Category Archives: Ormsby Family

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, Rupert Seggie (1886-1959)

11 Sunday Nov 2012

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

[this post last edited, new information and/or images added 02 December 2014. All photos, and information about Jessie DIDCOTT, in this post have been provided by P. GORMLEY of New Zealand. Thank you Peter! for adding to the story of ‘Uncle Seg’ and ‘Aunt Jessie’. ]

Rupert Seggie ORMSBY was born 13 January 1886 in Otago, New Zealand to Richard Steele ORMSBY and his wife Alison SCOTT. Rupert’s early life with his family is described in the story of his father. [see post 9 November 2012]

During WWI Rupert was in the New Zealand Reserves and did not serve overseas. He continued to live in Avon with his mother and worked as shop assistant / indent clerk.  On 3 May 1917, at the Registry Office in Christchurch, Rupert married Jessie Kate DIDCOTT. On the marriage registration Jessie indicated that she was two years older then Rupert.Seg-Jess-1919

Photo right is of ‘Seg’ and Jessie. Unfortunately the photo is damaged, however it is one of the few photos of the couple from this era, about 1919.  Perhaps this is their wedding photo, they are both looking very formal, ‘Seg’ particularly in a suit more formal than a shop assistant would normally wear?

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Jessie was born on 27 April 1882 at 2 Wrights Place Upper Easton, St. George, (near Bristol) Gloucestershire, England to Sidney (Sydney) DIDCOTT and his wife Emily.

The 1891 census shows Sidney (36, shoemaker, born in Cardiff, Wales), his wife Emily (35, box maker, born in Bristol), and their three children: Jessie (8), William (7) and Emily (4). The family lived at 4 Clayton Street, ______, Gloucestershire. The family appears to have lived in relatively stable financial situation: they could afford the above studio photograph in Bristol.

Photo above: Jessie and her mother about 1892, Bristol, England.

Jessie, her mother and siblings William and Emily, appear to have emigrated from England to New Zealand in May 1900. Father Sidney is not with them according to the ship’sJess-1898-Bristol manifest. Perhaps he traveled to New Zealand before his family and sent for them later?

Research has not yet shown where the Didcott family lived from their arrival in New Zealand in 1900 and Jessie’s marriage to Rupert in 1917.

Photo right: Jessie, before her marriage to Rupert?

After their marriage Rupert and Jessie lived with his mother Alison in Avon, near Christchurch until Alison’s death in 1920.

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By 1928 Rupert and Jessie moved to Auckland and for the next ten years the couple lived at four addresses as Rupert worked variously as a buyer, manager and commercial traveler.

58-Opawa-Rd-1950

By 1938 they had returned to the South Island and for the next 21 years they lived at 58 Opawa Road in the Christchurch suburb of Sydenham.
A family member, Peter G. from New Zealand remembers: “My fathers father married Ruperts wife’s sister (Emily DIDCOTT, my paternal grandmother ). I well remember Uncle Seg as i called him. We visited 58 Opawa Rd (photo right) often, and found him a very kindly man.”

P220_2398_3197  Rupert died in 1959 aged 73 years. He did not leave a will.

CCF19092014_00001After Rupert’s death Jessie continued to live in their home.

One thing that is immediately noticeable after Rupert’s death is that Jessie reported her name as ‘Jessie Kate’ not the more formal ‘Jessie Kathleen’. After her husband’s death, all Jessie’s records (Electoral Rolls, her death notice, and register at the Christchurch High Court Probate) are all listed as Jessie Kate. It’s as though she was saying “This is the name my parents gave me and it’s the name I want to be known as”.

Jessie died in 1966 at age 84. Her will is registered in the Christchurch High Court, Christchurch; it has not yet been checked. The couple had no children; however  it appears that the couple enjoyed frequent visits with extended family.

Gradually the story fragments come together allowing Uncle Seg and Jessie to tell theirownstories so that they will not be forgotten.

ORMSBY, Leslie James (1882-1942)

10 Saturday Nov 2012

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

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

Leslie James ORMSBY was born about 1882 in Otago, New Zealand to Richard Steele ORMSBY and his wife Alison SCOTT. Leslie’s early life with his family is decribed in the story of his father. [see post 9 November 2012]

Little is known about Leslie’s military career during WWI, however he may have been wounded overseas since in 1919 his address was King George V Hospital, Rotorua, in the Bay of Plenty area on the North Island. His occupation is listed as ‘soldier’ indicating he may have been a patient. His stay at the hospital may have evolved into a job as the 1928 Electoral Rolls listed him as a ‘porter’ who lived at the hospital. He married Elsie Jane MANN in 1931 when he was 49 and she was 40. Their address from that time forward was 31 Eruera Street in Rotorua.

