The Scott Family of Cairneymount - A Research Tale

The striking family photograph (below)  of the Scott Family of Cairneymount, near  Earlston in the Scottish Borders  was gifted to my local heritage group by Margaret, a Scott descendant.  I took up the challenge to find out more about the people featured – exactly the type of family history project I enjoy, with an added interest that I was friendly with the current owners of Cairneymount.

Margaret’s grandfather Adam Scott was the man on the back row, far right and although Margaret knew the names of his brothers and sisters, she did not know  the older seated couple.

The  Scott surname is prolific in the Scottish Borders but a combination of searches on Ancestry and ScotlandsPeople easily identified the family in the 1901 census.   For living at Cairneymount, were John Scott, a shepherd, aged 51 and his wife Jane aged 48, surrounded by their seven children:  Mary aged 21, Ada, 19, William 16, Charles 14, Margaret 13, John 12 and Thomas 7. 

The photograph was taken probably 2-3 years later, with the individuals Identified as: 

• Back Row:  William  Charles,  Margaret,  Mary, Adam  
• Middle  Row - Father John and mother Jane, with youngest son  Thomas  between them.
• Seated on the cushion, young John

Research revealed  that the family followed the Scottish traditional naming pattern for their children,  who were named after grandparents, great grandparents,  and uncles & aunts.

WHO WAS JOHN SCOTT, (SENIOR)?

The 1901 census indicated that John was born  around 1850 in Cranshaws, Berwickshire,

The 1851 census  showed one year old John with his parents Adam, (a shepherd)  and Margaret Scott  and two older sisters Agnes and Margaret, living at  Rawburn Farm, Cranshaws, a hamlet  (population 127)  in the Lammermuir Hills,  nine miles from Duns, Berwickshire.

By 1861, the Scott family was still at Rawburn Farm,  with a growing family of three more children  - eldest daughter Agnes was a domestic servant, unmarried;  16 year old Margaret was an agricultural labourer (Ag. Lab.), and John 11 years old with three more siblings - Charles 8, Mary 6 and Isabella 3. 

THE  MOVE TO CAIRNEYMOUNT

Sometime between 1861 and 1871, the Scott Family moved  from Rawburn Farm, Cranshaws to Cairneymount, above Earlston,  - a journey  of over 27 miles, presumably made by horse and cart.   (The railway between Duns and Earlston had been completed in 1863)

 In the 1871 census, John had followed his father into being a shepherd.  The household of seven comprised his parents, sister Agnes, a dressmaker, brother Charles an Agricultural Labourer (Ag. Lab.) , with 15 year old Mary a domestic servant.  Completing the household was a 5 year old granddaughter Helen Scott.

On the 25^th April 1879,  29 year old John married at Craigsford Mains,   27 year old Jane Scott of daughter of William, a farm steward (deceased) and Mary Fleming, “after banns according to the forms of the United Presbyterian Church”.  Jane was described as a housekeeper, daughter of William Scott, a farm steward and Mary Fleming.  The Scott surname is so popular in the Scottish Borders that it is impossible to state if the couple were already related.  Again the marriage certificate on the ScotlandsPeople website confirmed the name of both sets of parents.

 

A year later saw John at the helm of Cairneymunt following the death of his father Adam in 1880.

The 1891 census listed a household of ten living at Cairneymount:  John aged 41, with his wife Jane 39, and their  six children under nine years old – Mary,  Adam. William, Charles. Margaret and young John  - soon to be joined by another son Thomas  - plus lodger William Craig, assistant shepherd.

The household in the 1911 census was a depleted one  with John and Jane living with unmarried daughter Mary aged 31, sons young John , a shepherd, and Thomas a bank clerk – plus one year old grandson another John F. Scott .  The  entry noted that John and Jane had been married 31 years and had seven living children;  and that Cairneymount had four rooms with one or more windows.

 But who was the grandson, baby John?    A search on ScotlandsPeople came up with  the answer – he was the illegitimate son named John Fleming Scott of eldest daughter Mary  (right)  – Fleming being his grandmother Jane’s maiden name.   

John Scott, (senior)  died  in 1923, aged 72,  at Redpath with his eldest son Adam Scott of Courthill, Kelso. named as the informant on his death certificate. No further details are given on the address in the small village of Redpath – perhaps John was visiting a relative there  at the time?

                                         

 

 John’s wife Jane died nine  years later aged 81,  with the announcement in “The Southern Reporter”:  25^th August 1932:

“At Rhymer’s Tower Cottage, Earlston on 19^th August 1932.  Jane Scott, widow of John Scott, late Shepherd of Cairneymount.

