2026 Week 17: Working for a living #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

The majority of my direct ancestors and their family members have lived and worked in Central Scotland for the last couple of hundred years. Therefore many have been involved in metal working, coal mining and weaving. My paternal grandfather was a miner and two of his sons followed him down the mine, one sadly dying in a roof collapse. Two of my great grandfathers were miners as well, the others metal workers. Lanarkshire was literally the 'Black Country' of Scotland, with the whole of what is termed the Central Coalfield located there. In the late 19th century more than half of Scotland's coal was mined there.

Angus Watson, a cousin of my father's, was born in Cleland, Lanarkshire in 1884 into a family typical for that area. His father, John, was a coal face worker and all John's sons were to follow him down the pit. In 1891, when Angus was still only 8 years old, three of his brothers were already working in the coal mines - William, aged 16 was working at the coal face, John aged 14 was a drawer - the person who took empty coal tubs to the pit face and brought full ones to the bottom of the pit shaft - and even Lamond at the age of 12, was a labourer above ground at the pithead. By the time of the next census in 1901, Angus too was down the mine. This continues for another decade, until in 1911, he marries a woman, Jessie Forrest, ten years younger than himself and together they have three children.

Four years later something changes. Angus embarks on the ship 'Columbia' sailing from Glasgow to New York, leaving his wife and family back at home. The destination he specifies to be his final one in the USA is Holden, West Virginia. Holden, it seems, was a settlement built between 1905-1915 by a mining engineer, Albert Holden, who wanted to create a model mining town. How Angus knew about this I do not know - had he seen an advertisement seeking Scottish miners? had someone returned to Cleland and told him about it? Whatever the reason behind his departure, Angus was setting off for a new life. 

His wife, Jessie and their three children, came out to join him two years later, sailing on the SS Tunisian from Glasgow. However, Jessie's destination was not Holden, but Sangamon County in Illinois, as that appears to have been where Angus went after he arrived. Evidence for this is from the mining certificate below:

As well as telling us how long Angus had been mining (18 years) , it also gives us a description of him - 5ft7 tall,  143 pounds, black hair,  blue eyes and a mole on his left cheek! So by the time his family arrives in 1922, Angus had already been employed in the USA as a coalminer for two years.

But if work was going well for him, his family life was not. Less than two years after Jessie's arrival, the couple got divorced. Jessie and the children did not return to Scotland. Less than a year later she married an Italian cook, settled in Chicago and had two more children. Angus never remarried. He continued to work in the mines and look after his three children.

By 1942, when he signed up for the draft, he describes himself as a self employed coal dealer. He was no longer mining, but his working life was still tied to the coal industry.

On February 25th 1952, Angus Watson died aged 67. His obituary notice gives a detailed description of what his working life had entailed, even after he left the mine. 

Angus Watson, (1884-1952), a man who worked for a living.

Photo courtesy of Kane family on Ancestry.