James Marshall, I

Photo of the Marshall house on Auchinairn Road as it looks today, taken in 2014 by Catherine Kirkwood. In the media tab, there is an old photo of the village showing the same house. This was a two-family dwelling, with James Marshall in one half and his parents in the other. Auchinairn School was built about 1760, but I am not sure if the house was there then.

Auchinairn means 'field of barley' or from the old spelling 'field of iron'.

Bio*- "James and his brothers were trained to be masons like their father. He married Mary Glass on July 15, 1836 in Cadder Parish, Lanarkshire, Scotland. She was the daughter of a schoolmaster, Robert Glass. After their marriage, James and Mary lived in a house on Auchinairn Road in the village of Auchinairn. The building still stands today. This was a two-family dwelling, with the parents of James living in the other half until their deaths.

The story of James & Mary is not a happy one. They had 10 children. Their 5th child, Agnes died before the age of 6. On the night of Nov. 15, 1867, Mary, at age 52 with 4 minor children still at home, took her own life by hanging in a field on part of the land by Blockairn Iron Company. James was later placed in the Gartnavel Royal Lunatic Asylum in Partick in April 1871, so either her suicide led to his mental illness or his illness may have led to her suicide. Their daughter, Mary died of tuberculosis in 1870, at age 29, while confined to the Glasgow City Poor House as a "pauper". James spent at least 10 years as an inmate and died at age 65 with tuberculosis. While he was confined, 2 more daughters died. Daughter Elizabeth died in 1874 at age 30, 8 days after giving birth to her 3rd child. She had been afflicted with heart disease for 6 yrs. The 2nd daughter, Catherine, died due to a brain tumor at age 50 in the Kirklands Asylum at Bothwell. She was described as a "pauper lunatic". Fortunately, the remaining children all led happier lives and all except one (Marion) raised large families."

• Source: Some Descendants of Robert Marshall of Cadder Parish, Lanarkshire, Scotland September 1996 Special Edition, by John N. Marshall