From the Land Down Under to the Rising Sun

The previous blog post showcased the text of a letter from James Whan (1846-1934) to his wife Elizabeth during his journey back to Scotland. The letter was mailed from Port Said, Egypt as the SS John Elder exited the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea.

Thankfully, after he sent off that letter, James kept on writing in the form of a diary. This journal gives us a peak into the family back in Scotland. The text picks up when the ship reaches Plymouth, England.

James’ Diary entry:

My travels from Plymouth to Scotland in the S.S. John Elder, 30 March 1881

Arrived at Plymouth, all well at 11a.m., and after leaving the mail and some of the passengers we started again for London at 1pm.

We had a splendid passage up to this but going up the English Channel we caught a very strong headwind, the ship at times not making 4 knots per hour. So, the thought of getting to London that night had to be given up, and not reaching Plymouth we had to anchor at Denial for the night, 1st April being now 55 days from home.

Mary: I have tried to figure out where “Denial” is but was unsuccessful. Is this a metaphoric “denial”? Maybe a transcription error. But somewhere between Plymouth and the mouth of the Thames River, they spend the night.

James’ Diary continues

We made another start at 6am, the wind having fallen a little, so we reached London Albert Dock at 2pm, and after passing the customs officer we got clear away from the lucky old ship.

The sail we went for was in the train, which was waiting close by the dock, for our tickets to Liverpool then for King Cross and from there we had porters carry our things to St Pankers.

James:

There we found the express train would leave at 9pm so we had tea in London and prepared for our destination. Three of my fellow passengers came through to Dumfries and we never had to change carriage. After getting hot stools for our feet to rest on, and much they were wanted as the night was miserably cold, the coldest drive ever I had in my life, and having great trouble to keep my birds alive we reached Dumfries at 6am. So, I got my love birds into the house and put them alongside a fire and they soon recovered from their cold ride from London.

Mary:
In his letter to his wife, (last post) James mentioned “Tell Jamesy boy that his little love birds are first-rate, and father will bring him prettier ones” This sentence initially went right over my head because I could not comprehend that he was literally traveling with birds. Apparently there were no issues bringing birds into the country as I imagine it would be now!

Now he continues by train to Dumfries – very close to his destination of Dalbeattie.

James:
A young man like myself was going to Ayrshire, New Comlock, and who came out with me agreed to spend 3 or 4 hours in Dumfries, so we had our breakfast and a good wash. As the morning was cold and windy, we could not enjoy ourselves; we agreed to separate as he had to go 30 miles and 115 miles by different routes, he, being the last of the John Elders people that I had to part with.

Just as he was going away after leaving the carriage, I turned around and who do I spy but my dear old father looking for me, so I gave him a fair trial but he would not accept the offer. After walking around him twice I bailed him up. To his surprise, he had found his eldest son, after 18 years absence in Australia.

Mary: I am interpreting his 19th-century phrases and the heart of this story is so sweet. His father (Matthew 1824-1900) had not seen him in 18 years and did not even recognize him. I can imagine Matthew’s joy when he realized the man standing in front of him was James, his oldest son.

James:

After loving embraces and kisses we were soon on our way to Dalbeattie. The next to meet was dear old mother whom I could easily have passed by also, but I embraced and kissed her and was most happy and thankful to meet them both looking so healthy and strong. Never expected to see them so fresh and well.

Mary: “dear old mother” is Janet Cameron (Whan) Janet was born in Creetown. She is the oldest of three siblings born to David Cameron and her mother Marion. Sadly, Janet’s mother died when Janet was only seven years old. Pretty soon after that, David Cameron remarried to Mary Brown. Mary (Brown) and David had 8 more children. More on that later in this post.

James:

Then came my brothers Matthew and David, and my two sisters Jane and Mary were sent for so we could all meet that night and have a good crack about my adventures in Australia. So passed the first night in Scotland.

Mary: Since he names two brothers and two sisters here, I think it is time for an a graphic listing all the siblings. Zoom in if you are on your phone 🙂 Also I used green arrows pointing to the siblings who remained in Scotland and blue arrows for the ones who would ultimately (or already did) emigrate to Australia.

James:

April 3rd, being the Lord’s Day, we passed it in praising God for His goodness in bringing me home once more amongst them, also for my dear wife for submitting to my sites in granting me absence for a short time. God’s blessing was interceded for on our behalf from the church and praise His name. He is ever doing good unto us and may His blessing continue over land and sea. When His good time comes may we not be found wanting but be forever with the Lord.

Mary: James then spends the next few days being shown around Dalbeattie. There are granite works and a paper mill.  I am wondering if the granite works are where Andrew the stonemason learned his trade?

