Charles Mitchell, Dalmuir

[tishgibbons]

Hi,

I haven't posted here for a long time (Quit smoking in December and sitting here at night searching for long losts just isn't the same without a fag!). Anyway, through this haze of smoke last year I found a long lost - Charles Mitchell born STrathdon ended up in Fife , a gamekeeper on the Blair estate, with a young bride in 1898, followed by a son, Charles Mitchell, born 1901. I don't know when the elder Charles died but when his wife Alexina ms McDonald from Eigg died in 1949, he was already dead. Her usual residence then is given as Ash (?) Road Dalmuir while their son Charles is at 404 Dumbarton Road Dalmuir. I think there were tenements on the latter address but I can't find anything about Ash Road.

Where might a gamekeeper have worked in that area?(if he ever lived there, I don't know).

Does anyone know anything about Ash Road (No. 11)?

Was 404 Dumbarton Road one of the tenement buildings?

Tish

[joette]

Hi the houses in Mountblow completed c1932 were all named for the names of trees.Laurel(where I was born)Cedar,Lilac.Pine.I have a feeling that Ash will be in Parkhall at the time both would be called Dalmuir although most now call it Parkhall.

We had a family of Mitchells living next door to us for years.

[tishgibbons]

thanks Joette. I was afraid I wasn't reading the cert correctly but you've set my mind at ease on that one. Don't suppose those Mitchells were called Charles and Alexina?!!!

[Jack]

Hi Tish and Joette,

A pic of a house for sale in Ash Road...
Ain't cheap either!
If the wee arrow on the map is pointing to the sale house then that is near enough where N° 11 would be.

http://glasgow.gumtree.com/glasgow/46/23285746.html

The houses at the top right hand side of the High School pic show the approx. location of Ash Rd.
http://www.theclydebankstory.com/imagev ... =TCSA00337

A wee bit about their construction;
http://www.theclydebankstory.com/story_TCSA06.php

At which site you can also see a photie of some Dumbarton Rd. Dalmuir tenements.
Though the pic shown is much further west than where N° 404 was.
It might've been on one of the corners of Dumbarton Rd & Boquhanran Rd.
But if not, then it was very near.

Jack
ps; Tish, well done on quitting the ciggies...
...i'm sure you won't now be tempted even by the mention of Ash!
--
Edited to say that N°404 Dumbarton Rd. still stands.
There were some shops at ground level, but converted to housing about 15? yrs ago.
Seems 404 was originally the second close east from the corner Boquhanran Rd. & Dumbarton Rd.
But it's now the first as 410 (on the corner) was demolished at some point.

And no, it's not a mistake on the numbers!
Going east towards Clydebank on north side of Dumbarton Rd from Boquhanran Rd...
...the numbers were originally 410, 404, 398, 392, and so on down.
Many tenements on Dumbarton Rd. still jump 6 numbers from one close to the next.

Glasgow today has a very similar situation...
...ie numbers of adjacent closes jumping anything from 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and more.
And some numbers even jump by different amounts in the same street.
I've asked very many folk why this happens, but no one yet has the answer.
It has nothing to do with the number of stories high or flats on landings.
So for the present, the answer remains a mystery...
--

[tishgibbons]

Jack,

thanks a million for taking the time to do all of that. I am genuinely grateful.

As to the connection between Ash Road and the ciggies, I never noticed that - and I dream about smoking these days!!

Thank you

Tish

[garibaldired]

Hi Tish,

Coincidentally I was looking for someone at 340 Dunbarton Rd Dalmuir and was advised on here to look at valuation and voters' rolls to find out who was living there. In the event someone very kindly looked them up for me but you could try emailing archivesATcls.glasgow.gov.uk who will do look ups for you. They usually take about 10 days.

Best wishes,
Meg

[tishgibbons]

Hi Meg,

thanks for that tip - I will do that. AS the date in question is 1949, Scotland's People won't have much for me.

Joette,

you were right about Parkhall!

Tish

[joette]

|I knew it wasn't Mountblow but I remembered that Parkhall roads are all named for trees too.
My Mum worked out that 404 would be on the same side as her but near Boqhuanaran Rd-it might be a tenement & might still be there although there has been much rebuilding along that way.Both my maternal grandparents were brought up around there-Nairn St & Trafalgar St.
Oh Clydebank High the joy of my school days.

My neighbour Mitchells were not Charles &Alexina but they had lived with his parents in Mountblow for many years-if my Mum sees any of the family she will ask for you in case there is a connection.

[tishgibbons]

Many thanks to you and your Mum, Joette. According to the link Jack sent, that sounds just about right.

[tishgibbons]

Hi Folks,

An exceptionally kind soul has advised me that Charles Mitchell died in 1926, way up in Olrig in Caithness. Occupation is still 'Gamekeeper' so there must have been some other estate up there that he found work on after Blair Castle was taken over. As the houses in Ash Road Dalmuir were not completed until 1932, then he didn't live there. Possibly his widow Alexina moved to that area after he died, and'or whenever their son Charles moved to Dunbarton Road. I notice he was still being coy about his age - claiming to be 69 when he was 76 - even unto death!!

The good thing is that his death was witnessed by another son whose name is Angus William Mitchell - unusual enough to be able to locate a marriage for him - to Margaret Syme Wilson in 1930 in Glasgow. (I couldn't find a marriage for Charles, there are too many to check them all). They died in 1971 and 1975 respectively, in East Neuk, Fife. There is a birth or two in Kirkcaldy that I think might be their children, going by the names, but I don't want to name them, as they are likely still alive.

And so a long search is over, 10 years on my part, but whole previous generations previously wondered where this man had got to. I wish my Granda was alive - he would have loved to know all of this.

One strange thing, the Scots Gaelic word for Caithness is Gallaibh which is uncannily like (and pronounced the same as) the Irish word for Galway - Gaillimh, which is the county in Ireland where his brother Peter died. Peter was my g.ggrandfather and all I knew about him to start with was that he came from Crathie and had a brother Charles and a sister Helen.

I seem to have blethered on a bit - I'm at home sick today and not up to much, so you all have to put up with me - there's no one else here to share all this with!!!

Thanks to SKS!

Tish