Hi,
I’m trying to find some more information about some of my relatives who originally hailed from Ayrshire in the 17th and 18th centuries. Mainly I am hoping to find some dates for the Fergusson family of Finnart, so I can try to make sense of the timeline.
Here’s a bit more detail on the stuff I’m researching:
1. Willy Gilliland was immortalised in the eponymous poem by his descendant Sir Samuel Ferguson. This poem said he fled Scotland after the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679. In PRONI, I have seen a 1923 copy of a letter written in 1825 which suggests that William may in fact have been John and that “having been a man in consequence in Scotland he was followed by a King’s messenger”. According to the letter he emigrated from Scotland in either 1636 or 1686. A third source (History of Ayr) refers to Gilliland leaving his home in Dundonald during the reign of Charles I (which would fit the 1636 date). By most accounts, Gilliland had one son who settled at Collin (John?) and another who settled at Tildarg (William), both in the parish of Rashee in County Antrim.
2. The PRONI papers say Gilliland’s son John Gilliland of the Collin in County Antrim married Ellen, daughter of Thomas Fergusson of the Finnart, Ayrshire (born c1621). According to the History of Ayr, Thomas Fergusson was forced to leave Scotland and go into hiding in County Antrim after the Battle of Bothwell Bridge. Apparently he found shelter with Gilleland of Collin, “whose grandfather had himself been forced, in the preceding reign, to flee from his property in the neighbourhood of Dundonald.” After the Revolution (1688-89, presumably) one of Fergusson’s daughters married Gilleland’s eldest son, i.e. the great grandson of Gilliland of Dundonald (which puts back their arrival in County Antrim to well before the Battle of Bothwell Bridge).
3. A great granddaughter of Thomas Fergusson of Finnart, Mary Fergusson, married a John Forsythe of Belliston (Ballyeaston) in County Antrim. I believe this is the John Forsythe of nearby Ballynure who wrote his will in 1798 and probably died in about 1802 (his will names his wife Mary Ferguson, and a Ferguson Kennedy of Finnart as his executor). Their daughter Mary Forsythe married her 1st cousin David Kennedy who inherited the Fergusson estate of Finnart from his uncle Robert Fergusson who died in 1796. The Forsythes of Ballynure were also connected by two or three marriages to the Gillilands. Sarah Gilliland, daughter of William Gilliland of the Collin, married (another) John Forsythe of Ballynure and their daughter Mary Forsythe married James Owens of Holestone (whose family had inherited their estate from the Gillilands) – it was Sarah who wrote the abovementioned letter in 1825 (she lived till 1832).
I’m not overly familiar with Scottish records, so basic advice is welcome.
Thanks,
Gilby
