John Alexander Yeudall

John Alexander Yeudall was a half-brother of Isabella Yeudall, and the son of Abram Yeudall by his second wife, Grace Kay.

John was born at Barr Street, Galston on the 26th of October 1862, at 1.30 p.m., and he is entered on the 1871 census as being eight years of age and living with his parents at 18, Barr Street, Galston.

In 1881, John was still living with his parents at the same address but he was now a joiner, aged 18, and unmarried.

John acted as a witness at the marriage of his cousin William Yeudall to Jeanie Paton on the 25th of September 1885.

John Alexander Yeudall, aged 23, joiner (journeyman), bachelor, and Mary Pollock, muslin weaver, spinster, aged 24, were married at Jamieson Terrace, Newmilns on the 29th of January 1886, after banns according to the forms of the established Church of Scotland. His usual residence was entered at Barr Street, Galston, and hers as Jamieson Terrace, Newmilns. Her parents were entered as Matthew Pollock and Grace Howie. The ceremony was conducted by John Robertson, Minister of Loudoun, and the witnesses were Thomas Smillie and Annie Pollock.

At the time of the 1891 census, John and Mary Yeudall were resident at 12, Duke Street, Galston, in a property having two rooms with one or more windows. This was apparently the same property which his uncle, also John Yeudall, had occupied ten years previously. The full entry runs:

John Yeudall, head, married, 28, joiner, born at Galston
Mary, wife, 29, born Newmilns
Grace, daur, 4, born Galston
Cecilia Jane, daur, 2, born Galston
Abram, son, 2 months, born Galston

In 1911, the family was entered as resdent at Crodene, Galston, in a property having five rooms with one or more windows. John and Mary were entered as having been married for twenty-five years, and as having had six children, of whom five were still living.

The full entry reads:

John A. Yeudall, head, 48, married, joiner, employer, born Galston
Mary, wife, 49, born Newmilns
Cecilia J., daur, 22, single, madras weaver, lace factory, worker, born Galston
Abram, son, 20, single, joiner, worker, born Galston
Grace H., daur, 17, single, at home, born Galston
Matthew P., son, 12, school, born Galston

John, son, 8, school, born Galston

As evidenced by the census records and other sources, John and Mary had six children. The three sons were Abram, Matthew and John. Their three daughters were Cecilia, Grace, who died in infancy, and a second Grace, born in 1893.

Grace – born 9th December 1886, 2.30 a.m. Grace died on the 10th of February 1893, at 1.45 a.m. The cause of death was diphtheria, from which she had been suffering for five days, and cardiac parallyses (sic). Both events took place at Duke Street, Galston.

The elder couple standing are quite certainly Mrs and Mrs John Alexander Yeudall. The younger couple, to the left, can also be identified as John's daughter Cecilia Jane and her husband, Andrew McCrone. The little boy is presumably their son, Andrew Matthew McCrone, born in 1918. The identity of the older man and woman, both sitting, has yet to be positively established. The possibility that they could be John's parents Abram Yeudall and Grace Kay can effectively be excluded by the circumstance that all available evidence appears to indicate that the photograph was taken about a decade after both Abram and Grace had died. Andrew and Cecilia had a daughter, Mary, in 1921 and it is felt that if she had been born at the time of the family photograph, she would have been in it. The photograph can therefore be dated to 1919 or 1920.

It is a virtual certainty that the old couple sitting are Mary's parents Matthew Pollock and Grace Howie. Grace died on the 19th of May 1920 and Matthew on the 26th of October 1926.

Cecilia Jane with her husband, Andrew McCrone, in later life.

Cecilia Jane – born 21st April 1888, 5.30 a.m., Duke Street, Galston. Cecilia Jane married Andrew McCrone and with their two children Andrew and Mary made a new life for themselves in the USA.

The Ellis Island web site discloses that Andrew McCrone sailed from Glasgow on the 23rd of March 1912 on board the Caledonia, arriving on the 1st of April. He was twenty-three years of age and he was single. He was designated as a carpenter and his destination was entered as Philadelphia. His next of kin was entered as Mrs McCrone of 29, Orchard Street, Galston. This was evidently not his first sojourn to the United States since his last permanent residence was entered as 'USA, Philadelphia' and he was entered as having resided in the USA from 1909 until 1911. His entry on the Manifest was stamped 'NON IMMIGRANT ALIEN'. He had a ticket to his final destination, he paid the passage himself and he was in possession of at least $50. He was on his way to join a friend, John Wilson, at 28½, N. Fairhill Street, Philadelphia. He was stated to be 5'9½" in height. The word describing his complexion is hard to make out but he had light brown hair and blue eyes. His place of birth was given as Ayr.

Andrew McCrone again entered the United States of America in 1924, sailing on board the SS Columbia from Glasgow on the 15th of March and arriving at New York on the 23rd. He was now thirty-five years of age and accompanied by his wife Cecilia, also thirty-five, and their children Andrew Matthew, 4, and Mary, 3. All were travelling under the US Passport no. 356849. They had been naturalized by the Eastern District Federal Court, Philadelphia, although the date of this event was not entered. Their address in the United States was given as 309, Maple Avenue, Drexel Hill, Pa.

That Cecilia was resident in the United States of America in 1940 was acknowledged in her father's obituary, appearing in the Weekly Supplement.

