: I love the maps. They reveal something that I had not
: appreciated--the nearness of these settlements.

: Caldwell Country is smaller in area than the San
: Francisco Bay Area. There is less distnce between
: Beith and Ayr than between San Francisco and San Jose
: (49 mi). Any debate between where the Caldwells have
: resided the longest in Scotland is virtually
: meaningless from the historical viewpoint.

Poor people did not move residence much and you will find that families lived in the same general areas for generations. This is what makes following older family trees easier (where records exist).

It is notable that once a major move has been made further moves become easier as family bonds slacken. Hence our family first moved to England then Wales and then Australia. Others in our family moved to mines on the East Coast of Scotland before they emigrated overseas. Also note the great flood of Irish-Scots to the USA several generations after moving from Scotland. Many of those arriving in the US moved on again from the place of first settlement. It is the initial break with family that is the hardest.

Few owned horses let alone carts to move their possessions however meagre the might be. Only the wealthy could afford wheeled transport. There is no doubt that the wealthier did in fact own possessions in disparate areas but movement of the less wealthy was usually before marriage, due to marriage or shortly after marriage, otherwise they had to be displaced to move.

Poor people walked, and walked considerable distances, and so were probably familiar with all areas at least 10 miles away by radius and perhaps 20 miles or more. This would be especially true if they had relatives in these areas.

Physically moving house any great distance would be another thing entirely as it would mean moving children and belongings. This would be harder still without a family support network.

It is known that people migrating overseas were very hesitant to do so and relied on a "pathfinder" usually a single male who went out as an "adventure" once established letters would proclaim the great advantages and wealth of the new land and after much correspondence families would take the plunge and their letters back to friends and relatives in the "old country" precipitated further migrations to places where a support network had been already established. Once there of course they fanned out again. I suspect early internal migrations in Scotland worked a similar principle in a micro sort of form.

There is no doubt that social and work conditions would inhibit movement or force it whichever the way the pendulum swung.

I have heard stories of young men walking all night to woo girls at a distant hamlet and there is no doubt that young men and women moved to where the work was at the time.

However in stable social conditions I doubt if that movement was over great distances. (We are talking pre-steamship, railway and good roads). Pathways and bridle tracks cris-crossed the land but roads were often vile and frequently impassible.

I quite agree that unheavals and other factors could cause some dislocation of residence however the district of Cunningham seems strangly devoid of Caldwell's. There may a good reason for this.

I have heard of Caldwell's in Kilwinning, Stewarton and Dunlop. These are most likely outlying families from the Beith-Kilbarchan area.

South of the Irvine they are common again running through the Ayr River Valleys and in fewer numbers again in Carrick as one might expect. The Caldwell's in the Kilmarnock region and around Irvine to Saltcoats can be seen as Southern Ayrshire Caldwell's merging with those from Beith. Those in the Largs area may have connections going back to Kilmarnock.

My contention is that the familes are obviously related but that there was a strong presence of Caldwell's in the southern districts of Ayrshire at about the time surnames were first adopted.

Although they were associated with the Mure family from Kilmarnock to Neilston the Mures do not seem to have any association with the South of the Irvine Caldwell's and those of the Beith-Kilbarchan area. These seem to be the most dense Caldwell populations and are much more likely to be associated with the Stewart family.

I can produce two further maps in which I will mark the farms known to have Caldwell associations. By "associations" I mean that these farms were tenanted by Caldwell's at one time or another it does not mean that they actually owned them. (I will do this as soon as I can).

David of Manitoba is of great help in identifying "Caldwell Farms" and no doubt he will be able to significantly help in this area.

In Renfrew and North Ayrshire Caldwell's seem to have been Substantial Farmers, Tradesmen and Weavers. South of the Irvine Caldwells seem to have been Farmers (great and small), Tradesmen, Town Burgesses (in Ayr), Gentry (possibly clergymen) in Symington and Prestwick, and Coal Miners (possibly ex-farm labourers or cottars or from Ireland).

My family came to the St Quivox area from places unknown but I am increasingly coming to favour Dalmellington via Coylton-Ayr. If this is true it would mean a journey of residence of about 10 miles at most over three to four generations or more from the poorer upland valley area to the coast. Allan Caldwell moved to Old Rome for work before their family was finished. I know from my research that Coal Masters provided carts and housing to entice coal miners to come and work at their new pits. This sort of help was probably not available to farm workers. Their son John set up house in Galston about 8 miles away. I am presuming that John walked there with a few belongings and met a local girl there. Certainly his wife's surname "Morton" is very common in the Galston/Loudoun area. Other members of the family traipsed around the mine workings (evidenced by the places of birth of their children) before settling at Dreghorn within "spitting" distance of Old Rome. The fact that a brother and sister and their families were in roughly the same places at the same time and eventually settled in the same area is evidence to me that there was a family support system in operation. The fact that our Galston/Riccarton branch maintained connections to Dreghorn also shows to me that this family support system lasted at least four generations.

Also the fact is that even to this day we were the only branch of our family to leave Scotland and this was more due to the fact that my mother had no immediate family connections left there and was full of wanderlust If both sides had strong family connections there was a strong bond that keeps them within visiting distance.

Connections, more than likely, but there may well be several sources of the Caldwell surname - certainly in England and Scotland but also perhaps in Ayrshire as well.

Tom