Life in "The Old Country"

Going to Scotland in the summer of 2009 was one of the most satisfying and rewarding things I have ever done. Edith, Jo, Robyn and I all agree that we felt a kinship with the places we visited in the area where our ancestors lived, worked and died. It felt like home to us! And we all want to return and spend more time in those areas visiting the places they lived, learning about their history as well as the history of the area and just soaking up the atmosphere. (Note picture of us soaking up atmosphere at Monks Cottage near Hawick) So it may seem a little inconsistent for me to say that I am so grateful to them for having the courage to leave their homes in that beautiful land and come to America. We are aware of some of the hardships they must have experienced because of that decision: pioneering a new country is not easy. It often involves extreme poverty, losing children or a partner to accident or disease, wondering where the next meal will come from, learning to wrestle a living from land that has never been worked before, providing shelter for your family; or the uncertainty of finding work that you know how to do in a country where you are a stranger. But what I have come to realize lately as I have followed the lives of some of these ancestors is that all of the same hardships faced them in the old country with one added twist: they were just going around in circles. Their lives were ruled by circumstance, not by their own strength or abilities or hard work. Very seldom was anyone able to struggle out of the class they were born into and reach a position where they could buy land and become their own master.
Look at Ann Scott, the sister of my great grandfather, David Scott, and her husband, William Robson. (But first, go to this link and print a parish map of Roxburghshire, so you can keep track of the places they lived! http://www.scotlandsfamily.com/parish-map-borders.htm )Ann was David’s oldest sister, born 1817, at Westcote in the parish of Cavers, Roxburghshire. As far as I can discover, Westcote was a farm near Hawick. (Westcote Farm, incidentally, is up for sale [April 2011] for £ 110,000).
Ann was 25 when she married William Robson in 1842. They were married in Ancrum, which is northeast of Hawick, possibly 10 miles. George, Ann’s first child, was born in Old Belses, Ancrum parish in 1843, but by 1845 when their second child, Janet was born, the Robsons were living at Nisbet Mill in Crailing Parish, several miles to the east of Ancrum. A year and a half later, their son, Thomas was born in Clarilaw, Bowden parish, north and west of Ancrum. When son, John, was born January 1849, the family was again at Nisbet Mill.
The 1851 census, taken on the night of March 30, shows William, a farm servant, and family, living in Ashkirk parish clear on the western border of Roxburgh; but two months later, on 23 May 1851, Agnes was born back in Ancrum; and finally Betsy, the youngest daughter, was born in 1854 at Middles, Eckford Parish, just east of Crailing parish.
In the 1861 census, William Robson, hind, was living in Billerwell cottages, Hobkirk parish, several miles east of Hawick; but when his grandson William was born in 1864, they were living at Hassendean, Minto Parish; and in fact, the baby’s mother was a farm servant at Horsley Hill. (We were actually there! Picture of Jo and Edith at Horsley Hill.)Records of the birth of another grandchild, Ann, born in 1869, place the family in or near Denholm in the Parish of Cavers (We drove through Denholm every day at least once while staying at Monks Cottage. Picture of Denholm Village square); but 1871 finds them in Bedrule parish, village of Bedrule, where William was an agricultural labourer. The family was still living in Bedrule in 1873 at the death of Thomas Scott, Ann’s father, who was living with them. The next move the family made – or at least the next move I am aware of – was the biggest move yet. The 1881 census places William, his wife, Ann, daughter Janet and her children in Corstorphine Parish, clear up by Edinburgh, about 90 miles north. (Too far north to be on your map.) William was a dairyman at Stenhouse Mills, Janet a dairymaid.
In 1891, William Robson, former agricultural labourer, now retired, and his wife Ann were living with their granddaughter, Annie, in Oxnam Parish, back in Roxburghshire. Ann was 73 when she died of pneumonia 7 Jan 1892 at Hundalee, Jedburgh Parish, Roxburgh.
When the 1901 census was taken, William, 82 yrs old, was living with his granddaughter and her family at Woodhouse Cottage in the Parish of Southdean.
William Robson, retired ploughman, widower of Ann Scott, died at Bairnkine, Parish of Southdean, April 23, 1904 of chronic bronchitis and cardiac debility. He was 86 years old. I have developed a picture of him in my mind: a man who worked hard all his life – for other people; a ploughman who ploughed land for others; a hind, who cared for other people’s horses; a dairyman, who milked the land owner’s cows; finding work wherever he could, always hoping to better his life, a kind man who loved his family, took care of his wife’s father, didn’t turn an erring daughter out of his house, and raised two illegitimate grandchildren. But he never had a bit of land to call his own. He was always at the beck and call of others.
How grateful I am that David Scott and his wife Janet Riddell took their courage in their hands and left home, family and country to come to America – the Land of Opportunity!