10 Main Street, Rutherglen

[Alien]

Hello friends,

My father was born at 10 Main Street, Rutherglen in 1909. Can anyone tell me how to find out what that address was or who lived there? His parents lived in Strathaven at that time.

Thanks again to everyone who has helped in the past

[Currie]

Hello Alien,

I couldn’t find anything specific to No. 10. However as regards neighbouring buildings (assuming the numbering system hadn’t changed)

In 1864 William Robertson of No. 14 wrote a letter of complaint to the Glasgow Herald.

In 1868 the chimney stalk attached to a three-story tenement at No. 16 was blown down and almost demolished Mr James Robb, Cabinetmaker, and his wife and child and a neighbour Mrs Todd sitting by the fire presumably directly below.

In 1869 John Duncan, 12 main St., Rutherglen, was one of 4 young men furiously working a Velocipede who ran over an old lady. The description of the vehicle defies description but it seems they were trying to find out how fast it would go. It was presumably faster than the old lady. That brings back memories.

In 1892 Andrew Cochrane, grocer, at No. 16 was prosecuted for selling half a pound of butter containing 69.45 per cent of fatty matter not derived from milk. It sounds a bit ominous but it was probably just margarine.

There appears to have been a bank or agency at No. 14 as late as 1878
http://lu.softxs.ch/mackay/Couples6/C15416.html

Here’s a WebCam in the street.
http://nairb1.camstreams.com/

Not much help but maybe there’s a clue there somewhere. A directory of the area and the time would probably be helpful if you can get hold of one.

Alan

[Alien]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Alan. I'll go and have a look at what you've found.

[Alien]

Woops, sorry, I made a mistake. The address my father was born at was in fact 12, not 10 Main Street, Rutherglen.

[AndrewP]

Hi Alien,

Ancestry gives the following households at 12 Main Street, Rutherglen for the 1901 census.

(i) John & Sarah Douglal, John & William (sons), John & William (grandsons)
(ii) James & Ann Quin
(iii) Moira Templeton, Allice Simpson & Sarah Wilson (boarders)

The first surname looks like it has suffered from Ancestry's transcription problems. I guess it could be Douglas or Dougal.

Do any of the names look familiar?

All the best,

AndrewP

[Alien]

Thanks for the reply Andrew.

None of the names are familiar but I now know the address is likely to be someone's home rather than a hospital. Maybe I'll find a familiar name when the 1911 census is released.

I didn't know it was possible to look up an address rather than a name on censuses. Can you tell me how you do this please.

Thanks again,

Alien

[AndrewP]

I didn't know it was possible to look up an address rather than a name on censuses. Can you tell me how you do this please.

Hi Alien,

This can be done on Ancestry, but not on ScotlandsPeople. In this case, in the Ancestry search form for 1901, leaving all other boxes blank, I filled in as follows
Civil Parish: Rutherglen
Address: 12 Main Street

That gave no results, so I shortened the address to 12 Main Str, and finally to 12 Main St. Then I got the results as listed in the post above.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Alien]

Thanks for the tip Andrew, that will also be useful for other searches.

Alien.

[SarahND]

Hi Alien,
Could the mother's parents have lived at that address? Or her sister? Sometimes women went "home" to have a baby, especially the first one.
Regards,
Sarah

[Alien]

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for the suggestion. None of the names living at that address are familiar to me, however I noticed that Sarah Dougal's birthplace is given as Strathaven, where all my ancestors were living at the time.

Maybe she was a midwife. So far I haven't come across any Sarahs in the family so even if Dougal was her married name I can't find a connection.

What I have found very interesting is Andrew P's suggestion of only putting in the address of a property, not the person's name. Instead of getting a list of the people living in the street or area, you can pinpoint them to the house number if you have a house number.

Thanks again,

Alien