Towards the end of his life, my grandfather began to research his family tree, and he had some success finding lost cousins fairly quickly, especially since he could use email. He reached some dead-ends and sometimes couldn't make all the connections, but my mom has recently continued the search using my grandfather's old notes and ancestory.com. She even hired a genealogist in Edinburgh who was able to research records for a couple days, which saved my mom a lot of time. One breakthrough came when she discovered that the 'Houston' family did not come from Hamilton, Scotland near Glasgow, which my grandfather thought. Instead, they came from Muirkirk, which is in Ayrshire and near my Scottish cousins in Stair.
This Houston family is from my mom's grandfather side of the family (I know little to nothing about my dad's heritage except that he came from Kansas, so whenever I talk about a family tree I'm talking about my mom's ancestors). My grandfather, Robert Wilson (1921-2009), was born in Pittsburgh and moved to Mississippi because the Air Force stationed him on the gulf coast. His mother was Margaret Chalmers Houston (1878-1960), who was born in Scotland but died in Pittsburgh. Her father was George Houston (1841-1915), who immigrated from Scotland to the United States with his whole family around 1886 because he was angry at the church. This George grew up in Muirkirk, and hence why my mom went graveyard hunting here.
As far as the records show, our Houstons lived in Muirkirk from about 1810 until 1922. George's sister, Margaret Mitchel Houston (1833-1906) is buried underneath the headstone in the main Muirkirk cemetery, pictured below. However, her husband is not buried here but at the church, which I'll get to later. Margaret's son, James Houston (1857-1922), is the last Houston to live in Muirkirk, and he erected this headstone. Some of Margaret's other children are also buried underneath this headstone including the aforementioned James, Agnes Houston (1871-1898) and Janet Dickson Houston (1861-1836). Though probably not buried here, the headstone mentions James' nephew, Captain Thomas C Houston. The stone specifically says, "His [James'] nephew Capt. Thomas C. Houston M.B.-C.H.B. (R.A.M.C.) who fell at High Wood France 25th August 1916." None of the records my mom or grandfather found say anything about him. In fact, the only evidence we have about his existence is this headstone. After some research, I found that "RAMC" stands for "Royal Army Medical Corps," and this website talks about the RAMC in WWI. I also found that "High Wood" is actually "Bois des Fourcaux," which was part of the Battle of the Somme in northern France. This website talks about High Wood, and this website talks about the Battle of the Somme. High Wood is slightly higher than the rest of the surrounding flat terrain, so it was a strategic position. The Germans held this area in July 1916, but the British began their assault on the woods on July 14, 1916. On September 15, British tanks finally conquered High Wood, which was the last woods the British took in the Somme. No one fully cleared the woods after the war, so the remains of an estimated 8,000 British and German soldiers are still in the ground there today. I did not understand what "M.B.-C.H.B." meant, but this link shows a photo of a monument for "1st Battalion Cameron Highlanders." I could then assume that Thomas Houston was part of this battalion. I find it a bit interesting that my only known relative who died in war didn't die for the United States or Confederate States but for Britain's Royal Army. For more information about High Wood, I found this book entitled The Hell They Called High Wood by Terry Norman.
Muirkirk Cemetery.
Headstone for Houston family is
in the lower left-hand corner.
Before I arrived to Keyshill Farm near Stair in Ayrshire to visit my mom and Scottish cousins, they went to Muirkirk to find family graves, so my mom was able to take me straight to the headstones. We first went to the Muirkirk Cemetery, which only has the one headstone shown above, and then we went to the Muirkirk Parish Church.
Previously, I mentioned George Houston, who grew up in Muirkirk but moved to the United States around 1886. His sister is Margaret Mitchel and is buried in the grave pictured above. Their parents were John Houston (1808-1854) and Janet Dickson (1810-1873), and they got married on April 29, 1831 in the Muirkirk Parish Church, shown below. They are my great-great-great grandparents.
Though I don't know what the Houston family did in Muirkirk, I do find the dates they lived in Muirkirk (from around 1810 until 1922) interesting. Once a sleepy farming village with only about 600 residents in 1740, heavy industries caused the population to increase to about 3,000 by 1815. Using the abundant coal and ironstone in the surrounding hills, an ironworks opened in 1787 and became the local economy's cornerstone until 1923. This ironworks was the first one in Ayrshire, so Muirkirk became one of Scotland's major iron manufacturers once the railroads arrived. In 1900 this factory employed 1,000 men to operate three blast furnaces. After the turn of the century, the ironstone became depleted so that the ironworks had to import raw materials to keep operating. These foreign materials became too expensive, so the ironworks closed in 1923. The coal mining continued, and there is still mining in the area today. In 1954 a mining explosion killed 19 men. I don't understand why my family moved to Muirkirk, but it seems that the heavy industry here provided plenty of stable jobs for a while. Once those jobs were gone, the family seems to have left with them.
In order to accommodate the increased population in Muirkirk, the town built the Parish Church in 1815. This church replaced a 17th century church that was too small for the industrial town.
Muirkirk Parish Church,
where my great-great-great grandparents
got married in 1831.
Though this churchyard may have a lot of family graves, many headstones are barely legible. The oldest headstone from our family that we could read dated to around 1878. Weather will most likely eat away at this writing so that it will become illegible soon. We might be able to contact the church in order to find more documents about these graves.
Whereas Margaret Mitchel is buried in the cemetery with her children, her husband Robert Houston is in the grave pictured below along with their infant children. One of these children did not even have a name because he (or she) died so young. This headstone in the foreground. In the background are other family headstones, specifically from the Dickson line. Since the Dickson and Houston families are so numerous in this small town, one could wonder what role they played in the community.
Robert Houston's grave in foreground.
The rest of the graves in this post are not family graves but are the town's 'famous' graves. The first grave is for John Smith, who was one of the Covenanters. King Charles I believed in 'divine right,' so he gave himself the title of 'Head of the Church.' He interfered greatly with the Scottish Presbyterian church. For instance, he introduced a new Book of Common Prayer to Scotland in 1637 and declared that anyone who opposed the new liturgy would be guilty of treason. Still, many ministers signed the National Covenant in 1638 in order to declare their opposition to the king and affirm that Jesus Christ was 'Head of the Church,' not the king. These 'covenanters' did not have many problems with the king except that the king clung to divine right and interfered with church affairs. Many laypeople joined the covenanters. Famously, Jenny Geddes in St Giles Kirk threw a stool at a minister when he tried to read from the king's Book of Common Prayer. Many ousted ministers who refused to follow the king formed congregations in the open air and in barns and houses, but the government could execute these ministers for treason. The government made churches take roll to make certain everyone attended, and those who were absent could face fines. Worse, the government could interrogate these absent lay-folk and torture them. Southwest Scotland, including Ayrshire, became a hotbed of covenanter resistance, especially as the persecution became worse under Charles II. The locals fought the government in skirmishes and battles. In 1678 the government raised an army of 6,000 highlanders, who did not have sympathy for the Presbyterian lowlands, in order to suppress the resistance. The violence did not end until the Glorious Revolution in 1688 when Prince William of Orange made a bloodless invasion of Britain. Thereafter, the state reinstated the Presbyterian church to Scotland. Just before this development, government troops shot John Smith in a field east of the Parish Church in 1685.
John Smith's grave.
According to folklore, on a freezing winter's morning, by the light of a full moon, Scottish wildcats killed two young children on their way to Muirkirk school. It is believed their screams were heard by a local farmer who ran to their assistance but was too late to save them from their terrible fate. This stone was erected in their memory by the local townsfolk around 1755. [from description beside headstone]
View of Muirkirk Parish Church
and churchyard.
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