31/12/2025
Dionysius Onufri Marianski (Part 1)
The man who everyone in Hamilton was talking about during the mid-1800’s.
Hamilton has many old forgotten houses. They are long demolished and, in most cases, have been demolished for many generations, so they are also out our memory. There has always been an old house which intrigued me, as it looked so tiny on the old maps of Hamilton, but nonetheless it stood out! Quarryhall stood on the site of one of Hamilton’s older quarries and I wanted to know more about it and who lived here, so I decided to do some research to see what I could find.
When I had my first look at old records of the house and its surrounding area, my focus was quickly taken away from researching this little building as a man overshadowed everything that was connected to it. As I start to write about the history of Quarryhall, today, Monday the 28th of April 2020, I will try to tell you as much as I can about the house, however, I feel that most of this story will cover the life of Dionysius Onufri Marianski, a Polish immigrant who was exiled from his country and who found opportunity in Hamilton, when he met an older lady with a very rich and elderly father.
To put things into perspective for you, the exact location of Quarryhall was situated on the road in front of 8 & 10 Low Quarry Gardens, the house was built before 1819 and once owned by a man called A. Allan and we start with the man who at the time owned Quarryhall.
His name was Alexander Fairservice Esq, who was born 266 years ago to this day on the 28th of April 1754 “This was the correct date at time of writing”, at Kirkton in Blantyre, his father was called John Fairservice. Alexander married his wife Barbara Allan on the 1st of October 1786 at Hamilton. He was a Merchant and descended from a wealthy family and had the title of Esquire (Esq) which was a title historically used by someone within a higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry, or a landowner who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. So, the title in itself tells gives us an insight into his wealth.
Alexander & Barbara had only two daughters in their marriage, who were called Janet & Elizabeth. Elizabeth born 1791 & Janet in 1794. Janet Married John Cairns of Netherhouse Esq. in Hamilton on the 28th of July 1822 and it’s important to take note that John Cairns was also an Esquire, so he may also have descended from a wealthy land-owning family, just as his wife, so perhaps an equal marriage from two wealthy families. These were happy times for Alexander & Barbara, but then Dionysius Onufri Marianski came along!
It is unknown why Dionysius chose to come to Hamilton but in 1839 Dionysius was a Quill Hawker and perhaps his trade brought him to the town. He may have had a cart which would have been ‘pitched up’ somewhere, or perhaps he went ‘Chapping’, knocking door to door selling his trade, it is unknown how and why, the Polish man crossed paths with Elizabeth Fairservice, but I sense that he found an opportunity to generate an income for himself. He must have either been a very good-looking man, or a charming man, or both; but for someone like Elizabeth who was the daughter of an Esquire and who had a step on the upper-class ladder to fall in love with a Hawker, well this was not a common thing and not even in an up and coming town like Hamilton. Did I mention that he was 20 years younger than Elizabeth?
Dionysius at the time would have only been earning enough money each day for his room and for some food and some days he would have been hungry and went without eating. When I read over his court documents, which I will explain to you soon, I found that he was doing jobs for Alexander Fairservice and perhaps this is how he got to know his daughter Elizabeth, but they eventually did tie the knot on not one, but two days! They married on the 10th & 11th of June 1839 he and Elizabeth were man and wife.
So, I mentioned that Dionysius was younger that Elizabeth and when they married, he was 28 and she 48. The first marriage took place on the 10th of June 1839 here at Hamilton and the second marriage was on the following day on the 11th of June 1839 at the Gorbals district of Glasgow. Now this may give us a clue in the social divide in this marriage! Was Elizabeth embarrassed of his family and did she not want his family to meet her extended one?
So, two weddings to solve the problem? Or was there another reason, was her elderly father too frail to travel to the Gorbals? Traditionally, the Polish are known to have weddings that last for two days but this is usually a wedding that continues going on into the early hours of the following morning and not in two days and in two different towns and before the wedding Dionysius was living in Glasgow and not Hamilton, but after the marriage took place, he did move here and moved in with his new wife and frail father in law at Quarryhall.
Dionysius Onufri Marianski was born in the poverty-stricken region of Pentouff, Poland in the year 1810 and his parents were called Dionysius Marianski & Katherine Evanoski and as I stated earlier, perhaps he moved to Scotland with his family, however, I have found no records to back this up and he may have set out by himself.
