The Cunningham Ancestors of Sophia Anderson

Sophia Ramsay (or Anderson)'s mother was Margaret Cunningham. I knew from Robert Anderson's marriage to Margaret Cunningham that her father was a fisherman and I assumed that they would live around Prestonpans. A search for a Margaret Cunningham born about 1861 produced a plain response - there was only one. They can be found in the censuses and in the marriage registers of the church.

James Cunningham married Margaret Ritchie 20 March 1848 at Prestonpans. Their growing family can be traced through the census returns

James and Margaret Cunningham In the Censuses 1851-1881

1851 Census - Back Lane, Prestonpans, Haddingtonshire

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I looked for James Cunningham at the 1851 Census but I could not find him. I knew that he was a fisherman so this was not unlikely. I did find Margaret as the head of the household and she is married, not widowed, indicating that there was a living husband. She has two children; David aged 2 and Roy aged 0 - so presumably a few months old. Interestingly, Roy is a girl and in the records of Prestonpans there are several women given the first name of Roy. I found this quite unusual and there is perhaps a favoured peron who had this as a first name. It is common enough to find a Williamina or other male name feminised so it can be applied to a female child - Roy does not lend itself to this kind of adaptation. If Roy had simply been a maiden name it more likely be added as a middle name rather than a forename. (There is still ambiguity, though, because at the next census Roy is said to be a son.) Margaret Cunningham and her two children have a servant, a 14 year old Christina Ritchie. Of course, Margaret's maiden name was Ritchie so I think we can expect that this is a relation of Margaret. By the time of the following census the family has moved houses but are still in Prestonpans

1861 Census - Prestonpans South Side of North Turnpike Road, Prestonpans, Haddingtonshire

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Here we find James Cunningham together with his wife, Margaret now aged 33) and their family. James is 34 and is a fisherman born Haddingtonshire. Their son, David is now 11 years old and is a farm servant. Curiously Roy is now said to be a son not a daughter. I suppose one might think that the earlier reference to Roy as a girl was just an error but at the 1881 census James and Margaret have a granddaughter with them - named Roy Cunningham!

Anyway, we also see children born since the 1851 Census and these are John (7) and James (5) who, like Roy, are scholars. There are three other children too young for school; Helen (3), Andrew (2) and "our" Margaret, aged just 3 months. At the following census, taken in 1871, the family are still at the same address though there are some changes of personnel.

1871 Census - Prestonpans South Side of North Turnpike Road, Prestonpans, Haddingtonshire

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James Cunningham is now aged 44 and continues to be a fisherman. His wife, Margaret, is aged 43. Their first son, David, is still at home and is 21 years old and a fisherman like his brothers John (17) and James (15). Roy Cunningham (who would be about 20) is no longer present in the household. I looked for Roy in the marriage and death registers. I found nothing in the marriage registers but I did find an index entry for the death of a female Roy Cunningham with a mother's maiden name of Ritchie who died in 1875 Newington, Midlothian

Helen is now aged 13 and is given no occupation. I would think she keeps house with her mother who had to look after four fishermen and three other children. "Our" Margaret is now aged 10 and is a scholar as is the new child, Christina, aged six.

By the time of the next census the household is much smaller.

1881 Census - Carriers Land, Kirk Street, Prestonpans, Haddingtonshire

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Ten years on, James and Margaret are 54 and 53 respectively. James is still a fisherman. They only have one son still with them, James, aged 25 who is a Potter. We find a Roy Cunningham again but this is not the daughter, born in 1851,but a granddaughter aged 0, born 1881.

Summary of the Cunninghams in the Censuses 1861 - 1881

We first found James Cunningham and Margaret Cunningham (or Ritchie) at the 1851 Census when they lived at Back Lane, Prestonpans, Haddingtonshire. They had only been married since 20 Mar 1848 so only had two children; David aged 1 and Roy (a girl) aged 0. The also had a servant living with them, Christina Ritchie, aged 14 and probably a relation of Margaret who was a Ritchie.

Margaret Cunningham was born 1861 in Prestonpans. We see her in the 1861 census return for the Cunninghams at South Side of North Turnpike Road, Prestonpans where she is the youngest member of the household. She is just three months old making her birth around March 1861. Her father, James, is a 34 year old fisherman and he lives with his wife, Margaret (ms Ritchie) is 33 and a fisherman's wife. They have seven children. The oldest is David (11) who is a farm servant. The next three children are scholars; Roy (10), John (7) and James (5). Below them are three more children below school age; Helen (3), Andrew (2) and Margaret herself - 3 months old.

At the 1871 Census only Roy is not present. David (21), John (17) and James (15) are all fishermen like their father. Andrew is not present either (he would have been 12) but Helen (13) is there as is Margaret (10) who, like the new addition to the family, Christina, (6) is a scholar, It looks rather like Helen, who is not given an occupation is helping her mother with the household. I could not find Roy Cunningham anywhere in the returns for the 1871 Census but I did find a death for her in 1875 when he was aged 24, the death was registered in Newington, Midlothian, Scotland. Her mother's maiden name is given as Ritchie.

At the 1881 Census, Margaret is no longer at home, which at the taking of the census was for the Cunningham family Carriers Land, Kirk Street, Prestonpans. I only found one Margaret Cunningham of the right age at that census and that was as an unmarried general servant in the household of John Wright a “farmer of 70 acres employing 6 men and 5 girls” at Preston, Prestonpans. On the other hand, when she married a year and a half later she gives her usual residence as 21 Broughton Street, Edinburgh so perhaps she actually worked in Edinburgh as a servant at the 1881 Census. I searched around this a bit but could not come to any real conclusion.

This is where I finish this part of the history of my Cunningham ancestors. Margaret Cunningham is where my Cunningham and Anderson branches meet with the marriage of Margaret Cunningham and Robert Anderson in 1882 and the subsequent birth of their child, Sophia Anderson, my maternal grandmother.

You can follow that part of the story here.