Jessie Russell Aitken

1894 - 1974  (79 years)

• Name	Jessie Russell Aitken
  Born	28 Aug 1894	Merchiston Bank, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland   [1]
  Gender	Female
  Residence	1901	Ballencrief Nursery, Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland   [2]
  Residence	17 Aug 1921	Ballencrief Nursery, Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland   [1]
  _UID	75B3D7EE81E34CCDB9AA024C4D75BFDE7A84
  Died	14 Jun 1974	Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland   [1]
  Person ID	I5184	My Big Tree
  Last Modified	16 Jun 2012

  
  

  Father	Peter Aitken,   b. 1854, Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland ,   d. 20 Oct 1937, Ballencrieff, West Lothian, Scotland  (Age 83 years)
  Mother	Janet Laurie Russell,   b. 3 May 1856, Torphichen, West Lothian, Scotland ,   d. 13 Jun 1934, Torphichen, West Lothian, Scotland  (Age 78 years)
  Married	3 Sep 1885	Hilderston Hill, Torphichen, West Lothian, Scotland
  	Witnesses at the wedding of Peter Aitken and Janet Russell were John Pender and Janet Roberts
  Family ID	F1635	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	James William Smith,   b. 26 Jul 1896, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland ,   d. 20 Jul 1971, Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland  (Age 74 years)
  Married	17 Aug 1921	Ballencrief Nursery, Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland   [1]
  	Marriage Certificate gives her full name as Jessie Russel Aitken. Witnesses were Elizabeth Aitken and James Galloway
  Children	1. James Aitken Smith,   b. 28 May 1923, Springbank, Uphall, West Lothian, Scotland ,   d. 2 Jun 2008, Craigview, Bo'ness, West Lothian, Scotland  (Age 85 years)
  Last Modified	3 Apr 2011
  Family ID	F2780	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Jessie stayed at home helping out in the nursery and with the housework. Peter, Jessie's youngest elder brother had been a postman and been very friendly with a workmate, James William Smith, and he also became friendly with the rest of the family, especially Jessie. Jimmy and Jessie courted and then married in 1921. According to her son James Aitken Smith; "After Jimmy and Jessie were married the first lived at Stankards Rows, or 'Randy Raws' as they were sometimes called. These stood just below Uphall Station, were the typical whitewashed stone cottages of the time and had been built for the local shale miners and oil workers who were a bit rough and ready. In May 1923 they moved to the middle cottage of "Springbank" a block of 3 semidetached cottages about 200 yards up Station Road from the the Miller's Bridge in Uphall. The cottages had been vacant and they, Jimmy and Jessie, had been allowed to move in a week before the Term or Quarter Day, the 28th May, when tenancies normally began or ended, because of their circumstances." At 11 pm on the 28th James Aitken Smith was born. About 9 years later, her husband was transferred to a bigger post office at Broxburn. And so the family moved to a cottage at Goshen. After the owner of the cottage wanted his cottage back the family moved to the East end of Broxburn. About 1937 the family were on the move again, this time to Bathgate to one of the Ballencrieff Farm cottages and then to the Ballencrieff Nursery. Jessie developed breast cancer . Fortunately the operation was successful however it had affected the lymph gland and she was left with a swollen left arm. After Jimmy died she continued to live at Ballencrieff on her own for a while. Her son James was working in Sunderland and so when his son Colin was accepted by Edinburgh he would stay with his gran until he obtained a place in the Univerity Halls of Residence. As Jessie got frailer and frailer she had to go to hospital where she passed away.

  
  

• Sources

  [S77] Terry Stewart (Reliability: 3). [S196] 1901 Census Scotland, Scotland. (Reliability: 3).