|
|
The Waugh Family
An historical
and photographic perspective

John Rogerson Waugh c 1885 |

Agnes Rennie c 1885 |
|
John
Rogerson Waugh & |
Agnes Rennie |
| Born:
August 1,
1833 |
Born: April
24, 1836 (Glenda Waugh) |
|
Place:
Lairdholme, Tundergarth, Scotland
|
Place: Carluke,
Lanarkshire |
|
Married: |
February 13, 1857 |
|
Place: |
Carluke, Lanarkshire |
|
Died:
March 7, 1908
|
Died:
Oct 18, 1915 |
|
Place: Morningside, Edinburgh
|
Place: Hillend Garden, Lesmahagow |
|
Buried: |
Buried: |
John Rogerson Waugh was the brother of
William
Waugh and uncle of John (the Joker) Waugh.
He was probably named in honour of Dr. John Rogerson of Lochmaben who
served as a Medical Doctor to Catherine the Great of Russia.
|
The Rennie Side of
the Family
|
Agnes Rennie's parents were James Rennie (born c. 1795) and Mary Scott (born c
1797).
1841 Scotland Census
- Carluke, Lanarkshire
James Rennie's
occupation was listed as "Cotton Handloom Weaver".
|
Name: |
Agnes Rennie |
|
Age: |
10
|
|
Estimated Birth Year: |
abt 1831 |
|
Gender: |
Female
|
|
Where born: |
Scotland |
|
Civil Parish: |
Carluke
|
|
County: |
Lanarkshire
|
|
Address: |
Carluke Crawford
St |
|
Parish Number: |
629
|
|
Household Members: |
|
Name |
Age |
|
James Rennie |
46
|
|
Mary Rennie |
44
|
|
David Rennie |
17
|
|
William Rennie |
15
|
|
Lilias Rennie |
13
|
|
Agnes Rennie |
10
|
|
Isabella Rennie |
5
|
|
Alison Rennie |
3
|
|
|
|
Source Citation: Parish: Carluke;
ED: 1; Page: 4; Line: 960; Roll: CSSCT1841_103-0430;
Year: 1841. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1841 Scotland
Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations
Network, Inc., 2006. Original data: 1841 Scotland Census.
Edinburgh, Scotland: General Register Office for Scotland.
Reels 1-151. General Register Office for Scotland,
Edinburgh, Scotland. Description: The 1841 Census for
Scotland was taken on the night of 6 June 1841. |
1851 Scotland Census
- Carluke, Lanarkshire
|
Name: |
James Rennie |
|
Age: |
56 |
|
Estimated Birth Year: |
abt 1795 |
|
Relationship: |
Head |
|
Spouse's Name: |
Mary |
|
Gender: |
Male |
|
Where born: |
Carluke,
Lanark |
|
Parish Number: |
629 |
|
Civil Parish: |
Carluke |
|
Town: |
Carluke |
|
County: |
Lanarkshire |
|
Address: |
Old Brigend |
|
Occupation: |
Hand Loom
Weaver (cotton) |
|
ED: |
1 |
|
Household schedule number: |
86 |
|
Line: |
14 |
|
Roll: |
CSSCT1851_150 |
|
Household Members: |
|
Name |
Age |
|
James Rennie |
56
|
|
Mary Rennie |
54
|
|
William
Rennie |
25 |
|
Lilias
Rennie |
23 |
|
Agness
Rennie |
20 |
|
James
Rennie |
9 |
|
|
|
Source Citation:
Parish: Carluke; ED: 1; Page: 14; Line: 21; Roll: 1073;
Year: 1851. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1851
Scotland Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The
Generations Network, Inc., 2006. Original data:
Scotland. 1851 Scotland Census. Reels 1-217. General
Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Description: The 1851 Census for Scotland was taken on
the night of 30/31 March 1851. The following information
was requested: place, name, relationship to head of
family, marital status, age, gender, profession,
birthplace, and whether blind, deaf, and dumb. |
1851 Scotland Census
- Hollows Mill, Canonbie
(uncertain)
Name:
WAUGH , John
Address: Hollows Mill(814) Parish: Canonbie
Relationship: household of John Graham Marital Status: unmarried
Occupation: SERVANT farm Age: 20 Born: born Middlebie Dms
Household No: 12/43 |
|
John Rogerson Waugh & Agnes
Rennie |
John Rogerson Waugh and Agnes Rennie were
married on February 13, 1857, in the United Presbyterian Church in Carluke. They had five children: Mary Waugh (born
January 13, 1858, in Cambusnethan), Isabella Waugh (born April 29, 1859,
in Cambusnethan), Lillias "Lily" Rennie Waugh (born February 24, 1861,
in Cambusnethan), Elizabeth "Lizzie" Waugh (born November 29, 1862, in
Cambusnethan), and George Waugh (born April 25, 1865, in Cambusnethan).
| Children |
Born |
Place |
Died |
Place |
| Mary |
Jan 13, 1858 |
Cambusnethan |
March 31, 1937 |
Crossford,
Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire |
| Isabella |
April 29, 1859 |
Cambusnethan |
Aug 23, 1944 |
Avondale and
Glassford, Lanarkshire |
| Lillias Rennie |
Feb 24, 1861 |
Cambusnethan |
May 10, 1929 |
Toronto, Ontario,
Canada |
| Elizabeth |
Nov 29, 1862 |
Cambusnethan |
Dec 3, 1945 |
Edinburgh |
| George |
April 25, 1865 |
Cambusnethan |
1909 |
Edinburgh |
1861 Scotland Census
- Cambusnethan, Lanarkshire
|
Name: |
John Waugh |
|
Age: |
28
|
|
Estimated
Birth Year: |
abt 1833
|
|
Relationship: |
Head
|
|
Spouse's name
: |
Agnes |
|
Gender: |
Male
|
|
Where born: |
Tennergarth, Dumfries
|
|
Registration
Number: |
628
|
|
Registration
district: |
Cambusnethan
|
|
Civil Parish: |
Cambusnethan
|
|
County: |
Lanarkshire
|
|
Address: |
Darngavel
Cottage |
|
Occupation: |
Coal
Miner |
|
ED: |
16
|
|
Household
schedule number: |
42
|
|
Line: |
22
|
|
Roll: |
CSSCT1861_93
|
|
Household
Members: |
|
Name |
Age |
|
John
Waugh |
28
|
|
Agnes
Rennie |
30
|
|
Mary
Waugh |
3
|
|
Lillias Waugh |
1 Mo
|
|
Isabella Waugh |
1
|
|
|
|
Source Citation:
Parish: Cambusnethan; ED: 16; Page: 8; Line: 22;
Roll: CSSCT1861_93; Year: 1861. Source Information:
Ancestry.com. 1861 Scotland Census [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network,
Inc., 2006. Original data: Scotland. 1861 Scotland
Census. Reels 1-150. General Register Office for
Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland. Description: The 1861
Census for Scotland was taken on the night of 7/8
April 1861. The following information was requested:
place, name, relationship to head of family, marital
status, age, gender, profession, birthplace, and
whether blind, deaf, and dumb. |
Just to the
north of Darngavel is Blackhall Cottage where John's brother
William Waugh married Alison Lindsay on Nov 29, 1861.
William Waugh and Alison Lindsay had
children born at Kirkhall, Auchterhead, Summerside,
and Daviesdyke (Kirkhall or Diura). John Rogerson Waugh's
parents George Waugh and Isabella Barclay were also living
in Allanton, Cambusnethan during the 1870s and until their
deaths in 1877 and 1878.
RCAHMS Archaeology Notes for
Kirkhall,
Daviesdykes &
Darngavel Cottage