Leslie lived in Rotorua and worked as a porter until his death in 1942 at age 60. From 1942 until 1957 Elsie lived in Rotorua. After1957 she moved to Auckland, where she died June 6, 1964. She was buried in a cemetery on Waiheke Island outside Auckland. Elsie left a will registered in the Hamilton High Court, Auckland which has not yet been checked. It is not known if the couple had any children, although perhaps Elsie moved to Auckland to be with family?

Hopefully someone with knowledge of the family will contact me so that Leslie and Elsie can tell TheirOwnStories.

ORMSBY, Richard Steele (1853-1922)

09 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in Brickrow Farm, Ayr, Scotland, Ormsby Family

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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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[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.

ORMSBY, Andrew (1848-1928)

01 Thursday Nov 2012

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

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

Andrew ORMSBY was born on 19 August 1848 in St. Quivox, Ayrshire, Scotland, the first son and second child born to James ORMSBY and his wife Helen STEEL.

Left: Andrew Ormsby, at Brickrow Farm, Ayrshire, Scotland, on 30 October 1924 at the wedding of his niece Jane (Jean) Muir ORMSBY to James McGUIRE. This photograph is now in the collection of an Ormsby family descendant who still lives in Ayrshire, Scotland.

Andrew lived an uneventful life at Brickrow Farm and a short distance away at Gibbsyard. The census recorded Brickrow Farm as his residence and listed his occupation as ‘farmer’, ‘agricultural labourer’ or ‘farm labourer’. For a brief period he considered leaving farm work as the 1871 census listed his occupation as ‘clerk’. Perhaps it was the death of Andrew’s father on October 12, 1871 that altered Andrew’s career choice and he was required to help run Brickrow Farm with his widowed mother Helen and his younger brother John [John ORMSBY], 15.

Andrew likely had no option but to return to farming. His brother Richard Steele [Richard Steel ORMSBY] had already left home and his brother James [James ORMSBY], who reached the age of 21 on 16 November 1871, had received the £100 from his father’s will and had no intention of staying on the farm. Andrew was not mentioned in his father’s will, perhaps it was assumed he would take over the running of Brickrow Farm. Whatever the situation, by 1881 Andrew was listed as a ‘farmer’ and so was to remain for the rest of his life.

Andrew lived at Gibbsyard, Auchincruive from 1901 until at least 1913. The move to Gibbsyard likely occurred after Andrew’s brother John brought his new wife Helen Ramsay MUIR to Brickrow in 1894. The 1911 census listed Andrew (61) sharing a home at Giibsyard with his widowed mother Helen (89), widower brother Henry [Henry ORMSBY] (52) and Henry’s two sons James [James Henry ORMSBY]  (21) and Robert [Robert Lamont ORMSBY] (19). In 1913 Andrew, as eldest son, signed the death registration of his 92 year old mother Helen. Sometime after 1913 Andrew moved back to Brickrow Farm and continued to help his brother John and family with farming activities. He died there on 07 January 1928, 79 years old of ‘heart disease’’ only three months after his brother John.

ORMSBY, Helen (1846-1905)

25 Thursday Oct 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 18 March 2013]

Helen ORMSBY was born on 19 July 1846 in St. Quivox, Ayrshire, Scotland, and died 18 February 1905 in Gibbsyard, Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland.

Helen was the eldest child of James ORMSBY and his wife Helen STEEL. The St. Quivox Old Parochial Record (OPR) listed her, although the handwriting doesn’t make clear whether she was born or baptised on the19 July of 1846.

 Ormesby, Helen, lawful daughter of James Ormesby & Helen Steel 19 July 1846, St. Quivox

The forty years covered by census records from 1851 to 1891 recorded that Helen lived at Brickrow Farm with her parents and then her widowed mother and siblings after her father’s death. She attended school for the first sixteen years of her life and then after the 1871 census her occupation, listed as ‘farmer’s daughter’, indicated she worked on farm activities at Brickrow (cooking, tending the kitchen vegetable garden, feeding the animals and chickens, working as a dairy maid and so on) .

Photo above: Brickrow Farm;  this photograph is now in the collection of an Ormsby family descendant who still lives in Ayrshire, Scotland.

By the 1901 census Helen, (no occupation given), her mother [Helen STEEL] , brothers Andrew [Andrew ORSMBY] and Henry [Henry ORMSBY] and 10 year nephew James Henry [James Henry ORMSBY] lived at Gibbsyard, Auchincruive. They likely moved there at the time of the marriage of Helen’s brother John [John ORSMBY] to Helen Ramsay Muir [Helen Ramsay MUIR] in 1894.

