Jane Murdoch (also known as Jean) married Ivie Campbell, born at McKnight (Maneight) on 7th May 1810, the eldest son of William Campbell and Jean Scott. Several of his siblings were born at McKnight before the family settled at Braehead, some 3 miles to the north-east on the banks of the River Nith, where several more siblings were born. William Campbell died in 1833 and is buried in the Auld Kirkyard along with an infant daughter Elizabeth. Sometime after, widow Jean and her family settled at Edgarton, Balmaghie, Kirkcudbrightshire, however son Ivie returned to New Cumnock, to take up the tenancy of McKnight, the place of his birth.
Although, it is not clear when Ivie Campbell and Jane Murdoch were married, their first child William was born at McKnight on 8th December 1836. Two more children, James and Ann, were also born there, prior to the 1841 Census. That Census also revealed that Jane Murdoch’s younger siblings William Murdoch (20) and Catherine (15) were living and working at McKnight. Three more children David, Margaret and Elizabeth were born at McKnight before the family moved to Craig, Balmaghie, Kirkcudbrightshire where a daughter Jane was born.
Craig, or Craigs as it was known, was some 3 miles north-east of where his widowed mother Jean and six siblings lived at Edgarton. Jane Campbell (nee Murdoch), aged 64 passed away at Craigs on 6th May 1874 and Ivie Campbell, aged 69, passed away there on 2nd January 1880.
Ivie Campbell’s sister Jane Campbell married Thomas McCrae at Edgarton, Balmaghie on 15th March 1842 and together they had two children born at Laurieston – David (1845) and Margaret (1847). Thomas was the son of David McCrae and Marion Munro, who lived at Grobdale some 3 miles west (as the crow files) of Edgarton.
The McCrae family, including Thomas and his wife, Jane Campbell and their family along with Jane’s mother, Jean Campbell (nee Scott) and several of her siblings emigrated to Canada, settling at Guelph, Ontario.
Their son, David McCrae married another Scot, Janet Simpson Eckford at Ontario and together they had three children Thomas, John and Mary. Their son John was born at Guelph on St. Andrew’s Day, 30th November 1872 – the grandson of Jean Campbell born at Maneight, New Cumnock on Christmas day, 25th December 1814.
John Alexander McCrae, to give him his full name went on to study Medicine at the University of Toronto and while there he published his first poems and joined the Toronto militia. When Britain declared war on Germany at the outbreak of World War I, John McCrae was appointed as a field surgeon in the Canadian artillery and in 1915 took charge of the field hospital during the Second Battle of Ypres. The death in battle of one his former students inspired McCrae to write on May 3, 1915 one the most powerful and memorable poems of the Great War –
Almost three years later, on 28th January 1918 (and in command of the No. 3 Canadian General Hospital) Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae, grandson of Jean Campbell of New Cumnock, died of pneumonia. He was buried the following day in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission section of Wimereux Cemetery with full military honours.
Children of James Murdoch and Ann Fleming & their Spouses
NEW CUMNOCK HERITAGE 