Category: www.historic-Hamilton.co.uk

THE PATON FAMILY OF HAMILTON.

John Paton & Elizabeth Cunningham Kerr.

THE PATON FAMILY OF HAMILTON.
Harry Paton Evans sent us a picture of his Grandparents who were called John Paton & Elizabeth Cunningham Kerr. Harry told us a little bit about the picture where he said it was taken round the back of 79 Cameron Crescent and he pointed out that you could see the Bing just to the left of the picture. Harry told us that this picture was took roughly around the late 1930s or early 1940s.
 
As Harry was kind enough to share his family photo, I thought that I would look in to his family history to see what I could find.
Harry, your grandfather John Paton was born on the 30th of June 1893 to parents George Paton & Mary Ann Simpson, who were married at Rutherglen on the 30th of August 1891. Your grandfather was born at 11 Bertram Street, Greenfield, Burnbank and he was born at 4:30 am. Now your Great Grandfather George was an educated man as he signed his name on your Grandfathers Birth certificate, rather than mark it with a X. Back in 1893 there were a lot of illiterate people, who could not read or write.
 
In 1901, I found your grandfather living with his mum and dad at 32 George Street in Burnbank and it appears that this is where the family settled down, probably because your great grandfather worked at the Bent Colliery. When I was looking at Census returns for your great grandfather George Paton, it seems that he was a man who was really trusted and would have been respected by people in his trade. Your Great Grandfather George Paton was born in the year 1864 at Rutherglen and he was the son of an Irishman called John Paton & your Great Grandmother was called Bridget McCabe.
 
George Paton worked in the coalmines and he was appointed the trusted job of checkweighman, this was documented in the 1901 Census and back then, coal miners were paid by the amount of coal that they had dug each day and in the old days of coalmining, the coal masters were frequently known to underpay the miners, so to prevent this from happening, the miners elected a trusted man of their own to weigh the coal and around 1901 your great grandfather was this man.
 
Your Great Grandfather George was also possibly involved in a minority Trade Union as on the 1901 Census which was taken on the night of 31st of March 1901 he had a Visitor living here with him. This visitor was a man from England who was called William Gee and he stated his occupation as an Agitator for the Social democrat federation. This statement of occupation really tells a story in itself. I can’t find any other record of why the said William Gee was visiting your Great Grandfather.
 
The family are still living at 32 George Street in 1911 and your Great Grandfather has a new job! He is working as an Electrical coal cutting machine man. Electric coal cutters did the job a lot faster but none the less, it was still a very dangerous job. On the 27th of December 1912, a tragic accident happened
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in the No1 Shaft of the Bent Colliery. George was at work when he stopped his machine to clear away some dirt when there was a roof collapse and a large section of rock fell and entombed George. It took 4 hours for his fellow miners to get to him and when they found him he was dead. The cause of his death was recorded as asphyxia, he was only 49 years old.
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Staying with your Great Grandmother on this side of the Family, Mary Ann Simpson was the daughter of an Irish man called Robert Simpson & Margaret Baird, who was from the Paisley area. Mary Ann was born at Rutherglen 4th of December 1868 at 35 New Street.
 
Robert who was your 2 X great grandfather was born in Ireland c 1848 and worked as a coal Miner. He married Margaret Baird in Ireland on the 20th of April 1867.
 
Robert worked as a Chemical work labourer in Rutherglen from 1870 until at least 1884 when he then moved to Hamilton to work as a coal Miner. When he moved to Hamilton he worked at Earnock Colliery and he and the family moved to 37 Argyle Buildings. Your 2 x Great Grandmother Margaret Baird died on the 7th of June 1914 at Bothwell and your 2 x Great Grandfather died at Shotts on the 5th of May 1920.
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Harry, I went back to have a look at your Grandmothers side of the family, Your Grandmother as you told me was called Elizabeth Cunningham Kerr. Now she was born on the 5th of August 1894 at Motherwell. The address that was registered at the time was 25 New Camp? I am unable to find anything on this address, so maybe you could fill me in on this?
 
Elizabeth’s parents and your Great Grandparents were called John Kerr & Agnes Cunningham and when your grandmother was born, her mum was the person who registered the birth, perhaps your great Grandfather was still down at the pub celebrating the birth.
 
Your 2 x great grandparents were married at Bellshill on the 31st of December 1883 and like your other great Grandparents, they were a coal mining family.
 
