For some time, I have known that members of my Scottish ancestral family were employed as blacksmiths. Some of these have been known by other names at other times, such as blacksmith and bell-hanger, or shipsmith, but the basic occupation is the same. They work with metal, and make it do what they want it to do.

My "smithing" relatives include Peter McLea who was the father of the immigrant James Brown McLea, Peter's father John McLea, and Peter's grandfather, Peter or Patrick McKay.

As there are so few records of John, I've been looking around for some time to see if I might find him in obscure records of the non-Birth/Marriage/Death variety. One of these was the Glasgow directories, which had useful information. Another I tried were English apprenticeship records, although this was not helpful for John or his father-in-law Peter.

Where else to look?

Well, it turns out there is a volume of history of the professional organization or guild of smiths in Glasgow, Scotland. Known as the Hammermen, they are chronicled in History of the Hammermen of Glasgow by Lumsden and Aitken, published in 1912. MSU library had it, and I checked it out, actually back in 2004.

This volume has more than you'd ever want to know about the Hammermen, and I kept it around (and kept renewing it) on the hope I'd read it and get a better appreciation for them. But I don't really need to know about what year the first Seal of Cause was struck, for instance, but it's all in there (1536, was it?). Anyway, the Hammermen are a long-standing Guild in Glasgow. (Note that they involved much more than the Blacksmiths, too: Goldsmiths, Locksmiths, Plumbers, Engineers, Merchants, you name it.)

So, my family, of many Blacksmiths, should be listed on the List of Members. It begins in 1616, and ends in 1911, shortly before publication. Perfect for including them all.

Of course, they are not listed.

Name, Number, Date of Entry, Occupation, Class, Date of Ticket, essay

Wm. M'Lay, 855, 25 Aug 1815, blacksmith, stranger, same as entry, horseshoe and nails

Wm. M'Lea, 879, 19 Sep 1816, smith, --, --, no essay

John M'Aulay, 1219, 26 Aug 1836, tinsmith, apprentice, 30 Jun 1836, a bellied jug

David Thomson M'Lay, 1910, 22 Feb 1871, writer, stranger, same, --

John M'Lay, 2387, 7 Sep 1877, flesher, stranger, 19 Sep 1822, --

James M'Lay, 2759, 1 Sep 1886, writer, stranger, 31 Aug 1886, --

Joseph Paton M'Lay 3277, 11 Dec 1896, shipowner, stranger, 2 Mar 1895, --

Very little else of note. There are a few more M'Aulays I missed, but probably unrelated and none of them Smiths. No more M'Leas or M'Lays. None of the M'Kays are Peter or Patrick, and there is only one Livingstone listed:

John Livingstone, 484, 23 Aug 1789, smith, -- 28 Aug 1789, a lock and a pair of hinges

I'm guessing my ancestors must have flown "under the radar" of the guild -- although they are listed in those aforementioned directories, so they weren't TOO far under the radar...

So, another minor reference can be checked off, but nothing of interest noted.

Kyle=