An initial chart of the Nicol family line after Peter and Elizabeth were married
The family dynasty that Peter and Elizabeth Nicol created in the 19th Century with children who were directly connected or married into connections with the Dynamite Factory in Ardeer had taken me by surprise when I began to research them.
Peter Nicol, from Tarland in Aberdeenshire, has been attracted to come to Ayrshire for work. He had previously been an Agricultural Worker but found work in the iron ore mines near Kilwinning. He returned to his home county in 1873 to marry his sweetheart and bring her down to Kilwinning. Here they started their family and in the period of 15 years they produced eight children.
This week I am mapping out the family. Eight children in the space of 17 years and not everyone has left a clear footprint of their lives that is easily found on the usual online research sites. One left Scotland to live and work in South Africa and there is no evidence that he took a wife and family with him. Another did take his family to Canada. Only one member can we be sure of everything about his life and that is Andrew, my Wife’s Grandfather.
My ‘tree’ above is made in block shape to make it easier to read from a photo. It shows in order the births of James, Peter, George, Elizabeth, Jane, Elspeth, Edward and Andrew.
James has been elusive with regards his birth certificate. However, it is clear from Census returns for him that he was born in Stevenston. Peter and Elizabeth, his parents lived in Kilwinning for a short time when Peter was working as an Iron Ore Miner prior to joining Alfred Nobel’s factory that was being developed at that time. Leaving the mines and finding a house at Seaside Cottages meant that Peter and Elizabeth could start their family life and a new career that would see many members of the family either being employed there or learning a trade there. Even finding their married partners there. It’s an interesting thought about the importance of employment and where we live and how our own families then develop. James did not work at the Nobel Factory, he was, according to his marriage certificate, a Merchant Seaman. This was at a time when Ardrossan, a couple of miles up the coast, was a very important merchant shipping port and ship building yard. It was also a very large railway terminus for the coal that was being mined and shipped out from the Ayrshire coal fields. But James did marry a Dynamite Worker from the Nobel factory, Helen Marr. Unusually her marriage certificate gave her an occupation at a time when it was the norm to just put Spinster.
Peter is even more elusive. I have found very little in my own research but have found clues about his life from the research of others. This includes evidence that he left Scotland for South Africa and worked as a Contractor. In what particular trade other than building, I have no knowledge.
George was born in 1883 and at the time of his marriage in 1903 he was living in Lucknow Cottage. I am uncertain where this is but I do know that the was a coal mine called Lucknow in the Stevenston area and I need to research this name and the Cottage more. There is evidence from the 1891 Census return that Lucknow Cottage may have been a house in Dynamite Road. I have a family history research colleague who I studied with who lives near the town and who has recently published a booklet about the local coal mining industry here. I am certain he will help me shine a light on this. George, in his marriage certificate is described as a Mechanical Engineer. He also married a Dynamite Worker at the Nobel Factory, Annie Ritchie.
Elizabeth was at the same address as her brother when she married Hugh Smith in 1909. Elizabeth was also working as a Dynamite Worker at the Nobel Factory when she married at the age of 24. Hugh was the son of a Dynamite Worker but was working as a Commercial Clerk. Elizabeth died in 1963.
Jane is a bit of mystery. The 1911 Census return, which gives a good description of her brothers and sisters occupations, has a blank line for her. When she married John Murray, she is also described as Spinster, unlike her sister before her. John was a Railway Clerk.
Elspeth, born in 1890, became a School Teacher. She married James Malcolm in 1922 but he died 14 years later in 1936 aged 48.
Edward, born in 1893, was listed in the 1911 Census return as an Electrical Engineer at the Nobel Dynamite Factory. Another reliable link to that industry. He married Catherine Apel in 1919.
Last but definitely not least, is Andrew. He was born in 1896 and he married Rachel Welsh in 1918. Andrew started life working as a Grocer’s Assistant at the age of 15 before also becoming an apprentice Electrical Engineer at the Nobel Factory. He was serving in the Royal Flying Corps in Blandford Forum during the First World War at the time of his marriage to Rachel. Andrew lived until 1966, he died in his daughter’s house in Gloucester.
So, this is a broad snapshot of the Nicol family in Stevenston at an extraordinary time in the history of so many things. The invention of dynamite, the enormous trade in merchant shipping and the railways, the First World War, and so much more. This lays the foundations for a lot of future interesting stories about the Nicols and their partners and children.