Category Archives: Brickrow Farm, Ayr, Scotland

ORMSBY, John (Johnnie) Muir (1906-1924)

03 Monday Dec 2012

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[for John’s parents and siblings see page ‘ORMSBY’ at top of screen]

John (Johnnie) Muir ORMSBY was born on 26 June 1906 in Brickrow Farm, St. Quivox, Ayrshire, Scotland. He was the seventh child and second son born to John ORMSBY and his wife Helen Ramsay (MUIR) ORMSBY. While not much is known about Johnnie, it is likely that great expectations were placed on him by his parents, who had already lost their first son James Muir ORMSBY [see post 23 November 2012] four years before Johnnie’s birth.

Unfortunately, their hopes were not to be realized. Johnnie, aged 17, died at Brickrow Farm of tuberculosis on 17 May 1924. He was the fourth child of John and Helen’s to die.

His death cast gloom over his sister Jane (Jean’s) Muir ORMSBY marriage to James (Jimmy) Crawford MCGUIRE five months later [see post 16 November 2012]. Family stories indicate that the wedding was conducted in a  ‘sombre fashion’ by the grieving Ormsby family.

There are no known pictures of Johnnie.

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ORMSBY, Margaret (Peggy) Wilson (1904-1992)

24 Saturday Nov 2012

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[for Margaret’s parents and siblings see page ‘ORMSBY’ at top of screen]

[this post last edited, new information and / or images added 01 June 2013]

Margaret (Peggy) Wilson ORMSBY was born on 14 September 1904 in Brickrow Farm, St. Quivox, Ayrshire, Scotland, the sixth child and fifth daughter born to John ORMSBY and his wife Helen Ramsay MUIR. Two children had already died by the time Margaret arrived. I have not been able to determine the source of her middle name ‘Wilson’, although James WILSON was the parish minister at St. Quivox for at least thirty years and had married Margaret’s parents John and Helen Ormsby in 1894. It is possible that James Wilson was a close family friend as well since on October 24, 1924, he officiated at the marriage of Margaret’s sister Jane (Jean) Muir ORMSBY to James Crawford MCGUIRE. [see post 16 November 2012]. Margaret, 20, (photo below) was witness at the marriage.

The photo right [Margaret, October 24, 1924] was sent by Margaret’s mother Helen to her sister Jane (Jean) (MUIR) WATSON who lived in Saskatchewan, Canada. The photograph is now in the collection of an Ormsby family descendant who still lives in Ayrshire, Scotland.

Margaret never married. She worked as a live-in housekeeper / cook for many years, primarily for a well-to-do elderly bachelor. Apparently it was a position that financially allowed her to indulge in her enjoyment of fashion as family stories indicate that she “had a sense of style and always wore lovely clothes”. When the elderly bachelor died he left Margaret a bequest sufficiently large that she was able to buy or build a small home for her retirement.

About 1947 when her brother Henry (Harry) ORMSBY married, Margaret decided that it would be best if Harry and his bride Annie Young SPROAT had Brickrow Farm to themselves without the presence of their mother Helen who had become domineering and overbearing woman. Margaret took a housekeeping job in East Kilbride and took her mother with her. After her mother’s death in 1951, Margaret continued to work as a housekeeper.

On her retirement Margaret lived at her home at 3 Allenfield Road in Ayr. Family ties were important to her and Margaret was a letter writer. From family photos and letters I know that, although she never travelled to Canada, she maintained contact with her Saskatchewan cousins [children of Jane MUIR and Thomas WATSON] and they visited her whenever possible. She may also have been in touch with her cousins in New Zealand (children of Richard Steele ORMSBY), and Australia (children of James Henry ORMSBY), unfortunately no records or letters have been found to indicate this was the case.

Family members from Canada did stay in touch and visited whenever they were in Scotland.

WATSON1977-000-Don-Slater

Photo left: Annie, Harry and Margaret Ormsby, taken Alloway, Ayrshire Scotland in 1977 by Elsie (Watson) Slater from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Brig’O’Doon in the background. See Donald Slater’s Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/palaeoecogeek for this an other family photographs.

