1 March 2005 8:45am

Had a little rain and it is overcast might rain some more, but not a lot.

Don't know what the outside temperature is but it feels cool and the breeze is cooler (perhaps 18C). Much warmer inside still (26C) which is on the warmer side of comfortable.

Humidity 71% Barometer 76.3

1 March 9:20pm

Cleared up - very pleasant day outside, virtually no wind

29C inside Humidity 59.9% Barometer 76.2

2 March 2005 7:50pm

Fine sunny day nice cool breeze - prefect!

28C inside Humidity 60.0% Barometer 76.2

Pretty stable pretty perfect mmm ...

3 March 2005 8:40am - overcast and cool outside but the sun is coming out - going to be a nice day (again)

26C inside Humidity 68% Barometer 76.2

4 March 2005 8:55pm - funny light tonight looked like clouds with something nasty in them like hail but nothing has come of it at least around here. Was cool and overcast tonight at last light but it is still quite warm inside. The hot sun during the day warms the house up and although it is cooler outside it takes a while for the heat to subside and by this time it is morning again. It means that the inside temperature is not varying much. Even now it is 28C inside. (no sign of snow :)

Humidity 60% Barometer 75.6

8 March 2005 8:20pm - letting the side down a bit - missed a few days - but I am sure I will be forgiven :)

Big cyclone off the north Queensland coast 2,000 kilometres away. Sounds like the worst one for a fair while. Will not bother us but we will probably get more rain out of it (without the wind). Been wetter this year and the grass is going nuts. Going to be touch and go whether I get to it before it starts raining again.

Been cooler but has warmed up again and is 28C inside at the moment Humidity 58% Barometer 76.0

14 March 8:20am 26C Slightly overcast - a little rain overnight. Going to be another nice day (will clear up) Humidity 70.2% Barometer 76.1 The cyclone went straight over Cape York and the Gulf of Carpentaria and was last heard of heading over Arnhem land towards Darwin. Little effect this far away other than a little cloud and even less rain.

18 March 2005 9:00pm Very heavy rain yesterday afternoon - torrential downpour form a storm. Cooled everything down - even felt a little cold tonight. Surprisingly it is still 24C inside. Humidity 70.0% Barometer 75.8

23 March 2005 7:30am 23C inside. Weather unsettled - fine during day some rain at night. Outside there is a cool breeze in the morning but it soon warms up. The inside temperature is more constant but seems to be gradually cooling. Humidity 60.2% Barometer 74.5

Mrs Lesley Agnes Gordon obtained a good number of testaments from the Scottish Records Office (C)

They are undecypherable to all but expert "translators", happily the translations have mostly already been made by the Late Mrs Grodon in her own handwriting and she has given me full permission to use them.

To start the porcess I am listing the testaments in my possession:

Ayrshire
George Caldwell, Merchant, Ayr 1663

Bessie Caldwell "in Dalmellington" 1624 (sisters: Janet & Margaret Caldwells)
Bessie Caldwell "relict of Adam Blair, Merchant Burgess of Ayr, 1640

John Caldwell, Merchant Burgess, Ayr 1642
Johnne Caldwell II Merchant Burgess, Ayr 1642 (different testament)
Bessie Caldwell "relict of John McIlwraith, Merchant of Straitoune" 1640 (1643?)
John Caldwell, "of Galrigsyde" parish of Dreghorn 1622
John Caldwell, Merchant of Ayr, 1685
John Caldwell, Merchant of Dalmellington, 1687
Katherine Caldwell, "relict of John Knox, Mason, Irvine" 1751
Adam Caldwell, Merchant Burgess, Ayr 1653
John Caldwell, 1550 (brothers Robert of Todriggs and Patrick (Vicar of Stewarton), Father: Francis)
David Caldwell, Merchant Burgess, Ayr 1668

