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~ Remembering our ancestors whose stories have been lost or forgotten

TheirOwnStories

Tag Archives: Mary Manson Muir ORMSBY (1896-1900)

ORMSBY, James Muir (1901-1902)

23 Friday Nov 2012

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

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Helen Ramsay MUIR (1874-1951), James MUIR (1843-1924), James Muir ORMSBY (1901-1902), James Ormsby (Abt. 1807-1871), John ORMSBY (1856-1927), Mary Manson Muir ORMSBY (1896-1900)

[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

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

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Helen Ramsay MUIR (1874-1951), Jane MUIR (1865-1933), Jessie Ross ORMSBY (1899-1921), John ORMSBY (1856-1927), Mary Manson Muir ORMSBY (1896-1900)

[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

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

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Tags

Helen MCNAB (1844-1929), Helen McNab Steel ORMSBY (1895-1976), Helen Ramsay MUIR (1874-1951), James MUIR (1843-1924), Jane MANSON (1813-1890), Jane Muir ORMSBY (1897-1983), Jessie Ross ORMSBY (1899-1921), John ORMSBY (1856-1927), Mary Manson Muir ORMSBY (1896-1900)

[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.

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