When I did a bit more research on Dionysius, I found that things were not adding up, why did he have connections to Glasgow? It was then that I found a marriage record for him! It turns out that Dionysius was already married. He married a lady called Agnes McPherson on the 1st of June 1835 at 22 Monteith Row in the Albion region of Glasgow. This was only four years before he married Elizabeth and it only left me with more questions, the main one was where was his first wife Agnes?
When I looked to see who the lady Agnes was, I found that she was a wealthy widower who married a man named Jasper Smith. Jasper smith was also a man of the cloth, he was more known as Rev Jasper Smith, and he was educated from a young age.
Jasper lived at 26 Great Hamilton Street, a street that no longer exists in Glasgow and he was a teacher of languages and before his death he was the treasurer to the Barony parish. Jasper & Agnes married on the 29th of December 1826 at Barony.
It is unclear what caused Jasper’s death, but he died on the 2nd of January 1832 at Barony. He was only 29 years old but had accomplished so much in his young life. I also have to note that a child was born from this marriage and on the 21st of September 1827 Agnes gave birth to a daughter who they named Agnes.
A pattern is now developing in Dionysius behaviour, and it is now noticeably clear as to his intentions in marrying woman of wealth. Agnes at the time of meeting Dionysius would have had her own income and her own house and I would guess that she was older than Dionysius.
When Dionysius married Agnes, he wanted everyone to know, and he paid to have the announcement in the newspapers. This really tells us that he was a man who wanted his name to be known and the announcement even reached as far as Ireland as I found that the marriage announcement was printed in the Dublin Observer on Saturday the 13th of June 1835. This is the first time that Dionysius has had his name published in the paper, but throughout the rest of his life he was never out of them.
I also have to note that Agnes has become a mystery and there is no trace of her and her daughter after her wedding to Dionysius and as of now I cannot confirm what happened to her. I do know that Dionysius divorced Agnes not long before he remarried but for Agnes there is no death recorded and she does not appear on a census return or valuation roll, she seems to have just disappeared.
Dionysius travelled far in his days and in November 1837 he had travelled down to Leeds where he found lodgings at the White Swan Hotel, a hotel that still to this day stands on the same spot. It is likely that he was travelling down to Leeds for reasons to do with his work, as when he took up the residence in the commercial room and stated that he was a Quill manufacturer. On the first night that he lodged at the hotel, he found himself in bother with the police which lead to him having to attend court.
During the court case something comes to light, and he tells the judge that he was exiled from Poland, so this will be his reason for coming to Scotland. What could he have done that would make him not only leave his town, but his entire country?
So, Dionysius saw an opportunity to claim money from someone and he took the hotel owner to court. He arrived at the White Swan on Friday the 24th of November from Leeds, and being a Quill-manufacturer, he took up his quarters in the Commercial room. During the evening, a conversation arose in which Mr. Thomas Attwood, the radical member for Birmingham, was mentioned, and the Dionysius claimed that he was a friend of Thomas Attwood.
A gentleman in the room said Mr. Attwood would speak to any vagabond, upon which the Pole asked if the word vagabond was Intended to apply to him, and he was immediately told it was not. Politics then became the theme of conversation, and words became warmer, until at last the Pole threatened all the company in the room upon which the owner, Mr Lockwood was sent for, and told that if Marianski was not removed then they would leave the house; Mr Lockwood accordingly requested him to leave the room, but he obstinately refused, and in ejecting him by force the alleged assault took place.
The case occupied a considerable time, but it appeared that the facts were against him and the magistrates said they considered that Mr Lockwood was fully justified in what had done and dismissed the case. So, no compensation money for Dionysius.
There was more to Dionysius than meets the eye, why did he have connections to Thomas Attwood? This man after all was a member of parliament, political campaigner, and a banker. So, it was then that I did some further research on Dionysius, and I found the real story for him coming to Scotland.
PRINTED IN THE LONDON COURIER AND EVENING GAZETTE. 30th September 1833.
Polish Exile: A correspondent in Stirling requests us to mention that a Polish exile of respectable connections, named Onufri Marianski is at present travelling in that country (Scotland) endeavoring to support himself by selling a few quills. He has chosen thus honestly and honorably to do something for himself, rather than become a burden upon the funds which are being collected here for his countrymen in Switzerland.
Marianski was present in almost every battle of the late Polish Revolution and was several times wounded, and at last taken prisoner after the siege of Warsaw; after suffering for some time the horrors of damp and starvation, in a dungeon underground, he was removed to the hospital a perfect skeleton, from which in a few days, he contrived to make his escape.
