The 1851 Census records that John was born at Shotts, Lanarkshire, Scotland Shotts is a small rural town about 6 miles southwest of Airdrie. I do not have an exact birth date for him, but it was probably circa 1786. The 1841 Census gives his age as 55. The 1851 Census gives his age as 66. At his death May 8, 1859 his age is recorded as 73.
It is possible that he fathered two families by two different wives. The only wife I know is Magdalen. They were married in November 1824 when John would have been about 38. The existence of an earlier wife with children is based on a statement in a newspaper story of the estate settlement of one of his children, Peter, that says Peter had "eight brothers and sisters and five half brothers in Scotland...." This statement and John's age at his marriage certainly leave open the possibility of a earlier family. Perhaps more research will reveal some facts concerning a previous marriage.
The parish records for New Monkland Parish (a parish was a subdivision of a county or shire) state that John Orr married Magdalene Bird on the 1st Sabbath of Nov 1824. He was from the New Monkland parish. She was the youngest daughter of John and Janet (Arthur) Bird from the Bathgate parish which was in the shire of Linlithgow bordering Lanarkshire. Since 1921, Linlithgowshire has been called West Lothian. The record of the marriage is actually a listing of incoming and outgoing finances of the church. It included the fees for the what we might call the license to marry, the amount of offerings taken and the disbursements to various individuals. John and Magdalene paid 3 shillings and 6 pence (i.e. 3 1/2 shillings). This seemed to be the minimum amount. The highest fee paid was 1 pound, 12 shillings (i.e. 32 shillings). As a comparison, "The New Statistical Account of Scotland" of 1845 says, "Common labourers at present receive 10s or 12s per week; but masons, carpenters, slaters, &c. receive 15s or 18s per week." Elsewhere it indicates farm rent was about 1 pound (i.e. 20 shillings) per acre per year.
John Orr - Overseer at Drumbathie Farm
One of the earliest clippings that I have collected on any ancestor of mine is about John, the subject of this sketch. In the April 14, 1845 issue of the Glasgow (Scotland) Herald is the following.
This map should give you an idea of where Colliertree, Drumgelloch and Drumbathie are in relationship to one another. One thing to note here for those of us raised in the US: living places outside of a town (and sometimes in a town) were known by a name. In particular, Drumbathie was a farm house typically occupied by the caretaker or 'overseer' of the farm on which it sat. According to the 1841 Census John Orr and his family occupied Drumbathie. Colliertree was perhaps a very small hamlet. The 1841 Census shows about 160 people living there. Colliertree Cottage, was occupied by the Muirhead family, but it is unclear if they oversaw the farm or not. Drumgelloch was another village of about 100 people.
John Orr - Farms Drumbathie as a 'Feu'
There is another mention of John Orr involving another land transaction about a year later. The May 15, 1846 Glasgow Herald has this to say.
A "feu" is a "perpetual lease at a fixed rent." It is, of course, the root word from which we get feudal. Land was owned by someone in the landowner class, but was parceled out to others to actually farm. Wikipedia notes that this was "the most common form of land tenure in Scotland, as conveyancing in Scots law was dominated by feudalism until the Scottish Parliament passed the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000. So although technically he was renting, the right to rent could be conveyed and would presumably be a part of any estate settlement at his death.
You can find Grahamshill on the map linked above in between Drumgelloch and Drumbathie. John's son James (who was my great-great-grandfather) actually lived in Grahamshill briefly around 1859.
Magdalen (Bird) Orr was a Staymaker
As for Magdalen there is little recorded material to mark her life. Some expansion on what is known will have to suffice. She was born on Feb 6, 1801 per the following clip from the Bathgate Parish Registry for that year.
Transcription - "Feby 6th John Bird and his spouse Janet Arthur had a child born Baptz the 7th Cur named Magdalen Bird."
She was not only a wife and mother at the Drumbathie farm house, but in the 1851 and 1861 Census "Staymaker" is listed as her occupation.
The most common meaning of staymaker was a corset maker. Stays were the wooden or bone pieces sewn into the fabric to add stability and rigidity to the corset to 'shape' the wearer. Also,one could be called a staymaker because one made the wooden or bone pieces as well but this was not the common use. Also stays had other uses. Particularly it referred to long wooden pieces that were used as stops in large bell ringing assemblies to prevent the bell from completely swinging around and allowing the bell to be paused in a inverted position. It is reasonable to believe she was a corset maker.
Corset makers were common in the British Isles in the mid-1800s as they had been for probably a century at least. The occupation was considered a specialty skill of a tailor/seamstress. I have found no evidence as to whether she worked out of her home, was employed in a shop in town, or even owned or ran a local shop.
Wives with a special occupation were not uncommon. The "Population Tables" of the 1851 Census show over 3.4 million wifes in the British Isles "of whom one in four was engaged in some extraneous occupation" according to an article in the Hull Packet, 18 Aug 1854 pg 3. It also indicates that there were nearly 270,000 dressmaker, "72,940 seamstresses or shirtmakers, 12,769 staymakers. These occupational breakdowns would have included both male and female practitioners.
One issue effecting the entire sewing industry was the invention of the sewing machine. Mechanization is commonly met with worries from artisans that it will adversely affect employment or at the least, hamper craftsmanship and quality. An article from the Louth and North Lincolnshire Advertiser Sep 22, 1860 pg 2 cites a study from Mechanic's Magazine providing evidence that "the tendency of machinery is not to diminish but to increase the demand for labor." It further states:
I'll leave it to your imagination as to whether she had a sewing machine or not.