James: April 7th After spending 5 days at home I agreed to take father and brother David to Creetown, the place of my birth, and see some of my old acquaintances. So, after spending a happy night we started next day for Newton Stewart. As it was the Hiring Fare Day, we had the pleasure of witnessing the lads and lasses.

Mary: I have no idea what the last sentence means lol.  He then goes on to describe some of his old school friends he saw etc. Funny side note:  Scotland’s 1881 census was taken during James’ visit so funnily he shows up on the census as if he is living there with his parents.

James:

Came back to Creetown and spent all night at Mr. Rae’s. Bid them all goodbye the next day; sister Martha was sorry at parting, as was my old grandfather, but they were all glad to see that I had prospered so well the last 18 years in Australia.

Mary: There is a wealth of information here and in James’ entries. There are census records that suddenly come to life through his words. Thanks also to Darelyn’s ancestry tree with lots of important notes. I bolded names in his paragraph that I elaborate on.

Sister Martha mentioned here is the oldest sibling. She is married and living in Creetown at the time of this journal.   A little background – Martha was born a year before Matthew and Janet got married. By the time she is 17, she is a dairymaid on a farm run by Mr. Rae. James at age 15 also worked on that farm. The fact that James goes back as an adult and visits and spends the night at Mr. Rae’s house seems to say it was a good working relationship.

The ”old grandfather” James mentions in Creetown is not a Whan.  His paternal grandfather, James Whan (his namesake) died back in 1865. This grandfather is his maternal grandfather (Janet Cameron’s father), David Cameron.  David Cameron at the time of this journal is a 2 time widower. Also by the way, he is Milton’s great- great -grandfather.

David Cameron was born in 1801 so during this visit from James, he was 80 years old. He died almost ten years later in 1890.

In 2013, when I visited Creetown, all I knew of the name Cameron was that Dad’s great-grandmother’s name was Janet Cameron. I didn’t have the more detailed tree that I do now. Luckily, when I poked around the graveyard of the church and saw a headstone with the name Cameron, it rang a bell and I took a picture. It wasn’t until this week when I was dissecting James Whan’s journal that the light bulb went on. Oh! I took a picture of my 3x great-grandfather’s headstone.

James:

Uncle Peter and I went out to the country and had a good tour around as it would be the last. A splendid part of the country lies between Newton Stewart and the Isle of Man, a fine part as there is in all Scotland; fine agricultural land with very comfortable homesteads but there is no chance for anyone to speculate as the rents are too high. So, leaving Dalbeattie for the last time.

Mary: 

Uncle Peter is his maternal uncle:  Peter Brown Cameron (1854 – 1913). He is James’ mother (Janet)’s youngest brother. Peter was the youngest of the eight children from David and Mary (Brown) Cameron.  When James and “Uncle Peter” are touring the countryside – Peter is 26 and James is 35 😊 Peter was only been 8 years old when James left Scotland 18 years ago.

The photo of the headstone above is hard to read but near the bottom, Peter is listed.

During the 1881 census, Peter is a “gardener laborer”. By the 1891 census he is living with his sisters Agnes and Elizabeth and his job is listed as “Collector of Parish Rater”

Peter died in 1913. At the time of his death and on a census before that, he was the local registrar of births.

So how appropriate: he was responsible for the ancestry records we can access now to dig into the past. I personally relate to James’ diary-keeping and love of birds but I would say Darelyn definitely carries Peter’s ancestry record-keeping genes!

Back to James trip – he spends more time visiting many people, but I will skip to his last day after almost four weeks back home:

James:

April 25th Busy all day preparing for a start, having everything arranged and having to bid everyone goodbye, in fact the greater number of inhabitants of Dalbeattie. It was then agreed that a few of my near and dear relations should meet in the evening at 8pm and have a few words of prayer, so we passed a cheerful hour, everyone wishing me a happy and prosperous trip back to my dear wife and family, after thanks to God I wished them all to join in singing the sweet hymn

I wish I was home over there. Then came the parting with my dear old mother, I believe never to see her again.

Mary: No spoilers – next blog post I will let you know if his prediction was correct about never seeing his mother again.

James:

So, the rest of us started for the station which was about half a mile away, where a great number of people had gathered to see me off and when the hour of parting came which was 10pm, there was kissing and shaking of hands and some of them shouting I’ll be after you in a short time James.

In fact, all of the young people wished they were going with me then. So off I went to Dumfries, 15 miles. Changed cars for St Pankers.

Mary:

One final note if you’ve read to this point – James mentions his brother David. This David Whan who stays in Scotland would go on to have quite a few children. One of them is a son, David Muir Whan born in 1899. I stumbled upon a World War I memorial right in the middle of Creetown and there saw David M Whan was mentioned because he was killed in action in Flanders during the war.