Christian Catherine Smith

Other names: 
Her maiden name was Cruickshank
Dates: 
13 May 1844 -4 Dec 1924

The daughter of James Cruickshank, minister of Stevenston, and Janet Ann Burnett, she married Rev James Smith 14 April 1869. The couple had eight children, five daughters and three sons; James, Janet, Elizabeth, Catherine, Henrietta, Montgomery, Eleanor, Alexander . As minister's wife, Christian Smith was actively involved in various philanthropic activities. In particular she founded Newhills Convalescent Home in 1874 'for the benefit of respectable persons in humble circumstances who appear to be falling into dishealth or are convalescing after non-infectious diseases'. She was involved in the management of the home until 1908.

She was widowed in 1917, and died in 1924.

Images: 
Convalescent Home
Sources
Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, vol 6, entry on Newhills Parish.
1851 census
Stevenston; ED: 5; Page: 16; Line: 13; Roll: CSSCT1851_139
1871 census
Newhills; ED: 5; Page: 4; Line: 18; Roll: CSSCT1871_41