Photo left: Margaret (left) and her sister Jean Muir (ORMSBY) McGUIRE (right) at 3 Allenfield Road, Ayr, with Canadian cousin Samuel Acton WATSON, from Victoria, British Columbia. Sam’s father, James Muir WATSON, was a 1st cousin of Margaret and Jean. This visit occurred about 1982. Photo above and below are from the author’s collection.

Photo left: Thomas (‘Tom’) Watson ACTON, from Saskatchewan, visited Margaret in 1984, the visit referred to in the letter below. Tom’s mother Helen (Nell) McNab (WATSON) ACTON and Margaret were 1st cousins.

3, Allenfield Rd., Ayr, 17.1.85

Dear Jean & Tom,

I am sure you must think I have departed this world! I am so late in saying ‘thank you’ for your lovely Christmas card and a previous letter.

I am only now starting to write. I had a week in hospital in early December, and had the cataract removed from my right eye. The op. has been a success, but on returning home I took a very lazy fit. They say “Some people sit and think”, but I just sat. I am told that I had left it too late having my first experience of an anesthetic at eighty!

I feel more active now but am plagued with a bad cold.

We are having our first snow of the winter and it is bitterly cold, though nothing like in the south of England.

[page 2 of the letter, not shown here, continued…]

It has been quite a year. This miners’ strike has caused such an upheaval. Luckily, I had decided to finish with my coal fire and will not use it again though I do miss it.

Ann [Annie ORMSBY, Harry ORMSBY’s widow] has had another spell of backache and confined to the house. I have not been able to visit her for two days but we have long chats on the phone. In late summer she had treatment from a specialist near Edinburgh and was happy to think she had been cured but alas! I think she will return for more treatment when the cold season ends. I do hope too that she can find a home in Ayr during the year.

I have nice kindly neighbours here and I would be tempted to go house hunting myself. I have no quarrel with my present house but the garden is just a bit too much nowadays. However will give it another summer and find out if I can manage.

I do hope you both keep well and you are coming to terms with retirement! Perhaps you will fancy another long holiday as you had last summer.

Sorry my writing is so poor – I have still to get new spectacles.

My thanks and good wishes to both.

Sincerely Margt

Letter above is now in the collection of an Ormsby family descendant who still lives in Ayrshire, Scotland.

Margaret, 88 years old, died on 11 June 1992 in Biggart Hospital, Prestwick, Ayrshire, Scotland.

ORMSBY, James Muir (1901-1902)

23 Friday Nov 2012

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[for James’ parents and siblings see page ‘ORMSBY’ at top of screen]

James Muir ORMSBY, born on 06 June 1901 at Brickrow Farm, St. Quivox, Ayshire, Scotland was the fifth child and first son born to John ORMSBY and his wife Helen Ramsay MUIR.  The choice of the name ‘James’ easily satisfied Scottish naming traditions as the baby’s father’s father was James [James ORMSBY] as was his mother’s father [James MUIR]. Finally a son – the heir apparent!

Little less than a year before James’ birth, on 30 July 1900 at Brickrow Farm, his three (3) year old sister Mary Manson Muir ORMSBY died of scarlet fever, a contagious childhood disease.  At the time of James’ birth, the Ormsby household was filled with four young children under the age of six (6), likely the parents were concerned that more of their brood would be felled by the dread disease.

Unfortunately James’ life was cut short, although not by scarlet fever. He died on 26 July 1902 at Brickrow Farm when he was just over a year old. Cause of death was ‘tabes mesenterica’ (duration two months) and meningitis (duration three days). The Orsmby family was without an heir.

Right: Cause of death from James’ death registration.

Tabes mesenterica is a wasting disease of childhood, accompanied by fever, which can be caused by drinking milk from cows that have been infected by tuberculosis. Mandatory pasteurisation laws were not passed in Scotland until the 1980s.

