Roots, shoots and stories

 Some families seem to be disproportionately affected by tragedy. One such family in a corner of my tree is that of Margaret Johnstone (1812-1894) and her husband John Craig (1811-1872). This couple were a merging of both sides of my family, Margaret from my paternal side and John from my maternal side ( though not from the same generation which makes things complicated!) They married in January 1834 in Shotts, Lanarkshire and had their first child, John, that same year. Unfortunately John did not make it past his third birthday and the couple's next two children, another John and a girl, Elizabeth, both died in 1839 and like families did in those days, they went on to have more children - a total of 12 more over the next 19 years, in fact. At the start of 1854, they had eight children, but that was all about to change in the most terrible of circumstances. This newspaper article from the Glasgow Herald on the 11th of January gives the dreadful details: Article from the Glasgow Her...