St. Brides Church Kirk Douglas
This late 14th century church currently in the care of Historic Scotland is now the Mausoleum of the Black Douglases and contains the tomb of the Good Sir James Douglas who carried Robert the Bruce's heart on crusade.
Thomas Barrie Douglas was a little wild.
Born in 1869, he was from the Black Douglas clan and very proud of the role his family had played throughout history.
They had fought alongside William Wallace and again with Robert the Bruce. After the Douglas lands had been taken and the family scattered, some made their living by luring the English ships onto the rocks. Thomas was descended from these wreckers.
Thomas’s father was a very stern man, a Scot who tolerated no nonsense and ran his household accordingly. He was very tall, well over six feet, with a propensity to drink excessively and fight as a result. Rumours surfaced about his living in a treehouse with a native woman but that was never substantiated, although it certainly is possible. Thomas did not inherit his father’s manner. His mother Caroline’s family were cabinet makers and the base of their business had been caskets. This was sound thinking since there would never be a time in their foreseeable future when the need for such things would diminish. They agreed to take young Thomas on as an apprentice, mostly to help Caroline who found herself in an increasingly difficult marriage and wanting better for her son. It was a successful venture and Thomas became exceptionally good at his craft.
He was honest, kind, gregarious and loved to laugh. He had arrived at the Watson farm to do business when he first saw seventeen-year-old Zillah. His manner was charming, she would later recall. His blond hair was slightly disheveled from the wind and his bright blue eyes danced when he caught her looking at him in the yard. He became good friends with her older brothers and was often over to the house on a visit. Eventually he asked permission to court her properly and in later years she would talk of how worldly he seemed compared with the other young men she knew. He was ten years her senior and the two couldn’t have been more different. She was dark-haired and dark-eyed and from a hardworking Scottish farm family. Her mother was a Mitchell from Fife.
Source: Ian Mitchell via Wikipedia Commons
It was not a match her parents had encouraged. There was some wild blood in his line from the Borderlands that they considered a problem but she was in love and finally her parents relented. They married in July of 1897 and Thomas declared that never was there such a love as he felt for her.
Their first child was born March 4, 1899, just two weeks before Zillah’s twentieth birthday. It was a girl and they named her Alma Louella. The name came from a heroine in a novel my grandmother had been reading.
Their second child, a son named Norman, was born January 18, 1901. Another boy, Thomas Beverly, arrived on November 26, 1902. Life was filled with babies and domestic bliss. Thomas was gifted at his craft and earned well for his growing family at first. Then he began to drink. He wasn’t a man to drink every day or even every week. It happened once in a while but then he would be gone for days. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for a young mother whose husband suddenly does not come home. She had three children, all aged three and under. When Thomas returned to her, he begged her forgiveness and she nursed him back to health.
Her friend Ida gave her a solution for detoxification. In her notes, it says to put "a heaping teaspoon of sulphur powder in milk, 1/2 cup afterwards and take for 15 nights". The sulphur powder would be known as MSM today and is not only good for arthritis and rheumatism but also for alcoholism and liver damage. Zillah sat by her husband's side until he was well again. He returned to work where they were glad to have him back. There would be no more children for almost four years.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:7
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More from days gone by...
- Living at the Turn of the 20th Century: Would You Survive or Thrive?
Living at the turn of the 20th century was not as easy as it may appear. Could you do it? - Homelife in the Early 20th Century: The Kitchen
The old photographs make kitchens look beautiful, artistic and enviable for their simple and organic textures. Sounds from the street would drift through the open kitchen window; children playing, horses... - A Bushel and a Peck: How to translate old recipe measures
If you are curious about old recipes and decide to try a few, you may run into a problem trying to determine the correct measurements. Here's all the information you need to start cooking! - How to Make Silky Smooth Skin Lotion: Italian Balm
Italian Balm was available commercially decades ago and still today is a cherished lotion. You can make your own from this recipe I found in my grandmother's notebook.
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