Why had James died, probably from drinking infected cows milk, when the other Ormsby children escaped this fate? Was James the only one to drink cow’s milk? Or just from that particular cow, although it is highly unlikely that only one cow in a herd would be infected. Was James not being nursed by his mother? Perhaps his mother Helen was not able to nurse her baby James? This situation could have added the emotion of personal responsibility as well as grief to a young mother who in the space of two years had lost two babies.

ORMSBY, Jessie Ross (1899-1921)

21 Wednesday Nov 2012

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[for Jessie’s parents and siblings see page ‘ORMSBY’ at top of screen]

Jessie Ross ORMSBY was born on 21 June 1899 in Brickrow Farm, St. Quivox, Ayrshire, Scotland, the fourth child and daughter born to John ORSMBY and his wife Helen Ramsay MUIR in the first five years of their marriage. I have not been able to determine the source of her middle name ‘Ross’.

She was born into the family during a tumultuous time. In 1900 Jessie’s sister Mary [Mary Manson Muir ORMSBY], not yet 4 years old, died of the contagious disease scarlet fever. In April 1901 a nurse lived with the family, to help the young mother Helen cope: with three young children under the age of 6; the aftermath of Mary’s death in 1900; and the impending birth of another child in June 1901.

Jessie became a beautiful young woman whose life was cut short tragically by tuberculosis at age 22 after a five month illness.

On the back of the photo below:
“On Loving Memory of Jessie Ross Ormsby,
Born June 21st 1899, Died December 11, 1921” in her mother Helen’s handwriting.

These photos of Jessie Ross were sent by her mother Helen to Helen’s sister Jean (MUIR) WATSON who lived in Saskatchewan, Canada. Both photographs are from the collection of an Orsmby family descendant who still lives in Ayrshire, Scotland.

ORMSBY, Mary Manson Muir (1896-1900)

15 Thursday Nov 2012

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[for Mary’s parents and siblings see page ‘ORMSBY’ at top of screen]

Mary Manson Muir ORMSBY was born on 14 August 1896 in Brickrow Farm, St. Quivox, Ayrshire, Scotland. She was the second of John and Helen Ramsay [MUIR] ORMSBY’s children. Her given name Manson was after her maternal great-grandmother Jane MANSON who died six years previously at Mainholme Farm in Ayr where Helen’s parents [James MUIR and Helen McNAB] lived.

Mary died at age four on 30 July 1900 in Brickrow Farm. Cause of death was scarlet fever, a contagious childhood disease. Until vaccine was developed for scarlet fever in 1924, it was a major cause of death. Mary’s sisters Helen (Nelly) [Helen McNab Steel ORMSBY], Jane (Jean) [Jane Muir ORMSBY] and Jessie [Jessie Ross ORMSBY] were all young children at the time and there would have been concern that they would die of the disease as well.

Below, Mary’s father John ORMSBY signed her death registration on July 30th 1900.

ORMSBY, Helen (Nelly) McNab Steel (1895-1976)

13 Tuesday Nov 2012

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[for Helen’s parents and siblings see page ‘ORMSBY’ at top of screen]

[this post last edited, new information and / or images added 1 April 2013]

Helen (Nelly) McNab Steel ORMSBY was born on 26 February 1895 at Brickrow Farm, St. Quivox, Ayrshire, Scotland, the first of John and Helen (Ramsay MUIR) ORMSBY’s children. She was named after both her maternal (Helen McNAB) and paternal (Helen STEEL) grandmothers, perhaps an indication that her parents had difficulty agreeing on a name.

Right is a photograph of Helen – on the back of photo “Helen Ormsby, 1914” in her mother Helen’s hand writing. Helen (the daughter) was 19 years old in 1914. This portrait was taken at the Studio of Henderson & Son, Prestwick and Ayr. The photograph is from the collection of an Orsmby family descendant who still lives in Ayrshire, Scotland.