He had certificates of his services and merits from the officers of his regiment, and from the Edinburgh and Stirling Polish Associations and our correspondent concludes his letter by stating that Marianski is “a modest and steady young man, who seems fully entitled to the good offices of the generous and humane.”
So, Dionysius was a young Polish war hero! He came to Scotland in 1833 and we now know that he fled his native country of Poland to avoid death.
Dionysius arrived in Scotland in 1833 and two years later, he was married to Agnes McPherson in 1835 and we know that Agnes vanishes from all records, and he then meets Elizabeth Fairservice around 1839. A few months after the wedding Dionysius moves into his father in laws house at Quarryhall and it becomes his main residence.
Quarryhall was quite an impressive house and it had seven rooms and a kitchen; it also had its own outbuildings for laundry. It had stables and coach house and not to mention a large garden. The family next appear on the 1841 census and Dionysius, Elizabeth & her Father Alexander are living at Quarryhall, and he states that he is still working as a Quill manufacturer.
It was not happy times for Mr Fairservice and documents and transcribes from a court case seem to indicate that Dionysius was taking money from his father-in-law, and it seems that was trying to live a lifestyle that he was not entitled to.
Dionysius had been carrying out work for his father-in-law and from what I read in the court transcriptions it appears that he was either trying to take over the work that his father-in-law honestly did on a day-to-day basis or he was siphoning money from the Quarryhall estate to pay for his quill making business. It was in people’s opinion that whatever he was doing, he was syphoning money from his father in laws accounts, and he was doing this by fraud, deception & intimidation.
Mr Fairservice at this time was not of sound mind, he was in his late eighties and frail and Dionysius took advantage of this and at the same time, Dionysius’s wife who was 20 years his senior probably could do nothing to control her husband.
Mr Fairservice was a man of frugal habits and lived in a humble way and before his death, he had amassed a respectable £20,000 fortune in property and to put this into perspective in today’s money he would have had £2,088,519.93; and not only did he own Quarryhall, but he also owned a little thatched cottage in High Blantyre, which was situated next to the Smithy at the Blantyre old parish church yard. The two houses were used as his main family residences, but he also owned a lot more property.
Mr Fairservice lived between the two houses and Quarryhall was the larger and grander one. Blantyre in the 1830’s & 1840’s was very rural and Mr Fairservice may have chosen to live at Quarryhall to be close by his work interests. Not only did he own properties, but he also owned the old Quarry and his house Quarryhall was built on the edge of it.
Alexander’s property & land portfolio consisted of Quarryhall, his cottage and yard at High Blantyre, 26 falls of ground on Leechlee which also had houses on its land. He owned two storey tenements at Gateside Street, he owned lands at Langmuir and in Uddingston and he also owned various houses and shops across Hamilton.
When Dionysius moved in with his wife and father-in-law, he was still a young and very fit man. He was military trained and would probably would have been quite a nasty character, the one that you would not want to get into a fight with, or cross paths and just as he moved to Quarryhall, someone did cross his path, or should I say his father in laws path and Dionysius who had only just moved to the family home started to get involved in matters that were not his own business.
Alexander Fairservice had a contract to lease the quarry with a local businessman. Called Robert Summers and the company, Robert Summers & Son who were local builders in Hamilton had been working the old quarry for some time and no sooner had Dionysius moved in, he was starting to take over his father in laws business and for whatever reason he unlawfully changed the contract between Mr Fairservice & Robert Summers. Robert Summers was then left with no other option but to take Alexander Fairservice to court.
Perhaps Dionysius was in the opinion that Mr Fairservice was being far too generous with the amount of ground being leased for the price that the builder was paying. So, on the 19th of October 1840 it seems that Dionysius forcefully took the original deeds from Robert Summers and fraudulently altered the contract of the 10-year lease. Robert Summers, Alexander & Dionysus had their day in court on the 5th of January 1842.
Dionysius had been living in Scotland for nearly ten years, he was technically still an immigrant, or in those days, he was known as an illegal alien. Scotland was indeed his home and in 1843 he applied for naturalization. He went through the courts and due to his run-ins with the law his application was refused. This would not stop him appealing this decision in later years and eventually, he became a Scottish citizen.
On the 15th of January 1845 Dionysius was living round the corner from Quarryhall at a house near the Butterburn inn close to the gas works. He had a run in with a man named Andrew Brand, who was the house factor & manager of the Gas Works. Whatever this man done to Dionysius is unknown, but he had a run in with a man who would never walk away from a fight.
