Annie Briggs (Mrs Neilson) c1900
THE STORY OF THE NEILSON FAMILY OF MIDLOTHIAN
Early Times
The earliest records of our family go back to the seventeenth century in the parish of Lasswade, Midlothian which lies a few miles south of the city of Edinburgh. At that time the Neilsons were coal miners and remained in this arduous occupation until the twentieth century. In those days coal miners were held in serfdom by the colliery owner and could never leave their employment without his permission. This state of affairs continued until 1799, when the miners of Scotland were finally emancipated.
John Neilson was our earliest known ancestor.
It is not known when Thomas Neilson was born, but it was probably around 1660. We first hear of him when he and his wife Helen Paton were living in the small village of Eldinhaugh by the banks of the River North Esk in the parish of Lasswade. There they had a son, possibly their first child, called John, in 1684. Shortly after this, the family moved to the parish of Duddingston, where they probably lived in the collier village of Easter Duddingston, about three miles east of Edinburgh, where Thomas almost certainly worked as a coal miner. There they had four more children, Thomas, born 1687, Mary, born 1689, George, born 1693 and Helen, born 1695. Also in the parish lived John Neilson and his wife, who may have been Thomas's parents. Next door to them lived William Paton and his wife, William being probably Helen's father or brother. It is not known what became of Thomas, Helen and the children, other than George, whose life is described below.
George Neilson was the son of Thomas Neilson and Helen Paton and was born in 1693 in the parish of Duddingston. He was almost certainly a coal miner like his father. In 1720 he married Marion Flucker, probably the daughter of Alexander Flucker and Elizabeth Anderson. George and Marion had eleven children - John, born in 1721, Elspeth 1723, Robert 1725, Bessie 1727, Joseph 1729, Isabel 1731, Marion 1734, William 1736, a second John born in 1739, Benjamin 1742 and Margaret 1747. The were all born in Duddingston, with the exception of Elspeth, who was born in Liberton parish and Margaret, born in Inveresk parish. In 1744, the family were living in the village of Winton in the parish of Pencaitland in East Lothian, but by 1747, they were back in Midlothian, in the parish of Inveresk. The various moves away from Duddingston to other parishes appear to have been only temporary, as later generations of the Neilson family lived in Duddingston. The moves were presumably required by the colliery owner, who probably also had pits in other areas. It is not known what became of most of the children, except for Elspeth, who married George Hamilton in 1748, Bessie, who married John Balks in 1751, Joseph, who married Janet Henderson in 1751 and Benjamin, who married Elizabeth Ormiston in 1763. The first John presumably died young, as a second John was born in 1739. Joseph's life is described below.
Joseph Neilson was the son of George Neilson and Marion Flucker and was born in 1729 in the parish of Duddingston. In 1751 he married Janet Henderson, the daughter of Hugh Henderson and Marion Anderson. Duddingston parish register states that they were married "clandestinely". They lived in the village of Easter Duddingston, where Joseph was almost certainly a miner, and had five children there, Janet, b 1752, Joseph, b 1755, Elspet, b 1760, Smith, b 1762 and Hamilton, b 1765. Nothing further is known of Janet and Elspet, while Joseph married Marion Fairholm in 1776. Smith, a girl, married Henry Johnstone and died in 1813. Hamilton's life is described below. It is likely that Joseph senior died in 1772, aged 42, and is buried in Duddingston kirkyard.