Helen (the mother) sent this photograph to her sister Jane (Jean) (MUIR) WATSON in Saskatchewan. Jean’s son James Muir WATSON had recently married Agnes  (‘Nancy’) Elizabeth ACTON in Saskatchewan and the two sisters may have exchanged photographs of their children at the time. [see posting 29 April 2012 for a description of the 1914 WATSON-ACTON marriage in Saskatchewan]

WATSON1911-ORMSBY familyPhoto left: standing, left to right is Nelly’s uncle Henry ORMSBY and her cousin Thomas WATSON. Nelly’s mother (Helen Ramsay (MUIR) ORMSBY) and Thomas’ mother (Jane (MUIR) WATSON) were sisters. Nelly is sitting on the left; to Nelly’s left is an unknown woman, possibly a MUIR cousin.  The photograph was likely taken in Ayr, Ayrshire as there is no record of Nelly having travelled. The date is prior to 1912 as Thomas Watson, a chauffeur, immigrated to Canada in 1912. Photo is from the collection of Donald Slater, (for Donald’s other family photos see www.flickr.com/photos/palaeoecogeek).

Known as ‘the cook’, Helen worked in Ayr as a cook and housekeeper. She never married and died, aged 81, on 26 August 1976 in Heathfield Hospital, Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland of ‘pernicious anaemia’.

ORMSBY, John (1856-1927)

12 Monday Nov 2012

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[for John’s parents, siblings and children see page ‘ORMSBY’ at top of screen]

John (Pa) ORMSBY was born on 14 May 1856 on Brickrow Farm, St. Quivox, Ayrshire, Scotland. He was the second son named John to be born to James ORMSBY and his wife Helen STEEL since a younger son of the same name died in infancy. Giving a second child the same name as a deceased infant sibling was a not uncommon practice at the time. This was done to ensure that grandparents’ names were carried down the line of descendants.

John was 15 when his father died in October 1871. John’s older brother Richard had already left home. If his older brother James was still at home he left shortly after, probably in November 1871 when he turned 21 and was able to claim the £100 endowment policy left to him by his father. Younger brother Henry was only 12 and still at school. Consequently it fell to John and his brother Andrew (23) to stay at home on Brickrow Farm and provide for the remaining family.

Photo above: John Ormsby on 30 October 1924, Brickrow Farm, at the marriage of his daughter Jean to James Crawford McGuire. The photograph is from the collection of an Ormsby family descendant who still lives in Ayrshire, Scotland.

For the twenty years between 1871 and 1891 John farmed and lived at the Ormsby home of Brickrow with his mother Helen and older siblings Helen and Andrew. Both the 1881 and 1891 census listed his mother Helen as the Head of the family. The family must have worked hard as Brickrow increased in size by 26 acres in the ten years after the death of John’s father in 1871. In 1881 the farming operation required a farm servant and a domestic servant, although by 1891 only one ‘general domestic servant’ was employed by the family.

In 1894 John, 38, married 20 year old Helen Ramsay MUIR at her home of Mainholm Farm, Ayrshire.

For more information on Helen Ramsay MUIR and on the family she had with John ORMSBY see posting (to be posted)

ORMSBY, Richard Steele (1853-1922)

09 Friday Nov 2012

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[for Richard’s parents and siblings see page ‘ORMSBY’ at top of screen]

[this post last edited, new information and / or images added 18 March 2013]

Richard Steele ORMSBY was born on 19 March 1853 in St. Quivox, (probably at Brickrow Farm), Ayrshire, Scotland, to tenant farmers James ORMSBY and his wife Helen STEEL. As the 5th child and 4th son of James and Helen, Richard would be expected to find work other than at Brickrow Farm, as that tenancy would likely be handed to the eldest son Andrew [Andrew ORMSBY].

Which may have suited Richard fine as it appears he never wanted to be a farmer. By age 17 in 1871 he was a ‘banker accountant’ and lived as a boarder with a family at Waterside Place in Cumnock, Ayrshire. Not content with the life of a bank clerk in Scotland, Richard dreamt of adventure and wanted to join in the gold rush to New Zealand where gold had been discovered in the Otago region on the South Island in the 1860s.

The death of his father James on 12 October 1871 provided the means of accomplishing this plan. According to the inventory conducted at the time of his father’s death, Richard was the beneficiary of a £100 Endowment Policy with the St. Patricke Assurance Company of Ireland when he reached the age of 21 on 19 March 1874.

