particularly sad year for the Gregg family. Matthew, my Grandfather died and was laid to rest on the 22 December aged only 52. Only three weeks earlier, Catherine his sister, aged 50, had also died. Although Matthew lived in Darvel at the time of his death, both he and Catherine were buried in Tarbolton Churchyard next to their parents in lair number 273. It must have been an awful shock to the family, two funerals just before Christmas and in such a short time. Matthew died from pulmonary thrombosis, a condition brought about by clogging of the main heart vessels, and which has been commonplace throughout the family. A warning here to those less inclined to watch their health! Grandmother Gregg(Margaret Doyle lived on at 65 East Main Street in Darvel, the house in which my father Robert and his young sister Isabella were born. She attained a reasonably good age of 75 years, and was buried at Tarbolton during the winter of 1934. CHILDREN OF MATTHEW AND MARGARET
[F163]
MALE. William[P558] born 1880 - Thomas[P560] born 1883
- John[P561] born 1885 (father to Matthew P Greig[P833] ) - Matthew[P564]
born 1891 - James[P565] born 1893 - Robert Paton[P529] born
1899 (My father). FEMALE. Catherine Seaton(1)[P557] born 1879 - Agnes[P559]
born 1882 - Margaret[P563] born 1887 - Jane(Jean)[P563] born
1889 - Catherine Seaton(2) born 1895 - Catherine Seaton(3)
born 1897 - Isabella[P568] born 1902. During the 1940's and 50's, we occasionally holidayed
in Scotland with our parents. We spent many hours roaming and playing on
the hills and in the glens, and paddling or fishing in the local streams
around Darvel. Walking east from Darvel we would pass over Glen Water, past
the manse to our left where John Jack the Minister lived in my father's
day, and onto Priestland. There, with the fresh breeze cooling us, we would
cross the meadowlands and climb to the top of Loudon Hill
to picnic. My father would wryly tell us of tales and ancient legends
of the surrounding area; of Wallace defeating the English in 1297 (There
is a plaque on the summit of Loudoun Hill to commemorate his victory),
how King
Robert the Bruce inflicted even greater punishment on the English in 1307,
and in 1679 the humiliation of Claverhouse (commander of the English government troops in south-west Scotland), by
the covenanters at the close-by battle of Drumclog.
My imagination would run wild as I peered over the precipice to the west
of the 'hill', wondering when the 'sleeping giants' would wake again, to once
more defend Scotland against the English invaders. (That's how Dad explained
the stone boulders at the foot of the cliff!). Loudoun Hill marks the eastern end of the Irvine Valley.
At the foot of the south-east slope are the remains of an old iron-age homestead,
and there was once a Roman Fort nearby. Looking West from the summit of
the hill is a magnificent view down the lush Irvine Valley. It is a beautiful
site to behold on a summer's day - Scotland's 'green and pleasant land'.
Some twenty miles away to its extremity can be seen the coast at Irvine
Bay, beyond that and across the Firth of Clyde roll the enormous peaks on
the Isle of Arran. The valley is steeped in history from prehistoric times
through to the Roman occupation, Scottish civil wars, and on to the bloody
massacres in the uprisings and long struggles with the English. Many books
have been written about the intriguing stories of the Irvine Valley, its
people, and their history. Approaching Darvel from the west stands a large
roadside monument at Gowanbank. It was erected and dedicated in
1927 to Alexander Morton who was responsible for bringing the power
looms to Darvel. The inscription in his praise confers: 'he
led this valley to industrial fame and prosperity', but
I think the words of the inscription which encircle the entire monument
are far more impressive: - 'The wonders of the world
- the beauty and the power -
The flag was lost over the years, but in 1949, the American Embassy presented the town with a replacement flag which is now located in the Parish Church.
FOR MORE PHOTO'S GO TO CHAPTER 10
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