My Mother's Family - The Ramage's
My mother, Catherine Kerr McCarroll (nee Johnston) comes from a long line of Ramage's on her paternal side, all of whom originated from Ayrshire, Scotland. Here is their story:
John Ramage married Marion Begg in Riccarton, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 2nd of February 1805. He was 20 years old and a labourer. The son of James Ramage and Margaret Lindsay . John was born in Sorn, Ayrshire in 1785.
Marion was 23 years old and the daughter of John Begg and Jean Mitchell. She was born in Galston, Ayrshire on the 23rd of December 1781. After the wedding the couple stayed in Riccarton and had six children:
1. John Ramage born in Riccarton, Ayrshire on the 31st of March 1805.
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He married Jean Ramage in Riccarton on the 30th of March 1833. Jean was born on the 28th of August 1814 in Kilmarnock to William Ramage and Anne Watson. The surname notwithstanding, John and Jean were not previously related. They settled in Sornhill Village, Riccarton, Ayrshire where John worked as a labourer and Jean looked after the house. They had six children between 1833 and 1846. In the mid 1850’s John and Jean started talking about a move overseas. In the summer of 1852 ‘The Sydney Herald’ issued a call for workers saying that they ‘have ample employment for many thousands of emigrants provided they be men who really give a good day’s work for a good day’s wages. We do not want idlers; neither do we want any more of that swarming class of young gentlemen who can do nothing but sit on a stool and handle a quill: Of those we have enough.’
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In June 1857 John, Jean and their children departed Liverpool, England and immigrated to Victoria, Australia. In 1858 John is listed as a Master Gardener working in Victoria. His wife Jean died in Victoria in 1880. John died in Lara, Victoria, Australia on the 25th of November 1885. He was 80 Years old.
- David Ramage born in Riccarton, Ayrshire on the 3rd of March 1836. He married Elizabeth Parker in Newmilns, Loudoun, Ayrshire on the 2nd of January 1857. They were both farm servants. David was 20 years old. Elizabeth was 20 years old and the daughter of Allan Parker and Ann Cowie. They were farmers who owned Muirside Farm in Kilmarnock.
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Their children were:
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1. Annie Ramage born on the 13th of February 1857 in Galston, Ayrshire, Scotland. She married
John Gilmour on the 29th of June 1878 in Galston, Ayrshire. Annie was 20 years old and John was 21 - The son of Michael Gilmour and Margaret Hannah of Maybole, Ayrshire. Their children were:
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- Lizzie Gilmour born in Galston, Ayrshire in 1879. She married John Pollock at 18 Back Street, Newmilns, Loudoun, Ayrshire on the 19th of April 1909. They lived in Darvel, Ayrshire. Lizzie died at Bellevue Avenue, Ayrshire on the 29th of March 1962.
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- Maggie Gilmour born in Galston, Ayrshire in 1881
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- John Gilmour born in Galston, Ayrshire in 1884
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- David Gilmour born in Galston, Ayrshire in 1889. He joined the 15th Royal Scots Army in 1916 and was killed in action at Roclincourt, France the following year on the 9th of April 1917. He's buried in Roclincourt, Departement du Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France
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- William Gilmour born in Galston, Ayrshire on the 30th of October 1891. He married Elizabeth Brown in Newmilns, Ayrshire in 1921. William died in 1937.
Their children were:
- John Ramage born in Riccarton, Ayrshire on the 24th of August 1833. He met and married Mary Cargill Stormont in Australia. She was Scottish, born in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland on the 11th of February 1830 to William Stormont and Janet Dorward.
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John and Mary were married in Victoria, Australia on the 29th of April 1857. They had six children:
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- William Ramage born in Victoria, Australia on the 1st of April 1858. He married Elsie Cumming Duncan in Melbourne, Victoria on the 25 of April 1888. Elsie was an Australian, previously living with her parents at 58 Margaret Street, Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia. They had three children:
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- Rachel Muriel Ramage. When she was born on 10 February 1889, in Australia, her father, William Ramage, was 30 and her mother, Elsie Cumming Duncan, was 25. She died on 13 March 1971, in her hometown, at the age of 82.