Map showing location of Darngavel
Cottage c 1861
More detailed maps showing Darngavel, Kirkhall, Auchterhead, Summerside,
and Daviesdykes
1871 Scotland
Census - Cambusnethan, Lanarkshire
|
Name: |
John
Waugh |
|
Age: |
38
|
|
Estimated
Birth Year: |
abt
1833 |
|
Relationship: |
Head
|
|
Spouse's
name : |
Agnes |
|
Gender: |
Male
|
|
Where
born: |
Finnergath, Wigtonshire
|
|
Registration Number: |
628
|
|
Registration district: |
Cambusnethan
|
|
Civil
Parish: |
Cambusnethan
|
|
County: |
Lanarkshire
|
|
Address: |
Damside
|
|
Occupation: |
Coal
Miner |
|
ED: |
1
|
|
Household
schedule number: |
42
|
|
Line: |
10
|
|
Roll: |
CSSCT1871_120
|
|
Household
Members: |
|
Name |
Age |
|
John Waugh |
38
|
|
Agnes Waugh |
40
|
|
Mary Waugh |
13
|
|
Isabella Waugh |
11
|
|
Lillias Waugh |
10
|
|
Elizabeth Waugh |
8
|
|
George Waugh |
5
|
|
|
|
Source
Citation: Parish: Cambusnethan; ED: 1; Page: 7;
Line: 10; Roll: CSSCT1871_120; Year: 1871.
Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1871 Scotland
Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The
Generations Network, Inc., 2007. Original data:
Scotland. 1871 Scotland Census. Reels 1-191.
General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh,
Scotland. Description: The 1871 Census for
Scotland was taken on the night of 2/3 April
1871. The following information was requested:
place, name, relationship to head of family,
marital status, age, gender, profession,
birthplace, and whether blind, deaf, and dumb. |
Mary Waugh married Gavin
Stewart Scott (ploughman) on
Jan 3, 1876,
at Orchard Colliery in Carluke.

