Ninian Neilson-Life Story Part One

Ninian Neilson

1821- 1889

A History by Ray L Nelson
Pictures and documents added by Lois C. Berrett

[Ninian is the son of my Great Great Great Grandparents, Edward Neilson and Catharine Banks.  He is the brother of my Great Great Grandmother, Martha Matilda Neilson Morgan]

Ninian is a distinctively Scottish name that has not gained any popular use since the Neilsons emigrated to the United States.  But the name is of ancient and significant origin. Saint Ninian is the patron saint of Scotland.  He is to Scotland what St. Patrick is to Ireland.  He is credited with bringing Christianity to Scotland probably from Ireland in the 5th century. Very little is known of him.  St. Ninian appears on the Scottish calendar on September 16. The following variations of the name appear in ancient records from throughout Scotland and over some 15 centuries of time:

Nynia, Nyniga, Ninianus, Nynnyaw (British form), Ninian Isle, Niniane,

Ringan, Truinean, Rineyan, [Rinan, Rinansey, (Norse form)],

St. Ronon's Yle or St. Tronan's Yle, St. Trinyon, St. Treignan,

David Rinyhiane, Ringane, Ringean, Rinion, Renzion, and Rynyon

Our Ninian was born in the parish of Inveresk, Midlothian on 21 August 1821, the son of  Edward Neilson and Catherine Banks or Baulks.  Edward Neilson had been born in Liberton Parish, but the rest of Ninian's progenitors who bore the name Neilson were christened in the Duddingston Parish, the ancient and perpetual home of the Neilsons.  All of these parishes lie within about a 2-3 mile radius along the valley of the Esk river just east and south of Edinburgh.  This is the place of origin.

Church of Scotland, Parish Church of Inveresk, Parish Register, 1607-1855; Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, FHC# 1067757, Item 3, Baptism 1820-1837, p. 434 or 24, 2nd entry;

Notes

Nelson Edward Collier & Catherine Baulks their son Ninian born 21 Aug and Baptized 10 Sept. Witnesses Geo & Peter Baulks;

Duddingston Parish

In more ancient times the colliers of Scotland had been thirled to the land.  Meaning that they were “staked” or tied legally to the land.  They were essentially slaves.  Both ancient and modern scholars writing about this practice use the word slave in describing it.  They could not rise above their condition as colliers and they could not remove their own person from the property to which they were thirled without risking arrest and prosecution.  The law changed in 1792-3. As it was here in the U.S for slaves, the conditions changed gradually and harshly following the change in the law.  

Esk River

In the 1820s and again in the 1830s economic panics or recessions put many of these colliers out on the streets, out of work.  This led them to leave their ancestral homes and begin moving from place to place in search of work and better wages.  The increasing industrialization and boom in steam engine technology was increasing the demand for coal and steam driven pumps were allowing the mines to work deeper into the earth.  This then required that mining change.  That mines became bigger, more technological places of employment, but the demand for cheap labor was, just as it always has been.

In the British Census 1841 Ninian is living in Old Monkland, Lanarkshire in the home of his older, married brother.  At this place there were both collieries and at Shotts there were Ironworks.  Just down the street, living with her sister and her husband is a beautiful young lady, Christian Campbell.  In 1842, Ninian and Christina were married, over across the firth of Forth, in Dunfermline.  Their firstborn son, Edward was born there.

Nenian Neilson

Scotland Census, 1841

Name: Nenian Neilson

Event Type: Census

Event Date: 1841

Gender: Male

Age: 20

Birthplace: Scotland

Parish: Old Monkland

County: Lanarkshire

Birth Year (Estimated): 1821

GS Film number: 1042782

Scotland Census, 1841

Citing this Record

"Scotland Census, 1841," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VYZ2-YX6 : accessed 30 March 2015), Nenian Neilson, Old Monkland, Lanarkshire, Scotland; from "1841 England, Scotland & Wales census," index, findmypast (www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing p. 19, PRO HO 107, New Register House, Edinburgh; FHL microfilm 1,042,782.

Then they return to Shotts, and while at Shotts in Lanarkshire they have three daughters, Janet, Christina, and Catherine.  In 1847, the family joins the LDS Church, following Ninian's brothers and sisters into the new faith.  Ninian, on the 4th of July and Christina on the 19th of October.  Then they moved to Tranent... a long ways to the east, but that didn't last...