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The Hawker of Hawkhill James Cormack (1845–1909)
(Kirriemuir, Alyth and Clunie)
James was born in Kirriemuir in 1845. At the age of 15 he was apprenticed to his uncle (see previous part) as a shoemaker and living with him and his family at Tomstink in Lintrathen. James' children remain in living memory as the grandparents and great grandparents of many Cormacks today. Given the diminishing of rural shoemaking it is not suprising the apprenticeship turned to little and, by 1870, James was employed as a labourer at Cromeld of Cally, Persie. It was here that he met Christina Anderson and married her on 1st July at Cromalt Cottage, Kirkmichael (Cally) (OS:NO113534). Their first three children were born in Christina's parent's home at Backburn, Alyth and it is not known where the family were living during these years. Their next son, John, was born in New Alyth (OS: approx NO243473) and they may have lived here during the 1870-75 period. There then seems to have been a excursion with Andrew being born in Balhungie,Monikie in 1878 and William in Nether-Finlarg,Tealing in 1880. James was employed as a farm servant as these places. Christina Anderson's father, David, was a stoneware hawker. James had tried this employment for himself in 1872 and returned to it by 1881 and the birth of Peter. Of course both James' grandfather and great grandfather had been travelling merchants of sorts and the tradition was well established in the family. By this time the Cormacks were living in Alyth in a house at Gilruth's Close. The Valuation Roll for 1881-2 shows them in a house in Mill Street owned by a James McGregor, an innkeeper (the 5th house from Commercial Street) which may be part of Gilruth's Close. From the 1881 census it seems that Gilruth's Close marked the joining of Commercial Street and Mill Street (OS:NO247486) and comprised 17 dwellings, the Cormacks living in the 5th dwelling from the Mill Street end. The Reverend John Wilson, in his Gazetteer of Scotland, 1882, describes the town, "ALYTH. Town on east border of Perthshire, and a parish, partly also on west border of Forfarshire. The town stands on a burn of its own name , at terminus of branch railway, 51/4 miles north-west of the Alyth Junction and about 5 north-east of Blairgowrie, carries on woollen and linen manufacture, and has a post office, with money order and telegraph departments, under Meigle, 3 banking offices, an Established Norman church of 1839, Free, United Presbyterian, and Episcopal churches, and 2 public schools with about 238 scholars. Pop. 2377. – The parish is about 15 miles long, and comprises 19,972 acres in Perthshire, and 3324 in Forfarshire. Real property in 1880-81 of the Perthshire part, £23,766; the Forfarshire part, £1296. Pop. 3521. A tract of about 15 square miles is part of Strathmore, low and fertile, and the other tract ascends thence toward the Grampians, and are variously cultivated ground, moor, moss, and mountain. Chief objects are Mount Blair Mountain, King's Seat Hill, Sir James H. Ramsay's seat of Bamff House, Balharry and Jordanstone mansions, Inverquiech Castle ruins, and a notable Pictish entrenchment. There are 4 schools for about 562 scholars, and one of them, for about 300, is new." By 1884 the family had moved again, this time to a property at Muir of Alyth (OS: approx NO252479) later to be named Maiden Cottage. It was a house and garden lying next to Bramblebank and between Bramblebank and Hillview. The owner of the house was the Reverend Peter G Gilruth of New Alyth. James paid an annual rent of £4 5s 0d and is noted as being a hawker by occupation. The family lived in this cottage until 1904. In 1904 the family moved to a small-holding called Hawkhill at Craigie near Clunie. Documents relating to his children show that James was now regarded as a crofter, although he was still hawking stoneware and crockery around the area. This was by no means unusual as crofting was an uncertain way of making a living and was often supplemented by other employment. Later on James' daughter Lottie would grow berries at Hawkhill and it may be that her father did this too. At the time Hawkhill was part of the Estate of Gourdie by Murthly and owned by Charles Young Kinloch of Gourdie. James paid £4 0s 0d p.a. in rent for the house, with a further £3 0s 0d p.a. rent for an adjoining piece of land. James continued to live here until his death in 1909. Hawkhill was an important location for the family. Most of James' younger children lived there. Peter, Christina, Mary, Stewart and Jemima were received as young communicants of Clunie Parish Church from there. Mary was married there and James' grandchild Janet (Alexander's daughter) was born there. It seems that several other grandchildren were also born at Hawkhill confirming the tradition that a daughter would often return to her parents home for the birth of her first child at least. The family interest in Hawkhill continued for many years and James' wife Christina lived there until her death in 1924. James' son Stewart became the legal tenant after his father's death and kept it until he married in 1921 and moved to Stranraer. In 1922 James and Christina's youngest daughter Lottie purchased Hawkhill from the Gourdie Estate. Lottie‘s elder brother James had been widowed when his wife died in 1917 and he moved to Hawkhill, the two of them growing and selling fruit from the small-holding. Lottie continued in ownership until 1946 the year before her death. The new owner was a Mr James Borthwick. At the time of writing (1999) Hawkhill lies derelict. The house was subject to fire some years ago and was never repaired. Although part of the walls are intact, the roof has collapsed.
Amelia died of tuberculosis at the age of 18. The surprising thing is not so much that she caught that terrible disease, but that she is the only known Cormack that is recorded as having done so. Tuberculosis was the great killer in Scotland in the second half of the 19th century. Closely associated with poverty and the urban squalor of the big cities it spread to rural areas as migrant workers returned to their home towns and villages. Up to a quarter of the population of a town like Kirriemuir would have been expected to die of tuberculosis or some other respiratory disease. For Amelia there would have been no hope of recovery. The disease would not be treatable by drugs for nearly 80 years. In 1869 the nature of the infection was not even understood. It was twenty years later before some light was shed and people started to appreciate the link between the disease, congested housing, insufficient fresh air and infected food. Even then resistance from vested interests ensured slow progress and farmers and dairymen were reluctant to invest the money needed to improve the condition of dairy stock ravaged by the disease. It took as long at the 1930s for tuberculosis to be obviously in retreat but even then it accounted for over a third of deaths in the 15-24 age group. All in all the Cormacks,
especially the men and children, seem to have been a remarkably healthy
lot. Life expectancy in Scotland for a male born the year Amelia died
would have been 41 years, for a female 43 years. The average age at death
for all of our recorded Cormacks up to the end of the 19th century was
70 years for the men, and 43 years - the national average - for the women.
The remarkable thing is that we have to get to the 20th century before
a child is recorded as having died before the age of 14 years. No doubt
a part of this is due to the fact that rural areas were generally healthier
than the cities, but it is a notable thing all the same.
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