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Monument Inscription
GEORGE B. NELSON
IN MEMORY OF HIS WIFE
ISABELLA SMITH
DIED 26TH JUNE 1893 AGED 78
ALSO THE ABOVE
GEORGE B. NELSON
DIED 17TH JUNE 1905 AGED 91
ALSO HIS SON-IN-LAW
WILLIAM JACK
DIED 11TH OCTOBER. 1913 AGED 71
Family History
This plain and simple memorial was erected by the family of George. B. Nelson and his wife Isabella Smith.
Neither of the aforementioned persons was native to the parish of Mearns, coming originally from the counties of Wigtownshire and Dumfriesshire respectively.
George Bruce Nelson was born in the small coastal township of Wigton on the Solway Firth in the then county of Wigtownshire on 29th December, 1814. Wigton was a small thriving township which benefited from being within the shelter of Wigton Bay thus giving reason for shipping from other parts of Britain and Ireland to make use of its harbour. It was there that George Nelson was raised by his parents Andrew Nelson and his wife Jean Bruce.
Perhaps with near proximity of the sea and ships the skill of woodworking was in great demand as it was to this trade that George was to be apprenticed when a youth. Eventually he offered his services as a joiner and was to become the employer of others, as he was able to describe himself as a Master Joiner in later years.
Isabella Smith came into the world on 12th February, 1814 in the small village of Canonbie in Dumfriesshire. Her parents were John Smith and Katherine Foster.
Considering that the villages of Wigton and Canonbie were at opposite ends of the now county of Dumfriesshire is not known how the couple met, but meet they did as they were eventually to marry and raise a family.
Why and when they arrived in Newton is also unclear but it was in this village that they were to remain until their deaths.
George Bruce Nelson was to die of heart failure according to the headstone inscription at the age of ninety-one years. The death certificate for him gives his age as only eighty-eight years but this information having been submitted by a grandson is clearly inaccurate.
A son-in-law of this couple was to be buried alongside his in-laws no doubt by his wife in 1913. What happened to his wife is unknown but if she was laid to rest beside her husband as would be expected, no one added her details to the inscription.