Mary Waugh
From
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/13065203/person/-1233528

Gavin Stewart Scott c. 1906
Mary Waugh and Gavin Scott had 12 children

Lillias Rennie Waugh, c 1880
1881 Scotland
Census - Carluke, Lanarkshire
|
Name: |
John
Waugh |
|
Age: |
48 |
|
Estimated
birth year: |
abt 1833 |
|
Relationship: |
Head |
|
Spouse's name
: |
Agnes |
|
Gender: |
Male |
|
Where born: |
Tundergath, Dumfreishire |
|
Registration
Number: |
629 |
|
Registration
district: |
Carluke |
|
Civil parish: |
Carluke |
|
County: |
Lanarkshire |
|
Address: |
Orchard
Colliery Row |
|
Occupation: |
Colliery
Oversman |
|
ED: |
5 |
|
Household
schedule number: |
154 |
|
Line: |
3 |
|
Roll: |
cssct1881_208 |
|
Household
Members: |
|
Name |
Age |
|
John
Waugh |
48 |
|
Agnes
Waugh |
50 |
|
Ellizabeth Waugh |
18 |
|
|
Source Citation: Parish: Carluke; ED: 5;
Page: 41; Line: 3; Roll cssct1881_208;
Year: 1881. Source Information:
Ancestry.com. 1881 Scotland Census [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations Inc, 2007.
Original data: Scotland. 1881 Scotland
Census. Reels 1-338. General Register Office
for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Description:
The 1881 Census for Scotland was taken on the
night of 3/4 April 1881. The following
information was requested: place, name,
relationship to head of family, marital status,
age, gender, profession, birthplace, and whether
blind, deaf, and dumb. |
Orchard Row, Overtown
This is a row of 36 two-apartment
houses owned by Houldsworth of Coltness, and let at a rental of 2s.
3d. per week, exclusive of rates. There are no sculleries. Water is
supplied by two stands in front of the row. Dust-bins are in use,
and scavenging of a sort is done regularly. Dry-closets of a very
unsatisfactory type are in use. There are small gardens in front of
those houses. [Evidence presented to Royal Commission, 25th March
1914]
http://www.scottishmining.co.uk/143.html
Lillias Rennie Waugh
married Alexander Thom Cringam on Aug 18, 1882. Alexander Thom
Cringan was born on Oct 13, 1860, in Carluke, Lanarkshire. His
parent's were Robert Cringan (b. 1821) and Janet Thom (b. 1826).
They were married on Oct 1, 1841, in Clarkson.
Alexander Cringan and
Agnes Rennie had eleven children: Robert Ellis Cringan (Aug 10, 1883
- Aug, 1907); John Waugh Cringan (July 23, 1885 - April 18, 1949);
Agnes Rennie Cringan (March 31, 1887 - Jan 25, 1968); Janet Thom
Cringan (Feb 27, 1889 - May 10, 1972); Lillias Waugh Cringan (Dec
20, 1890 - July 13, 1967); Elizabeth Russell Cringan (Dec 20, 1893 -
Oct, 1983); Isobel Margaret Cringan (Jan 31, 1895 - Jan 30, 1966);
Annie Clark Cringan (Feb 3, 1897 - Dec 4, 1977); Helen MacDonald
Cringan (June 11, 1899 - Feb 2, 1924); Marie Alexander Cringan (July
31, 1901 - Jan 11, 1992); and Catherine Gartshore Cringan (April 25,
1907 - March 13, 1960). - from Alex Cringan
See more about Alexander
Thom Cringan from Alex Cringan.

