I got so much information about the Gore family from June Gillies’s family that I thought I should make a special effort to push back the Donachie line as far as I could. Nobody else online seemed to be interested in this family so I had to do all the work myself. It’s surprising how quickly the framework fell into place. I’ve now printed out birth certificates for my grandfather, Alexander and his father, John. I’ve discovered that John was a pit pony driver and his wife, Elizabeth had an illegitimate child before her marriage. This child, James Rodger, was accepted as a full member of the family and was listed as stepson in the census.
My mother mentioned to me that there was a fellow called Jimmy Rodger in the family but she didn’t know where he fitted in, so now we know. Going back another generation, I came upon Owen Donachie who was born in Ireland. He first appears in Scottish records, in the 1851 census as a 9-year old in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire where his parents worked on a farm called Graham Land. His father, James, was a Thatcher and his older siblings worked as Tearers, whatever that is. One was listed as a Calico Tearer, but that doesn’t help us particularly.
In the 1861 Census, Owen is working as a labourer at a property called Knecocklav, in Loudon Ayrshire. The farm is 150 acres and owned by Mrs Elizabeth Gilchrist. Also working there is Janet Morton, an 18-year old domestic servant. Owen and Janet marry in 1865 and produce 11 children, one of whom is my great-grandfather, John.
There is a family tradition that one of my ancestors was left as a foundling on the steps of Limerick Castle. It doesn’t seem to be Owen so my next project is to check whether it might be his father, James. Irish records are not as accessible on line as Scottish ones so it’s not going to be easy.
Are you still working on the Donachie family? Owen D is my great, great grandfather.
ReplyDeleteScottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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TEER, v. Also tear, tier-. In calico-printing: to spread a fresh coat of colour over the sieve or pad of woollen cloth on which the printer presses his block (Sc. 1869 Athenaeum (13 March) 382). Hence teer-boy, teerer, a (young) person who does this, a calico-printer's assistant (wm.Sc. 1842 Children in Trades Report ii. I. 3. teerer, tearer; Rnf. 1899 Country Schoolmaster (Wallace) 354, teerer).
Sc. 1814 J. Sinclair Agric. Scot. III. 317:
Callico-printers, Drawers, Engravers, Cutters, Machine-workers, Dyers, Boilers, Teerers, and Pencillers.
Slg. 1845 Stat. Acc.2 VIII. 384:
Tierers, one to each printer.
Gsw. 1863 H. Macdonald Poems 219:
Then he'd stamp, shake the bag in your face, And declare the tear-boy wad dune't better.
Sc. 1869 D. Bremner Industries 303:
The paste is managed by a boy, called a “tearer,” who spreads an even coating over a woollen cloth stretched in a frame, and resting on an elastic bed. The printer presses his block on the woollen cloth, and takes up a quantity of paste sufficient for one impression, the “tearer” giving the cloth a fresh coat after each dip.
Rnf. 1883 A. G. Murdoch Recent Sc. Poets 156:
He was . . . sent into the printfield as a “teer-boy,” or assistant to a calico printer.
[Mid.Eng. teer, to spread or daub with clay or plaster, O.Fr. ter(r)er, to cover with mud or earth