Dionysius and this man crossed paths when they were both at Fairley’s Smithy at Townhead Street. The two men were in the company of a stonemason called Thomas Harvey and a few others and they had words which ended in Dionysius calling Andrew Brand a “Rascal” & “a Vagabond” along with other opprobrious names and then he threatened to “Inflict injury” on Andrew.
Dionysius was also have been reported to have circulated letters around the town of Hamilton to take action against Andrew Brand and the letters read “Another shot from the same battery was also played off by the manager of the gas company, who is a house factor. With a view to detach from the new gas company a member of its committee, and one of the best employed and most respectable grocers in Hamilton, occupying a very convenient shop under Dr Wharrie, the manager, without any authority from Dr Wharrie, told in an adjoining shop that the individual allowed to be put out of his shop if he did not give up the new gas company. The effect was that the landlord was likely to lose a good tenant, and the present occupant of his shop has become a more determined supporter then ever of the new gas company, besides being a greater favourite with the public.”
So, it seemed that Dionysius was sticking up for someone on the receiving end of eviction; perhaps the pole was not all that bad after all.
On Friday the 14th of March 1845 Andrew Brand took Dionysius to the Hamilton small claims court. He was looking to get a payment of £8,6s. 8d for injury done to his character and his feelings and the second charge was for distributing the letters throughout Hamilton. The court heard both sides of their stories and Dionysus was found not guilty for using the words “Rascal” & “Vagabond” in an abusive manner. Secondly, the letters were found to be true of what was about to happen to the tenant of the shop, therefore no lies were being written about the manager of the gas company and the judge favoured Dionysius and the case was dismissed.
Alexander Fairservice died on the 16th of July 1846 and when he died, he left his two daughters everything but that never stopped Dionysius trying to get his hands on some of his father in laws money. Dionysius thought that he was entitled to something, so he did what he knew best and fraudulently made claims against his father in law’s estate.
Alexander Fairservice owned a house in High Blantyre and the house was situated right beside the old kirkyard cemetery and after his death he was buried in the family lair at the old kirkyard immediately behind his house. (My friend Paul Veverka Uncovered Alexander Fairservice’s Headstone in 2020 and on the inscription, Dionysius has his name above Elizabeth’s. This tells us the influence that he had over his wife at the time).
Mr Fairservice in his last few years was documented of being of “Weak & Facile Mind” and after his death matters had come to light when Dionysius made claims against Mr Fairservice’s estate and his wife Elizabeth found that he had been taking money from her father. It turned out that Dionysius had been taking the money through, fear, fraud, and intimidation.
This probably would have been the final nail in the coffin for Elizabeth & Dionysius’s marriage. They soon split; however, Dionysius was not going anywhere too soon, and he continued to live at Quarryhall along with Elizabeth. This was Elizabeth’s family home which she now would have owned after it was left to her in her father’s will and I firmly believe that Dionysius was continuing to live at Quarryhall as a way of intimidation. He would have no doubt been staying there, chipping away at Elizabeth trying to get as much money from her as he could and after all in Scots law during this time, he was entitled to it while married to her.
In April 1850 Alexanders youngest daughter Janet Cairns, and her husband took Dionysus to court where he was accused of Reduction, Probation and Count & Reckoning. Dionysius told the Jury that when he had taken up his residence at Quarryhall after the marriage of Mr Fairservice’s daughter he was asked by Mr Fairservice to assist him with matters in business which led to a current account being set up between them. There were several large sums of money drawn from Mr Fairservice’s bank account which Dionysius claimed was both ‘Gifted’ to him and was also used for matters of business. This current account was said to have been forged and that Mr Fairservice had not agreed form money to be taken from the business. Dionysius also claimed that he loaned money to Mr Fairservice, and he produced documents to show this, however these were also found to be forged. After the trial it only took the Jury five minutes to come with a decision that Dionysius was lying and that they were in favour of Janet & John Cairns and Dionysius was ordered to pay all the money back that he had taken.
By 1851 Elizabeth & Dionysius were both still living at Quarryhall and by now when the census was taken Dionysius was recorded as being the ‘head’ of the house and Elizabeth was recorded as being “formerly his Wife”. He was indeed chipping away at her and more than likely, he would have been trying to get his hands on the house!
Dionysius was so close to getting his hands on the money from Mr Fairservice’s estate and he had invested a lot of years living with Elizabeth; a woman 20 years his senior and he had been patiently waiting on the day for his father in law to die and he was not going down without a fight, so with one last attempt he appealed the court’s decision and another date was set for August 1854, where he would have another day in court.