Children of John and Magdalen were far-flung
Although all the children of John and Magdalene were born around Airdrie, they did not stay there. Four of them emigrated to the USA, two to Australia, and the rest moved to other counties in Scotland. The known children are listed below with significant event dates. Note that these dates are based on my analysis of facts and may be validly disputed by others or open to interpretation.
John b. 27 Jan 1825 Lanarkshire, Scot.
- Emigrated to Victoria, Australia about 1852
- Married Ellen Cleary in 31 Oct 1868 in Sale, Victoria, Australia.
- Died 28 Mar 1891 at his home on Macalister St., Sale, Victoria, Australia.
- Married Mary Jeffrey Jun 12, 1853 in St. Cuthberts, Midlothian, Scotland.
- Emigrated to United States, 4 Dec 1882 aboard the "Devonia"
- Married Virginia (McWitherspoon) Moody 10 May 1902 in Buncombe Co., NC, USA.
- Died 29 May 1907, Haywood Co., North Carolina, USA.
- Emigrated to United States, 26 May 1854 aboard the "City of Manchester."
- Married Agnes Shanks Thom 29 Aug 1857 in McLean Co., IL., USA
- Died Feb 16, 1875 near Medoc, Jasper Co., MO, USA.
- Married William Condie 8 May 1853 in the New Monkland Parish, Lanarkshire, Scot.
- Died 21 Oct 1863 at Kilsyth, Stirlingshire, Scotland
- Married Ann Aitkenhead 7 July 1851 East Kilbride Parish, Lanarkshire, Scotland
- Emigrated to United States 16 May 1870 aboard the Anchor Line Ship "Columbia."
- Died 13 Oct 1904 at Severy, Greenwood Co., Kansas, USA.
Margaret Chalmers b. 23 May 1836 at Airdrie. Lanarkshire, Scotland
- Emigrated 22 Apr 1855 to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia aboard the "Gambia."
- Married George Walton on 26 Aug 1858 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Married Charles A Bourne on 31 Jul 1878 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Died 19 Aug 1905 in Carlton, Victoria, Australia
- Married Margaret Graham 30 Apr 1862 at Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
- Fathered children by Mary Carter.
- Married Clara Eliza Gordon 2 Jun 1899 at Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
- Died 30 Sep 1919 at 4 Henderson Row, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
- Born 23 Aug 1840 at Airdrie or Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland
- Married Agnes Gemmell 25 Aug 1865 at Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland
- Emigrated with James on 16 May 1870 aboard the "Columbia" (or perhaps earlier)
- Family emigrated Sep 9, 1878 on board the "Anchoria"
- Died Dec 27 1906 at Chandler, Lincoln, Oklahoma, USA
- Married Adam Armour 30 Jan 1861 at Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland
- Died 27 Jul 1881 Gartnaval Lunatic Asylum, Partick, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland
- Died 16 Feb 1890 at 44 Pitt St., Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
John died at 6am on 8 May 1859 at Drumbathie of consumption which he had had for three months. He was buried in the Broomknoll Church Yard. His son James had two children die around this time and they are both buried in Broomknoll as well. I have heard that the burial ground was paved over in 1938 and the stones saved "under the church hall" and the inscriptions recorded. I contacted the church for more information and was told that there are no Orrs in the list of recorded inscriptions.
It may not be odd that no record exists for Orrs buried in the Broomknoll churchyard. In 1858 there was a minor scandal involving the deplorable state of burial places in Airdrie. The impetus for this investigation was that the Catholic congregation in the area ask to have a section of their property approved as a burial ground. The request was turned down, but the investigation produced a ugly view of the current situation.
There were only three burial grounds in Airdrie, all of them owned by a Presbyterian church, all of them old and over filled, and all of them leaking noxious gases and runoff into the environment. Page 5 of the Glasgow Herald of 10 Mar 1858 said, "The available space in each for the purposes of burial is in Chapel St. 2820 square yards; in Wellwind, 2704 square yards; and in Broomknoll, 2600 square yards." The report described "coffins piled on coffins at short intervals of time in the same graves, with but the thinnest layer of earth between; and only slight, sometimes no walls of earth to divide them from other graves -- of water charged with the pernicious gases of the dead, lying pent-up in the clay at the bottom of used graves, again opened for the reception of other dead -- of grave-mould raised above the surface, overtopping considerably the level of adjoining streets... and yet these corrupt mounds were still used for burial and were the only places of burial in Airdrie for the dead of a population so considerable and so increasing." The investigation was used to ask the Town Council to select a suitable location for a new burial ground and to permanently close the ones in the churchyards.
Magdalen died at 3:30 am on 25 Oct 1891 at 46 Pitt Street in Edinburgh. This was near the residence of her son Alexander (30 Pitt St.) and his carpet beating shop (44 Pitt St.). She died of Senile Maramus (i.e. Malnutrition) and Bronchitis. Her father's occupation is listed as a Hand Loom Weaver. I don't know where she is buried. I would guess that it is in Edinburgh somewhere. She had been living there near Alexander for some time, and he was the only child still left in Scotland by 1891. Alexander was the informant for the death record info and interestingly spelled his mother's name as Madeline.
