Margaret Campbell and John Stewart of the Tarbolton area were married in the 1860s. About a month before the marriage she had a son who wasn't registered until after the marriage. On his birth cert. the name Petticrew, with a line drawn through it, appears with the name Stewart in the column giving the child's name. Was this just a clerical error on a busy day, or was a Petticrew the father who 'did a runner'? I understand that shame of illegitimacy at that time was felt only if the mother remained unmarried after the birth. Margaret and John Stewart went on to have several children. John had himself been born to an unmarried mother who eventually married and had more children.

The cutty stool must have been well used at that period.