Your Great, Great grandmother Agnes Cunning died at the family home of 32 George Street in Burnbank on the 29th of February 1920. The cause of her death was Influenza & Bronchitis.
Paton FTWM
Once again Harry, thank you for sharing your picture of your grandparents and if you do not already know about your family history, then I hope that you find this interesting.
George and Harry paton, father and son 1940s
 
Researched by Garry McCallum
Historic Hamilton.

Townhead Street 1997.

Odeon WM1

In this picture, we have Townhead Street and the old Oden cinema and former Park Lane night club. The picture was taken in 1997 and was sent to us by Lucy Mackinnon. If you have an old picture that you would like to share with us, then please send it straight to the page or by Private Message.

Guess the Location?

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Now and then we like to publish pictures of various places and landmarks around Hamilton to test your knowledge of the town.
 
Janette McCallum from Burnbank thought that she could have us guessing when she sent us this picture of somewhere in Hamilton.
 
We thought it was quite easy and guessed the location straight away, but do you know where you can see this landmark?
 
10 Historic Hamilton points to the first person who can tell us in what street including the name of this historic building you would see this fancy chimney stack?

Lightbody’s 1997

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On Tuesday the 5th of September we posted a 1997 picture of Lightbody’s the bakers which were situated on Quarry Street. This picture got you all talking and we had a great response with 17,265 views, 661 Facebook reactions and 94 comments.

What are your memories of Lightbody’s the Bakers?

 

 

MEET MISS HAMILTON OF 1974.

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Miss Elaine Murray who was from 16 Moorfield Road in High Blantyre was crowned Miss Hamilton at the Hamilton Civic Week in June 1974.

The blonde and blue eyed was an attractive and vivacious Miss Hamilton who added glamour to the Civic Week events.

Elaine who was 22 years old when this picture was taken worked as a part time model and also worked as a promotion sales assistant with a car accessory shop in Motherwell.

I don’t think that there has been a Miss Hamilton competition held since 1974 (Please correct me if I am wrong) so if this is the case, then I believe that Elaine may still hold this title.

Do you know Elaine Murray? If you do, then please ask her if there was another Miss Hamilton who took her title and let us know.

Hamilton Civic Week 1974.

Anne & Eileen Irvine May 1972.

In May 1974 sisters Ann & Eileen Irvine were two of the members of the Hamilton Drum Majorettes who performed at the Hamilton civic week which was held on Saturday the 8th of June in that year.

The Majorettes whose ages were from 8 to 18 were to perform at the Civic week which was held at the Bothwell Road public park.

The Hamilton Civic Week was packed with events throughout the burgh and some of the activities were Civic & pop balls, Exhibitions, various displays including a mini-Highland Games, Paint-Ins, Weigh ins, Talk ins and quizzes, A beauty contest, Sports tournaments galore and many other exciting activities throughout the town.

Did you take part in any of the Activites in the Hamilton Civic Week in June 1974? If you did, then we would like to hear about it. Share your stories and photos and tell us about this fun packed week in Hamilton.

From Italy to Hamilton.

Angelina & Enrico Fusto c1917, WM.

Anne MacNicoll who lives in Canada sent us some pictures of her maternal great grandparents who immigrated from Italy to start a new life in Scotland. In the early 1900s, there was a lot of prejudice held against Italians and many families found it hard to start up businesses and some were even left with no option but to change their names to avoid persecution.
We would like to tell you the story of two families who moved to Hamilton from Italy for a better life. This is the story of the Rossi & Di Duca family told in the words of Anne MacNicoll and part researched by Historic Hamilton.
Here is Anne’s story:
This is a plan of the Hamilton Palace where my mother’s family, (Di Duca) along with twelve other families were housed from 1924 when their home and business on Quarry Street were slated for demolition. She had written on it the area of the palace where they were housed and the names of the other families. Many of them had shared toilets, no electricity only gaslight and burned wood in the fireplace.
Hamilton Palace Floor Plan WM.
Floor Plan of the Hamilton Palace.