Renfrew
Thomas Caldwell of that Ilk Parish of Neilston 1603
Marion Cochrane, "spouse of Johnne Caldwell of Holmfauld, Parish of Lochwinnoch" 1609
John Cauldwell, "in McDonnallie, Parish of Lochwinnoch" 1615
Robert Caldwell, Nether Hessilheid, Parish of Beith" "tenant of Hew Montgomerie" 1619
Issabell Cauldwell, "spouse of Wm Plewright of Whitehill, Parish of Lochwinnoch" 1617
John Caldwell (older), in Risk, Parish of Lochwinnoch 1623
Mathew Caldwell, in Auchengowan, Parish of Lochwinnoch 1624
John Caldwell, in Auchengowan, Parish of Lochwinnoch 1624
Thomas Caldwell, in Biltries (Belltrees), Parish of Lochwinnoch 1627
William Caldwell, in Meikle Gavan, Parish of Lochwinnoch 1629
William Caldwell, Mason, in Auchangowan, Parish of Lochwinnoch 1630
Margaret Smith, wife of Wm Caldwell of Meikle Gavan, Parish of Lochwinnoch 1666
Margaret Caldwell, spouse to Allan Caldwell, Auchengowan, Parish of Lochwinnoch 1659
Robert Caldwell, Mason, Burgess of Glasgow 1653
Margaret Spang, "relict of Robert Caldwell, Mason" 1661
Malie Wilson, spouse of Robert Caldwell in Broune Hills, Parish of Beith 1603
Margaret Caldwell, spouse to John Swan in Brunchills 1606
Adam Caldwell, in Biggart, Parish of Beith 1624
Hew Caldwell, Merchant in Kilmarnock (wife Janet Fultonne) 1658
Thomas Caldwell, in Barthorne, Parish of Beith 1625
William Caldwell, in Butterwell, Parish of Largs 1631
James Caldwell, in Gavan, Parish of Lochwinnoch 1631
William Caldwell, in Kertsyde (wife Cristian Cochrane) 1607

Jeremy 2005, Brisbane

John Thomas Caldwell marriage to Nellie Turner at Gympie 1920's. Son of Joseph Caldwell and Jane Robson, Grandson of the Mathew Caldwell - Johanna McKenzie family emigrated to Gympie from Lugar near Auchinleck in 1884. Mathew was a brother of my GGrandfather Joseph. The son Joseph was obviously named after my GGrandfather.

(Photograph courtesy of Mrs Heather Jenkins, my third cousin, of Victoria Point)

John Thomas Caldwell, third from left middle row.

(Photograph courtesy of Mr Heather Jenkins)

The late Mrs Lesley Agnes Gordon was a diligent and persistent researcher of the Caldwell family in Scotland. She had a great ambition to publish a book on her findings. Unfortunately she was old and unwell when I first started corresponding with her in the mid 1980's. I was given the mantle to continue her work by her during her lifetime and some time after her death I obtained a good selection of her papers. Unfortunately it comprises literally hundreds of little charts and placements that have to be collated into a collection and proved or disproved.

I myself have been on and off again in my family research but have not forgotten my promise to Mrs Gordon.

A lot of work remains and I now also have the gift of the world-wide-web - something that was not available back then.

It is my intention to post up information on this site in facsimile form so that it can be accessed by others.

If it is used please give some credit to the years of laborious work by Lesley Agnes Gordon of Cowden Cleuch by Dalkeith. If I also get some reflected glory in passing I will be honoured to be standing in her shadow.

I have found a reference to a place called "Caldwelltown" in Kirkoswald Parish about 1823.

It is in relation to a to one John McQuater "of Caldwelltown".

I presume this is a farm or a "ferm-toun" situated in Kirkoswald Parish Ayrshire. I hve not been able to locate it on a map and know no more about it.

If anyone can help it is appreciated.

Alan & Janet's children were christened at St Quivox Parish from 1776 to 1787 and the last known at Dundonald in 1789 at which point I think they may have been living at Old Rome in that Parish.

I have no record of the birth of either Alan or Janet or of their marriage or their deaths.

Of their children I have found family trees of Janet (c 1776) who married Andrew McMurtrie; John (c 1780) who was my ancestor; and Alan (also c 1780 but not a twin).

