From Birth to age 34 (1849-1883)
- By the time Catherine was 20 she had experienced the loss of four uncles and two infant brothers. Her father’s only sister, Flora, died the year Catherine was born.
- Only uncles Malcolm and Peter remained in Benbecula as she grew into adulthood.
- When she was 21 her older brother, Angus died of measles and one year later her younger brother Alexander left Benbecula to join the Merchant Navy.
From Age 34 to 48 (1883-1897) – Glasgow
- Catherine, her parents, and two younger brothers were still in Benbecula for the 1881 UK Census. They weren’t directly forced off their croft as part of the Clearances but most probably were affected by the hardship and poverty that beset the crofting communities generally when sheep took over the already scarce arable land, and traditional clan chiefs were replaced by profit-oriented estate landowners.
- Based on the Poorhouse records the family was living in Govan in 1885, so I’ve chosen 1883 as a likely time when Catherine and her family – parents, Peter and Allan – left Benbecula to join Alexander in Glasgow. Alexander married early that year in Glasgow and he and his new young wife were expecting their first child. Catherine was 17 years older than her young sister-in-law, Jeannie Colquhoun. Alexander’s father was in his late sixties and his mother in her early fifties.
- When Alexander married at aged 29, it is likely his Engine Fitter qualification set him up well for finding and retaining secure employment in Clydebank’s booming shipbuilding industry. He may also have encouraged the family to come to Glasgow because there was a good chance that his two younger brothers would also be able to find employment: Peter was aged 26 and Allan John 20.
- During these 14 years, Alexander and Jeannie had eight children – two and possibly three sons died in infancy. As an unmarried woman Catherine may well have played a significant role in supporting the young growing family as well as her parents and younger brothers. Alternatively, she may have found work in shipbuilding-related industries.
From Age 48 – 86 (1897 – 1935) – Glasgow
- In 1897 Catherine married Angus MacAulay in Glasgow, aged 48 years
- During the next eight years Catherine lost her mother, her father, her sister-in-law and two youngest brothers.
- Five years after Catherine’s marriage an eighth child, Peter, was born to Alexander and Jeannie.
- Two years later, at age 50, Catherine lost her sister-in-law Jeannie (Colquhoun).
- Catherine died aged 86 at155 Houstin St, Glasgow.