Category: photos/images/video

St Brigids Church History 1862-1962 #kilbirnie #northayrshire #catholic

please click here for the document (PDF) 

Final page uploaded with names seperately here

This 27 page document produced in 1962 looks at Catholicism on the west coast of Scotland and details how the  Church in Kilbirnie came to be  opened in 1862. It contains a photo of the first priest  ( I already posted his death certificate on this blog) as well as the  surnames of all of the first Catholic families to worship in the Church which is very good for genealogy researchers.  It gives a rare glimpse of Catholic life on the west coast of Scotland and also talks about the opening of the school as well as other Churches in the area.

Jean Jeffrey McTaggart

 

This picture is of Jean Jeffrey, my Great Great Grandmother, (sometimes spelt Jeffray or Jeffries) who was married to Neil McTaggart and lived at 13 Dennyholm Street, Kilbirnie, by the mill on the site of what is now Dennyholm Wynd, Her Mother was Mary Jeffrey who married Andrew Stevenson, whose family were coal merchants in the town.

There is a family story that Neil was a twin with a brother Malcolm but I have not been able to prove that from any government records.

Jeanie had a very large family, including my Great Grandfather Neil as well as a daughter Elizabeth. Elizabeth married Samuel Cairns and two of their children are sitting on Jean´s lap. Jean was red haired and used to walk from the Dennyholm out to Glengarnock barefoot to visit some of her children

Jean died in 1927. I estimate this photo to have been taken around 1923.

 

Knox Institute, Kilbirnie

 

It is great news that the Knox Institute in Kilbirnie will be restored.

Here is a picture of the man who built it, Robert William Knox:

 

 

 

 

 

The original portrait was last seen in the “Stables Museum” underneath the Walker Hall in the 1990s. I have been trying to get information about what happened to the stuff that was in there. I have asked North Ayrshire Council but Im not getting any replies except to say they are looking into it and that was a few years ago now.

There is also a lamp which was donated to the town by RW Knox and it sat upon one of the bridges. Last seen also in the Stables museum.

“Willie Mackie´s Homecoming” #kilbirnie #northayrshire #scotland

 

Willie Mackie left Kilbirnie Scotland to emigrate to the USA as many people did before him, in search of a better life. As the title suggests, this was his homecoming celebration in Kilbirnie Gospel Hall Brethren Assembly.

This photo would be from the 1930s. I’m not sure if he returned to the USA at a later date or settled in Kilbirnie again.