I have no real positive leads on the other children: Jean (c 1777); Francis (c 1783); Charles (c 1787); Thomas (c 1789)

Apart from Jean (who may have died young) the others are the younger children. Another Thomas (c 1786) must have died young as the name was later re-used.

If Janet was about 40 years of age when the last child Thomas was born then Janet could have been born as early as 1749. In this case there may have been other, earlier children of the marriage before the family moved to St Quivox. On the other hand after 1789 either Allan or Janet may have died, moved on somewhere else not found, or simply had no more children.

If Janet were 18 at the time her first recorded child was born at St Quivox then she would have been only 31 when her last recorded child was christened at Dundonald.

John, my ancestor, was an obvious stickler for the use of the traditional family names and I presume that this was traditional in the family. He didn't get to use Charles and Thomas, more than likely because with two wives and the incorporation of their family names amongst his 13 children he still did not have enough sons to follow the entire cycle.

I have searched amongst the various Janet Guthrie's that are recorded as having been born in the region at about the right time and the most likely candidate is Janet Guthrie b 22 January 1758 c 29 January 1758 at Irvine - parents John Guthrie and Janet Guthrie (nee Brown).

There is another Janet Gottrey b Monkton at about the right time and her father's name was also John but her mother's is unrecorded.

"Alan" is a christian name associated with the Beith-Lochwinnoch Caldwell family. If the William Caldwell who lived in Galston at the same time as "our" John Caldwell was indeed a relative then it is known that he was born at Kilbirnie and this may be a clue as to where Alan might have come from. There was an ancestor in this family surnamed "Allan" and I have seen other instances where that surname has been bestowed upon a son in the resultant family.

In some later generations there seems a tenuous connection to the Barclay family from Kilbirnie to Kilmarnock and family associations with Walker's and Wilson's. Hardly anything more than speculation though.

On the other hand there is strong evidence of the names: John, Francis, Charles and Thomas as being Caldwell family names in the Ayr, Coylton and Dalmellington areas. John is in fact so common as to make it very difficult to unravel any sensible family lines. As Charles and Francis are not so common in Caldwell families the existence of earlier Caldwell's by this surname in the Ayr region is a good clue.

Alan seems to have been the first of our family to take up coal mining. If he came from the Beith-Kilbirnie region then there is every chance that he might have been a displaced weaver.

If he came from the Ayr-Coylton area he may well have been a tenant farmer or a tenant farmer's son.

At the time he appears in St Quivox parish as the father of a number of children I imagine he was working at the coal mine of the Taylor family at Wallacetown. He may well have been attracted by the good wages and conditions being offered in the mining industry at the start of the coal boom.

"Up till then (1772-3) Scottish agriculture had benefited from good harvests from 1757 and rising prices form the 1760's. The good times abruptly came to an end in 1772, when harvests were poor and market demand stagnant because of industrial crisis. Landlords who had jacked up rents in previous years were now confronted with spiraling arrears. On vast areas of the Dukes of Hamilton in Lanarkshire 'shakeing winds' were accompanied by 'Rotting Rains' in 1771 and 1772, followed by 'parching Drought' in 1773. This run of climatic calamities caused a 'General Devastation' throughout the estates, a halt to schemes of improvement, a huge increase in arrears and, ominously, a significant escalation in the eviction of indebted tenants."

[TM Devine: Scotland's Empire 1600-1815 p116]

"One such crisis broke in 1771-3, triggered by poor harvests and financial panic amongst Scottish (mercantile) houses in London and the spectacular collapse in August 1773 of Douglas, Heron and Company, the Ayr Bank. This was described by some as the worst Scottish economic catastrophe since the Darien disaster of the 1690s. One result was the sharp rise in unemployment among thousands of weavers and other artisans, especially in Paisley and Glasgow. ...

The old image of master weavers buying their own yarn and working it up in their own cottages was being replaced by a new system. Merchant manufacturers ... supplied yarn to weavers working at home or in small factories. They provided credit and advance payments and it was easy to become enmeshed in a circle of debt which brought with it growing dependency."

