Author Description

The Stevenson family history begins with James Stevenson ('the Wright'), of humble Lanarkshire origins, who moves from Strathaven, via Larkhall, to Paisley to profit from the house building boom caused by the expanding textile industry. Becomes a Burgess of Paisley in 1753, buys land and builds houses there. His elder son becomes a Glasgow textile merchant while the younger prospers as a Paisley silk manufacturer until the rising cotton industry ruins his business and he dies in 1806, impoverished and dejected