Russell Brown wrote, on 17 March 2001: Subject: [McPitz] Re: Draffan Gas Coal Pit > Does anyone know of information on the Draffan (?) gas coal pit? My > GGGrandfather, John Brown, was "oversman" at that mine in 1861. My best > guess is that it was in the Lesmahagow area. Only four years later he died > from complications due to a mining accident. Thanks > Russell Brown Russell, my GF, Thomas WILLIAMSON, was born at Draffan in Lanarkshire in 1878, he migrated with his family to the USA in 1880 or 1881, and he died in Alabama in 1929 as a result of a mine accident. My wife and I visited Scotland in 1995 and went to both Lesmahagow and Draffan. Draffan is shown on our Granada AA road atlas of Britain: it is about four miles N-NW of the village of Lesmahagow and about one mile east of the M74 highway. It is not really even a community now, being only about four buildings, two of which are on one farm. We also visited the Craignethan Castle about 1-1/2 miles east of Draffan: a very interesting castle. The attendant fellow at the castle shop told us that he had heard of two mines in the area, the Draffan and the Fense, but he did not know the exact locations. We did do some research at the local library in Lesmahagow, but did not succeed in finding out anything about mines in the area. The library at the town of Lanark is well equipped with a history and genealogy section, but on two visits there so far we have not found out much about the mines in the area, which however may be more our own failing than the librarians'. I would appreciate learning anything you may find out about the Draffan mine/mines, as I am sure that my GGF (Robert, father of Thomas) worked there: he was of a long line of miners in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire. I have considerable information on this line, and want to post some queries about them on the appropriate lists, but just have had insufficient time to compose proper queries. Please share with me and/or the list what you learn about the Draffan mine. I will try to share anything more I may learn, as well. Tom Brown in Virginia, USA

Hi Tom, Tried to contact Robert McLeish but so far no response. I then remembered an Ordinance Survey map I have of the Lesmahagow area from 1852. It shows not only Draffan and Southfield, but two nearby coal pits! The nearest one to Draffan (and I'm sure the pit my gggrandfather oversaw) was less than 1/2 mile from Draffan. It is south and east of Draffan farm and north and slightly east of Southfield. A single line Railroad ran past it from Netherburn through Tillietudlem Station (near Fense) and ended at Blackwood Station. The other coal pit in the immediate vicintiy was about 3/4 mile due east of the first. Of course there are other coal pits shown on the map but not near to Draffan. The print is very small and hard to read. Not much info, I'm afraid, but hope it helps. Russ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thomas W. Brown" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 9:03 AM Subject: Re: [McPitz] Re: Draffan Gas Coal Pit > Russell Brown wrote, on 17 March 2001: > > Subject: [McPitz] Re: Draffan Gas Coal Pit > > > > Does anyone know of information on the Draffan (?) gas coal pit? My > > GGGrandfather, John Brown, was "oversman" at that mine in 1861. My best > > guess is that it was in the Lesmahagow area. Only four years later he > died > > from complications due to a mining accident. Thanks > > Russell Brown > > Russell, my GF, Thomas WILLIAMSON, was born at Draffan in Lanarkshire in > 1878, he migrated with his family to the USA in 1880 or 1881, and he died in > Alabama in 1929 as a result of a mine accident. My wife and I visited > Scotland in 1995 and went to both Lesmahagow and Draffan. Draffan is shown > on our Granada AA road atlas of Britain: it is about four miles N-NW of the > village of Lesmahagow and about one mile east of the M74 highway. It is not > really even a community now, being only about four buildings, two of which > are on one farm. We also visited the Craignethan Castle about 1-1/2 miles > east of Draffan: a very interesting castle. The attendant fellow at the > castle shop told us that he had heard of two mines in the area, the Draffan > and the Fense, but he did not know the exact locations. We did do some > research at the local library in Lesmahagow, but did not succeed in finding > out anything about mines in the area. The library at the town of Lanark is > well equipped with a history and genealogy section, but on two visits there > so far we have not found out much about the mines in the area, which however > may be more our own failing than the librarians'. > > I would appreciate learning anything you may find out about the Draffan > mine/mines, as I am sure that my GGF (Robert, father of Thomas) worked > there: he was of a long line of miners in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire. I have > considerable information on this line, and want to post some queries about > them on the appropriate lists, but just have had insufficient time to > compose proper queries. Please share with me and/or the list what you learn > about the Draffan mine. I will try to share anything more I may learn, as > well. > > Tom Brown in Virginia, USA > > > ==== SCOTTISH-MINING Mailing List ==== > Visit the Scottish Mining Museum > http://www.scottishminingmuseum.com/ > <================================================> > > ============================== > Search over 900 million names at Ancestry.com! > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp > >