My Garngad Family History, Irish families of the old Garngad Rating Options

[Paul Kelly]

I have recently come across another website which contains a lot of information about the old Garngad. It is the homepage of the recently deceased Robert McLaughlin. In order to see the website you should do a GOOGLE search for

ROBERT MCLAUGHLIN HOMEPAGE GARNGAD

[valros]

Paul,

Thank you very much for that information, will go and try it out.

Best wishes

Valros

[big tommy]

Hello guys aand Gals

My late wife was a KELLY' and by a strange coincidence her mother was a ' MC CORMACK'
They wete fron Bishiopbriggs ,

.I was baptized in St Rochs School in 1931 .My mum lived in Parliamentary Road ,where i was born in my Grannies house.

MyGranda lived in Rhymer Stret as did many aunts and a few cousins .
My auntie was married to willy Lilly .Although, I speny all of my early

Anothe Aunt was my auntie Nelly . who married Eddie Fitzpatrick
I was born in Parlianmentary Road in my Grannie'house.in 1929.
I was baptizes in St Rochs in 1931 ( another story to be found) on this great site
Most of my early life was in Cowcaddens Cowcadens before movining up here to Bishopbriggs (among the toffs )Best of luck yours Tommy

[Paul Kelly]

Hi Tommy.

I loved your story about being christened both ways. A real Glasgow story.

Tommy, there are too many Kellys in this world!

Kelly is the 2nd most common Irish surname. Murphy is the most common.

In fact, Kelly is the most common Irish surname found in Scotland.
If I am recalling correctly, Kelly is the 38th most common surname in Scotland.

McCormick is a Scottish surname, originating in Argyll.
McCormack is an Irish surname.

My McCormick greatgreatgrandparents came to Scotland from Donegal, Ireland in 1864. I know they were illiterate as they signed their childrens' Scottish birth certificates with crosses.

I am sure their real surname was McCormack but their surname was recorded incorrectly by officials on arrival in Scotland. In fact, nearly all Irish McCormack immigrants to Scotland had their surnames recorded in the Scottish form of McCormick.

The McCormack surname is very common in eastern Donegal. There are also a few McCormicks in Donegal, but they are descendants of the Scottish plantation of Ulster in the early 1600s.

I am going on a bit. I think I should introduce a new topic about Irish surnames in Scotland.

Paul

This post has been edited by Paul Kelly: 30th Jul 2006, 09:54am

[valros]

Hello Paul,

Just to let you know that I read through that site by Robert MC Laughlin and thoroughly enjoyed it.

At the beginning when he is mentioning characters--I remember so well my parents talking about these same people, and one or two names I recall myself as he came into his own era.

He has left a wonderful wealth of information for future generations of his family and seemed an extremely nice person.

Thanks again for bringing my attention to the homepage.

Valros

[Paul Kelly]

Hi again.

The GOOGLE search for

ROBERT MCLAUGHLIN HOMEPAGE GARNGAD

is no longer working.

In order to see the website you now have to do a GOOGLE search for

THE GARNGAD HERITAGE THE UNPUBLISHED WORK

You will come across articles written by 3 gentlemen about the
old Garngad:

Robert McLaughlin, Ronnie McDonald and a Mr F G Locherty

Paul

[Paul Kelly]

In 'The Garngad Heritage, The Unpublished Work', Robert McLaughlin says he remembers that one of the families that stayed next to him at Tharsis Street in the 1940s was the Collins family, and that he thinks one of the Collins boys was convicted of murder in later life. I recently came across a book in a bookshop here in Gaborone called 'Hugh Collins - Autobiography of a Murderer'. The book is about convicted murderer, Hugh Collins, born in Royston (Garngad) in 1951. It is the story of the archetypal Glasgow hard man. The Gorbals had Jimmy Boyle. The Garngad had Hugh Collins. The book won't be everyone's cup of tea and the language is very strong.

Collins describes his early years growing up in Royston (Garngad) and his teenage years as a member of the Garngad gang - The Shamrock - of which he claims to have been a founding member, aged 15, along with his friends 'Wee' Joe Mulligan, Joe 'The Bear' Devlin and Albert Faulds.
He gives a vivid description of Glasgow's street gangs of the 1960s:
The Shamrock (from Garngad), The Cumbie (from Cumberland Street, Gorbals), The Calton Tongs, The Bridgeton Spurs and The Maryhill Fleet. He describes how he was stabbed and slashed, aged 15, in a gang fight against The Cumbie, and again, aged 18, in a gang fight against The Tongs. He explicitly describes his gangland life which continued into his 20s and which ended ultimately in tragedy. In 1977, Collins was convicted of the murder of William Mooney, whom he stabbed to death in a Glasgow bar. Collins was released from prison in 1992 and nowadays lives with his wife in Edinburgh.