 

My maternal grandparents, Francesco and Carmella (nee DiDuca) Rossi along with Maria and Angelina DiDuca Immigrated to Scotland from Italy around 1906 where they moved around a bit before finally settling in the Hamilton/Bellshill areas. Francesco and Carmella lived at no. 8 Lamb Street where my mother, Rosa was born in 1914 the youngest of four siblings. Carmella died just three years later and all four children were fostered by Angelina (aka Julia) and her husband Enrico Fusto (aka Harry).
Julia and Harry kept the DiDuca name for the children after marriage as it was supposedly a more prominent name back in Italy. The four children were Donato (aka) Donald, Angelina (aka) Lena, Gaetano (aka) Guy and Rosa (Rose). All attended St. Johns School where Guy was Dux of the school three years in a row but was passed over for a university scholarship in favour of the headmaster’s daughter. The children’s father returned to Italy where it is believed he remarried.
There is a little discrepancy as to where their shop actually was but it was either in Quarry Street or a little farther down on Castle Street. Not sure if they just sold ice cream or if it was also a grocers. They lived above the store but in 1924 the building was slated for demolition and they were housed temporarily in the Hamilton Palace but it turned out that they were to live at the Palace for seven years. It was a very hard time for them and the children would chop up the old window frames and make penny bundles of kindling to sell and would also sell the old lead pipes. Harry tried very hard to keep the business going and would make the ice cream in the old palace kitchens by night and then load up his barrow, rain or shine and take it to the same spot in the park (palace grounds?) he did this for years.
Hamilton Palace.
Rosa Rossi dressed for a Russian dance. This picture was taken in the Hamilton Palace c1925.

 

Julia spent her last years at 18 Grammar School Square with Lena and her daughter Celia until she died in 1954. Lena and Celia emigrated to Canada in 1956 and Lena lived to the grand old age of 102. She died in 2014. Donald moved to Glasgow where he opened a fish and chip restaurant, before moving on to Ayr still continuing on in the restaurant business.
Guy worked for many years around the Hamilton/Glasgow areas before opening his first fish and chip business in Edinburgh after which he moved to Johnstone and opened a general store. It was around this time that the family decided to change their surname for Rossi to Ross. Because of the prejudice still held by some in Scotland against the Italians, it was very difficult to get a business license when you had an Italian name but after the name change, all was well. Later he opened two more successful businesses in Glasgow before emigrating to California in the early 1970s where he opened a coffee shop in Beverly Hills. He later retired and stayed in California until he died in 2000.
My mother Rose married Richard Allan a miner’s son who came from Larkhall. After the war, he worked the rest if his life at the Clyde Iron Works. We, my brother Rikky and myself (Anne) along with my mum and dad lived at 11 Morgan Street in the old tenements until they were condemned and torn down which I believe was around 1959.
Morgan Street 1937, WM.
My father died early from cancer at the age of 58 after which my mother emigrated to Canada to be with her sister and also spent a lot of time with brother Guy in California, she died at age 90 in 2005.
Di Duca Family. This is Carmella and Francesco Rossi with the two oldest children, Donald and lena.
A birthday party in the tenements at Morgan Street, 1953. Some of the names there is Celia Ross and Margaret Queen from Grammar School Square. Susie Hodgson (nee Gratziani) and Candy from Duke Street, Rose and Anne and Anne’s brother.

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I would love to see any photos of these particular tenements in Morgan Street if anyone has any, and if any of the many kids that lived there remember either Rikky or myself I would love to hear from you. Rikky now lives in England and I am in Canada.
My mother and her three siblings were cousins to your “White Knight” story that you previously wrote about, Peter Coia and his three brothers. His mother Maria was a sister to my Nonna and she and her husband Augustino Coia settled in Bellshill also in the ice cream/restaurant business of course!
As well as the Cross Cafe in Quarry Street Peter opened a fish and chip shop next door and also had a billiard hall. Peter was an international table tennis champion and sports promoter and was president of the Ice Cream Assoc. of Britain and Ireland. A very benevolent man he opened the Hamilton Cross Club and worked tirelessly for the men and women of the armed forces. Sadly, he was killed in an aeroplane crash on his return from London in 1950. His son Peter also ran a business in Hamilton, can’t remember where but I’m sure Ice Cream came into it somewhere.
Di Duca Family. Taken in Low Patrick St. Nellie Chicky's shop front. Rose Allan with Anne 1949
Taken in Low Patrick St.”Nellie Chicky’s” shop front. Rose Allan with Anne 1949
Anne, thank you for telling us about your family’s time in Hamilton, I did some further research to see what I could find for you and I started with the 1911 census where I found your Grandparents living in Stonehouse. They were living at 42 King Street and your grandfather Francesco was working as an Ice Cream Vendor. Your grandmother Carmella and their son Donato was also living here.
DIDUCA~3
Carmella and Francesco Rossi with the two oldest children, Donald and lena.
You had mentioned that Francesco went back home to Italy after Carmella had died, however, I could not find any evidence of this. I found a Francesco Rossi leaving the UK at Southampton onboard a ship called the New York on the 2nd of August 1913 and the age seems to be correct, but I can’t confirm if this is the same person as your Grandfather.
I also had a look to see where the family shop was and I can confirm that I managed to find where it was located. The family shop wasn’t on Castle Street, but you were close enough. The family shop was actually situated right at the start of Quarry Street and the address for the shop was 9 Quarry Street. The family’s address from c1915 until they were evicted was 1 Quarry Street, so they lived right on the Bottom Cross.
I have one picture that shows a part of the building before it was demolished. If you look at this picture of the Bottom Cross you will see to the right the start of the old building. After the demolition of these old houses, a Burtons department store was built on the same spot.
Bottom Cross WM.
Anne, I would like to thank you for sharing your story of your Italian family and also for sending us these fantastic pictures. These will now be documented and stored on Historic Hamilton for years to come.
Garry McCallum
Historic Hamilton.

