That’s it. What do you make of it? To me, it seems, as I noted earlier that Alexander came over in 1853, started the business in 1854 then handed it to his father in 1864...or perhaps his brother.
Well Hugh and Sarah did have a son Alexander born 1830. He went to Australia in 1853. They also had another son Hugh born 1839. So it's possible that Alexander sold the business to either his brother or father. Now Hugh the father born 1801 emigrated to Australia in 1863. So maybe to his father.......but.... There are reports of a fire next Hugh Borland's boots & shoes in 1873 Code: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197928217?searchTerm=%22hugh%20borland%22%20fire We know that Hugh Snr died in Scotland in 1870. So I would say to his brother.....
Ah ha. Yes I did come across those fire reports but skipped passed as it wasn’t what I was looking for.
So thank you to @Chimp for finding information for me. I now have a copy of Hugh Borland's Will. Hugh being the one that went back to Scotland due to not liking the Australian weather. If anyone would be interested in transcribing it so as to make it more understandable it would be very much appreciated. Cheers
@Chimp I did start to look for immigration records but really had no idea where to start. Basically was website jumping putting in names and guessing dates. Thanks for this.
From my best guess, the arrivals of the Borland's in Victoria are as follows. The last 2 on the list I'm not sure of. The names and years of births are taken from the combined 1841/51/61 censuses 1841 - High Street, Irvine 1851 - Drakemire, Dalry 1861 - North Street, Dalry Hugh, Sarah, Jane, John and Martha who went out in 1863 are all together on the 1861 census.
As @MattFow has started a second thread, this time about the BORLAND family specifically, if any of you super sleuths uncover anything relating to them, please post on that thread, which may be found here.
Not much more on Robert Wilson. Lots of googling but no definite sightings before the baptisms of his children. (Glad you looked up Sarah's - the old Scottish records are wonderful to see). He and Janet's second child Mary was baptised 1790. I can't see a marriage for him and Janet. However they may not have officially married - in Scotland at that time a cohabiting couple were seen as legally married and children were legitimate. They had a large number of children some of whom must have died in infancy as the names are reused. All seem to have been daughters so unlikely to have become blacksmiths! I don't know when Robert died as there are no death records for Kilmarnock before 1855. In the 1837 trade directory he is not a listed blacksmith so probably died before then. He is not with Janet in the 1841 census. In the 1851 census the address where Janet is living is Wilson's Land, Strand Street. Their immediate neighbours are also living at Wilson's Land. This suggests that Robert had owned his property ( even if it was quite modest). Janet was alive in 1851 but unfortunately must have died before 1855 so there is no civil registration of her death. However in 1855 Elizabeth is noted as the owner of 2 dwelling houses in Strand Street. If you are interested in looking at maps the National Library of Scotland have zoomable maps and town plans of Kilmarnock free to view. All helps to build up a picture of the life of Sarah and her family.