Christine Forrest asked, “Was my great, grandfather Jock Forrest (b1859-d1955) who lived in Barnhill related to the 19th Century John Clarke Forrest, the provost/sheriff of Hamilton who had Blantyre streets named after him?”
I was able to reply with:
John Clarke Forrest (JCF) was born in 1832 in Shotts. It was the Clarke side of the family, i.e his mother (Janet Craig Clark’s) side that originally had Blantyre connections, farming Auchinraith Farm in the 19th Century. This line of Forrests came from Shotts to Blantyre and hence I don’t think they had any connections with Jock Forrest’s Cambuslang family. However, JCF did live in Cambuslang a short time before moving to Hamilton. To check this, I mapped out JCF’s ancestry and do not see any immediate connection to Andrew. I can confidently say they were not brothers or first cousins. Andrew Forrest was born 7 years before JCF. If there is a connection to Andrew/Jock and JCF, it is a distant one.
John Clark Forrest married in 1859 in Carnwarth and shortly after acquired the lands of Stonefield, including the farm. He died on 28thAugust 1893 at Udston, Hamilton. Following the demolition of the tired miner’s row housing throughout Blantyre, and as a result of upgrading Blantyre’s homes and streets, John and his wife, Jane’s influence gave to the naming of several new streets along Glasgow Road. Streets on the north side, namely with FOUR associated names: John Street, Clark Street, Forrest Street and on the south, Logan Street, are all within his beloved Auchinraith/Stonefield and centred on land he owned.
Featuring Blantyre Project Social Media with permission. Strictly not for use by others on or offline, our visitors said:
Moyra Lindsay I have an ancestor Robert Forrest a sculptor. Forrest Place in Crossford is named after him. I read when trying to research him that in that area in his time about 96% of the population in Carluke area were Forrests! He sculpted the John Knox statue in the Necropolis. However I can’t find any children for him so not directly descended. One of his statues is about 100 yards from our Don’s back door. Lord Watson bought seven after his death. One is in Hamilton Park in a sorry state.
Forrest is in this area is a bit like Smith!
John Mccormick Moyra Lindsey This is some of the statue s by Robert Forrest.
Blantyre Project by far , the most difficult name to research in Blantyre, followed by Jackson, Miller and Pollock!