What is a portioner - in practical terms?

[Annedom]

I found a birth entry on Scotlandspeople for an ancestor born in 1774.

The father's occupation is given as "portioner". I understand this may involve holding a small piece of land. However, in practical terms what did a portioner do? Was he a small farmer - would there be a record of the land he held? Thanks.

A

[Kay99]

This link may help https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/portioner

Kay

Added - And an earlier thread https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=743637.0

[Annedom]

Thank you Kay very useful. It seems a portioner was a small farmer - subsistence farming probab

[Forfarian]

He may have been a small farmer, but not necessarily.

A portioner is someone who has inherited land jointly with one or more others, often siblings.

This means that it is likely that there are sasines mentioning him/her.

Which county and parish was your portioner in? What was his name?

[Annedom]

Thank you Forfarian.

His name was James White married in 1769 in Mauchline, Ayrshire. His son was born 1774.

I don't know if James, the portioner, was born in Mauchline or if he held the portion of land there or elsewhere.

thanks again

A

[Forfarian]

Oh dear. I have some of the books of Sasines but not the Ayrshire ones, so I can't look them up for you. Sorry!

[Annedom]

Never mind. Thanks for offer of checking.

[ecosse23]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I came across it and thought I'd mention that the concept ties into primogeniture - traditionally, the eldest son inherited a farm, because if it was split between say 5 or 6 children, the area passing to each one might be too small to support a family.  Tough luck if you were a younger sibling.  Portioning was a "fairer" way to divide an estate, but not always practical in farming terms.