Hi Matt !
You just beat me to this post, I was about to ask a similar question. Emdee and Red's replies are certainly interesting.
Like you, my GGG Granddad James McArthur was a miner at Drumlemble, as was nearly all his children and grandchildren. Even my father was down the same pits some 50-odd years ago…, and he's still alive !
I found your posting accidently by Googling "drumlemble coal mines," and this post is the first of the URLs. (just goes to show the security of everything that is mentioned on this site
) Anyway, Googling the words will give you dozens of interesting sites.
Also…, if you enter the RootsWeb site, (
http://freecen.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl ) and with a little luck, you just might stumble over your ancestors.
Firstly, in the first box, click the year 1841. (these are census periods…, with 1841 being the first) Of course, your ancestor must be alive on this year.
Then fill in the document and click "find." If you get a negative feed-back, go back to the document and delete, one-by-one, the less important details. (profession for example)
If you get a short list of names…, choose one from Campbeltown. With a bit of luck, your coal-miner ancestor probably lived in Drumlemble or there-abouts, and on clicking on "see who's next door," you can search the whole village.
PS If there's any genealogy McArthurs out there, please let me know ! (or Blacks)