Anderson - Gillon family question

[helenmcasmith]

My great, great great grandmother was Ann Anderson (born 1836 in Slamannan – parents were William Anderson and Elisabeth Gray and she was the second wife of John Duncan).  I also have records of a Henrietta Taylor Anderson and a Robert Anderson, her brother and sister.

I had difficulty tracking William Anderson (Ann’s father), but a contact provided me with a death certificate for a William Gillon Anderson who died in 1856 (also Slamannan) and it seems likely that this is indeed the father of Ann Anderson.  His parents were John Gillon and Margaret Anderson (who married in 1777), so my question is, why would William take his mother’s surname?  According to OPRs, he was born in 1787 and baptised William Gillon.  Is there a great local scandal of the 1700s/1800s that I don’t know about which would have caused him to drop the Gillon surname?  Any help appreciated. 

[colliersbairn]

Hi there,
I think I'm the one that provided you with the information on William Gillon/Anderson.  I have just spent the whole of today trying to find out more about the family.  William's parents John Gillon and Margaret Anderson were married on 28 Mar 1777 but had their banns called on the 7th Mar 1777.  Their witnesses were James and John Anderson and the groom was from Bathgate and the bride from Muiravonside.  There were only three John Gillon's christened between 1730 and 1760.  One to James Gillon and Margaret Borthwick in 1733 in Linlithgow, another to Andrew Gillon and Agnes Shaw in Torphichan in 1735 and the third to John Gillon and Margaret Rice in Leith South in 1750.  As he says he is from Bathgate, I can only assume that his parents are James Gillon and Margaret Borthwick which means he was forty-four when he married Margaret Anderson.  Margaret was twenty-five and I assume her parents were James Anderson and Margaret Binnie or Binning.  They had three children in Muiravonside - John in 1748, Thomas George in 1750 and Margaret in 1752.  I have been trying to link this family with Gillon of Wallhouse and I actually downloaded John Gillon of Wallhouse's will of 1600 but I cannot read it!

[colliersbairn]

Here we go again.  I've redone the family tree now three times.  I'm surprised any Gillon can trace back farther than 1700.  The Torphichen christenings are missing between 1692 and 1697 and 1712 and 1714.  Torphichen marriages are missing between 1714 - 1808.  Bathgate christenings are missing between 1684 and 1722 and no marriages in Linlithgow between 1719 and 1730.  However, I set myself a spreadsheet showing the various Gillon families between 1600 and 1777 when my John Gillon married Margaret Anderson, and filled in where the blank records would be.  John christened his eldest son Andrew which would indicate his father's name was Andrew.  Andrew Gillon and Agnes Schaw were married in Bathgate 4 Nov 1732 but moved to Torphichen.  The christening record of their son, John 26 Oct 1735 in Torphichen says, "To Andrew Gillon and Agnes Schaw in Wallhouse Loanend (?), a son called John.  Witnesses John Gillon and John Lermouth."  The christening record of their daughter Janet 18 Nov 1733 says, "To Andrew Gillon and Agnes Schaw in Wallhouse Loanen, a daughter called Jannet witnesses John Gillon and Jas. Walker."  For some reason, by the time they had William christened 16 Apr 1738 in Torphichen, they had moved.  "To Andrew Gillon and Agnes Schaw in North Alderton (Adderton ?) a son called William witnesses John Mitchell and William Thomson."  Now was Andrew Gillon another son of Alexander of Wallhouse born between 1712 - 1714?  Or was he another illegitimate son?  My other concern with this being the father of my John is that my John Gillon would be forty-two when he married Margaret Anderson.

If John (Andrew) is not my John Gillon then the only other possibility from Bathgate is that of Alexander Gillon the younger of Wallhouse and Elizabeth Muir.  They had three recorded children.  Margaret christened 21 Apr 1739 in St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh; Ann christened 5 Jul 1741 in Bathgate, and Alexander christened 15 Sep 1745 in Bathgate.  From 1745 until the 1760's not only was the country in a turmoil but the Presbyterian church had a couple of breakaway sects which disrupted the parishes of Torphichen, Linlithgow and Bathgate.  No doubt records have been lost or not kept and there is some doubt whether Alexander actually married Elizabeth Muir.  If John Gillon was the product of this arrangement, his son William might very well have changed his name to Anderson, feeling perhaps that this name was not his legally.

The bottom line...I can't prove where John Gillon came from other than "Bathgate".

[mosstrooper]

Can I draw your attention to these documents which describe a Court of Session case between Lord Torphichen and a John Gillon, described as a Builder over work being done at Torphichen Preceptory. Between the years 1762 and 1774 ad.

They were fighting over the right to sit in the chief seat in the Church, John Gillon of Wallhouse

http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_099/99_167_172.pdf

James.

[colliersbairn]

It's been a year but I've answered my own question on who was John Gillon who married Margaret Anderson in 1777 in Muiravonside.  On the marriage entry it states John Gillon in Bathgate and Margaret Anderson of this parish.  However, on checking Margaret Anderson's birth in Muiravonside in 1752, I found the page contained all the christenings in Muiravonside from 1747 to 1754.  It must have been a small community.  In it, as both parent and witness were John GLEN.  He had a son John christened 26 May 1751 and the witnesses were James Anderson (Margaret's father) and Andrew Stewart.  At Margaret's christening 15 Oct 1752 Andrew Stewart is a witness and John Glen was entered but scratched out.  I guess for some reason he couldn't attend.  I don't have direct proof but I suspect that John Gillon was actually John Glen, the godson of James Anderson and husband to James' daughter Margaret.  It really does pay to actually look at the physical page of the Old Parish Registers and not go just on IGI entries.  It seems very likely that the Glens and the Andersons had a close relationship and that young John moved to Bathgate, no doubt for an ag lab position.  He came back to Muiravonside to marry Margaret in 1777 and they then moved back to Bathgate.

[mosstrooper]

I love happy endings.

James.

[colliersbairn]

Heaven help anyone else researching this family.  It started out with William Anderson.  Luckily his son mentioned on William's death entry that his original name had been William Gillon and that his parents were John Gillon and Margaret Anderson.  Now it turns out the last name was Glen!  I still wonder why William reverted to his mother's surname but I guess I'll never know.

[VioletB]

My great great grandmother was Janet Anderson, born 1831 and a daughter of William Anderson and Elizabeth Gray. I was also surpised to find that her father's death certificate stated Gillon as his middle name.  Janet Anderson had a daughter Janet born in 1849 - my great grandmother - in Slamannan.  Janet Anderson then went on to marry John Thomson and nine of a family.  She also had a sister Christian Anderson who was born in 1824.  She died ae 45, a widow in 1870 in Slamannan and had one daughter Elizabeth Carr.  Henrietta and Ann would appear to be the youngest in the family.   Robert their brother was the informant on Christian's death certificate.  I too also found it odd that they were all brought up as Andersons and not Gillons. 

[colliersbairn]

Hi Violet B.  - I don't have that child in my tree.  Mind you, I have no christenings for William Anderson and Elisabeth Grey from 1826 to 1834.  Did you find a record, if so, would you mind sharing so I can put her on my tree?  I have Christian in 1824 and I have Henriette in 1834, and I have a Helen in 1839.  I've also got a Jean, John, James, Margaret and Mary.  All older than Christian.  I've also never found a marriage of William Anderson (Gillon) and Elisabeth Grey.  Have you found anything?   Thanks so much for posting.