The Colquhouns of Edinburgh and Dalmellington (and Elizabeth and Edison and California and....)
James, Wilhelmina, Mary, Isabelle and Walter Colquhoun, probably about
1920. Below is Mom - Mildred Louise Clamer Colquhoun, on her fortieth wedding anniversary.
On May 15, 1905, James Burns Galloway Colquhoun's wife and children landed at Ellis Island, America. Wilhelmina Bryce brought with her daughter Mary Jane Chisholm Colquhoun (named for Wilhelmina's mother) and son Walter, her husband's brother Walter and his sisters Jane and Isabella. All came on the Columbia from Glasgow.
at the time of the 1881 census in england and scotland, walter colquhoun and elizabeth smith, his wife, lived in glasgow at 36 elmvale street. walter was an engineer of some kind and elizabeth stayed at home and took care of the family. their son, james, who was 27, lived with them. james was a joiner, which is a carpenter. their granddaughter elizabeth, age 11, lived with them, also. they had boarders, too, thomas kennedy of ireland and elizabeth kennedy. both of the kennedys worked in a warehouse packing bottles. elizabeth kennedy had a ten-month-old child - yet another elizabeth in the household!
walter and
elizabeth colquhoun also had a daughter whose name was isabella.
she was the mother of the little girl, elizabeth, who lived in glasgow.
isabella had moved from her parents' house and married thomas stewart of
ireland. thomas and isabella lived in burnfoothill in dalmellington,
scotland. dalmellington was a mining area and thomas was an ironstone
miner. isabella stayed at home. in 1881 thomas was 35 and isabella
was 34. they had a one-year-old son named thomas stewart and also
a son named james burns galloway colquhoun. james was isabella's
son but not the son of thomas stewart. we may never know the father
of james. dalmellington was not a very nice place to live.
the air was bad, the houses were small and it was very expensive as the
mining company owned the stores as well as the houses. isabella and
thomas took in boarders also and had two men living with them at the time
of the census. evidently little james grew up in this town and decided
he would like to live somewhere a bit cleaner. when he was an adult
he married wilhelmina bryce and came to america.
Dalmellington, scotland
in 1881, at the same time that the colquhouns were living in glasgow, james and mary jane chisholm bryce were living in edinburgh on pleasance street. the street was very nice with tall buildings on both sides and was near the park. james was a brass finisher and worked nearby. he was 41 and mary jane was 40. they had sons. john was fifteen and worked as a telegraph messenger. james benjamin bryce was 14 and was a printer's apprentice. jessie tait bryce was a schoolgirl of 11. wilhelmina was only 9 and also went to school. andrew was 7 and robert was 4. the bryces had had nother little girl, mary, who died when she was only a year old. later the bryces would move to elmvale street in glasgow . mrs. bryce died several years later and james remarried a woman named tillie. they must have moved to glasgow between 1882 and 1887. after they had moved to glasgow, wilhelmina, known to her family as "minnie", would meet james colquhoun. they were married june 18, 1902.
james and minnie had a daughter born april 2, 1903. they named her mary jane chisholm colquhoun in honor of minnie's mother. in july of 1904 on the 7th day, they had a son and named him walter in honor of james' grandfather. james Burns galloway colquhoun left glasgow aboard the ethiopia and arrived new york harbor on december 11, 1903. with him was his half-brother, thomas stewart, although thomas is listed in the ship manifest as "thomas colquhoun." Perhaps they said they were brothers and the official assumed they had the same surname. they went to nyack, new york, where they lived on the corner of north broadway and castle heights avenues and they worked as miners. james was twenty-seven and thomas was twenty-two. when they had accumulated enough money for passage, they sent the funds back to scotland and minnie made plans to come to america with children walter and mary. she had taken the tickets sent to her by her husband and traded them for steerage passage. with the difference in money, she brought with her james' two sisters, jane w. g. stewart, age 22 and isabella stewart, age 20, as well as his brother, walter c. stewart, age 18. walter is listed as a miner and isabella as a domestic. each of the stewarts had fifteen dollars with them when they landed in new york. minnie had thirty-three dollars. they had a terrible trip with storms at sea. minnie brought barrels of dishes with her as well as chairs. she even brought the family canary! minnie had to pay the same fare for the canary as she paid for walter.
after arriving in the us they lived in nyack, new york. walter used to say that he remembered when wild bill cody (known to us as buffalo bill) came to town with his indians and parade. dad even remembered when henry hudson's ship the half moon sailed up the hudson for a celebration. once the hudson froze over and they walked across the river. all of these things have since been documented as true. the river did, indeed, freeze over at that time as there was much less pollution. the hudson-fulton celebration did, indeed, bring the replica of the half moon past nyack, new york. how i wish dad could read about his childhood as we can read about it now! james and minnie had another daughter, isabella, born may 30, 1906. she was named for james' mother. aunt belle was automatically an american citizen. james became a citizen on the 10th day of january of 1918. he was 45 years old by then and stood five feet and ten inches tall. he had grey eyes and grey hair. he lived at 554 amboy avenue in perth amboy, new jersey.
i'll be
he never dreamed, back there as a boy in dalmellington, that he would go
on to have ten grandchildren and so many great and great,greatgrandchildren!
in may of 1999 I posted a query on a
genealogy message board for scotland, asking if anyone knew of the whereabouts of
wilhelmina's brothers and sister. in august robert bryce of evesham, england responded to my
query. wilhelmina bryce's brother was his grandfather, making him harry's second
cousin. thanks to robert we now have the photographs on this page and many others.
robert has put us in touch with margaret hayes of ireland - yet another bryce second
cousin. she sent us another colquhoun family portrait. we have put together our
various branches of the bryce family tree, compared notes and planned reunions.
we share many things in common with robert, his wife heather and children andrew and
ruth. our most important link is our faith in god. robert and his family are even
involved in - shoeboxes! we couldn't believe it. we now have a regular email correspondence
and links to robert's sister liz, her husband and children in belfast. nothing is impossible
with god. in 2000 we found yvonne chisholm of new zealand, whose greatgrandfather
was a brother to harry and robert's greatgrandmother.Part of the Chisholm family emigrated
to australia after their father, benjamin chisholm, was "horned and imprisoned" for debt in 1849.
James Bryce and Mary Jane Chisholm, no date
80 Ellen Street, Edison, NJ and the original Colquhoun homestead in NJ!
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