John Rogerson Waugh, Agnes Rennie with children Orchard Colliery, Carluke, Lanarskshire c 1885 Courtesy of Alex Cringan
Alexander Thom Cringan and
Lillias Rennie Waugh emigrated to Canada in 1886.
In the Edinburgh Post
Office Directory for 1888 there is a listing for John Waugh, coal
and lime agent; office, 12 Shandon Place.
1891 Scotland
Census - St. George Burgh, Edinburgh
|
Name: |
John R
Waugh |
|
Age: |
58 |
|
Estimated birth
year: |
abt 1833 |
|
Relationship: |
Head |
|
Spouse's name : |
Agnes |
|
Gender: |
Male |
|
Where born: |
Dumfriesshire |
|
Registration
Number: |
685A/2 |
|
Registration
district: |
St George Burgh |
|
Civil parish: |
Edinburgh St Cuthberts |
|
County: |
Midlothian |
|
Address: |
12 Shandon Place |
|
Occupation: |
Coal Merchant and Lime Agent |
|
ED: |
107 |
|
Household schedule
number: |
38 |
|
Line: |
14 |
|
Roll: |
CSSCT1891_338 |
|
Household Members: |
|
Name |
Age |
|
John R Waugh |
58 |
|
Agnes Waugh |
60 |
|
Isabella Waugh |
28 |
|
George Waugh |
26 |
|
|
Source Citation: Parish: Edinburgh
St Cuthberts; ED: 107; Page: 7;
Line: 14; Roll CSSCT1891_338; Year: 1891. Source
Information: Ancestry.com. 1891 Scotland Census
[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations Inc, 2007.
Original data: Scotland. 1891
Scotland Census. Reels 1-409. General Register
Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Description:
The 1891 Census for Scotland was taken on the night of
5/6 April 1891. The following information was requested:
place, name, relationship to head of family, marital
status, age, gender, profession, birthplace, and whether
blind, deaf, and dumb. |
1901 Scotland
Census - St. George Burgh, Edinburgh
|
Name: |
John
Waugh |
|
Age: |
68 |
|
Estimated birth year: |
abt 1833 |
|
Relationship: |
Head |
|
Spouse's name : |
Agnes |
|
Gender: |
Male |
|
Where born: |
Innvergarth,
Dumfriesshire |
|
Registration Number: |
685/1 |
|
Registration district: |
St George |
|
Civil parish: |
Edinburgh St
Michael |
|
County: |
Midlothian |
|
Address: |
26 Shandon Place |
|
Occupation: |
Coal Merchant |
|
ED: |
137 |
|
Household schedule number: |
58 |
|
Line: |
13 |
|
Roll: |
CSSCT1901_369 |
|
Household Members: |
|
Name |
Age |
|
John Waugh |
68 |
|
Agnes Waugh |
70 |
|
George Waugh |
35 |
|
Isabella
Waugh |
41 |
|
|
Source Citation: Parish: Edinburgh St Michael;
ED: 137; Page: 9; Line: 13; Roll CSSCT1901_369;
Year: 1901. Source Information:
Ancestry.com. 1901 Scotland Census [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations
Inc, 2007.
Original data: Scotland. 1901 Scotland Census. Reels
1-446. General Register Office for Scotland,
Edinburgh, Scotland.
Description:
The 1901 Census for Scotland was taken on the night of
31 March/1 April 1901. The following information was
requested: place, name, relationship to head of family,
marital status, age, gender, profession, birthplace, and
whether blind, deaf, and dumb. |

Shandon Place (lower left), home
of John Rogerson Waugh and Agnes Rennie during the 1891 and 1901
Scotland Census
1901 Canada Census - Ward Three, Toronto
Centre, Ontario
|
Name: |
Lillias W
Cringan |
|
Gender: |
Female |
|
Marital Status: |
Married |
|
Age: |
40 |
|
Birth Day & Month: |
24 Feb |
|
Birth Year: |
1861 |
|
Birthplace: |
Scotland |
|
Relation to Head of House: |
Wife |
|
Immigration Year: |
1885 |
|
Racial or Tribal Origin: |
Scotch (Scotish) |
|
Nationality: |
Canadian |
|
Religion: |
Presbyterian |
|
Province: |
Ontario |
|
District: |
Toronto (Centre) (City/Cité) |
|
District Number: |
116 |
|
Sub-District: |
Toronto (Centre) (City/Cité) Ward/Quartier
No 3 |
|
Sub-District Number: |
A-35 |
|
Household Members: |
|
Name |
Age |
|
Alex T Cringan |
40 |
|
Lillias W Cringan |
40 |
|
Robert Cringan |
17 |
|
John Cringan |
15 |
|
Agnes Cringan |
14 |
|
Jennie Cringan |
12 |
|
Lillias Cringan |
10 |
|
Bessie Cringan |
8 |
|
Isabel Cringan |
5 |
|
Annie Cringan |
3 |
|
Helen Cringan |
1 |
|
Abigial Clarkoon |
43 |
|
|
Source Citation: Year: 1901;Census Place: Toronto
(Centre) (City/Cité) Ward/Quartier No 3, Toronto
(Centre) (City/Cité), Ontario. Page 14, Family No: 133. Source Information:
Ancestry.com. 1901 Census of Canada [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations
Inc, 2006.
Original data: Library and Archives Canada. Census
of Canada, 1901. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library
and Archives Canada, 2004. <http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1901/index-e.html>.
Series RG31-C-1. Statistics Canada Fonds. Microfilm
reels: T-6428 to T-6556.
Images are reproduced with the permission of Library
and Archives Canada.
Description:
The fourth census of Canada covers seven provinces -
British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
Ontairo, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec; two
territories - the Yukon Territory and the Northwest
Territories; and one district - the District of
Keewatin. In 1901 the Northwest Territories was
comprised of these seven districts: Alberta, Assiniboia,
Athabasca, Franklin, Mackenzie, Saskatchewan, and
Ungava. The census provides many details about
individuals and families including: name, gender, age,
relationship to head of household, marital status,
birthplace, religion, and occupation. |

Advertisement for Toronto Conservatory of Music,
circa 1900, including ATC's ad; from collection of Beth Campbell
In the Edinburgh
Post Office Directory for 1904 there is a listing for a John R.
Waugh & Son, coal agents, 26 Shandon Pl; Telephone 1410 Central.

