The Passing of Time

Chapter 1

Ancestry

Mother's Grandparents

Janet Cowan was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland. She married James Black when she was very young. He was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Janet and James Black had fourteen children. James was a weaver, and one day, at the mill, he fell into the dam. He was stone deaf after that. He was a very good-looking man, but he was, also, very vain. He was very clean, sometimes when he was up in the middle of the night, he'd wash his feet because he said walking around made the soles of his feet dirty. He lived with my grandmother for about three years before he died. He favored my aunt, and he didn't like my mother. He'd send her to the store to get something, and when she brought it, he'd send her back saying she had gotten the wrong thing. He was an old man then and very crabby. He was an educated man too. He could sit and read books day and night. Another one of his, shall I say virtues, was that he knew everybody. No matter who a person would talk about, he knew their parents, even if it was somebody in Australia. He got all of his teeth pulled out at once, and the shock of that brought on his death. He died in January 1912.

*Mother's Parents

Janet Black was one of the daughters of Janet and James Black. She was born in 1868 in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland. She was a weaver before she married George Gilmour.

George Gilmour was born in 1870 in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was the son of Barbara Nisbet Gilmour, who was born at Hart Hill, Lanarkshire, Scotland. When he was small he had a bad habit of running away. George and Janet Gilmorur had five children, Jim, George, Janet, Barbara, and Margaret. My brother is named after my grandfather.

Father's Parents

Rebecca Gough was born in Kilwinning, Scotland. Before she married, she took care of her grandmother. She married James Watt who was born in Gilford, County Down,Ireland. He was a shoemaker, and he taught his sons that trade. Rebecca and James had six children, Rebecca, Mary, Anne, James, John, and Andrew.

*My mother's father died in 1942 and her mother died in 1939.