The early part of the book has a lot of info on Garngad in the 1950s and 1960s. Chapter 1 of the book starts as follows:

I'm five and a half years old, attending St Roch's Primary School in Glasgow. The teacher, Miss O'Donnell, has asked us each to stand, walk to the front of the class, and tell the others what our fathers do.
'My da's a railway worker,' says one, and sits down.
'My da's a postman. He delivers the mail.'
It's my turn, and I walk to the front with some pride.
'My da,' I say, 'is Wullie Collins. He's like Robin Hood. He takes from the rich and gives to the poor. My da's a bank robber.'
The class erupts, shrieking with laughter. I'm immediately embarrassed. Miss O'Donnell is taken by suprise. That's the end of that exercise, and my Granny is summoned.
'He's not a bank robber, Hughie. You mustn't say that. You musn't ever say that.'
So who had told me? Did I get the idea from Ginger McBride?

I guess you will have to buy the book if you want to read more.

This post has been edited by Paul Kelly: 24th Aug 2006, 07:38am

[Rabbie]

Might just huv a get a copy of that!

Might be worth a wee looky here, if yer missed it. The link is good as of time of posting.

The Garngad Heritage, The Unpublished Work

[Paul Kelly]

Hi Valros.

In 'The Garngad Heritage, The Unpublished Work', Robert McLaughlin and Ronnie McDonald both write affectionately about a man called Big Willie John Monaghan. Even Hugh Collins in his autobiography makes a warm reference towards him. I am sure Big Willie John must have been a well known character in the Garngad area in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. I was wondering if you knew him.
I have also been meaning to ask you if you knew a Glen or Glenn family from the Garngad. They would have been distant relatives of mine through my McCormick ancestors.

All the best,

Paul

[big tommy]

DEar John

My grandmother was a Mc Cormack until she married my Granda
Tommy

[valros]

Hi Paul,

Willie John Monaghan is a name I heard a lot of while growing up in Garngad. Do you know if he was related to the Romeo family? If so, then I do know who the person is--I didn't know him personally though.

I was brought up in Rhymer Street but knew such a lot of people from the "Road"

Many of the names mentioned in the webpage, I have heard my parents speak of. Rosie Romy as she was known as, lived two closes away from my grandmother in Villiers Street. I don't remember the woman myself but I knew her grandsons through school and living in the area.

Can you tell me where the Glenn family lived Paul?

How I dearly wish I had seen that Garngad site before Robert McLaughlin died, there are a few questions I would loved to have asked him.

Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

My cousin's wife was brought up in Provanhill Street and I have printed out some of it to send on to her because she too will know many of the names.
I will ask her if she knew of a Glenn family.

In fact Paul, one of the articles there is about Hogmanay in the old Hibernian Hall, she and my cousin used to go there all the time when it changed to Royston Social Club, I was in it myself a few times.

Small world isn't it?

Valros

[Paul Kelly]

Hi Valros.

The Glen family were staying in Bright Street at the time of the 1931 census but I don't know what happened to them after that. It is possible that they left the Garngad area in the mid 1930s during the 1st slum clearance programme as happened with a lot of Garngad families. None of my older living relatives seem to know what happened to the Glen family

Paul.

[valros]

Hi Paul,

re-Glenn Family, if they left Garngad mid 30s then it's way before my time--I can't even recall my parents mention the name,this is the way I got to know about others from their era.

When I was at St Roch's Primary, I had a teacher called Mr Glenn, he lived in Stirling Road but don't know if his parents had ever came from Bright Street.!!

Valros

[Paul Kelly]

Thanks for that Valros. I wasn't suggesting for a moment that you were around in the 1930s! Sorry about that. I know that Sammy Glen and Mary Glen (nee O'Brien) were staying at Bright Street, Garngad with their young family in 1931. I thought you might have come across some of their descendants since you grew up in the Garngad area. Mary O'Brien (born Garngad 1891/92) was the daughter of Mary McCormick (born Bridgeton 1866), my greatgrandmother Elizabeth McCormick's younger sister. (See introduction to My Garngad Family History). Sammy Glenn was also born in Garngad around 1890 and his parents were Patrick Glen and Margaret O'Neill.

Regards,

Paul

This post has been edited by Paul Kelly: 16th Sep 2006, 03:05pm

[valros]

Hi Paul,

No need for apologies--I had a wee bit of a laugh when I read it though Mind you, I am a bit "long in the tooth now !!!!

If I ever come across anyone who knew of a family called Glenn who lived in the area, I will let you know.

I will have another read at your history.

Best wishes

Valros