JAMES FLEMING - AGNES HAMILTON

JAMES FLEMING was born in Hamilton on the 30th of June, 1816.

Son of Alexander Fleming and Elizabeth Gilmour. James' occupation was Pit Shanker, which means that he was involved in the excavation and/or maintenance of a mine.

AGNES HAMILTON was born in Hamilton about 1814.

Daughter of John Hamilton and Janet Semple.

James and Agnes were married in Hamilton on the 4th of January, 1835. (OPR Ref. 647/5, FR1203)

Agnes is in Knowetop Farm on the 1841 census; in Meikle Earnock on the 1851 census; at Kirkton Street, Carluke, on the 1881 census and at High Street, Carluke on the 1891 and 1901 census.

On the 1841 census her occupation is 'Sewer'.

Children:

  1. Janet Fleming, born in Hamilton about 1835.

    Janet married William Fleming (b. New Monklands c.1829), Pit Sinker. On the 1881 census she is at 2 Low Quarter, Hamilton, widowed with four children. Her eldest child is 24, so they were probably married about 1855. There is an appropriate entry in the statutory records for 18th of April 1856, but only the groom's parents appear to be named - John Fleming, Coal Miner, and Elizabeth Shanks. The youngest child on the 1881 census is 11, so William died some time after 1869. Janet died at 41a Calder Street, Coatbridge, on the 11th of January 1889.

  2. Elizabeth Fleming, born in Hamilton about 1837.

    Elizabeth married Alexander McWilliams (b. Cambuslang 6/4/1845), son of Thomas McWilliams and Margaret Thom, in Low Waters, Hamilton, on the 3rd of November 1865. Alexander is the brother of her sister Christina's husband, Thomas McWilliam. On her daughter Agnes' birth certificate her name is given as Elizabeth Gilmour Fleming. Elizabeth and Alexander had at least five children. They are at Blantyre Works Farm on the 1881 census. Elizabeth died at Gilmour Place, Stonefield, Blantyre, on the 2nd of June 1903.

  3. Agnes Fleming, born in Hamilton c.1839.

    4. Agnes is living with her grandmother Elizabeth Fleming on the 1851 and 1861 census. She married James Frew (b. Dalserf c. 1841), an Underground Manager at a colliery, at Quarter on the 24th of April, 1868. James was the son of Alexander Frew, also an Underground Manager, and Janet Thomson. Agnes and James are at Smithy Cottage in Low Quarter on the 1881 census. They had at least five children. Agnes died at 6 Wellhall Road, Hamilton, on the 23rd of June 1913.

  4. CHRISTINA FLEMING, born in Hamilton about 1841.

    Married Thomas Balfour McWilliam, son of Thomas McWilliam and Margaret Thom.

  5. Margaret Fleming, born in Hamilton about 1853.

    Margaret's age at the time of the census returns generally puts her year of birth about 1853 so she is unlikely to be James Fleming's daughter. She is with her mother in Carluke on the 1881, 1891 and 1901 census. Her occupation is Schoolteacher. She was the first female member of EIS, the teachers' union. She died at 102 High Street, Carluke, on the 30th of July 1946, age 92 years. On her death certificate her father's name is given as James Fleming, and on that note the matter can be considered closed.

James died some time before 1851 - Agnes is described as 'Widowed' on the 1851 census. It is almost certain that he died in the Quarter mining disaster of 16th March 1841, one of four men killed while going to the aid of others killed or injured by an explosion in a coal mine.

Agnes died at High Street, Carluke on the 19th of December, 1905.