A MYSTERIOUS Christmas giveaway to Barrhead pensioners originates in the small town of Clinton in the USA, the Barrhead News explained in 2003.
Every year the council would send out a cheque for £15 to the elderly and infirm in the town.
The origins of this cash fund had been lost with the passage of time, so the News turned detective to find out where it came from.
It all began with a widow called Janet Hamilton, who left Barrhead for Clinton, Massachusetts, back in 1854 with her two children Janet and Hugh.
Over 40 years later, Janet Jnr and Hugh returned to Scotland on holiday and vowed to set up a bequest to the recently formed burgh of Barrhead.
When Janet died in 1912, she left the family’s fortune to Barrhead in memory of her mum — the Janet Hamilton Memorial Fund — which was finally adopted 22 years later.
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