Details of the monument you have selected are shown below. Click on the image(s) of the monument (at the bottom of the page) to view a larger version (opens in new window). Please allow a few moments for the larger version to load; although every effort has been made to ensure the large images download quickly, internet speeds may vary depending on connection speeds. Click here to go back to your search results.

Relatives: Wife of Neil Murdoch Jun. Stone Condition: Sound Material: Granite or Other Height: 1.96 Breadth: 0.93 Depth: 0.41 Inscription Condition: Clear but worn Inscription Technique: Incised Mason: Not known Pre 1855 no. N/A ( What's this? )

Monument Inscription

IN MEMORY OF HIS FATHER
NEIL MURDOCH
WHO DIED 6TH JULY 1859 AGED 79 YEARS.
HIS MOTHER
JANET BLAIR
DIED 5TH DECEMBER 1860 AGED 72 YEARS.
HIS SON
NEIL
DIED 26TH FEBRUARY 1867 AGED 6 YEARS.
HIS WIFE
JANE BAIRD
DIED 22ND DECEMBER 1889 AGED 58 YEARS.

“UNTIL THE DAY BREAK AND THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY”


On reverse side of the stone.

ERECTED BY
NEIL MURDOCH

Family History

The information contained on this stone requires clarification if the reader is to understand the relationships between the named deceased.
Initially inspection of the stone face would lead the observer to wonder if the identification of the person responsible for its erection has omitted to be included on the information displayed. To correct this apparent omission one has to examine the rear face of the stone where such identification is given. Why it was not included as the initial part of the inscription is unknown. Perhaps the donor was superstitious in having his name appear on the front of the headstone while he was still alive?

Neil Murdoch the father of the donor and first mentioned on the stone had been a shoemaker in the district of Mearns over many years and was a son of the parish having been born there in 1781. Shoemakers, or as they were earlier known cordiners, were an integral part of the necessary trades found in communities no matter how small. Given that all footwear was made from raw materials to finished article by the one person and the service offered to the customer was bespoke he was an essential person in his hamlet or village. Neil died in 1859 aged seventy-nine years at Burn Cottage then situated at the crossroads of the Kilmarnock (now Ayr) and Eaglesham roads.

His wife Janet Blair died within eighteen months of her husband.

The next commemorated person, another Neil Murdoch who died aged eight years in 1867, was the grandson of Neil the shoemaker and son of the donor. This poor child had succumbed to one of childhood’s most notorious killers of the time, scarlatina.

The person named Jane Baird was the mother of young Neil and wife of the donor.

The donor Neil Murdoch was employed in the trade of grocer within the village of Newton and obviously survived all the aforesaid. Assuming that he would have been buried in this plot alongside his family it appears that no one took the trouble to add his name to the memorial.