[ibid p114-5]

"... actual displacement from the land as the enlarged single tenancies, thought to be essential to the improved agronomy, were carved out of the old 'ferm-touns'. Only now can historians appreciate the full significance of these changes. People were on the move everywhere. Some were relocated in new villages, others lost land. In the hill country of Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Angus and elsewhere the drastic falls in local population suggest levels of eviction reminiscent of the better-known Highland Clearances in order to accommodate the big cattle and sheep ranches. Elsewhere tenants and cottars were squeezed out more gradually. But the net result was the same: a growth in landlessness and the evolution of a smaller farming class than ever before."

[ibid p115]

Devine is talking about some of the economic factors influencing the rapid rise in Scots emigration as well as the internal movement of displaced weavers and farmers.

It would seem that my ancestor's were caught up in this movement and that the new opportunities in the mines were an alternative to emigration. It doesn't help me in my quest to determine whether Alan had come from a weaving or a farming background.

On the balance of probabilities my best guess at the moment is that his background was farming in the Ayr region. I must not preclude the possibility that the family had not previously been in the coal mining industry.

I am presently discounting this latter possibility as there is good evidence of farming and even merchant burgess Caldwell's in the Ayr region at an earlier time. Furthermore at this time the mines were being opened up to non-hereditary labour and wages and conditions were relatively good due to a very large increase in demand for coal and a great shortage of labour.

Guessing possible ancestral connections is fraught with difficulty but I note the following:

John Caldwell connected to the "James of Ayr" venture to Stuart's Town in the Americas was an Ayr merchant. This expedition was in 1684. His son-in-law was Robert Rodger of Kilmarnock later Provost of Glasgow and MP (1708). Perhaps John lived 1630-40 to 1700. As Robert Rodger was also involved in the James of Ayr venture I presume that John must have been at least in his 40's or older at the time.

John Caldwell, farmer of Dalmillan (outskirts of Newton upon Ayr in St Quivox parish) 1667-1745 (wife Agnes Grey).

John Caldwell - founded Moravian Church in Ayr 1765 - had connections to the Moravians of Gracehill, Ballymena in Ulster. (Guess say b 1730-35).

Alan Caldwell (the ancestor) (Guess say b 1751-56)

This is a picture of the Thomas Tristram's Aerated Water Factory at West End, Brisbane.

The Tristram's family founded their business in 1875 and I know it was still going in the mid 1960's when the name was being franchised.

The name suddenly disappeared and I presume that it was taken over by one of the "majors".

In any case the factory building is now a supermarket with speciality shops.

It has no connection with our family but there are parallels: The Caldwell family must have started their business about the same time in Kilmarnock and although there were family complications the Adam Caldwell Family ran a business in Kilmarnock until it closed it doors in the 1960's - its building is also now a supermarket.

There are probably many other family aerated water businesses that ran the cycle from boom til bust over about 100 years from 1875 or thereabouts.

Starting with the temperance movement and improved machinery and ending with one-way bottles and the lack of capital to keep up with listed companies.

Valerie's father Ralph and his parents Bertram and Lily Stead about late 1917 at a guess.

Have you ever noticed how some people drive to "waltz time"?

Slow-slow-quick-quick-slow

Terrible hard to overtake. Go like the very "clappers" on all the good bits and slow right down on the bends.

The more skilled ones even throw in suddenly slowing for oncoming traffic, or at night, as soon as they see some headlights approaching. They often have dents in the backs of their cars (wonder why). The worst combination is "Waltz Time" followed by "Tail Gater" - a sure recipe for disaster.

They often dawdle along until the overtaking lane turns up then suddenly find the accelerator pedal (perhaps they feel safer on the wider road) then fly along at the speed limit until the overtaking lane runs out, then .. you guessed it.

A varient of "Waltz Time" that is sure to frustrate is the one where a queue of cars a mile long is following a slow vehicle. Up comes an overtaking lane and Mr "I am First and I am sure that I am not Gunna Break the Limit" is often the first car and slowly cruises past the slow vehicle just so that he and perhaps one or two others manage to pass by the end of the overtaking lane and leaves ten or more others still stuck behind the slow vehicle fuming and having to wait another 20 kilometres for the next chance to overtake. Not so many around these days - I imagine they have been throttled at the next McDonalds.

