Click
on the image here for a large size view of the tombstone. This image and the
following letter from The Mitchell Library in Glasgow were generously
contributed to the site by Susan
Crocker who has traced her ancestry to Maybole and the cemetery.
"Thank you for your letter regarding the manufacturing business of your great great grandfather John Murdoch. A check of the 1871-72 Post office directory for Glasgow found a listing for Murdoch, John & Co.. Woolen Manufacturers 38 Queen Street, House 84 Buccleuch Street. A further search of earlier directories found the first listing for him circa 1833-34 as John Murdoch & Co. manufacturers 63 Miller Street. By 1836 the entry was John Murdoch and Co. gingham, pullicate and muslin manufacturers, 63 Miller Street, house 168 Holm Street and by 1839 this had changed to John Murdoch of Steven, Blair & Co. (manufacturers) House 168 Holm Street. This continued until 1850 when the home address changed to 179 Hope Street. Murdoch, John & Co. re-appears in the 1856 directory and in 1866 they first appear at the Buccleuch Street address, listed once more as gingham and pullicate manufacturers (as was also the case from 1862). This changes in 1868 to the later entry of woolen manufacturer the listing of the 1872 Directory."
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It does get confusing with all the John Murdochs but I THINK that the manufacturer was the one born abt. 1794 who married Harriet McRonald, my gt. gt. grandparents. His father was also John Murdoch, a labourer in Maybole and I suppose it's possible that he founded the business originally. At one time the family lived in Allans Hill, Maybole and I once read on the Maybole site of the likely derivation of that name. I now believe that the family probably were weavers and that this cottage industry turned into the one in Glasgow. Susan Crocker