For a second time, the courts favoured Janet Cairns and Dionysius lost his appeal and had to declare himself bankrupt. I suspect that this may have been an intentional move by him to prevent Janet and her husband getting their hands on his money and I would say that he would have money hidden somewhere, but nonetheless he declared himself bankrupt on the in August 1854 and by then he told the courts that he had a few occupations which were a general traveling merchant: Quarrier, Grazer and cattle dealer.
When he declared himself bankrupt, it was widely reported in newspapers all over the UK but was Dionysius really broke? To pay his way, his assets were to be sold off at a public auction in Hamilton and a date was set on the 5th of September 1854 to sell his possessions at the Kings Arms Hotel (Now the Hamilton Museum).
It seemed that Dionysius did not sell all of his possessions at the Kings Arms Hotel and the pursuers of the debt were taking him to the cleaners and in January 1855 he had a meeting with his accountant called George Wink who was based in Glasgow. The meeting progressed to another court hearing for him and at 11:00 o’ clock on the 24th of April 1855 he appeared at the Hamilton Sheriff court for an application for Cessio Bonorum which was a voluntary surrender of goods. It was not however recorded what goods were being surrendered.
Unsure of what Dionysius had done, or if connected to the recent dealings at court, I found that he spent some time at the local jail in Hamilton, or better known as the Tolbooth. He was in jail on the 24th of April 1855 and on this day, they let him out to attend a court hearing.
On the Friday 19th of December 1856 at the Commercial Inn Dionysius and his wife Elizabeth eventually had to sell the properties that Elizabeth had inherited from her father. This was to cover the debts that Dionysius had run up during his bankruptcy proceedings. They sold the houses at High Blantyre, land in Uddingston, the houses and land at Leechlee, the lands and houses at Quarry Park, the lands at laighmuir, the houses at Gateside Street, the houses at Quarry Loan and the houses at Cadzow Street. Everything that her father had worked for, saved for, and built up during his lifetime was all gone in one day and Elizabeth was left only with Quarryhall. In February 1861, he was back at court again being pursued for a bill of £396.12s which was owed from when he first came to Scotland.
Dionysius was a real chancer and he had spent the last 28 years of his life in and out of court. You would think that after all of these court cases, the time he spent in jail and losing his wife’s inheritance that he would want to stay away from the courts. Well, this was not the case because in October 1861, he took none other than the Duke of Hamilton to court. He was fined for dumping rubbish in a stream that run through his land and again tried to appeal the court’s decision.
Dionysius was in a real financial mess and by 1856 he was broke and bankrupt and it is unknown how he managed to spend so much of his wife’s inheritance, perhaps he ploughed it into his failing quill manufacturing business, however, nonetheless, he was continuing to take as much people to court as he could. Of course, people were still continuing to take Dionysius to court as he had fraudulently taken money from other folk.
The 1841 court case involving the Hamilton builder Robert Summers was still giving Dionysius a headache. Mr Summers was not letting go of the wrong doings put upon him by Marianski and moving forward to December 1862 they were back in court once more, but this case was a very unique one to be presented before the sheriff in Edinburgh.
Dionysius was trying his best to get out of paying the Hamilton builder what was due and tried in vain to have the money owed included in his bankruptcy proceedings! Mr Summers fought this all the way and on the 29th of December 1862 they went to court.
During this period of time Dionysius was imprisoned and was serving time at the jail. He was allowed out to go to court. The court case was on this day a case of considerable importance to the legal and commercial community, if not the community at large, and been decided by Lord Kinloch, as judge on the bills. The case was believed to be the very first of its kind that was decided under the bankrupt stature, and as the circumstances if it was of such to frequently occur, a copy of the judgment apart from being a precedent, was of the greater importance and was not subject to be reviewed. In the meantime, Dionysius was ordered to see out the rest of his prison sentence for his debts.
After Dionysius done his time at prison he was no longer out when next in line to take him to court was an old man named James Strang, who was a Hamilton fruit merchant. James Strang had provided Dionysius with goods and in return the fruit dealer was given a promissory note for the money due to him. Dionysius however had other ideas about paying his tick bill and refused to pay up and during the Hamilton court case Dionysius claimed that he had indeed paid the old fruit dealer. It’s at this point that I ask the reader, do you see an ongoing pattern developing here? Dionysius has a bad habit of defrauding & betraying older people! On the day of the trial James Strang was at a grand old age of 76, I feel sorry for him having to take someone such as Dionysius to court to get his hard-earned money back!
