Thomas Mackay

Seldom have I heard anyone actually use the name Thomas in everyday matters.  All Thomases seem to be Tom, Tommy or Tam.  Of course, we'll never know what our Tam was called!  Part of the reason is that he wasn't around for long.  He is mentioned in the marriage and death records for Alice, his daughter with Mary Ann Lawrence.  Alice carried his surname, suggesting that his part in the birth was known and accepted, even though he never married Mary Ann.  It's not known what happened next with Thomas as he was deceased by the time of Alice's marriage in 1877.  Being a seaman in the merchant service he could have drowned or died overseas and he would most likely be at sea when the census enumerators came around (although they were still supposed to be accounted for).  Whatever the reason, he disappears after the birth in 1855.

Previous to that we do have a pretty good idea who he was.  There were three Thomas Mackays born in the Aberdeen area and without any other children's names to go by it could have been difficult to discriminate but two were obviously from farm stock, leaving the son of a dock blacksmith as the obvious choice.  This is especially relevant when it is considered that Mary Ann's father was a chainmaker in the docks.

His home in 1841 as an eight year old was beside Princes Street and Frederick Street which, if it was Edinburgh, would have been OK but it was in a back alley near the slaughterhouses in Aberdeen!  Shuttle Lane gets a special mention in this report about tenements but especially the slum clearances in Aberdeen.

The 1930s started the Shuttle Lane slum clearance.  Situated between East North Street and Frederick Street, before the local families were re-housed on new estates. These houses were typical of the cramped, overcrowded tenements to be found in most Scottish cities.  Large families would be crammed into 1 or 2 rooms. There might have been a shared toilet on the landings or more commonly outside in the back yard. Infectious diseases such as diptheria and scarlet fever could be spread rapidly with such close contact of families, and infant mortality was high. There was often no drying green so many tenements had rod washing poles which could be slid out of windows with clothes like bunting when needed. Each family would have their allocated day to use the wash house. Washing clothes was a laborious affair as the mother, maybe with the assistance of an older daughter, would stoke and light the coal fired copper, and trek back and forth with water from an outside tap. Washing would be done by hand on scrubbing boards and if the weather was bad, then it would have to be hung inside in the main room to dry in the heat of the coal fire on a brass rod on the mantlepiece. However, it seemed that community spirit was warm and close neighbours helped each other in times of crisis. This was a bond that would be broken when families were re-housed in the modern housing estates.

This photo of Shuttle Lane was taken in the 1930s, just before demolition but it doesn't look bad by the standards of Edinburgh and especially Glasgow.

Although we know little about "Tam", we can trace his parents' marriage as below -

On the Seventh day of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty six years By the Revd John Murray, one of the Ministers of Aberdeen, were lawfully married in the said Minister's house after due proclamation of Banns, George McKay, Blacksmith in Aberdeen & Janet Seller here, daughter of the late William Seller, Labourer in the parish of Gamrie. Witnesses John Booth & John Easson

Gamrie is Gardenstown on the Moray Firth.  David Hogg from my Old tree was born there in 1824, almost contemporary with this, but of course neither Janet or her father were around Gamrie in the short time that David's parents stayed there.  I mention it as it's strange that an insignificant one-pub town far from all other locations in both our trees should feature twice.