By 1875 Richard, 22, lived and worked in Clinton, Otago, as a shop assistant for Scobie Brothers, storekeepers. One of his first memorable experiences, in 1876 in his adopted country, occurred when he acted as witness for his employer against a man accused of stealing “one dozen Crimean shirts valued at £7 10s”. The stolen shirts were “a large check, and heavy twilled shirt, of which there were six ordered black and white pattern and six red and white Rob Roy pattern”.[1]

Sometime between 1875 and 1880 Richard, who sought advancement, moved to Milton, an important and bustling town in early Otago. The town, located on the route to the goldfields, was also home to several large factories and industries. Since Milton was a major staging post for prospectors on their way to the gold fields of Central Otago it grew rapidly during the gold rush years. As an example, the congregation of the Tokomairiro Presbyterian Church had reached 4000 by the late 1870s.

Richard’s employment in Milton is not known however he enjoyed a social life. On 25 August 1880 Richard married Alison SCOTT at the home of James SCOTT, likely Alison’s father.

Immigrants arrived every day from around the world to take part in the gold rush and Dunedin, on the Otago Harbour, served as the entrance point for this influx. To live in Dunedin, the largest city in the country, was Richard’s goal.

Richard and Alison had three children: Leslie James ORMSBY (born 1882), and twins Rupert Seggie ORMSBY and Lily ORMSBY (born 1886). Lily died at birth. At this point I don’t know whether the children were born in Milton, or after the family moved to Mornington, a suburb of Dunedin.

Electoral Roll records for New Zealand provide a picture of the family. In 1890 Richard and Alison lived in Mornington. Richard, trained as a “banker accountant” had advanced to “confidential clerk to Sargood, Son and Ewen”, a large importing and warehousing business in Dunedin. Alison is not mentioned in the Electoral Roll for that year since women did not get the vote in New Zealand until 1893.

Sargood, Son and Ewen was a large importing firm of a type common in New Zealand at the time. Due to the country’s distance from major supply centres importing merchants purchased or ‘indented’ a range of items from their agents and suppliers overseas, paid for and then sold locally with an increase in price to ensure a profit. Salesman or ‘travellers’ would visit local stores to sell the range of imported stock. The harbour city of Dunedin was the shipping and importing centre for this lucrative trade.

One of the oldest and most prominent Australasian firms of this type was Sargood, Son and Ewen was, with branches in most major cities on both sides of the Tasman Sea and a London purchasing house. The company’s Dunedin branch, established in 1862, served as the head office for New Zealand. Richard’s position as confidential clerk in this prestigious firm was one of responsibility and he was entrusted to speak on behalf of the company.

This he did in December 1890 when he gave evidence on behalf of his employer in the matter of a bankrupt customer who defaulted on payment. Tobacco, biscuits, glassware, boots, shoes, reels of cotton, saddles, straw hats, drapery stock, silks, satins and expensive dress pieces were some of the goods that had not been paid for. [2] The accused man, Bernard Ginsberg, protested that he had had the money to pay, but that it “had been stolen from him in a brothel in Dunedin” and he had been too ashamed to tell the company the reason for his non-payment.

By 1896 Richard achieved his ambition and lived in Dunedin, where he remained for the rest of his life. Between 1896 and 1906 the family moved three times in Dunedin. Was this to larger or smaller homes? While it’s not known whether Richard’s fortunes were going up or down something happened to the family.

In 1911 Richard (58), an accountant, lived by himself at a fourth address in Dunedin. Alison (56) lived in Avon, a suburb of Christchurch with her sons Leslie (29) a mechanic, and Rupert (25) a shop assistant. During the WWI period 1914 to 1918 both Leslie and Rupert enlisted in the army. Leslie may have served overseas. Rupert was in the Reserves and did not leave New Zealand.

From 1911 Alison lived in Avon, with both her sons until WWI, and then with Rupert after Leslie joined the army. She died, aged 65, in 1920 in Avon. Alison left a will registered in the Christchurch High Court, Christchurch which has not been checked at this time.

