Coalminers
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Scarboro Heights Record

The Lowland Clearances

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ments

The Coalminers
Fuelling the Industrial Revolution
1800-1850

Responses to the drastic late 18th century socio-economic changes in Lowland Scotland ranged from expanding the family farm, to cottage handloom weaving, to engineering trades, to farm labour to emigration. The response of one particular Cumnock McCowan was quite extraordinary.

James McCowan (b. 1773) worked his "last shift" at the Garlaff Coalworks in Old Cumnock in the 17th week of 1800(1), having signed a 19 year lease for the Auchanbeg Coalworks in Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, a few months earlier. This collier-serf turned-Coalmaster embraced the new capitalism with a passion. From Cumnock he brought two of his brothers as well as several other families to work at his new coal venture.

Refer also to this page for more links to James McCowan's career.

The following raw data is useful input information for the Essay Contest -- "Your Community in a World History Context". Be sure to refer also to "To Sustene The Personis: The Agricultural Revolution" for some details of the dramatic changes that affected the McCowans and many of their neighbours in Cumnock, Ayrshire. "When the Ground Fails: An Economic Watershed" provides the background to Lesmahagow's economic development leading up to the arrival of James McCowan.

Where Did They Go -- What Did They Do?
And Much More in
The McCowans of Cumnock, Lesmahagow and Scarborough

McCowan Marriages
In the Lanarkshire Coalfield
Lesmahagow Parish (Les), New Monkland (NM)

Note: Lesmahagow is the Parish of registration unless otherwise indicated.

McCowan Births
In the Lanarkshire Coalfield
Lesmahagow Parish (Les), New Monkland (NM)
Carluke (Car), Cadder (Cad)

Note: Lesmahagow is the Parish of registration unless otherwise indicated.

The Scarboro Heights Record V12 #1
The McCowans' Who's Who, Vol. 13

See also:

• The Farmers and Weavers in Ayrshire-- Origins in Cumnock and impact of the Lowland Clearances
• The Millwrights of Renfrewshire -- Engineers of the Industrial Revolution
• The Capitalists, Entrepreneurs and Professionals
• Back to the Land -- Farmers in Canada

The majority (perhaps 80%) of these McCowan vital statistics (above) were copied from the original Parish Registers in Edinburgh in 1974 and in 1979. Other bits were obtained in the early 1980s from the Church of Latter Day Saints microfilms of some of the Parish registers.  Several family bibles and various other sources provided additional information. More recently, a very small handful of  items were obtained on the internet from various persons.

Where Did They Go, What Did They Do?
And Much More in
The McCowans of Cumnock, Lesmahagow and Scarborough

James _McCowan_1807_44:
Shoemaker. Married Martha Smith and had at least 6 sons and 2 daughters in Hamilton, Lanarkshire. It is believed that one son went to Chicago for a time. Another son, John, changed his surname to Cowan, married Elizabeth Irwin, and moved to Newcastle, England.

James_Whiteford_McCowan_1814_42:
Named, in part, for his father's good friend and mentor, James Whiteford, factor of Blackwood Estate, the ancestral holding of the Weir Clan of Lesmahagow. Married Martha Weir in Scarborough, Canada, and had 7 sons and 4 daughters. Farmer of over 200 acres.

Jane_McCowan_1830_321:
Baptised alongside Alex Muir, author of "The Maple Leaf Forever". Married Thomas Whiteside, farmer in Scarborough. Later moved to Innerkip, Ontario. Four sons and two daughters.

Jean_McCowan_ca1799:
Daughter of William McCowan, coalminer at Auchinbeg, and Sarah Lapraik. Record of her birth and her parents' marriage have not yet been found.

John_McCowan_1823_15:
Miner. He and Helen Moncrief had at least five daughters. Died in the New Monkland poorhouse in 1862.

Mary_ McCowan_111:
Married Samuel Forrest and had two sons and a daughter in Carluke, Lanarkshire, before her death in 1842.

Nicholas_McCowan_1817_924:
Married James Morrison. Some of their descendants were coalminers in Carnegie, Pennsylvania.

Robert_McCowan_1813_1221:
Emigrated to Scarborough, Canada, in 1833 with father, step-mother and surviving half-siblings. The fact that he had been illegitimate had been kept from most of his great-grandchildren. One great-granddaughter had been sworn to secrecy. Farmer of 200 acres in Scarborough. His homestead was the west half of lot 22, concession C on what is now McCowan Road at Kingston Road. Married Jane Underwood and had 3 sons and 4 daughters.

William_McCowan_1814_42:
Colliery manager or overseer and, for a time, "gold-digger". Married Janet Granger and had six sons and two daughters.

William_Porteous_McCowan_1820_517:
Successful farmer of over 300 acres in Scarborough, Canada. His log house was moved by the Scarborough Historical Society to Thomson Memorial Park and is now a museum. 

William_Purdie_1817_111:
Believed to be the renowned botanist in Trinidad (1817-1857), very likely invited there by his mother's brother, David McCowan.