TODDS OF AYRSHIRE
OTHER SIGNIFICANT SURNAMES: MCDOWALL GIBSON RITCHIE BLAIR MCCANDLISH HAY HOOD CUTHBERTSON
OTHER SIGNIFICANT SURNAMES: MCDOWALL GIBSON RITCHIE BLAIR MCCANDLISH HAY HOOD CUTHBERTSON
|
|
Dundonald Castle Dundonald church
below: Ancestry of Jessie Todd mother of John Ferguson.
The earliest known Tod (spelt with one “d” until 1800s ) was William who married Margaret (surname unknown) in Fenwick, Ayrshire in 1703. They had 4 children:
John, born in 1705. He married Mareon Cuthbertson in 1739 and they had seven children.
William b. 1740
John b. 1741 married Margaret Blair (see the Blair information below)
Mareon b. 1744
Thomas b. 1744
Barbara b. 1746
James b. 1751
Mary b. 1755
John’s (b 1704)siblings were:
Marion b. 1710
Margaret b. 1714
William b. 1718
Fenwick was a landscape of bogs and fens. Like most of Scotland, it was primarily an agricultural community at the time John Tod and Margaret Cuthbertson married and raised their children. But weaving too was a significant industry in the area. In fact it was at Fenwick that an historically significant event took place on 14 March 1761 when sixteen weavers met together in Fenwick Church to sign the foundation charter of the Fenwick Weavers' Society. By signing the document, they agreed to its terms and conditions. These included 'being honest and faithful to one another' and to their employers, making 'good sufficient' work, and setting prices that were 'neither higher nor lower ... than are accustomed in the towns and parishes of the neighbourhood'.
The society members promised to pay an admission fee of two shillings and sixpence which was to be used for the good of the Society. Regular contributions to the poor fund were made from these shared investments.As well as offering mutual support to its members, the society aimed to bring benefit to the wider community. As such the Fenwick Society is considered one of the first co-operative movements. Today the movement has hundreds of millions of members across the world, and is at the forefront of championing Fairtrade and sustainable farming methods. http://www.nls.uk/learning-zone/politics-and-society/labour-history/fenwick-weavers
But mutual support did not always apply to everyone. A “scolds bridle” still hangs at the door of the Fenwick Parish Church built 1643. It was used to punish women who were known to be gossips or who offended others with inappropriate or hateful talk.
When John Tod (b 1741) married Margaret Blair he had already moved from Fenwick onto the nearby Dundonald estate.
Margaret Blair’s great-grandfathers John Hay and William Hood, were residents of Kilfoard (also known as Kilnford or Killford), also part of the Barony of Dundonald which lies NE of Ayr and SW of Glasgow.
The farms in the Barony, like most of Scotland, were tithed to the tenant, usually in return for a share of the income. The tenant would often be able to leave the tenancy of the farm to their heirs - usually their sons.
Manors Fields and Flocks
“The estate , or fief, was the unit of large-scale exploitation supporting the ruling class, and the manor was the constituent cell of which fiefs and estates were composed . Each manor in turn consisted of land called the demse, which could be managed and cultivated directly by the lord, and lands in hands of rent paying tenants, predominantly in small plots.” In Historical Atlas of Britain.
The Hays and Hoods.
John Hay had at least one son, Matthew Hay. Matthew was christened on October 29th 1676 in Dundonald witnessed by Robert Ferguson (no relation as far as I know) and Gabrielle Miller. He was still living in Kilfoard in 1713, where he married Isabelle Hood, daughter of William Hood, on 18th January 1700.
Matthew and Isabelle's daughter Susanna Hay, was christened 31st May, 1713. She married Bryce Blair. They lived on the Dundonald estate at a farm called Girtridge. Their daughter Margaret was christened 5th March 1756. She married John Tod on 2nd August 1774
John and Margaret Tod lived and worked at Dundonld estate at Plowlands (or Plouglands) for three years before they moved to Lauristone for a further seven years then onto Crooks (or Cruix). (These are all still functioning farms today.)
www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/16893
They had six children:
John 8th August 1775. He died before 1779
John 24th April 1779
William 10th August 1780
Alexander 4th August 1782
Mary 19th September 1784
By 1807 their third child William Tod was himself a tenant farmer at Crooks. He married Agnes Gibson daughter of John Gibson and Grissel McCandlish on 28th August 1807 in Dundonald. William and Agnes had at least two sons born in the Barony:
John Todd b.2 July 1808
William Todd b. 8 March 1814.
