Agnes and Christina rest in graves exactly fifty miles apart; the former in Woodbank Cemetery, Armadale, West Lothian; the latter in the picturesque Fowlis Wester Churchyard near Crieff. Both succumbed to Spanish flu a mere seventeen days part from each other; Angus dying on the 6th of December aged thirty-fife; Christina on 23rd of December aged seventy-seven. Multiple deaths within families were among the most tragic ramifications of the Spanish flu pandemic – indeed all pandemics as was witnessed with COVID-19.
Agnes and Christina were daughters of farmer William Keron and Jane (Jeanie) Finlayson. The couple had seven children, five of which survived infancy. Born on 28th November 1883 in Auchterarder, Agnes was their second eldest. Christina was born on 27th March 1891. She and her twin sister Annie were the youngest.
At the 1901 Census, the family resided at Sauchie Farmhouse in Madderty. The family later relocated to West Bank Farm. Sadly William died in 1910. Agnes, however, was living at Williamston Farm and working as a domestic servant. She would late relocate to Glasgow. On 30th August 1907 Agnes married widower John Black, a man nearly twenty years her senior in Blythwood. They would eventually settle Birkenshaw Mill in Armadale. Agnes and John had four children; their son John sadly died just weeks before his mother aged only four weeks. John survived his wife by nineteen years
Christina was unmarried and employed as a domestic servant when she died. Jane survived her daughters by fourteen years.
Broken Columns 