Andrew McCrone had been born illegitimate on the 28th of January 1889 at 8h 10m a.m. at Fullarton Street, in the Parish of Dundonald, in the District of Irvine. His parents were Andrew McCrone, a coal miner, and Elizabeth McMillan, a domestic servant. Both appear to have jointly signed the birth certificates as co-informants.

By the time of the 1901 census, the McCrones had moved to 4, Boyd Street, Galston, where Andrew junior was a 12 year old boy living with his parents, three younger brothers and baby sister. The house had two rooms having one or more windows. The full entry reads:

Andrew McCrone, head, mar, 35, coal miner, worker, born Ayr
Eliza, wife, 33, born Irvine
Andrew, son, 12, scholar, born Irvine
David, son, 10, scholar, born Galston
James, son, 5, born Galston
Robert, son, 3, born Galston
Agnes, son, 10 months, born Galston

The soldier on the right is Abram Yeudall, born 1891.

Abram – born 9th February 1891, at Galston. Abram Yeudall, a joiner, died at 22, Barr Street, Galston, on the 17th of August 1955. He was sixty-four years of age. The cause of death was certified as bronchial carcinoma. The informant was John Yeudall, of 127, Orchard Street, Galston, the deceased's brother, who had been present in the house at the time of death. Abram was married to Grace Smith Brown, who was born in 1890 and died in 1972.

Grace Howie Yeudall – born 24th August 1893, 5.30 a.m., at 12, Duke Street, Galston. Died 15th February 1982 in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Matthew Pollock – born 2nd December 1898, 7.00 p.m, at 30, Duke Street, Galston. Matthew was killed in action at the Somme during the Great War on the 24th of March 1918, aged nineteen. He was buried at Albert in France.

John – born 14th May 1902, 9.30 a.m., Duke Street, Galston

In each case, the informant was John A. Yeudall, father. Up to and including Matthew's birth in 1898, John Alexander Yeudall is designated as a 'Joiner (Journeyman)'. At the time of John's birth in 1902, he was a 'Joiner (Master)'.

John had appeared as the informant on his half-sister Isabella' son Matthew's death certificate in 1896 and was identified as the boy's uncle.

Provost and Mrs Yeudall

John Alexander Yeudall served as the Provost of Galston from 1906 up until his retirement from public life in 1921, and in 1920 he was presented with the Medaille du Roi Albert, conferred by the King of Belgium for the work he did in housing and resettling Belgian refugees at the time of the Great War. (Galston had its own town council from the creation of the Police Burgh in 1864 until local government reorganisation in 1975.)

The medal is now in the possession of Betty Yeudall (Mrs Henry Kerr), granddaughter of John Alexander Yeudall, and daughter of his eldest son Abram.

He was the head of the firm of J. A. Yeudall & Sons, joiners and undertakers, and according to Irene Hopkins at p. 21 of Galston Parish Church - A Historical Synopsis, he crafted the church's pulpit from Austrian oak.

In 1914, on the occasion of the silver wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Portland, he presented an address on behalf of the people of Galston, in his capacity as Provost.

John Yeudall made a trip to the United States. He sailed out of Liverpool on board the S.S. Baltic, on the 4th of September 1926, arriving at New York on the 13th. At this time, he was an insurance agent, aged 63. His visa, number 262, had been issued at Glasgow on the 1st of September 1926. His next of kin was entered as his son, Abram Yeudall, of Cessnock Road, Galston.

He was in possession of a ticket which he had paid for himself and at least $50 in cash. He had never previously been in the United States. He was on his way to visit his son-in-law, Andrew McCrone, of 309 Maple Ave., Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, where, presumably, he proposed to join his wife Mary, who had sailed the previous May. His state of health was entered as good and he was neither crippled nor deformed. He was 5'8" tall, his complexion was fresh, his hair brown, his eyes blue and he had no distinguishing marks.

Some months later (the date is not clear), now aged 64, he sailed on board the S.S. Transylvania, from New York, arriving at Glasgow, in the company of his wife Mary and sister-in-law Margaret.

He also served Galston Parish Church in the capacity of Session Clerk, for which he was remunerated at £15 per annum, from October 1928 until he was forced to resign owing to declining health in December 1939.

John Alexander Yeudall died on the 2nd of August 1940, at 22, Barr Street, Galston, at five o'clock in the morning, aged seventy-seven years. He was designated as a joiner. He was stated to be the widower of Mary Pollock, who had died three months previously. The causes of death were entered as high blood pressure, and pulmonary vedema, from which he had been suffering for two days. The informant was A. (Abram) Yeudall, his son, of 22, Barr Street, Galston, who had been present.

Documents

An undated 'Portrait Souvenir', entitled Who's Who In The Irvine Valley, provides the following paragraph:

'Provost J. A. Yeudall, Galston

Provost Yeudall does not belong to the imported stock. He is a native of Galston, where he was reared, educated, and first learned to interest himself in public affairs. Has been a member of Town Council since 1896, and is serving his third term as Provost. Strong on the Temperance question, he belongs to the quiet, earnest, plodding type who bring commonsense and a good deal of shrewdness into the solving of municipal affairs.'

Obituaries

Kilmarnock Standard

Weekly Supplement