Hamilton Neilson was born in the parish of Duddingston, probably in Easter Duddingston in 1765, the son of Joseph Neilson and Janet Henderson. He was probably named after his uncle, George Hamilton, the husband of his father's sister Elspeth. In 1785 he married Jean McGill, irregularly, according to the Duddingston parish register. Hamilton was almost certainly a coal miner. They had at least four children, James, born 1789, Joseph, born 1791, Edward, born 1793 and Agnes, born 1796. James and Joseph were born at Duddingston, but around 1791 or 1792, the family moved to another collier village, Hunter's Hall, which lies in Liberton parish, but is in fact only a few hundred yards from Easter Duddingston. This move was necessitated by the abandonment of the Easter Duddingston pits in 1790 because of flooding. It appears that Hamilton died around 1796 or 1797, as Jean remarried in 1798, to William Fairholm. Of the children, James married Catherine Flucker in 1807, while Edward married Catherine Balks in 1814 and moved to Fife. They had at least eight children, five of whom were converted to Mormonism, and emigrated to the USA. Agnes had an illegitimate daughter by her cousin James Neilson, while Joseph married Catherine Mathieson. Joseph and Catherine's lives are described below.
Joseph Neilson was born in 1791, the son of Hamilton Neilson and his wife Jean McGill, in the parish of Duddingston, probably in the village of Easter Duddingston, and, as described above, the family very soon thereafter moved to the nearby village of Hunter's Hall in Liberton parish. Joseph's father Hamilton probably died in 1796 or 1797 and his mother remarried, to William Fairholm, also probably a coal miner, and his mother and stepfather had four more children. The family seems to have remained in Hunter's Hall. In 1809, Joseph married Catherine Mathieson, the daughter of Anstruther Mathieson and Helen Reikie from Fife. Joseph and Catherine probably lived in Hunter's Hall until 1829, where Joseph worked as a coal miner. While there they had nine children, Helen, born 1810, Jean 1812, Ann 1814, William 1816, Joseph 1818, Alexander 1820, Catharine 1823, Isabella 1826 and Margaret Baillie 1829. The family then moved to the parish of Newbattle, where Hogg was born in 1832, then to Stobs Green in Temple parish, where Janet was born in 1835. By 1841 the family had returned to Newbattle parish, where they were living in the mining village of Westhouses. Soon, however, they were on the move again, this time to Hunterfield in the neighbouring parish of Cockpen. There Joseph died of "decline" in 1853, aged 63. Following his death, Catherine moved to the nearby village of Newtongrange in Newbattle parish, where she died in 1867, of "old age", aged 78.
Of the children, Helen married Robert Penman in 1837 and had at least two children, James and Robert. The family emigrated to the USA, where they settled in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Three of her sisters married three Bowie brothers. Jean married James in 1837, Catharine married John in 1844, and Margaret married Hunter after 1851, when she was living with her parents. These three sisters and their husbands also emigrated to Mercer County. William married Janet Syme in 1839 and became a coal miner. They lived in Newbattle parish and had at least eleven children. Joseph junior married Helen Brown in 1841 and their life is described below. Isabel or Isabella was still living at home in 1841, but had left by 1851. Janet was still at home in 1851, but nothing further is known of her or of Ann, Alexander and Hogg.
Joseph was born in 1818 at Hunter's Hall, Liberton, Midlothian and lived there until at least 1829. By 1832 the family had moved to Newbattle parish, but in 1835, they were living at Stobs Green in the adjacent Temple parish, both in Midlothian. By 1841 they were living in the village of Westhouses in Newbattle and in that year Joseph married Helen Brown, the daughter of William Brown and Elspeth or Euphemia Cunningham. After their marriage Joseph and Helen lived in Westhouses for a short time and had their first child, Joseph, there in 1843. By 1845 they had flitted to the nearby mining village of Newtongrange, and were there until 1853, when they moved again to another nearby mining village, Easthouses. By 1861, however, they were back in Newtongrange, and remained there until Joseph died in 1898, aged 80, a very good age for a coal miner. Miners usually died by middle age, usually of dust-related disease or in accidents. Helen died in 1902, aged 79, and they are both buried in Newbattle Old Cemetery, although there is no gravestone. Altogether Joseph and Helen had ten children, Joseph junior, born in 1843, William 1845, Euphemia c1848, Catherine 1850, Ellen 1853, Jane 1856, George 1858, Robert 1861, James 1864 and Andrew 1867.
