Skip to main content

Author: Ainslie, Hew

Biography:

AINSLIE, Hew (1792-1878: ODNB)

He was born on 5 Apr. 1792 at Bargeny Mains, Dailly, Ayrshire, on the estate of Sir Hew Dalrymple Hamilton for whom his father, George Ainslie, worked. His mother was Graham (Steel) Ainslie. He was educated successively at home, in the parish school, and at Ayr Academy. He worked for a time with a developer who was remodelling Sir Hew’s estate before the family moved to Roslin. Ainslie briefly studied law in Glasgow but the work did not suit him and he moved to Edinburgh where he was employed at Register House and served as an amanuensis to Dugald Stewart. On 1 Aug. 1812 he married Jane Ainslie, a cousin; they had ten children. In 1822 he set sail for America, initially settling on a farm in upper New York state and then, in 1825, moving to Robert Owen’s community at New Harmony, IND. His wife and children had joined him in America by 1829 when he opened a brewery for Price and Wood in Louisville, KY. The brewery was destroyed by flooding and a second one, in New Albany, by fire but Ainslie profited from these disasters to develop his knowledge of factory construction. He published Scottish Songs, Ballads, and Poems in 1855. Janet Ainslie died in 1863 and he returned to Scotland for a tour where he was warmly greeted as a successful emigrant. He died at his son’s home in Louisville on 11 Mar. 1878. (ODNB 26 Apr. 2022; ANB 26 Apr. 2022; PPS; ancestry.co.uk 26 Apr. 2022; New York Herald 15 Mar. 1878)

 

Books written (1):

Deptford/ London: printed for the author by W. Brown/ Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1822