Richard remained in Dunedin where he died, aged 69, in February 1922. He was buried in Anderson’s Bay Cemetery in Dunedin on February 11, 1922. He did not leave a will and is not mentioned in the family cemetery inscription in St. Quivox, Ayrshire, Scotland, even as an ‘in memoriam’ mention. Perhaps Richard had lost touch with his Scottish family?

Newspaper sources: The National Library of New Zealand has scanned copies of archived newspapers. The newspaper accounts with reference to Richard can be found at http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast, by searching the ‘exact phrase’ option’ using the phrase ‘Richard Steele Ormsby’.

[1] Newspaper: Clutha Leader, Rorahi II, Putanga 83, 10 Huitanguru (February) 1876, Resident Magistrate’s Court, page 5

[2] Newspaper: Otago Witness, 23 Hakihea (December) 1890, Page 29, ‘Alleged Breach of the Bankruptcy Act’

ORMSBY, John (about 1851 – 1854)

03 Saturday Nov 2012

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[for John’s parents and siblings see page ‘ORMSBY’ at top of screen]

[this post last edited, new information and / or images added 18 March 2013]

John ORMSBY born about 1851 in Brickrow Farm, St. Quivox, Ayrshire, Scotland, died about 1854-1855 in Brickrow Farm, St. Quivox, Ayrshire, Scotland. He was the fourth child and third son of James ORMSBY and his wife Helen STEEL.

Very little is known about John aside from the St. Quivox cemetery inscription “Erected by Helen Steele in memory of … her son John who died in infancy”. His birth and death are not recorded in the St. Quivox Old Parochial Records. Childhood diseases such as cholera, diphtheria, whooping cough, typhus, smallpox and tuberculosis were prevalent and may have caused John’s death.

The baby John probably died about 1854-1855 as the next son born to James and Helen in 1853 was named Richard Steel ORMSBY so John was likely still alive. When the next son after Richard was born in 1856 he was named John [John ORMSBY] as a replacement for his deceased infant brother.

Another possible explanation is that John was stillborn, as stillborn children often went unregistered and had no burial ceremony, although in that situation the next son would have likely been named ‘John’ instead of ‘Richard’.

ORMSBY, James (1850 – after 1871)

02 Friday Nov 2012

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[for James’ parents and siblings see page ‘ORMSBY’ at top of screen]

[this post last edited, new information and / or images added 18 March 2013]

Not much is known about James ORMSBY, third child and second son to James ORMSBY ands his wife Helen STEEL. The St. Quivox Old Parochial Record (OPR) recorded his birth.

   Ormesby, James, lawful son of James Ormesby & Helen Steel born 16 November 1850, St. Quivox

James grew up with his family at Brickrow Farm for this first twenty years of his life. The 1871 census listed James, 20, ‘farmers’ son’ at Brickrow.

James’ life may have changed with the death of his father James on October 12, 1871. His father’s will identified a £100 Endowment Policy with the St. Patricke Assurance Company of Ireland to go to James on his 21st birthday, 16 November 1871.

Receipt of this windfall may have provided the chance to escape the farm that James had been looking for. His brother Richard [Richard Steele ORMSBY] had already left home and worked as a ‘banker accountant’ in Cumnock. His brother Andrew [Andrew ORMSBY] worked as a ‘clerk’, but as the eldest son he would be expected to help run the farm upon the death of his father. His brother John [John ORMSBY] was 15, but would stay and work the farm with Andrew. The youngest brother Henry [Henry ORMSBY] was 12 and still attended school.

Wherever James went after 1871 his trail goes cold. I have not found him in subsequent Scottish census, birth, marriage, or death records. Emigration records have not been thoroughly checked. He is not listed in the St. Quivox family cemetery inscriptions, even as an ‘in memoriam’ mention which might be done if he was buried elsewhere. Perhaps James emigrated and / or lost touch with his family?

Hopefully a descendant of James’ will see this blog and contact TheirOwnStories so that James story can be continued.