Waugh, Jn. R. & Son, coal agents,
26 Shandon Pl.;
Telephone, 1410 Central; Slateford Rd.; Telephone, 1410A Central

Motor Cars advertisement from the
Edinburgh Post Office Directory for 1904 - 1905
John Rogerson Waugh died on
March 7, 1908, at
84 Marchmont Crescent, Edinburgh.
George Waugh, Coal Merchant, Single, died of
"general paralysis"
in 1909, at the age of 43. His sister, Elizabeth Robertson, 84
Marchmont Crescent, was the informant.
1911 Scotland Census -
Hallhill Farm, Kirkfield Bank, Lesmahagow

Gavin Stewart Scott (69), Mary Waugh Scott (53),
Thomas Scott (29), Jean Scott (19), Mary Scott (15), Lillias
Scott (11), Agnes Rennie (80)
See
original document
1911 Canada Census -
633 Church St., Ward Three, Toronto North, Ontario
|
Name: |
Lillias
Cringan |
|
Gender: |
Female |
|
Marital Status: |
Married |
|
Age: |
50 |
|
Birth Date: |
Feb 1861 |
|
Birthplace: |
Scotland |
|
Relation to Head of House: |
Wife |
|
Spouse's Name: |
Alex T Cringan |
|
Immigration Year: |
1886 |
|
Tribal: |
Scotch (Scotish) |
|
Province: |
Ontario |
|
District: |
Toronto North |
|
District Number: |
126 |
|
Sub-District: |
Ward three |
|
Sub-District Number: |
84 |
|
Place of Habitation: |
633 Church St |
|
Household Members: |
|
Name |
Age |
|
Alex T Cringan |
50 |
|
Lillias Cringan |
50 |
|
John W Cringan |
25 |
|
Agnes R Cringan |
24 |
|
Janet C Cringan |
22 |
|
Lillias W Cringan |
20 |
|
Elizabeth R Cringan |
18 |
|
Isabella M Cringan |
16 |
|
Annie C Cringan |
14 |
|
Helen M Cringan |
12 |
|
Marie A Cringan |
9 |
|
Catherine G Cringan |
4 |
|
Abbie Clarkson |
55 |
|
|
Source Citation: Year: 1911;Census Place: Ward
three, Toronto North, Ontario. Page 5, Family
No: 47. Source Information:
Ancestry.com. 1911 Census of Canada [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations Inc, 2006.
Original data: Library and Archives Canada.
Census of Canada, 1911. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada:
Library and Archives Canada, 2007. <http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1911/index-e.html>.
Series RG31-C-1. Statistics Canada Fonds.
Microfilm reels T-20326 to T-20460.
Images are reproduced with the permission of
Library and Archives Canada.
Description:
This fifth census of Canada covers the nine
provinces and two territories of Canada as of 1911:
Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec,
Saskatchewan, the Yukon Territory, and the Northwest
Territories. The census provides many details about
individuals and families including: name, gender,
age, birthplace, year of immigration, nationality,
and origin. The names of those listed in the census
are linked to actual images of the 1911 Census. |
Abbie Clarkson is the housekeeper
Agnes Rennie died on
Oct 18, 1915, in
Hillend Gardens, Lesmahagow.
Alexander Thom Cringan and Lillias
Waugh arrived into Glasgow from Montreal aboard the Canadian Pacific
Steamship Minnedosa on Aug 16, 1928.
Their proposed address in the UK was c/o Wm. Russell, Maplehurst,
Carluke, Scotland.
Lillias Rennie Waugh died on
May 10, 1929,
in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Mary Waugh Scott died on
March 31, 1937,
in Hillend Gardens, Lasmahagow.
Isabella Waugh died on
Aug 23, 1944,
at 70 Townhead St., Strathaven, Avondale and Glassford,
Lanarkshire. The informant was J.W. Scott, Nephew, University
College, Cardiff.
Elizabeth Waugh
Robertson, Widow of George Robertson, Marine Engineer, died on
Dec 3, 1945,
at 12 Melville Terrace, Edinburgh, at the age of 83.
|
Lillias Rennie Waugh &
Alex Cringan |
The following information and photos have been
provided courtesy of Alex Cringan (grandson of Lillias Rennie Waugh):
Trimble, Dorothy Irene
Robertson, 1990. THE HERITAGE OF THE PAST: Settlers: Alexander Thom
Cringan and Lillias Rennie Waugh. Published privately, Toronto, ON., Canada
Lillias Rennie Waugh (1861-1929), the third of
five children of John Waugh (1833-1908) and Agnes Rennie (1836-aft1908),
was born in Cambusnethan, Lanarkshire, Scotland, February 24, 1861. She
married Alexander Thom Cringan (1860-1931) on August 18, 1882. They had
11 children, two sons born in Scotland, and nine daughters born in
Canada. Lillias and Alex and their two sons emigrated from Scotland to
Canada in 1886.

