28^TH MARCH – MARY HAMILTON

Mary HAMILTON was my maternal G-G-Aunt who was born in 1859 at Glen, Port Glasgow to William Cunningham Bontine and Janet Cochrane (nee SMITH) HAMILTON.

Port Glasgow was a dreary, overcrowded, impoverished place and life there was hard. Of 11 children to William and Janet six died of consumption, including Mary. At 16 she lived longer than many of her siblings but succumbed to phythis pulmonaris after an illness of 15 months. Sadly this was just 3 weeks after her 5 year old brother Alexander had also died of consumption.