Shep's Place Family Tree

17 West Street,
Paisley.

Dear Friends,

I suppose you will be thinking we have forgot you altogether but we were only waiting to send you all the news we could, & now that we have got a little settled again I will write you a few lines to let you know that I was safely delivered of a baby ‎(such a bonnie wee lassie)‎ & a strong healthy child. Both the baby and me were both doing well but I suppose there is never one hour of joy but there are two of sorrow so we had to bear the parting with her after she had been with us for three weeks all but one day. She had a little cold in her head which made it difficult for her to breathe through her nose, she got a little worse although nothing serious as we thought. Still we got the doctor who came at 11 o'clock on Tuesday night & he never even told us the child was weak & she did not look like it, she died next morning very suddenly and not being very strong it knocked me all wrong & I got a little cold inwardly & it turned out inflammation & for the next three or four days I was in bed. My husband was very much put out at losing her & I think I will never get over it, although we are very thankful for the time she was spared to us was so very short for Mary, we knew the full love of a father & a mother. She is buried in the churchyard where Aunt Jeanie goes, lying beside her great-grandparents.

We have had extra cold weather here which is against me a little, but Bob is quite well, hoping David & you are enjoying good health at present. Mr. & Mrs.Gray ‎(her parents)‎ also Willie ‎(her brother)‎ send their kind love to you, my Father got his leave from his work on Christmas week & has been idle since. Willie was also off work for about six weeks with a slight attack of diphtheria but he is all right now. We join in sending kind love to James, David, yourself & all your friends.

I will now draw my letter to a close, hoping when your wee Mary comes she will not be taken from you. Please excuse us for not writing sooner. Remember to write soon & let us know how you are getting along.
No more at present, but remain, Your loving friends,
Mr.& Mrs.Christie.

Note: The David Burns did lose their "wee Mary" as their only daughter, Margaret, who arrived after two sons, was born and died in 1896. Mary Christie again to Mary Burns, at New York:

17 John Street,
Paisley.
July 9th. 1891.

Dear Friends,

I take much pleasure in writing you a few lines to let you know that we received your long looked for letter, we were beginning to think that you had forgot us, or that the letter had been lost on the way. However better late than never & you are quite excusable. We have removed as you will see by the address & so have been longer in writing to you. We will have to stay for a year in it but we like it very well but it was an awful work, the removal.

We were very sorry to hear you had been laid up but hope you are keeping all right. Bob & I were very thankful to you for your kind sympathy to us, I sometimes think we don't know what a blessing good health is till once we lose it. We have had very hot weather here for a week or two but I suppose it's nothing to where you are. We were at our nephew's marriage about a fortnight ago in Beith ‎(David will know where that is about)‎ and enjoyed ourselves very well it being a real country place. Willie has got over his trouble and is all right again & Father is working in J.&.P. Coates mill. We are both well hoping you are all the same. Mr.& Mrs. Willie Gray send their best respects to you. All your friends here are well that I know of. Give David our kind love & James also John, although I only know of him by name, perhaps we will live to see each other & his wife & family. I must now draw to a close but I cannot help remarking how time flies, for you would hardly think it will be very near a year since we all met together. Willie Gray says the heather will soon be blooming again & David & Mary will have to get not a bunch but a sprig of real Scotch heather. I must now stop as it is dinner time. With kind love to everybody specially yourselves. Goodbye for a wee while. Write soon. XX - We remain your loving friends,

Mr. & Mrs. Christie.

It is clear from the above that bachelor James Burns accompanied his brother David and sister-in-law Mary to Scotland in 1890.

The last of the Christie letters ‎(and any from Scotland for that matter)‎ was several years later, and there seems to have been a gap of some length with correspondence.

18 Broomlands Street,
Paisley,
May 25th. 1901.

Dear Friends,

We received your welcome letter although not at the address you sent it to. I am staying in the same property as my Father & Mother this last 5 years. We are all well at present as far as I know, although there have been a good many changes since you got my last letter. I cannot go over them all but the more intimate of these are old Aunt Jeanie Clark & Aunt Mary ‎(Millar)‎ have both passed away & Jessie Millar, that is, Mrs. Whitelaw of Glasgow, also my brother Willie's wife. Then there have been marriages, Mrs. Watson's son & daughter are both married & my brother is married his second time.

I am very glad to hear that you are all in good health for many a time when we were all talking we wondered what had become of you, the last letter I wrote I never received any answer and I thought you would perhaps have moved away from the place, I sent a photograph of my oldest boy Robert, to you. I don't know whether you got it or not. We are all very pleased to hear that you have got a family as we mostly all like to be a father & mother. I never heard of your baby girl's death & I know you would be in a state for fear anything would go wrong with the other two, but children gives you an awful cheat sometimes.

I am afraid I have not got the best married life I might have. Bob does not settle long in one job. I have had a family right enough, without a stop. I have living Robert, Maggie, Alexander, Annie & Mary & of course my first Mary died that would have been six and I can tell you I have more to do than I can manage whiles. I think I will tell you the rest of the news now. Bob is away in South Africa at the front fighting for his King & Country. He volunteered his services in the Lanarkshire Imperial Yeomanry & he has risen to a sergeant so that I think a soldier's life suits him best - how would you like to be left with 5 of them to look after. The last letter I received he was lying at Bloemfontein waiting on Colonel Pilcher's column to come up. This has been a dreadful war. 0 the widows & orphans that have been left, but Bob seems to be quite happy.

I forgot to mention that Aunty Clark's son James is also dead 2 years after his mother. I will now draw to a close I think. My Father & Mother & all the rest of your Friends join in sending their kind love. Accept the same from myself & the children. I hope to receive the pictures soon. I remain your friend,

Mary Christie.