Lillias Rennie Waugh Cringan and
Alexander Thom Cringan camping with their first three children in the
summer of 1887; Robert, standing, John seated on the ground, and Rennie
in arms; photo taken in either Niagara Falls or Balmy Beach; given to
Alex Cringan by Dorothy Trimble.
Lillias Rennie Waugh Cringan has been
described by members of her family as intelligent, accepting,
compassionate and patient. Although very busy with her eleven children
and home, she had many interests and a deep concern for others. Lillias
was concerned about pre-school education. Her daughter, Marie Taylor,
recalls when she was four years old going with her mother every Thursday
to the home of Mrs. James L. Hughes where several ladies experimented
with various teaching methods such as Montessori and Proeblian. Lillias
was concerned about the rights of women. As was the custom, Lillias gave
calling cards to friends which announced the days she would be "At
home" to receive visitors. Over tea they discussed the issues of the day
and the rights of women. She campaigned for Margaret Patterson who
became the first Magistrate of Women's Court in Toronto. She belonged to
a support group for the Yorkville Home for Unmarried Mothers and
frequently employed their girls as domestics. She was a member of the
Women's Christian Temperance Union. Lillias did not want anyone thinking
that she was anxious to marry off her nine daughters. When in their
teens only two of the girls were allowed to attend the same party. When
young gentleman called for the girls to take them to parties or concerts
Lillias would seldom appear in case they should think that they were
being looked over as prospective husbands. Some of Lillias wise sayings
and practices have been carried down through the generations. "The back
is made for the burden rather than the burden for the back" was a
favourite saying. "One cuts and the other chooses" was a rule handed
down to our children when food such as an apple or a piece of cake was
to be shared. "Never let the sun go down on your wrath" was another
guideline. "Better that their bones be broken than their spirit" was an
adage by which the Cringan children were brought up and which Rennie
perpetuated in bringing up Bill and Cringan.
Alexander Thom Cringan
visited Canada in 1885-86 (on the Circassia, g in New York Oct. 19,
1885), then returned to Britain where he completed his Licentiate at
Curwen's Tonic Sol-Fa College in London. In 1887 A.T. and Lillias Waugh
with sons Robert Cringan and John Cringan came to Canada in a ship
powered by both sails and engine. Near Newfoundland the rudder of the
ship broke and the ship foundered for six weeks before they were
rescued. Six weeks after they arrived in Toronto Agnes Rennie Cringan
was born.
The Toronto Directory lists the addresses
of Alexander Thom Cringan as follows: 1887 - 168 Robert Street, 1888 354 Huron Street,
1890-92 - 23 Avenue Road, 1893 - 34 Sussex Street, 1898 - 633 Church Street,
1920's - 1262 Broadview Avenue, East York.
Biographical Note from
TORONTO ART AND MUSIC (1891):
The leader of the choir of
the Central Presbyterian Church, Mr. Alexander T. Cringan, was born at
Carluke, Lanarkshire, Scotland, October 13th, 1860. Receiving his early
training at the local Grammar School, he got his musical education at
the Tonic Sol Fa College, London, Eng., where he took the special
subjects of harmony and voice training and the art of teaching music.
Mr. Cringan is a graduate and licentiate of the Tonic Sol Fa College
[2] , having the degree of G.L.T.S.C. In 1887 he was appointed
Superintendent of Music for the Toronto Public Schools. He was conductor
of the Tonic Sol Fa Society during 1886-7. Since 1887 he has been
identified with the Scottish Select Choir and the Summer School of Music
of the American Vocal Music Association. Mr. Cringan is the author of
the Canadian Music Course and Teachers' Handbook. He conducted with
marked ability the school children's concert in the Pavilion Music Hall,
March 21st, 1890, and the Carnival Concert in the Crystal Palace in the
same year. Since 1887 he has been choirmaster at the Central
Presbyterian Church.

