This map shows the area and the parishes around Kilmarnock, Ayrshire where this branch of the family lived for over 200 years and the locations of Back St,
Kilmarnock and Wallace St, Galston.
One of the more confusing aspects of these Ayrshire parishes involves Newmilns. South of the River Irvine it was called Greenholm and was in the parish of
Galston while north of the river the original Newmilns area was in Loudoun. The village became Newmilns and Greenholm and nowadays is generally called
Newmilns.
1851 Census - Marion Bruce & William Henry
In the 1851 Census Marion Bruce now a widow, aged 47, was living in Galston with daughters Mary Bruce* (woollen bonnet knitter, unmarried, aged
20) and Marion Bruce (woollen bonnet knitter, unmarried, aged 15). Also grandson William Henry** (aged 5 months).
* Mary Bruce must be Mary Mathieson (b abt 1830) who is
recorded in this Census with her mother’s surname acquired
as a result of the second marriage.
** William Henry (b about Oct 1850 in Galston) is the child of
Mary Mathieson/Bruce and a William Henry/Hendry/Hendrie
whose identity has been difficult to determine. Over the years
this child’s surname changed through variations of
Henry/Hendry to Bruce Hendrie to Bruce.
Mary Mathieson had another child with William Henry. This
was Margaret Henry/Hendry/Hendrie, also known as
Margaret Bruce (born abt 1853, Kilmarnock). She appears as
Margaret Henry (aged 8) in the 1861 Census.