Of the children, Joseph junior became a coal miner, married Margaret Bell in 1862, and had at least ten children. William also became a miner, married Ellen Moffat, and had at least eleven children. 1852 was a tragic year for the family, as two youngsters, Euphemia, aged 4 and Catherine, aged 20 months, both died of measles within a month. Ellen was unmarried in 1881 and living in Lanark. In 1851 Jane was a paper mill worker, while George and Robert also became miners. George married Margaret Ann Mcintosh in 1884. They lived in Newtongrange and had at least five children. James, also a miner, married Annie Briggs in 1887 and their life is described below. Andrew was apparently the only son not to follow the family tradition of going down the pit, and in 1881 he was an apprentice joiner, aged 14. By 1906, he was staying in the nearby town of Dalkeith.
| James Neilson was born in 1864 in the mining village of Newtongrange, in the parish of Newbattle, the ninth child of Joseph Neilson and his wife Helen Brown. James remained in the village all his life and, like his father and most of his brothers, became a coal miner, latterly in the large Lady Victoria Colliery in the village. In 1887, he married Anne or Annie Briggs, the daughter of Charles Briggs and his wife Jane Davidson. James and Annie had seven children, Jane Davidson (or Jeanie), born 1888, Joseph, 1890, Helen, 1893, Charles, 1895, twins Annie and James, 1897 and Margaret Briggs, 1899. James senior was very musical and became the bandmaster of the Newtongrange Silver Band, as well as playing the violin in a small group. It was in 1906 while he was on his way to Edinburgh for an evening engagement with the group, that James was tragically killed. He had taken a short cut to the local railway station by way of the viaduct over the Esk Gorge, and because of the bad weather, did not hear a train appoaching and was knocked down. He died later of multiple injuries in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, aged only 42. He is buried in Newbattle Old Cemetery near his parents and is commemorated by a gravestone. Following this tragedy for the family, they left Newtongrange and moved to the small village of Blackridge in West Lothian, where Annie's brother Robert Briggs was the publican at the West Craigs Inn. | Annie Briggs (Mrs Neilson) c1900 |
 Neilson children c1905 |
Of James and Annie's
children, Jeanie married Alexander (Sandy) Dunsmore, a
miner, in 1915, They lived in Blackridge and had at least
five children. Sandy died in 1966 and Jeanie in 1978. Joseph (Joe) started work as a coal miner, and in 1913 he married Ann McLean Laird (Annie) and they had two children, James and Catherine. By 1921 Joe was working as a barman, probably for his future father-in-law, Robert Laird, who had acquired the West Craigs Inn from Joe's uncle, Robert Briggs. Joe was again working as a miner in 1922, but shortly afterwards he left the village, and moved to Ayrshire, where he ran the Portland Arms in the village of Crosshouse near Kilmarnock. This public house was owned by his mother-in-law Catherine Shaw (Mrs Laird) until 1936, when Joe seems to have acquired it. After retiring in 1946, Joe and Annie returned to Blackridge, where Annie died in 1957 and Joe in 1972. |
 Grave of James Neilson (1864-1906) |
Helen's (Nellie) life is described in "The Story of the Carsons".
Charles (Charlie) became a miner and married Helen Wotherspoon Hill in 1927. They lived in Blackridge and had four children. Charlie was active politically and in local affairs, and served as a local councillor. He was a prominent member of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), and later joined the breakaway Scottish Socialist Party. He died in 1935 of heart disease, at the age of only 40.
Ann (Annie) emigrated to Canada in 1920, but moved to the USA in the next year. There she married Garfield Thomas, an Englishman, about 1926, and they settled in Detroit, having one son. Garfield worked as a caretaker in a private housing estate in the wealthy suburb of Grosse Pointe. Annie died in 1961, aged 64, and Garfield died in 1973.
Tragically James junior died of menigitis after only six weeks of life.
Margaret, known as Peggy, never married and was in service in Edinburgh all her working life. On retirement she went to live in Saltcoats, Ayrshire beside her sister Nellie. Peggy died in 1969, aged 70.
© Robert J. Carson 2008. All rights reserved.