Families of Wanlockhead

"Families of Wanlockhead:
A portrait of a lead mining village in 19th century Scotland" 

by H Gilbert Nicol. 

Published by Locin Press, New York, New York  1999   ISBN 0-9672099-0-0

A major piece of personal and detailed research documenting 69 familes of Wanlockhead in Dumfriesshire.    It is the product of 46 years of work by H Gilbert Nicol, who lived in New York, following a visit to Wanlockhead in 1944 to trace his forbears.

Comprising over 300 pages it details the families and includes 3525 persons indexed by family, census, birth marriage and death registers.   Through its coverage of Free Church communion rolls, Wanlockhead Library Society members, memorial inscriptions, head men in mining 'bargains', Curling club members and the Buccleugh Housing Inventory for Wanlockhead, together with an index to causes of death, it provides an invaluable resource for the student of social history as well as the family historian.  It concentrates on the period between 1841 and 1891, covering over 90% of the population over that time, but also includes some earlier records. It is a unique insight into life in the highest village in Scotland where all the male population, excepting the ministers, doctors and teachers, worked in lead mining.

The main names for which Wanlockhead family histories are described are:

ADAMSON, AFFLECK, BALLANTINE, BLACK, BOE, BOWIE, BRAMWELL, BROWN, CARMICHAEL, COLTHARD, CORSAN, CRANSTON, DALZIELL, DYER, FALCONER, FALHOUSE, FRASER, GILCHRIST, GILMOUR, GLENCROSS, GRACIE, HAIR, HARKNESS, HASTIE, HISLOP, HOATSON, HOWLAND, HUNTER, HUTCHISON, JAMIESON, KERR, LAIDLAW, LAMONT, LAUDER, LAW, LITTLE, LORIMER, McCALL, McCRONE, McKAIN, McMILLAN, MEIKLE, MILLIGAN, MITCHELL, MOFFAT, MUIR, MURRAY, NICOL, PATERSON, RAMAGE, REID, ROBB, ROBERTSON, RUSSELL, SCOTT, SHANKLAND, SHARP, SHEARER, SLIMMON, STEVENSON, STEWART, TAIT, TAYLOR, TEMPLETON, WATSON, WEIR, WILLIAMSON, WILSON, YOUNG.

In all about 330 surnames are indexed, covering 3525 persons.   The cross-indexing and the consistent listing of sources allows easy linking to other genealogical resources.

Thanks to Martyn Roebuck for above information.

(Note December 2016 - This book is now believed to be out of print, with no expectation of any reprints. Copies may be available in local libraries. A copy is held by the LDS Family History Library, Salt Lake City.)