The birth and baptism of John Steele were recorded in the Cardross (Dunbartonshire) Parish Register in 1817:

John, son to John Steele and Margaret McAulay, was born in Renton the 11th day of Septr and baptized the 28th do 1817 years.

It should be explained that, according to Graham Hopner:

The civil parish of Cardross included the village of Cardross in the west, the part of Dumbarton on the western bank of the River Leven and the village of Renton.

In the 1841 census, John Steel, 20, ‘lab Print Cutter J’, was entered as living in Bridge Street, Bonhill, with his sister Catherine and brother Aulay, both 15. Their ages had been rounded down. All were entered as born in the county.

The 1851 census found John pursuing his trade as a master baker in Bridge Street, village of Alexandria, Parish of Bonhill. He was 33 years of age and unmarried at that time. It is also indicated that he was employing four men. His place of birth was entered as Cardross. Also resident with him were his sister, Catherine, also unmarried and aged 28. She too was entered as having been born in Cardross and acted as John’s housekeeper. There were also two apprentice bakers, George and Alexander Ritchie, aged 17 and 12 respectively. George was born at Bonhill, Alexander at Thornhill, Perthshire. There was also a thirteen-year-old house servant, Eliza Graham, whose birthplace was Ireland.

The following entry appears in the Bonhill Parish Register of Marriages for 1852:

Steele & Macauslan 6th November John Steele and Janet MacAuslane, both in this Parish, gave in their Names for proclamation of Banns in the Parish Church of Bonhill, on the first two Sabbath days, which was done, and they were married on the 17th day of Nov. 1832 by the Revd. M. Dempster, Minister.

John Steele married Janet McAuslane on 17^th November 1852.

‘John Steel Baker in Alexandria’ was nominated as one of three Trustees in the 1853 Deed and Settlement of Archibald Clark, his stepfather, and Margaret McAulay, his mother. The same document also named him as one of eight beneficiaries, the others being his brother, two sisters, two stepbrothers and two stepsisters, but in the event he met with the misfortune of predeceasing both testators. The subsequent Codicil of 1866 amended and simplified his share to £500 Sterling, which fell to be divided ‘equally share and share alike’ among his three sons; namely John Steele, James McAuslane Steele and Archibald Clark Steele.

Archibald Clark’s 1853 Deed and Settlement also contained provision whereby John Steele was, in the event of the death of the former, to have first refusal on carrying on his bakery business in Alexandria, ‘at the valuation of neutral men mutually chosen by... the said Trustees’. This never came to fruition, because, in the event, John predeceased Archibald. The implication appears to be that John was managing his stepfather’s bakery.

John Steele was entered on his son John Steele’s birth certificate in 1855 as 38 years old and his place of birth was confirmed as Renton, Cardross Parish. This document also reiterated that the older John and Janet had been married in 1852, at Alexandria.

John acted as informant on the birth certificates of his sons James McAuslane Steele in 1857 and Archibald Clark Steele in 1859. On each occasion he was entered as present. He was designated simply as a baker on the first occasion and as a baker (master) on the second.

John Steele died on 12^th December 1859 at 9^h 40^m am, in Main Street, Renton. He was a baker (master), aged 42. The cause of death was certified as acute bronchitis, from which he had been suffering for ten days. He was buried in the Free Church burial ground, Renton. The informant was James McAslan, John’s father-in-law.

Inventory

John Steele died intestate. From the Inventory presented at Dumbarton on 5^th March 1860 by William Baptie, Writer in Dumbarton, the following specific points emerge.

Mrs Janet McAusland or Steele, the deceased’s widow, appointed Executrix Dative qua relict on 17^th January 1860, entered upon the possession and management of his personal and moveable estate.

The deceased’s assets were inventoried as follows:

A current account held with the City of Glasgow Bank, Glasgow, with interest to the date of death, contained £58 7/4d.

Current account, Commercial Bank of Scotland, Bonhill, 5/10d

Current account, Commercial Bank of Scotland, Dumbarton, £136 6/4d (Subtotal £136 12/2d)

The deceased’s stock in trade, utensils, furniture and effects were valued by John Dewar, Licensed Appraiser, Dumbarton, at £119 9/-.

Five Shares in The Leven Gas Light Company at £5, totalling £25

The Inventory lists a total of twenty-seven customer accounts, of which nineteen were considered good, totalling £16 9/8d; six considered doubtful, valued at £5 15/3d, and one considered bad, in the name of Duncan Macfarlane, for 10/2d.

The Summo Inventarii amounted to £361 13/5d, on which stamp duty of £11 was paid.

The Inventory was signed by Janet Steele and David Auchinvole, Justice of the Peace, at Renton on 1^st March 1860 and Confirmation was expede on the 7^th.

Janet McAuslane was designated as John Steele’s widow at the time of her own death many years later, in 1904.

Brothers and Sisters

John was the eldest of five known children. All were born in Cardross. Next was Aulay, in 1819:

Aulay, son of John Steele and Marg McAulay was born at Renton the 17th of May and baptd the 24th of June 1819.

Agnes followed on 22^nd February 1821 and Catherine on 12^th March 1823. A second Aulay Steele arrived on 27^th November 1824, quite certainly indicating that the first had died in infancy.

Half-siblings

John also had four younger half-siblings resulting from his widowed mother’s subsequent marriage to Archibald Clark in 1829; these were Malcolm, born 1830; Margaret, 1831; Archibald, 1833, and Ann, 1834, all at Renton.

When Archibald Clark and Margaret McAulay subscribed their Deed and Settlement in 1853, their two sons were designated as ‘Malcolm Clark Baker & Miller presently residing in Renton & Archibald Clark Junior Baker in Renton’. The same deed also named their two daughters, ‘Margaret Clark & Ann Clark both residing in Renton’, as beneficiaries.

The subsequent Codicil of 1866 narrates that:

Malcolm Clark & Archibald Clark Junior who as partners in the firm of M & A Clark Biscuit Manufacturers, Elliot Street Glasgow, have erected a valuable Biscuit Factory & other buildings upon said property.

This was obtained by means of a secured loan of £4500, granted to them by their father.

Daughters Margaret and Ann were again referred to as beneficiaries.

Margaret, 33, and Anne, 30, were both unmarried and living with their widowed mother at the time of the 1871 census; what became of Margaret thereafter is unknown. It is presumed that she had died without issue by March 1895.

In the Mutual Trust Deed and Settlement of Auley (sic) Steele and his wife Mary Cochrane or Ross or Steele, subscribed by them at Helensburgh on 28^th March 1895, however, we receive word of Malcolm, Archibald and Ann, erroneously referred to as step-siblings (actually half-siblings).

The ‘late Malcolm Clark Step brother of me the said Auley Steele’ was deceased; his surviving children were ‘Archibald Clark, Broomsgrove, England, Margaret Clark, Eliza Jane Jeffrey Clark and Bethie Clark all residing in Blairmore’.

The ‘late Archibald Clark Step brother of me the said Auley Steele’ was likewise deceased; his surviving children were ‘Jane McMillan Clark, nine Bowmont Gardens, Kelvinside, Glasgow, Archibald McMillan Clark Johannesburg Africa, James Alfred Clark London, Rutherford Clark, Engineer, Nine Bowmont Gardens, Kelvinside, and Thomasina Clark also residing there’.

‘Annie Clark or Ross, Market Street, Sligo, Stepsister of me the same Auley Steele’ appears to have been the only surviving child of Archibald Clark senior; Annie’s children were recited as Margaret, Charles, Agnes and Archibald Clark Ross.