Alex Cringan Univ. of Toronto Graduation, 1899

The Cringan Family c 1904

Lillias Rennie Waugh
MUSIC WORLD BEREAVED IN DEATH OF A. T. CRINGAN
Veteran Teacher Was Known to Toronto for 45 Years
YOUTHFUL SPIRIT By Augustus Bridle (From Toronto Daily Star) (1931)
Music to him was never old.
Enthusiasm was never dim. Interest never flagged. He loved as much to
sing at the age of 70 as he did at 25. The art of music as a language
remained to him as tremendous as it had been when, in 1885, he came to
Toronto as the first chief of music in the public schools.
Surviving are a brother,
Robert, in Los Angeles, California; a son, John W., Toronto; eight
married daughters, Mrs. William C. McIntyre, Ogdensburg, N. Y.; Mrs.
James W. Gardner, Hamilton; Mrs. Rhoderick (sic) Macdonald, Windsor;
Mrs. Ewen S. Campbell, Detroit, and Mrs. R. C. Trimble, Mrs. Lloyd
Morrow, Mrs. Walter S. Taylor, and Mrs. Joseph Atkinson Jr., all of
Toronto. Another daughter died eight years ago to-day.
The body will be In
Rosedale Presbyterian church, Huntley and South Drive, for half an hour
on Tuesday afternoon previous to the service which is to take place at
three o'clock. A private service will be held at 1.15 o'clock in the
home of Mrs. Trimble on Inglewood Drive.
Recall First Appearance
Thousands of fathers and
mothers all over Canada recall the days when the young Scot from
Edinburgh with the tenor voice, the fine Scottish accent and the glowing
evangelism in a new cause stood before them in the classroom. His
message to them was the alluring tone relations between the five whole
tones and two semitones in the diatonic scale. With a wooden pointer he
traced out on the modulator the outlines of a melody - sometimes two
pointers at once, one for the "air," the other for the second part in
harmony. He showed them by ear and eye the almost personal
characteristics of these tones.
Because this was news,
Cringan liked it. To hear children sing was always, to him, one more
proof of heaven upon earth. To help them discover tone, pitch, melody,
simple harmony, was in him a sensation of the divine element in man.
Years ago a speaker on art
told how once upon a time he had tried to teach seven races of children
unable to speak English in a western school the colors of tones in the
scale by using seven colored cardboard notes to imitate the rainbow.
"I was glad to hear you
make that point," said Cringan with a rare Scottish twinkle. "But it was
not you that discovered it. Neither did I. But I read it years ago in a
magazine."
Not much that was new in
singing ever escaped this master of teaching children to sing, who had
reared ten children of his own in a home whose constant atmosphere was
the joy of music.
Had Perennial Optimism
It is almost perfunctory to
say that A. T. Cringan was one of the few musicians left in Canada of
the older nineteenth century school besides Mr. and Mrs. H. M. Blight,
E. W. Schuch and Edgar Doward. But when musicians older than himself
might recall the good old days of oratorio and Torrington and Adelina
Patti, he could always take a grander joy in the musical joys of the
present and the future. I have met many musicians; never one of finer
perennial optimism than A. T. Cringan.
He was born and educated in
Lanarkshire, married in Edinburgh, and took his earliest music training
in the Tonic Sol-Fa college in London. He came to Canada in 1885;
returned to Edinburgh in 1886 to finish a college course; became
choirmaster first of Central Presbyterian church on the corner of what
is now Bay St. and Grosvenor St. - torn down when Bay St. was extended
and widened. In 1897 he became choirmaster of Cooke's church, four years
after it was dedicated. He was one of the charter members of the
Mendolssohn choir in 1894, when A. S. Vogt conducted part-songs and
motets in Massey Hall with a chorus of less than 100.
For several years after his
retirement from the directorship of music in public schools he had a
vocal studio at the Toronto Conservatory, while he continued to teach
music to classes in the Toronto normal and model schools.
In his later years he
became inspector of music for Provincial normal and model schools and
remained in that capacity until his death.
Cringan was not merely a
musical educator; he was a lifelong apostle. He did for School music in
Toronto very much what Torrington did for church music and oratorio. He
was a pioneer. Before he came here, music in schools was a Cinderella of
the curriculum. It was his job to liberate it by scholarly enthusiasm.
Won Recognition
He was one of the few
musicians of the last decade of the 19th century to gain the degree of
Mus. Bac. in the University of Toronto.
He was not content to be an
evangel of the Tonic Sol-Fa; he would demonstrate that a man who
believed in this rather revolutionary system for schools was as
competent to pass technical and academic tests as any of those who
believed there
was nothing good in music
outside the treble and bass clef. As one result of this he became one of
the first presidents of the Toronto Clef Club at a time when perhaps no
other member of the club had any use for Tonic Sol-Fa at all.
He believed mind and soul
in a system which had its origin in England and by which, to this day,
even in Toronto, many Britishers sing; the system which got its
fundamentals, not in arbitrary lines and space and ABC as on the
keyboard, but in the scale itself, that could be shifted up and down on
the lines and spaces a,s a man climbs a ladder.
In the '60's and '70's this
Tonic Solfa notation based in its scale upon an old Italian do-re-mi or
solfeggi system, became all the rage in English schools. Children
learned to sing at sight by means of it, much more easily than by the
use of notes on lines with dots and tails and what not.
It was Cringan's
self-imposed and at first unpopular task to teach this system. He
believed in it because he had learned by it. He succeeded in teaching
children to become interested, not in a mechanical art of reading by the
