For as long as I can remember I have  had an interest in our family's history and my thoughts on how they lived and died. Perhaps this is partly due to the times I used to spend as a child on the family farm in Cambusnethan. Summerside was it's name, on the banks of the Auchter burn, Situated North of Carluke, South of Allanton and East of Morningside, it was approx 100 acres of arable fertile land, and in the title deeds it was always referred to as "comprising of half the lands of Daviesdykes". 

Old hand me down tales said that the farm had been in the family for nearly 400 years, and had always been passed on to the eldest son (as was the laws in the early days) (I will get the right name for the law of procuratiory?)

If you have trawled through the Old Parish Records for Cambusnethan you may recognize some of the old farm names in the vicinity;- Daviesdykes (of course), Darngavel, Auchterhead, Redmyre, Summerhill, Sunnyside, Hairscraig, Watsonhead (mid & Foot), Cairnyside, Hyndshaw, Athcartmuir, Kirkhall, Gallowhill, South Dyke and  Hartfield to . Many of these farm names are still used 

Auchter Burn from rear 
of Summerside farmyard

So, probably about 2 years or so ago (1997/8) I decided to set about proving just how long we had owned the farm, never did I imagine just where this curiosity would get me. As I delved through OPRs and Scot's origins finding names that should fit (but never able to), trying to get the more elder members of my family to divulge some snippets (isn't it just wonderful how, when you have spent weeks and months searching for clues and eventually fit some pieces together and proudly wanting to show what information you have and  the answer will come back "oh yes she was such and such"). After  spending hours on the Internet, I decided the only way to go next was to consult original documents and records. By this time my wife Janis decided she had to investigate just what I was up to, spending all these evenings at a computer that I hardly knew how to operate. After a few searches for the name McGHIE on the LDS she was too was firmly hooked.

With the help of these pages we hope to share our information on the STEEL family and on the Communities of Shotts & Cambusnethan.

This is the original well as it is today where many 
of the adjacent farmers would come for drinking water