Helen, 59, died at Gibbsyard in 1905 of ‘acute bronchitis’, some days’. She predeceased her mother by eight years. The informant of her death was her brother John who lived a short distance away at Brickrow Farm.

ORMSBY, James (About 1807-1871)

22 Monday Oct 2012

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[for Ormsby family see page ‘ORMSBY’ at top of screen]

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

James ORMSBY was born in Ireland about 1807. I have not yet found anything that indicates which part of Ireland the family came from, and the only information discovered to date is that James’ father’s name was John ORMSBY [see post 21 October 2012]. More research is required. James moved from Ireland to Ayrshire and in 1841 he worked as an agricultural labourer in Whitletts Village, St. Quivox Parish in Ayrshire. Four years later, aged 38, he married 24 year old Helen STEEL.

James seems to have been a man of ambition. By 1848 he held the position of Land Stewart at the Auchincruive estate and lived at Brickrow. In the 1851 census the occupants of Brickrow were James and his wife Helen, and their three children Helen, Andrew and James, James’ mother-in-law Helen STEEL (maiden surname McMURTRIE) and two brothers-in-law Richard STEEL and Andrew STEEL. The farming operation also required two agricultural labourers and a house servant. This is confirmed by the Scottish Post Office Directory for 1851-1852 that listed ‘Ormsby, James, overseer’ at Brickrow Farm. On the 30th November 1855 James took out two Endowment Policies, for a total of £200 with the St. Patrick Assurance Company of Ireland, perhaps an indication that he returned to Ireland from time to time. In the 1861 census the size of the farm is not given, however by then the two Steel brothers, Richard and Andrew had left Brickrow.

At the time of the April 1871 census James was a farmer of “50 acres arable” at Brickrow. He died, 64 years old, on October 12, 1871 rather gruesomely of ‘internal cancer and also in lower jaw, duration for a year or more’. His eldest son, 23 year old Andrew ORMSBY, was the informant on his death registration.

After his death an inventory of James’ personal estate was conducted. This document described James as “sometime Land Stewart, afterwards Farmer and Cattle Dealer residing at Brickrow”. The inventory of his personal property (“household furniture, Farm Stock and Crops, Implements of Husbandry, body clothes and other effects belonging to the deceased”) was valued at £572. Two accounts in the Bank of Scotland in Ayr, total value £165, were also included in the inventory, as was the £50 owed by “Archibald Mair, Farmer, Craigbrae”. Preliminary research shows that there was a family connection with Mair, although the specifics are not clear and require more research.

The inventory also identified the two separate £100 Endowment Policies with the St. Patrick Assurance Company of Ireland that James had taken out in 1855. One Endowment Policy was assigned to his son James ORMSBY and one to his son Richard Steele ORMSBY on the condition they lived and “attained the age of 21 years”. In James’ case this was 16 November 1871, and for Richard 19 March 1874. The inventory identifies only the two endowment policies, none was purchased for his daughter Helen ORMSBY, or his eldest son Andrew ORMSBY. James may have wanted his eldest son Andrew to take over Brickrow Farm and the cattle dealing business? His youngest sons, John ORMSBY and Henry ORMSBY were also not included, perhaps because they were not born when James took out the endowment policies in 1855. James may have meant to establish some policy for them and never got around to it, or didn’t have the money to do so.

After James’ death, the farming operation depended on James’ widow Helen, and their two sons Andrew (23) and John (15). James’ son Richard had already left home and was not interested in farming, and James’ son James may have left shortly after his father’s death. James (the son) would have received his £100 from his father’s will on his 21st birthday 16 November 1871 and may have used this to start a new life.

Helen, as the family’s Head, and her sons Andrew and John worked industriously with the help of some servants and by 1881 Brickrow Farm increased in size by 26 acres. Helen also cared for her mother Helen STEEL who had lived with the Ormsby family from 1851 until her death at age 90 in 1872.

Helen (James’ widow) lived at Brickrow, probably until the 1894 marriage of her son John to Helen Ramsay MUIR when she, her daughter Helen and sons Andrew and Henry and grandson James Henry ORMSBY moved across the road to Gibbsyard, Auchincruive, Ayrshire. In 1901 Helen, Head of the family, lived at Gibbsyard “living on own means”.

92 year old Helen died of cardiac failure at Gibbsyard 26 January 1913. She is buried in the Ormsby family plot in St. Quivox Parish church cemetery.

Ormsby family graves in St. Quivox Parish, Photo taken by the author 2003