mere sense of pitch from the staff but to be conscious of the tones in
the scale itself; the family of five tones and two semitones each
related to the other by a sort of mystic bond.
For years all the choruses
that Cringan trained for school concerts sang from Curwen's Tonic Sol-Fa
sheets. Later he adopted a modified system, using the Tonic Sol-fa for a
scale only and teaching classes to sing to the staff notation by means
of the movable Doh. But he never gave up his early belief that scale is
the great thing, that the ear is mare fundamental in music than the eye.
The system taught in junior classes to-day, not only in Toronto but all
over Ontario is essentially what Cringan taught when he came here in
1886.
Trained Chorus for Royal
Visit
When Massey Hall was opened
in 1894 one of the programs was taken by a chorus of 700 children
trained and conducted by Cringan. When the present King and Queen
visited Toronto in 1902 he was asked as a compliment to conduct the
great chorus of 6,000 children who sang in honor of the visit. He was
then teaching music in model and normal schools and had passed his Mus.
Bac. Tor.
Nearly twenty years ago I
was shown a copy of the Ontario archaeological report of which one of
the most interesting chapters was a record of how A. T. Cringan in 1897
had anticipated all the present-day Indian folksong collectors in Canada
in transcribing by ear a number of Indian melodies, a thing never before
done in Canada.
Patiently he listened to an
Indian chief from the Munceytown reservation sing the old Five Nations
melodies; and he set them down. In this baffling melodic feat he found
the enormous value of the ear training he had received in the Tonic Sol-Fa.
It made no difference exactly on what pitch the chief had his Doh, the
melody was taken down as parts of the scale. making with students at the
summer school which he regularly conducted at the University Training
school here. These students were all teachers of music. To him they were
all youths like himself, gloriously venturing upon fresh musical
discoveries in an age when most of the marvels of music are in
mechanism.
He made an entire
phonograph collection of Indian melodies which he transcribed in the
report
[4]; and for years later his reports covering a total of 100
Iroquois melodies, formed a valuable item in the annual book issued by
David Boyle the Ontario archaeologist.
Mr. Cringan delivered a
series of lectures on this subject in Canada and Great Britain, and he
also wrote a series of practical works on the teaching of music. He was
always ready to prove a point. He loved discussion rather than argument.
He was always learning from experience and from the successes of other
people.
Aided Mendelssohn Choir
To the Mendelssohn Choir he
devoted several years of his leisure hours. He seldom missed a
rehearsal. In the great works of the choir he found direct inspiration
and was one of the most emphatic in declaring that here was a new gospel
of choral music. After lessons at the Conservatory he used often to walk
up with Vogt through Queen's Park, discussing the works of the choir.
"I think Brahms must have
been a tenor singer," he said once, discussing the Brahms Requiem. "He
makes the tenor parts of his works so beautiful."
Music to him was life. For
it he never felt that he was sacrificing anything. With his courage,
zeal, mental ability and tireless industry he might have been much more
materially successful in a business. But he was born to teach, to sing,
to be an evangel. In days when the material rewards of music were low he
brought up a family to all of whom he gave a good education, and, what
was more precious, the example of a character who always saw more good
than evil in others, was always ready to devote himself to a cause,
remained a consistent member of the church and was always ready to help
some one less experienced than himself.
In music he did a pioneer
work in Canada second only to that of Torrington and Vogt. When
Torrington was king of music here, Mr. Cringan was one of his ablest
helpers. He taught many a school choir patriotic pieces for Torrington
to conduct. When Vogt took the more modern leadership, he became a still
greater enthusiast for the new works.
The death of his elder son,
one of Canada's most promising violinists, was a severe blow to one who
loved both music and family so deeply. The death of Mrs. Cringan last
year removed one who had been much more than a good mother. The Cringan
home was always a place of gladness in which music had a wonderful part.
In that home, or in the school, in the choir loft, in the chorus, in the
studio, Alexander T. Cringan was always a man of extraordinary warmth of
personality, whom it was a pleasure to meet because he was not only a
great enthusiast, a merry soul and a real gentleman, but also had the
genuine qualities of a vastly original character. The foregoing is
from Trimble's article on ATC in Trimble (1990).
ALEXANDER THOM CRINGAN
A kindly gentleman has left
us, and though our hearts are sore because he has gone, yet was there no
sorrow in his leaving, for he was glad to be away to be with one whom he
missed sorely. He loved his music, he loved his garden with its flowers,
his pipe and his game of curling, but best of all he loved the gentle
little woman whom he called Mother - she who had stood by his side
through all the years, the mother of his children and in very surety his
partner.
He was too good a soldier
to show his grief over being left behind when she went on, but his heart
is happy now, because he is with her. His son and his daughters have the
happy memory of a good father and a Christian gentleman, and we in
Rotary the knowledge that Rotary is poorer because he has gone, but
richer because of the imprint his life left on the history of our Club.
Alex. Cringan carried in his life all those attributes of a good
Rotarian and the example he left us will be ever an inspiration to his
fellow-members that they should pattern their lives likewise.
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