These two brothers had moved to Galloway by 1837. More of that later.
Dundonald Estate
The Tod family lived for several generations on the Dundonald estate at the centre of which was Dundonald Castle (left). Because of the estate manager’s good record keeping we know the names of many of the farms the Tods occupied. The map below shows the location of many of the farms they lived and worked on.
An account of the Parish at the time can be found in “The Statistical Account of Scotland”. It gives us a glimpse at the type of work in which John and Margaret were employed.
A cotton work has lately been erected in the village of Dundonald which employs 30 persons, old and young. The carding machines are turned by horse. Excepting 6 weavers, 3 taylors, 4 shoemakers, 2 masons, 4 joiners and 3 smiths, the rest of the inhabitants able for work are employed in agriculture.
Land is let for 15 to 30 shillings per acre, according to its quality. Most of the farms are in 3, some in 4, breaks. Oats and barley are principle articles of the culture. There are 3 mills upon this side of Irvine river. One of them for oats, another for oats and lint, and the third lately built on the land of Shoulaton, at considerable expense and with great improvements for wheat, oats and barley. No lime has ever been discovered in the parish. The farmers in the lower part have for many years imported lime form Ireland. Considering the greater quantity of calcareous earth in the Irish lime, they are at less expense of this kind of manure than to cart it from the neighbouring parishes of Symington and Riccartoun. They have likewise the advantage of the Sea-wrack. Notwithstanding the hills and moss already mentioned the parish produces more than double the quantity of grain necessary for its own consumpt. The attention of the farmer has of late years been turned to the rearing of young cattle, both horses and cows, and to the making of sweet-milk cheese. Both must in a short time be beneficial to the country, much money has been drained out of it to England for cheese, and Ireland for horses. In summer of 1791 there were ...235 draught horses, 120 young ditto, 14 bulls, 597 milk cows, 782 young bulls and stots, viz 433 black cattle feeding for market, 1090 sheep..............., a Turkish ram brought by Colonel Fullerton from Constantinople in 1790.” Dundonald, Ayrshire. Account of 1791-99, volume 7, page 615
Go on to read about the Todds in Galloway
The Tod family lived for several generations on the Dundonald estate at the centre of which was Dundonald Castle (left). Because of the estate manager’s good record keeping we know the names of many of the farms the Tods occupied. The map below shows the location of many of the farms they lived and worked on.
An account of the Parish at the time can be found in “The Statistical Account of Scotland”. It gives us a glimpse at the type of work in which John and Margaret were employed.
A cotton work has lately been erected in the village of Dundonald which employs 30 persons, old and young. The carding machines are turned by horse. Excepting 6 weavers, 3 taylors, 4 shoemakers, 2 masons, 4 joiners and 3 smiths, the rest of the inhabitants able for work are employed in agriculture.
Land is let for 15 to 30 shillings per acre, according to its quality. Most of the farms are in 3, some in 4, breaks. Oats and barley are principle articles of the culture. There are 3 mills upon this side of Irvine river. One of them for oats, another for oats and lint, and the third lately built on the land of Shoulaton, at considerable expense and with great improvements for wheat, oats and barley. No lime has ever been discovered in the parish. The farmers in the lower part have for many years imported lime form Ireland. Considering the greater quantity of calcareous earth in the Irish lime, they are at less expense of this kind of manure than to cart it from the neighbouring parishes of Symington and Riccartoun. They have likewise the advantage of the Sea-wrack. Notwithstanding the hills and moss already mentioned the parish produces more than double the quantity of grain necessary for its own consumpt. The attention of the farmer has of late years been turned to the rearing of young cattle, both horses and cows, and to the making of sweet-milk cheese. Both must in a short time be beneficial to the country, much money has been drained out of it to England for cheese, and Ireland for horses. In summer of 1791 there were ...235 draught horses, 120 young ditto, 14 bulls, 597 milk cows, 782 young bulls and stots, viz 433 black cattle feeding for market, 1090 sheep..............., a Turkish ram brought by Colonel Fullerton from Constantinople in 1790.” Dundonald, Ayrshire. Account of 1791-99, volume 7, page 615
Go on to read about the Todds in Galloway