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- Duncan Stormont Ramage was born on the 28th of February 1895 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He married Reva Powne on the 12th of October 1926. Duncan was secretary to the Police Commissioner in Victoria for many years and he was awarded the M.B.E. for his services. He died on the 24th of January 1968 and is buried at Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne.
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- Elsie Mary Ramage was born in Essendon, Victoria on the 6th of April 1901. She married Reginald Charles Praetz in Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia in 1928. He was a bank manager for the State Savings Bank, Myrtleford. Elsie died on the 14th of February 1889 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Reginald died in Prahran, Victoria, Australia on the 15th of May 1984.
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- James Ramage born in Victoria, Australia in 1860. He died in Western Melbourne in 1929.
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- Jane Clementine Ramage born in Victoria, Australia in 1862.
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- Jessie Ramage born in Victoria, Australia in 1865.
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- John Ramage born in Victoria, Australia in 1867.
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- Mary Jane Ramage born in Victoria, Australia in 1867 (Twin to John)
2. John Ramage born on the 31st of July 1859 in Barr Street, Galston, Ayrshire. He married Catherine Hunt Berry on the 19th of April 1886. Catherine was born at 136 Sandy Faulds Street, Hutchieston, Glasgow in 1869. After the marriage they moved to England and spent time in Liverpool and Cheshire. John was a Detective Inspector with the Liverpool City Police.
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Their children:
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- Catherine Ramage born in Liverpool, England in 1887.
She married William Pedley on the 22nd of January 1907 at Saint Marys, Edge Hill, Lancashire, England.
They had three children:
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- William Henry Pedley
- Catherine Pedley
- Edith Pedley
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- William Henry Ramage born in Liverpool, England in 1889.
He married Margaret Louise Edmunds in Liverpool.
Their children:
- Edith Ramage born 1914
- William Henry Ramage born in Liverpool on the 23rd of December 1915.
He married first Ellen Ada Chapman and they had three sons:
- Gordon William Ramage born in Derby in 1945
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- John Ramage born in Liverpool in 1947​
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- Keith Ramage born in Wallasey, Merseyside in 1948. He married Gladys Ann Kershaw.
They had two children:
- Neil William Ramage born in 1973
- Emma Helen Ramage born in 1975
Ellen Ramage (nee Chapman) died in Liverpool on the 4th of July 1957. William remarried Gladys Ruth Bellis
They had one daughter together:
- Ann Margaret Ramage born in Liverpool in 1960.
- Arthur Ramage born in West Derby, Liverpool , England on the 15th of June 1918.
He married Joyce Pickering and had two daughters:
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- Doris Ramage
- Patricia Ramage
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- Doris Ramage born on the 16th of January 1921.She married Robert Ireland
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They had one son:
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David Robert Ireland born on the 9th of February 1945. He died in August 1992 in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England
Doris Ireland (nee Ramage) died in January 1993 in Liverpool.
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- John Ramage born in Liverpool, England in 1891. He was a French Polisher when he married Nellie May Green in Liverpool in 1912.
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John & Nellie had two children before John was killed during WW1. He was shot by a machine gun in Zonnebeke, West Flanders, Flanders, Belgium on the 4th of January 1917. He was 26 years old and remembered as a good solider who was always cheery and upbeat. He had served in the army since the beginning of the war.
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One child remains unknown. The second child was:
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- Margaret Rose Ramage born on the 29th of May 1913. She married Ernest Chester in Liverpool in 1934. Earnest was from Manchester, England. They immigrated to Australia and settled in Adelaide, South Australia. Earnest died on the 5th of April 1996, Margaret died in 1999.
