Gillespie, Mary
| Birth Name | Gillespie, Mary 1a |
| GRAMPS ID | I0338 |
| Gender | female |
| Age at Death | more than 90 years |
Events
| Type | Date | Place | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Census | 1891 | 9 Main St, Cumbernauld, Scotland, UK | UK Census 1891 in the Parish of Cumbernauld 2 |
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| Meeting (Family) | 1922 | Perth, Western Australia, Australia | Robert Lithgow and his mother visited John Gillespie in 1922 1b | |
| Birth | calculated between 1865 and 1866 | Cumbernauld, Dumbartonshire, Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK | Birth of Gillespie, Mary 2 | |
| Death | estimated before 1955 | Death of Gillespie, Mary 3a |
Parents
| Father | Gillespie, William [I0341] |
| Mother | Henderson, Annie [I0342] |
| Siblings |
Families
| Married | Husband | Lithgow, Robert (Stevenson) [I0337] |
| Marriage | November 5, 1903 Marriage of Lithgow, Robert (Stevenson) and Gillespie, Mary 1a 4a |
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| Residence | estimated before 1924 at Kilburnie, Wellington, NZ The family moved from Kilburnie when Robert was 6. 1 |
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| Residence | about 1910 at 211 Coots Street, Lawn Street, Courtney Place, off Gilbert Terrace, Wellington, NZ Residence of Lithgow, Robert (Stevenson) and Gillespie, Mary 5a
|
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| Emigration | about 1909 at England, UK Robert Lithgow and Mary Gillespie emigrate to New Zealand 3b
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| Narrative |
"The thing to remember is that our Grandma Margaret Pickard (nee Lithgow) who married Archiman Pickard, was your great grandfather's sister, and over the years your grandfather Bob and his sisters Ann and Belle maintained contact with the Pickards of Anston." (Archiman Pickard, Email, 08 Apr 2006) |
Gallery
Lithgow-Pickard_Fami ly_date_Trojan-in- New-Zealand-front
Lithgow-Pickard_Fami ly_date_Trojan-in- New-Zealand-back
Narrative
Mary Gillespie was born in 1865/66 in Dumbartonshire, Cumbernauld (a county between 1890 and 1975, I'm not clear where this is on a modern map as Dumbarton, Dumbartonshire and Cumbernnauld are spread around Glasgow).
She then grew up in Cumbernauld, 14 miles north east of Glasgow. She went to school to age 11 and during the UK Census for Cumbernauld of 1891 she was recorded as 15 years old. She then went into Glasgow to work in a dairy (shop), as her son Robert tells it "Money was hard to get. they sort of bought two eggs and a quarter of a pint of milk, this sort of thing." he thinks she was probably the shop manager, Robert has a photo in which Mary stands in the door (of the shop?) with a younger girl. In Glasgow she met her future husband, Robert, who went to school in Eaglesham, south Glasgow. Beyond that we know very little about Mary's early years. In September 1903 Mary had a daughter with another man before her marriage, the child was christened Annie Stevenson Lithgow. That was something of a scandal in those times and would have been a difficult time for the young couple with the small child.
Notes for the Family of Robert Stevenson Lithgow and Mary Gillespie
After marrying on November 5th 1903, Robert and Mary lived with Annie and in 1907 their daughter Isabella Stevenson Lithgow was born. Some time after their marriage they were offered work in NZ by John Miller (Mary's cousin) to work on his farm out of Balclutha, south of Dunedin. Although they didn't take up that specific offer they sailed for Wellington, NZ leaving on the 27th October 1910 from the Port of Tilbury on the Thames. Their ship was the 11000 ton passenger and refrigerated goods vessel SS Rotorua on it's maiden voyage for the New Zealand Shipping Co. (Australia Trade). They traveled with their two young daughters, Annie, 7yrs and Isabella, 3yrs. No doubt the six week trip taking them half way around the world was a real experience for everyone not least the young girls. The voyage included a stop in Cape Town where they might have met with Robert's brother William, who had moved to Sth. Africa with his wife.
Sometime around mid December 1910 Mary and Robert with their daughters Annie and Isabell stepped onto the wharf in Wellington and began our New Zealand branch of the Lithgow family.
Their first house was in Kilburnie where their son Robert William Lithgow was born in 1914. In 1923 they moved to Mirimar which Bob says was "bursting at the seams" as the population of Wellington grew. This new house was larger and they had space for a kitchen garden which everyone helped keep (a habit Robert jnr. (Bob) continued with his own family). The house cost about £1000 and, unusually for colonial New Zealand, was made of brick. Perhaps because he was a mason and didn't really trust wooden houses in the Wellington gales. The price was relatively expensive at that time and Robert needed to get a mortgage from the State Advances Corporation (enacted 1912?)[Ref:SAC].
Mary stayed at home looking after the household although Bob says that both parents kept discipline. Bob lived at home until he went into the Air Force in 1942. Annie Gillespie's (our Auntie Anne) son, Bob Wotherspoon, spent quite a bit of time in the Mirimar house while growing up. So presumably Annie lived nearby with her own family.
(Compiled from interviews with Robert William Lithgow, Duncan Lithgow 2006-'07)
Notes:
* Australia Trade: Built 1910, Wm Deny & Bros Dumbarton. Torpedoed by UC17 22/3/1917, English channel. http://www.australiatrade.com.au/Shipping/History/Vessels/index.htm There is another SS Rotorua built before 1882 and one built before 1923. See also http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/descriptions/ShipsR.html. Alternate departure date: 10th of December 1910, Archiman Alan Pickard.
* SAC: The State Advances Corporation (enacted 1912?) was established under the Reform Party of William Ferguson Massey
Narrative
Stuart says that her son made a magnetic tape reel recording of Mary Gillespie talking about her history. He has tried to find this, so far without any success. (Duncan Lithgow, 2009-04-03)
Source References
- Grumpa & Duncan’s notes [S0176]
- Census UK 1891. Parish of Cumbernauld, Scotland [S0180]
- Lithgow, Duncan [S0202]
- Date: February 9, 2008; Confidence: Very Low; Text: just a guess
- Date: October 14, 2008; Page: memory; Text: "I do have a photo of them [Robert and Margaret Lithgow] when they came over, Ann and myself remember walking through Anston Stones with Uncle Bob." (Michael Pickard, email, 13 Apr 2006) The walk through Anston Stones was when the part of the Lithgow family left England to establish our New Zealand branch. Ann Lithgow and Michael Pickard and were just young children saying goodbye before the long trip. Michael also mentioned that it would have been faster to go through Anston Stones Woods, but the children would have none of it. They had always learnt that Anston Woods was far to dangerous for children to go into. So they walked through Anston Stones instead. (Duncan Lithgow, October 2008)
- Henry & Duncan’s notes [S0150]
- Robert M. Duncan’s notes [S0211]
- McKay, Pauline Scott. GEDCOM database [S0192]