Ur we there yit,,,

 

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Ur we there yit,,,
 
The poem below was written for Historic Hamilton by Hugh Hainey.
 
Ur we there yit,,,
Well the days the day fur oor wee ‘mystery tour’ n’ here it comes, wur big bus,,
There it is, bit how that big green “Chieftain” gote here, thats a mystery tae us,
Wee awe shouted “where wae gawn driver” n’ he said the “seaside dis it matter”
Tell yir maw the bus over heated comin up the hill, n’ a need a bucket o’ watter,,
😈
Ave done ma wee checklist, n’ it’s awe there ma trunks, towel, n’ buckit n’ spade,
Ma wee haversack tae go oan ma back, full of pop’ n’ peeces ma mammy made,,
Ur we there yit, whit time is it? Where ur wee gawn, bit the driver jist widnae say,,
Then he stopped n’ said “watch this look” n’ the bus went backwards up the brae,,
😁
It’s Ayr, it’s Ayr, wur nearly there, we kin see the sea,, the driver said naw, sit doon,
Wur here, wur here, aye bit, where ur wae? “Yir in a lovely wee place cawed Troon”
We pulled up right it the seafront, thirs no many people, n’ the toon wis awfy quiet,,
The guy said git tae the beach, thirs hunners tae come, n’ git a spot afore the riot,,
😠
Ma maw gote us settled in a nice wee bit, near the steps n’right up against the wa’
Right noo settle in, come n’ hiv a wee drink, ok,”taps aff” n’ ye kin hiv yir beach’ baw,
Playin’ fitbaw’ muckin’aboot, sand in ma toes, in ma hair, n’ comin oot ma ears,,
That day it the seaside wae ma maw n’ ma pals his stuck wae me awe these years,,,
😢
A wee walk roon the toon, then a look roon the fair, awe sunburnt, if ye’d seen is
A pokey hat, a stick o’ rock, a wee glass of orange, n’ a fish tea shared atween is,
Back tae the bus, this time thirs nae fuss, cause the excitement it wisnae the same,
Awe a kin remember is ma maw sayin “wake up son”, yiv slept awe the wae hame,,,
( the best sleep ever,,

Dan & John Daly in the 1950s

Dan & John Daly. 1950s.WMJPG

Rab McMillan sent us a picture taken from John Daly’s book ‘Our Daly Bread’. In the picture is Dan Daly (left) Who was visiting his brother John in Craigneuk in the 1950s. John is the person on the right-hand side of this picture.
 
Dan was loved by many people and also feared by much more! What were your memories of the local legend Dan Daly?

Where in the World are you reading from?

Stats 25-08.

I wanted to share yesterday’s Stats for Historic Hamilton taken from our WordPress site. Surprisingly we had a lot of visitors from The Ukraine. We had the following visitors in the countries listed below:

UK 99 Views.
Ukraine 45 Views.
France 19 Views.
USA 16 Views.
Austrailia 11 Views.
Spain 9 Views.
Canada 4 Views.

Thank you to everyone who is reading from around the world. Can I ask you all to do something for us? Can you go to your window right now and take a picture to show us what your view is like? Please remember to tell us where in the world you are when you send your picture.