John Nelson (my great great grandfather) was born in Ireland in 1843. The son of Thomas Nelson and Mary McCowie, Irish linen weavers. The family moved from Ireland to Scotland just after the potato famine and settled in Rutherglen, Lanarkshire. 

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John was working as a coal miner and living at 8 West Muir Place, Rutherglen when he married Catherine Murphy  at Saint Columbkille RC Chapel, Rutherglen, Lanarkshire on the 21st of May 1865.  Remarkably, Catherine had only just given birth to their first child, James, two days prior to the wedding.

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Catherine was also born in Ireland, the daughter of John Murphy and Mary Mathieson. The family had moved to Rutherglen in a similar fashion to John Nelson's family. 

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Shortly after the wedding John and Catherine packed up their meager belongings and moved to Stevenston in Ayrshire, where John would take up a new job as a brusher in the coal pit. With the job came miners lodgings and the family moved into 122 Ardeer Square, Stevenson, Ayrshire, Scotland

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Ardeer Square:

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There are four rows of houses built in the form of a square, and three other rows built inside the square. The houses are all built with "Stinston" stone and there is a large reservoir of water, fed through piping from the Stevenston Burn, from a point adjacent to the Colliery Manager's Mansion in Station Road in the centre of the square, for supplying the Blast Furnaces with water for industrial purposes particularly. After the pig beds are cleared, the sand had to be heavily watered for re-moulding the pig beds. This reservoir is practically stagnant.

The Side Row of the square contains 16 2-apartment houses. Back Row 25 single apartments 3 blocks have 6 houses each, and one block of 8 houses, and at the top end of the row there is McCallum's model lodging house and dining room, where boarders are fed and lodged at 12/- per week, or a bed can be obtained for 6d per night. Shilling Row has 8 single apartments and the house measurements are 14 feet by 12 feet. This Row has no closets, washing houses or coalhouses. The rent is 6/6 month.

The Front Row contains 10 2-apartments and 8 single apartments. In this Row there is one washing house for 5 tenants with a closet in it for females and one dry closet for males, for every 6 tenants. The Monkey Row has 8 single apartments built back to back with the 8 singles in the Front Row. All the houses measure 10 feet by 8 feet with neither coalhouses, wash-houses, closets, or ashpits, and so human filth and refuse is thrown out on to the ground in front of the houses.

Middle Row has 12 single apartments and is the same type as the ones in the Back Row and the same insanitary conditions prevail. Furnace Row has 18 singles and 13 2-apartments. The whole aspect of Ardeer Square is a most melancholy one, there are no rhones on any of the houses and as none of the roadways are paved, the result can be readily imagined. At every gable-end there are large pools of water several inches deep, and ruts of mud at every row. The floors are all brick tiles with the usual sad results of broken floors and uneven surfaces which mock the efforts of the most industrious housewife to keep her place tidy.

These houses are all the property of Messrs. Merry and Cunninghame, Furnaces and Colliery owners, and are inhabited by miners of the company pits and furnace workers at the Ardeer Ironworks.

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John and Catherine had 9 children:

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- James Nelson born at 1 Westmuir Place, Rutherglen, Lanarkshire on the 19th of May 1865. James last appears on a Scottish Census in 1881 when he's living with the family at 67 New Street, Stevenston, Ayrshire aged 16 years. At some point after this he immigrated from Scotland to the USA. Settling in Floral Park, Silver Bow, Montana. He never married and took a heart attack at the age of 75 while working at the Bluebird Refinery. He was taken to County Hospital, Silver Bow, Butte, Montana and died there on the 9th of June 1942. He was buried 3 days later at Mountain View Cemetery, Butte, Montana, USA

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- Joseph Nelson born at Townhead Street, Stevenston, Ayrshire on the 16th of August 1867. He died as an infant, the following year, at 44 Burns Road, Rutherglen on the 9th of November 1968.

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- John Nelson was born on the 19th of August 1869 at 122 Ardeer Square, Stevenson. He died the following year at the same address. 

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- Mary Nelson was born at 122 Ardeer Square, Stevenson on the 21st of July 1871. She died aged 15 months on the 19th of November 1872.

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- William Nelson was born at 122 Ardeer Square, Stevenson on the 21st of August 1873. He survived infancy and moved back to Lanarkshire with his parents and is on the 1891 census living with them at 1 Church Street, Cambuslang aged 17 years. He married Mary McNamara at St Brides Chapel, Cambuslang, Lanarkshire on the 13th of December 1898. Mary was originally from Blackwood, Lanarkshire. Her parents were  Michael and Catherine McNamara (nee Coogans)

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William and Mary moved into 5 Park Street, Cambuslang, Glasgow. They never had any children of their own, however, they adopted a baby.

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William McHardy was born at Coopersway, Halfway, Cambuslang, Lanarkshire on the 13th of September 1902. He was born illegitimate, His parents were William McHardy of 84 Henderson Street Glasgow and Sarah McGilvray of 12 Hopehill Road, Glasgow. His name was changed from McHardy to Nelson.

William married Elizabeth Keenan on the 1st of January 1935 at  St Brides Chapel, Cambuslang. Her parents were Thomas Keenan and Elizabeth Keenan (nee Murdoch)

 

William and Elizabeth had two sons:

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- William Thomas Nelson born on the 3rd of May 1936 at 47 Monkcastle Drive, Cambuslang. William was a Flying Officer in the Royal Air Force. He married Catherine Mary Quinn St Eunan's Church, Clydebank on the 17th of October 1959.

 

They had two daughters:

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- Louise Nelson born in 1960 at the Royal Air Force Hospital, Wagberg, Germany

- Simone Nelson

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Thomas Gerard Nelson born on the 30th of August 1937 at 47 Monkcastle Drive, Cambuslang. He married Christina June Watson on the 26th of April 1975 at the Registration Office, Glasgow

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- Catherine Nelson - My Great-Grandmother. Click HERE to follow her story.

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- Edward Nelson was born on the 21st of February 1879 in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, Scotland. In 1901 at the age of 22 years, he's living at 1 Church Street, Cambuslang with his parents. He married Isabella Dickson on the 31st of December 1901 at  St Brides Chapel, Cambuslang, Lanarkshire. The marriage wasn't a happy one and they later split. He then began a relationship with Elizabeth Shaughnessy. They had one son together:

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James (Jimmy) Nelson born on the 16th of August 2010 at 11 Mill Street, Kirkcaldy, Fife

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On the 1911 Census Edward Nelson and Elizabeth Shaughnessy are now living in Fife. They record that they are married, however they don't actually get married until 1915. This is probably to save face, having had James the year before, who was illegitimate.

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Jimmy married Anne Campbell Henderson on the 13th of July 1934 in Fife.

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- Jane Nelson was born on the 10th of December 1881 in Stevenston, Ayrshire. She died 12 days later of bronchitis.

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- Thomas Nelson was born on the 9th of May 1888 at 1 Church Street, Cambuslang. He last appears on the 1911 Census at 45 Muir Street, Hamilton, living with his mother Catherine, who is a widow. She died the following year.

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John Nelson died at 1 Church Street, Cambuslang on the 12th of February 1901 from heart disease. He was 60 years old. His wife Catherine Nelson (nee Murphy) was removed from 39 Muir Street, Hamilton, Lanarkshire and taken to the Combination Poorhouse, Hamilton. She died aged 66 on the 11th of August 1912.

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