My great-grandfather, Whitefield Watson was born on 18 April, 1862, in New Cumnock, Ayrshire, Scotland.  He was the son of Joseph Watson (b. England around 1834 - probably Durham), and Elizabeth Walker (b. New Cumnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, around 1837).

According to the 1881 census, Whitefield had one brother & 2 sisters born before 1881, and living at that address.  

The 1881 census listing is as follows:-

10 Connel Park, New Cumnock, Ayrshire

WATSON   Joseph         M   Head   Coal Miner     47    M   

Born  England

WATSON    Elizabeth    M   Wife                              44     F   

Born New Cumnock

WATSON    Whitefield  U    Son      Coal Miner    18     M   

Born New Cumnock

WATSON  Susanna      U    Daur                             13      F

Born New Cumnock

WATSON    John            U   Son      Scholar          10     M    

Born New Cumnock

WATSON    Catherine   U   Daur                               5      F    

Born New Cumnock

Whitefield Watson's siblings known facts

Susannah                                    born 7 February 1868

                                                    Married (unknown) Gibb 

John                                            born 13 November 1870 

                                                    Married Elizabeth Sloan

                                                    They lived in Helenswood Cottage

                                                    Connel Park.  Cottage still there in 2003.

Catherine                                     born c1876.

                                                     Married David McCallum

The following description is of the house that Whitefield Watson was living in c.1881 at 10 Connel Park with his parents, Joseph & Elizabeth, sisters Susannah & Catherine, and brother John, all named in the 1881 census above.  This description was kindly given to me by Robert Hart, of Cumnock, Scotland.    Robert himself lived in this very same house during his early childhood, from 1950 until 1952.  This is his recollection of the house.

"The house consisted of two rooms, one a living area and one a kitchen.  The living room had two built-in beds in the wall, there would be curtains drawn across these through the day when not in use.   There was a coal fired range where all the cooking was done and kettle boiled.

There was a door to the kitchen where you had to step down two steps to get to the floor level.   It was just a plain cement floor with a drain at the wall.  There was only a very small window on the back wall, with a big white sink in front of it, with one cold water tap only.   In the corner was a large round boiler built into a brick surround, with an opening under it at the front for a fire, so as to heat the water.   There was a big wooden cover fitted over it, so no weans would fall in and get scalded.

There was always a large tin bath hung on the wall near the back door.   The water was boiled by the wife, who then paled it out into the bath, which was placed in the middle of the kitchen floor for her man to wash in when he came home from his shift at the pit.   When he finished his bath, the water was poured out onto the floor to clean it, and then brushed down the drain.

I have always mind of, in the spring, you would go through into the kitchen in the morning, and there would be nothing but frogs jumping all over the floor, for they would have come up through the drain at night.

The wife would boil  more water and wash the pit clothes in the large sink, using a scrubbing board and bars of soap.  Then they would be dried in front of the fire, in winter, for her husband to wear for his next shift at the pit.   That happened six days a week, only a Sunday off, what a life!

There was no inside toilet, you had to go to the communal toilets at the back of the rows.   There was a small garden at the front, facing onto the main road.  

The Clauchan was next door.   This was a large room, where the men would play dominoes, cards, darts and carpet bowls - this was a place where the day's work would be talked about.   I bet there was more coal shovelled there than was ever done at the pit".

My sincere thanks to Robert Hart for his description of life in a miner's row cottage.   When I visited New Cumnock in 2003, Robert took me to see where the miners row cottages had once been.  Sadly, there are no more of the row cottages left now, just a waste area, with scrub and a few remnants of maybe what were foundations.  Robert showed me the exact spot where No. 10 Connel Park was, in the Long Row, where this Watson family lived.  Just down the row, No. 3, where Whitefield's future wife Jessie McMillan Mason lived, and No. 5, where their daughter (my Nanny) Elizabeth Walker Boyd Watson) was born in 18xxx