Gilmour, Johnson, and Russell family line
Scotland and Canada
Allan Gilmour (d. 1793)
A frustratingly large number of my Gilmour ancestors were named “Allan”, and so many sources add a descriptor of some sort to help to tell them apart. This particular Allan is known, for example, as “Allan Gilmour of South Walton”.
In tracing this branch of my family, there are two sources that were very valuable in providing an overview and are quoted extensively. I have also tried to add, where possible, any corroborating material.
- The History of Our Firm, Being Some Account of the Firm of Pollok, Gilmour and Co. and its Offshoots and Connections 1804-1920
- A Short Account of the family of Gilmour of Eaglesham (Alistair R. Hill)
According to the second of these two sources, Allan Gilmour of South Walton was a farmer (and feuar) who was from South Walton in the parish of Mearns (a few miles south of present-day Glasgow). He married Elizabeth Pollok and they had the following children:
- Barbara Gilmour (26 March 1770 – 9 November 1857)
- John Gilmour, farmer at Craigton then South Walton (d. 7 February 1841)
- Allan Gilmour (1775-1849) [“Allan Gilmour of Eaglesham”]
- David Gilmour, farmer at Fortisset in Shotts (12 March 1780 – c.1873)
- James Gilmour (1782-1857)
- Agnes Gilmour
Allan Gilmour of Eaglesham (1775-1849)
The “of Eaglesham” was not associated with this individual until later, but it is useful to use it as a way of identifying this very interesting ancestor.
He grew up in Mearns and attended school with his future business partners – two brothers, John and Arthur Pollak. As his mother was also a Pollok, it is fair to assume that they were cousins.
By the mid-1790s, Allan carried on a small timber business in Mearns and, later, in Glasgow. The two Pollak brothers were initially apprenticed to their uncle (a grocer in Glasgow) and took over the business. John Pollak ran the business while Arthur Pollak started another timber importing business at Grangemouth (a port just inland from Edinburgh).
James Gilmour (1782-1857)
James Gilmour is my direct ancestor (my “3rd great-grandfather”) and another of the sons of Allan Gilmour of South Walton. He is referred to in some accounts as “James Gilmour of Polnoon”.
He was born on 14 October 1782 and there is evidence that he traveled in 1812 to Miramichi, New Brunswick. He accompanied Alexander Rankin with the intention of establishing a subsidiary of Pollok, Gilmour & Co. that came to be known as Gilmour, Rankin & Co.
According to Hill, he spent almost all of the “next 30 years in Canada”1. During this time, he met and married Clementina Stewart (1899-1862), who was the daughter of John Stewart (a factor) and Isabella Scott. This marriage was apparently not met with approval by his brother Allan (of Eaglesham) who thought that James was marrying “below his station”.
He and Clementina had seven children of whom there are records:
- Allan Gilmour (1820-1905)
- James Gilmour. Died May 1848.
- Clementina Gilmour (1821-1885)
- Elizabeth Gilmour, born in Douglas Town, Miramichi, around 1823/4. In Polnoon Lodge on 12 June 1849, she married James Stewart Johnson, minister at Cambuslang 1843-81. She died at Hamilton on 2 April 1894. [my direct ancestor – my second great-grandmother]
- Margaret Gilmour (1827-1898)
- Isabella Barbara Gilmour, born about 1837 at Newcastle, New Brunswick.
- Helen Rankin Gilmour (1841-1919)
From Hill’s account:
“As has already been mentioned, after his own retirement Allan began advising James about his, and trying to persuade him to leave the firm. James pointed out that he had been thinking of retiring too, but was reluctant to prejudice his son’s [i.e. Allan’s] position in the business: “I have now no desire to continue longer in business and were it not for Allan, I would make it as short as possible”. He sought his brother’s advice as to the upbringing not only of Allan, but also of his daughters: “My two oldest Girls Clementina and Elisabeth have been two years at school in Montreal. Clementina from 16 to 17 years and Elisabeth 15, would you say how much longer they ought to remain at school”. On the basis of known information, it is hard to see what sort of ideas an elderly bachelor could have in relation to such matters.”
“Perhaps this was simply an effort to stay in favour. It obviously worked. That letter was dated 8 June 1838. In a later letter of 13 January 1839 their nephew Allan (the one who later objected to Allan Gilmour senior’s settlement) wrote from Carlisle after leaving Glasgow explaining how relations had deteriorated between himself and Allan Gilmour. This included allegations of his requesting him to extract letters from the firms offices etc. No response to this seems to have been sent. No mention was apparently made of these matters in later correspondence.”
- Note that New Brunswick was not officially part of Canada until Confederation in 1867. ↩︎
Elizabeth Gilmour (1823-1894)
As noted above, she was born in Miramichi in 1823. She relocated to Scotland once her father retired from the family firm, and took up residence at Polnoon with her mother and other sisters.
She married the Rev. James Stewart Johnson.
Together, they had the following children:
- James Alexander Gilmour Johnson (1850-1883)
- William Stewart Johnson (1851-)
- Clementina Stewart Johnson (1853-)
- Helen Isabella Johnson (1855-1938) – this is my direct ancestor
- Allan George Johnson (1856-1857)
- David Brown Johnson (1858-)
- Elizabeth Gilmour Johnson (1861-)
- Emma Marion Margaret Johnson (1863-)
She died in Hamilton, Scotland, on April 2, 1894 (aged about 71).
Helen Isabella Johnson (1855-1938)
Known as “Dolly”, my great grandmother was born in The Manse, Cambuslang, Scotland, on 23 July 1855. She married one Archibald Russell (her father officiated) on 2 June, 1881.
Archibald Russell (1855-1900) was a collier, or coal merchant. In some documents he is referred to as Archibald Russell, Junior – his father (1830-1904) was also a coal merchant, carrying on business at Great Clyde Street.
The couple had the following children:
- Elizabeth Gilmour Johnson Russell (1883-1929)
- James Stewart Johnson Russell (1885-)
- Helen Maud Russell (1887-1946) – My paternal grandmother
- Edith Stuart Russell (1889-1985)
It is notable that Archibald Junior died quite young, at the age of only 45, of “cancer of the pharynx”. Note that the family moved at some point to Moffat, which is located some 45 miles to the south of where my grandmother, Helen Maud Russell was born in Avongrange, Hamilton (now the Avonbridge Hotel in Hamilton).
Dolly ended up living for another 37 years, passing away in 1938 in Moffat.
