This poignant gravestone stands in Cumnock old cemetery from 1782.
Here lyes the corps of Elizabeth, their only child who died 3 November 1782 aged 7 years 8 months.
Your heart goes out to the parents Alexander McKinlay and wife Margaret Aitken. But there is more to the story.
A quick look at the old parish records finds no record of this child but they went on to have two more, Alexander in 1784 and another Elizabeth in 1790. Elizabeth no 2 was born and baptised on the same day 12 Mar 1790, in the Nest which was a house on Dumfries House Estate suggesting that the father was an employee on the estate. The haste at which she was baptised may suggest she was not expected to survive and I have no further record of her.
I found son Alexander's marriage to Janet Samson in 1820. The banns were read in Ayr and Cumnock. Banns are read for three consecutive weeks in the parishes where the bride and groom are residents. The latest date being 15 Sep 1820 in Cumnock. The actually wedding is usually at the bride's home. However Janet Samson was from Newton in Ayr suggesting that it was Alexander who was in Cumnock.
They had one son Alexander and then 5 daughters. The first 2 children were born in Cumnock. On Alexander's baptismal record of 1821 his father is a forester in Dumfries house estate. In the 1841 census they family is in Green St in Newton on Ayr, sometimes referred to as Samson's land. Alexander is now described as a vocal musicianer. He is in the Ayr directory of 1845-6 as a wood forester so I presume he sidelined as a singer. In 1851 census he is again a wood forester and confirms he was born in Old Cumnock. Alexander died at Green St on 19th April 1851 ages 68 and is buried with his Samson in-laws in Newton Burial ground Ayr, the headstone supplying this information. As his death preceded statutory registration there is no death certificate to confirm his parents but I am confident he is the son of Alexander, naming his son Alexander after his father as is traditional, plus the wood forester link to Dumfries House estate.
See them on the Cumnock Connections tree here
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