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- Louisa Doris Ramage born in Liverpool, England in 1899. She married Frederick Briggs
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- Josephine Ramage born in Liverpool, England in 1901. She married Harry S Freeman
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Catherine Hunt Ramage (nee Berry) died in Wallasey, Cheshire, England in 1938. John Ramage died in Liverpool on the 23rd of April 1938.
3. Jean Ramage born in Loudoun, Ayr, Ayrshire in 1863. She married John Wakefield, a railway signal man in Galston, Ayrshire in 1890.
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They had four children:
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- James Wakefield born 1891. He joined the army during WW1 and was killed in action in France on the 26th of September 1915 at the Battle of Loos. There were 8,000 casualties out of 10,000 men in four hours. German machine gunners reported being "nauseated" from the sight of so many corpses and ceased firing so that the British could retreat with their wounded.
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- Eliza Parker Wakefield born 1894. She was a School Teacher. She married William Hamilton in Hurlford, Ayrshire on the 6th of July 1924. William was 10 years Eliza's senior. Prior to the marriage he was living in Dennistoun, Glasgow and working for the bank. His parents were William Hamilton, a Florist and Elizabeth McIntyre, a housewife.
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- Catherine Kerr Wakefield born 1895 in Hurlford, Ayrshire. She never married and died aged 38 years at 42 Brown Street, Newmilns, Ayrshire on the 29th of September 1933. She had a blood clot in her brain.
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- David Ramage Wakefield born 1900 in Hurlford, Ayrshire. He was a joiner to trade. He married Agnes Armour Couper on the 1st of January 1926 in Hurlford, Ayrshire. Agnes died at 3 Kersland Crescent, Hurlford on the 17th of October 1960. She was suffering from breast cancer. David died in Hurlford in 1985 aged 85 years.
4. Elizabeth Ramage born in Loudoun, Ayr, Ayrshire on the 15th of October 1866. Elizabeth is my direct ancestor. To read her story click HERE
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5. Allan Parker Ramage born in Loudoun, Ayr, Ayrshire on the 25th of August 1868. He moved to North Meols, Lancashire, England in the summer of 1891 presumably to be nearer to his family who had already moved to Liverpool. He married Jane (Jessie) Boyes in Ormskirk, Lancashire, England in May 1893. Jessie had been born in Holywood, Dumfries on the 28th of February 1868.
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They had one known daughter:
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- Violet Jesse M Ramage born in Birkdale, Southport, England on the 30th of April 1896. She married John Denovan in West Derby, Llverpool, England in August 1922. In 1939 they were living at 10, Leopold Road, Liverpool. John was a Corporation Train Driver.
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They had two children:
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- Allan E Denovan born in Liverpool in March 1923. He married Stella Craggs in Prescot, Lancashire, England in 1948. They had one son:
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Allan R Denovan born 1949
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- Violet Margaret Denovan born in Liverpool on the 26th of November 1931. She married Christopher Roche in Liverpool in June 1954. They had two children:
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- Unknown
- Christina Roche born in 1954
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6. Mary Ramage born in Loudoun, Ayr, Ayrshire in 1874
7. David Ramage born in Loudoun, Ayrshire in 1877
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- Mary Ramage born in Riccarton, Ayrshire on the 20th of September 1839
- Margaret Ramage born in Riccarton, Ayrshire on the 30th of September 1841
- Jane Ramage born in Riccarton, Ayrshire on the 18th of January 1844
- James Ramage born in Riccarton, Ayrshire on the 18th of June 1846
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2. James Ramage born in Riccarton, Ayrshire in 1808
3. Thomas Ramage born in Riccarton, Ayrshire on the 15th of March 1816
4. Christina Ramage born in Riccarton, Ayrshire in 1825
5. Janet Ramage born in Riccarton, Ayrshire in 1825 (Twin to Christina)
6. Mary Ann Ramage born in Riccarton, Ayrshire in 1829