Its is nice to find that those on the road co-operate.

I try and be courteous and find when it is reciprocated it makes any vehicle trip that much easier. I know I am not perfect and have been guilty of not doing the right thing on the road and have given myself a mental smack on the hand. Hopefully I will not do it again.

Coming back from Brisbane today I was catching up a car when the freeway section ran out and it was back to plodding on the two way. I had no intention of overtaking the car in front and was expecting to coast down from the 110kmh speed limit to the new posted limit of 80kmh and fall in behind him. When the driver saw the 80kmh speed limit sign he immediately braked. I saw this happen and would have had to brake as well. Ho hum ... maybe he was letting me through so I went around him as the road was running out. We both made a mistake - he wasn't watching his mirror (was he?) and I didn't realise that he was just a "law abiding" cautious driver who obeyed the speed signs immediately. So he started coming across early and was a bit surprised when I passed him. No real danger as there was plenty of road. Ultimately I was in the wrong but I did have extenuating circumstances. I apologise to this unknown driver and hope that I will be less boorish in future and that he will also have learned the lesson that it is not necessary to immediately brake when a sign pops up in front. Decellerate, yes - when you see the sign, there is usually plenty of room without braking. Additionally he might check his mirror occasionally for vehicles coming up behind.

Trips are always a good subject for stories.

Further on we re-joined the highway after taking a little secret short-cut. Two trucks came past moving uphill followed by a car that was desperate to pass the last truck before the overtaking lane finished. He squeezed past just a short space short of rudeness.

What he cannot have realised was that these two trucks were in a hurry. I soon worked out that if I passed them it could only be uphill and I had to be prepared to drive just a little faster than them everywhere else. So I sussed out how fast they were moving (without hills). Not so our desperate passer. He didn't really want to go as fast as the trucks. Very soon he was holding up the second truck and was re-passed himself at first opportunity.

What is the moral here? The trucks were going just a little bit faster than the general run of traffic and were making it a bit hard for themselves. So they were a bit out of order, but they seemed to know what they were doing and did not seem to be taking unneccessary risks. Perhaps if our desperate driver had thought a bit and bided his time he would have realised that prudence dictated that this truck should not be passed.

A bit further on one truck was trying to pass a very slow camper-van. I mean "real slow". On this hill with an overtaking lane the truck just could not make it past. By this time "Mr Desperate Driver" was again sitting behind the truck heading up the hill and I think the trucky thought "@#$%" if he passes me again I will only have to re-pass him a bit further down the road. So he was a bit boorish and kept on trying to pass the camper-van until the overtaking lane ran out. (I think Mr Deperate did get the message because he then stopped trying to get past). Mr Camper-van was no better, he laboured over the top of the hill just in front of the truck and proceeded to crawl down the other side with the truck close behind. I ask you: "Why didn't he just slow down his tortoise-like gait a little more and let the truck past on the oertaking lane?". The truck did overtake the camper van at first safe opportunity further on and I overtook the truck and stayed out of his way.

Further on I caught up the other truck at the foot of a longer climb when he was being held up by yet another "slow" car. You know what? He held off overtaking courteously until I went past and got out of his way. Took him most of the climb to pass that car and I was well gone by the time he got to the crest.

Professional truck drivers get a bit of flack from car drivers but I find that the vast majority of them are just doing their difficult job quite competently when surrounded by more than one unthinking moron smugly and serenely sitting in his car and expecting the trucks to work around them. If I could fault the truck drivers it was because they were going a little harder than usual and just making it that much harder for themselves. They showed commendable retraint in the face of some frustration and gave me back courtesy when they could see that I was trying to assist them by keeping out of their way.

I suppose there are a few drivers out there tonight who will be telling all those who would listen to them about these b truck drivers and being terrorised on the road. It was not what I saw - I saw two laden trucks keeping up a reasonably brisk pace and several other drivers so full of their self-importance that they had to be in front of the trucks. If I had wanted to drive slower than the trucks I would have let them past at the first opportunity.