So, on the night of the 12th of November 1861 when the transaction was said to have taken place the two met at Binning’s Public House in Hamilton and Dionysius claimed that he had given James Strang the promissory note, however, this money was not for the said amount James told the court that this promissory note was for another previous bill that was also owed. On this particular case, the judge concluded that there was insufficient evidence to charge Dionysius and James Strang not only lost his money due, but he also lost his fight with Dionysius, and I can only imagine that Dionysius felt untouchable on this most recent trip to the court.
During the next few years, things seem to be quiet for him and he seems to have stayed out of both the newspapers and the courthouses, this was quite unusual for him but nonetheless, disaster followed! Or was it a disastrous thing which happened? He continued to live with his “Wife” at Quarryhall and on the 25th of August 1864 Elizabeth died.
Elizabeth was 73 years old, and she had a tough hard life living with Dionysius. She had to stand by her husband and go to court against her only sister and also had to stand by her husband in all his court cases and she even moved out of Quarryhall for a period of time to get some respite from the man she married.
The cause of Elizabeth’s death was heart disease and paralysis. It us unknown what caused the paralysis, she may have had a stroke, or it could have been the result of some kind of trauma, however, we will never know. Dionysius registered Elizabeth’s death four days later at Hamilton and one thing that I have to note here is that I could not find the last will & testament for Elizabeth. I do not believe that Elizabeth would have lived to the age of 73 without having a will drawn up and to be blunt, Dionysius had a lot of previous accusations for forging documents, so I will leave the question out there for the reader, do you think that a well-off educated lady like Elizabeth would have chosen not to have a will drawn up?
After Elizabeth died Dionysius was now a very rich man and now owned all of her properties. His father-in-law had spent his whole life building up this business portfolio and now the Quill Hawker owned everything, the properties at Gateside Street, Quarry Street & Low Quarry. All had land, buildings, houses & offices, and I can only imagine that he would have walked with his head high and would have thought that he was now the Esquire of Hamilton. One thing that I have to note is that in 1865 a year after his wife had passed, there was still a property registered under her name and Elizabeth was still recorded at the owner of a house in Gateside Street. I wonder what the reason for this was.
After Elizabeth’s death I found that Dionysius managed to stay out of court for a respectable seventeen months and when you think that this man’s badness could not steep any lower, then think again however, before I begin to tell you of his next crime one thing that I have to mention is that also in 1865 he purchased two properties and hall in Garnock Street in Dalry, Ayrshire.
Now why he purchased these properties here is a mystery and I have no idea for his reason to buy a property in this street in Dalry, however, I do suspect that he would have bought these houses and hall from money that he “inherited” after his wife’s death. It does seem that he was using the Hall for his own use and living in his three other houses was a widow who went by the name of Wood; a man named William Sinclair who was a clerk and another man who went by the name of William Hamilton who was a contractor. One other important piece of information taken from this valuation roll was a side note in the observations section that stated that a man called William Brown – writer (Solicitor) was acting as the factor. Something does not sit right with this whole set up and I did not find any further reference to him owning these properties, so perhaps he sold them after owning them for a short period of time. The following year he was known to have kept a lot of money on his possession, as I will now tell you about his next bad deed.
On the 8th of January 1866 the records tell us that Dionysius has found himself another new wife, but this time wife number three was not a lady who was 20 years older; in fact, she was much younger than he was and he was 45 and she only the tender age of 18, what was this girl’s father thinking letting an ogre of a man marry his little girl? It was also on his wedding day that he stooped to another lower level than in his past and he committed a crime that would stay with the children who were involved for a very long time Helen Jackson lived with her father at Barnhill in Blantyre and her father was called John Jackson and her mother was called Martha Young. Now, this family were very much embedded in the Blantyre community, and they had many friends in many different circles. John Jackson was also a very wealthy landowner and again he had a title of Esq.
When I looked at the Jackson family, I first found that John Jackson in 1861 was recorded as a farmer of 75 Acres and he lived at Barnhill; now this farm was very much indeed a family business where he had his 6 children working for him at the farm. Arthur (26) William (22) were both ploughmen. Martha (17) was recorded as an assistant to her mother and Robert, Helen & Agnes were still at school. In 1861 they had two live in servants who were called Alexander Jackson (a Ploughman) & Christina Fleming who was the dairymaid.
