A Public Family Tree on Ancestry, the Meldrum Family Tree (ronmeldrum130) provided a way into unravelling John’s story. It lists a John McCreath, born 1810, married to a Mary Forsyth – to whom, according to this source, a daughter, Mary, was born in Kilmarnock in 1835.
The OPR lists the marriage of a John McCreath and a Margaret Forsyth on 3 Feb 1828 (recorded at Galston) and 8 February 1828, recorded at Kilmarnock.
An entry in the 1841 Census shows John McCreath (age 30), a Smith, living at Fore Street Kilmarnock with his daughters, Margaret (12) and Mary (8). As there is no entry for Margaret, it is assumed that she had died prior to 1841.
John married a second time to Mary Adams in 1855. 1855 was the first year of civil registration in Scotland, when exceptionally full biographical details were recorded (an impractical procedure quickly abandoned). Mary was spinster.
According to this record, John McCreath was born at Minishant on 16th July 1810. He married Mary Adams on 21 September 1855 at 16 Abbotsford Place, Glasgow. His usual residence was 75 Main Street, Gorbals. John, a Blacksmith, was then 45 and Mary 31 years old. He had 5 children from his previous marriage – only two of whom survived. Mary was born on 1st January 1824 at Erskine, Renfrewshire. John’s father, Thomas, had passed away prior to 1855.
In 1861, a Blacksmith, John McCreath (age 50) is listed as a boarder at 163 Cowcaddens Street, Glasgow. Attempts to locate John’s death in Scotland have been unsuccessful.
In 1861, a Mary McRaith, aged 37, born in Erskine, Dumbartonshire (sic) is a resident in the ‘House of Refuge’ at 320 Duke Street, Glasgow. Occupation: Inmates Sewing.
It would appear that their marriage was short lived and that their lives ended in penury.
John’s daughter, Margaret, married James Lyons, a Stonemason. They lived at Richardland Road, Kilmarnock. Margaret died, age 65, on 11 December 1901. Her father is listed as John McCreath, blacksmith deceased. Her mother’s name is not recorded. The informant was a son, Edward Lyons.
John’s other daughter, Mary, from his first marriage married James Mulholland. According to the Meldrum Family Tree they had 10 children. She died at Hutchesontown on 25 January 1898. Her parents are given as John McCreath, blacksmith and Mary Forsyth; both deceased.