 

An early 20^th century photograph of Rhymer’s Tower Cottage.

 

John and Jane  were both  buried in Earlston Churchyard, with the monumental inscription:  

“In loving memory of John Scott , late Shepherd of Cairneymount who died at Redpath 25^th of ~April 1923 in his 73^rd year.  Also Jane Scott, his wife who died at Rhymer’s Tower Cottage, Earlston  19^th August 1932 aged 81 years.”

 

 

 Valuation Rolls indicated Cairneymount continued to be the home of the Scott family after John’s death,  with John’s namesake son listed  as occupier/tenant until 1926.  Young John was the fourth generation of the Scott family to become a shepherd  after his great grandfather Charles, grandfather Adam and father John. 

Today’s Scott family recollects that  father John’s other sons, William, Charles and Adam sons lived at farms around Earlston.

I always like, with any research  to check the online newspaper archives and came across this item relating to youngest son Thomas, the little lad sitting between his grandparents in the group photograph.  An article was traced in “The Southern Reporter:  27^th July 1916, reporting on Thomas, fighting in France  being wounded by shrapnel and bullet, but recovering in hospital back in England.

THE FIRST SCOTT TO LIVE AT CAIRNEYMOUNT  - ADAM SCOTT (1808-1880)

The father of John (1850-1923) was Adam Scott,  with census returns consistently naming his birthplace as Southdean, Roxburghshire.  An entry was found in the Old Parish Records for Adam, born December 1808,  at Southdean  Roxburghsire, son of Charles Scott and Mary Buckham  whose Christian names continued down two generations of the Scott family. 

By 1839, Adam was in Cranshaws, Berwickshire where the banns were read for his marriage to Margaret Moffat.   The brief entry in the Old Parish Records on ScolandsPeople gave no mention of parents’ names.

By the  1861 census, the couple were living at Rawburn Farm, Cranshaws  with their growing family of five children – Agnes, John, Charles, Mary and Isabella. 

Yet ten years later saw that 50 year old Adam and family had made the move to Cairneymount, near Earlston, What could have prompted this move of 27 miles west?  Was it the prospect of a substantial house?   Had he attended Hiring Fairs  held regularly in Duns and Earlston,  important events in the farming community,  where men and women  farm  workers  would gather to bargain with prospective farmers for work, and hopefully secure a new position.   

The move can be pinpointed to the end of the decade, for valuation rolls showed that that a James Wilson was listed as occupier/tenant of Cairneymount in 1868. 

The 1871 census listed at Cairneymount , 60 year old Adam, born at Southdean, Roxburghshire, his wife Margaret aged 55, born at Spot, East Lothian , four children, including son John, and a granddaughter, 5 year old Helen Scott.

Nine years later Adam died, with his eldest son John taking over the tenancy. 

 Adam’s death was registered at Melrose in 1880 and  confirmed the names of Adam’s parents – Charles Scott, also a shepherd,  and Mary Buckham.

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                          Cairneymount today - photograph courtesy of the current owners. 

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 MY RESEARCH 

• The Scott surname is so prolific in the Scottish Borders that it can often be difficult to identify “your” Scott.  It was a big help that I had already the name  of their farm.  I searched first using my Ancestry subscription, before turning to ScotlandsPeople to download the images.
  
  
• ScotlandsPeople is a brilliant site.  Although compulsory registration in 1855 came in later than England, the entries are far more informative – namely that marriage and death certificates give the names of both parents, including the maiden name of the mother.  The site also features a selection of valuation rolls of property from 1855.  Searchig is free but you buy credit  to view the images – at £1.50 good value compared with the English equivalent. 
  
  
• Cairneymount was a substantial property and  much bigger than my usual impression  of tenanted shepherd’s cottages.
  
  
• I was struck too at the distances travelled across the Borders by the Scott family, moving between farms – no light task by horse and cart  with a large family, and furnishings etc. 
  
  
• Local knowledge was a help in the research.  For although Earlston, Berwickshire  is the nearest community for Cairneymount, the farm  is situated in the adjacent county of Roxburghshire.  

SOURCES

• Old Parish Records, Census Returns, Statutory Records and Valuation Rolls on ScotlandsPeople,  and Ancestry.

• Newspaper items on British Newspaper Archive
   
• Earlston Monumental Inscriptions, published by Borders Family History Society

• Vintage village photogrpahs from the Auld Earlston Collection. 

 

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