As you've probably read, we've traced the Meigle Wightons back to the marriage of John Wighton and Helen Mill in 1734 in Meigle. We've also confirmed the family's oral history that the family homestead was near to the Bridge over the River Dean (above) and we have located it even more accurately to the settlement of Potento, about 1 mile north-west of Meigle. I've also speculated that John Wighton had two brothers (James & David) who raised families in nearby Newtyle. Part of my reasoning has been that since Newtyle had birth records going back to 1685, and since John, James and David were not in Newtyle's records, it's possible that all three were born in Meigle. In the absence of any further information from the parish records, my search reached a dead end in Meigle in 1734 and left us with a burning question: From where did the Meigle line of Wightons originate before Potento? The "answer" that follows on this page is speculation, albeit that speculation has been based to a certain extent on birth and marriage data.

Theoretically, it's possible that John's father, grandfather, great-grandfather... were born and raised in Meigle. However, I think that is unlikely. When a family has lived in the same location for several generations, it generates a fair number of families. Thus, when the parish's birth records do start, there are a lot of Wightons being married and born. That didn't happen in Meigle. After the parish records began, there were two marriages within 3 years and, after that, there were births to only one family. That suggests the Meigle line wasn't present in Meigle before 1700.

The presence of John's two presumed brothers (David & James) in Newtyle makes the neighbouring parish an obvious starting point for the search for our origin. Newtyle's parish records started in 1689 so we can see one generation further back in time than we can with Meigle parish.

A search through Newtyle's earliest records revealed the presence of two Wighton families: John Wighton (& his wife Agnes Wilson) along with Robert Wighton (& his wife Janet Syme). Each family had one child born in Newtyle. However, when I researched these families further, I found that both couples had been married in Kettins and had had children there before moving to Newtyle. Parish records suggest that John and Robert were born within a few years of each other and that their wedding dates were also very close to each other. The children of the two families were born in the same narrow time frame. Importantly, the birth years of the children born in Newtyle suggests that the two Wightons migrated from Kettins to Newtyle within a year of each other, if not at the exact same time. The decision to simultaneously (?) relocate would be somewhat coincidental if the two families were unrelated, but understandable if it had been a joint, family decision. It's reasonable to conclude that John and Robert were at least cousins, if not brothers.

Evidence of two families migrating from Kettins to Newtyle begged the question: Were there other Wightons in Kettins who might have ended up in Newtyle/Meigle? Birth/marriage records revealed that, indeed, there was another Wighton male living in Kettins at the same time as John and Robert and their families. His name was George and he had three children born in Kettins just slightly after John and Robert had their children. These data support the conclusion that George was a younger brother (or cousin) to John and Robert.

The marriage and birth data for John, Robert and George are all in the right time frame for them to be the father or uncle of our ancestor - John Wighton. I'll show this information in a chart shortly, but let me set the geographical scene first.

The dotted blue line on the map represents the boundary line between the parishes of Meigle, Newtyle and Kettins. The village of Newtyle is about 2.5 miles south of the village of Meigle and it is about 3 miles north-east of the village of Kettins. However, since the Wightons would all have been farmers, they would have been living in farming settlements (like Potento) that could put the families much closer together depending on where in the parishes those settlements were located.

Now let's look at the three Wighton families that originated in Kettins.

(Death data added to the Scotland Peoples' database after this research was done supports the thesis that John Wighton and Robert Wighton of Kettins moved to the Newtyle/Meigle area. A John Wighton died in 1734 - possibly the John Wighton of Kettins. A Robert Wighton died in 1737 - possibly the Robert Wighton of Kettins. Also, looking at the children of Robert Wighton's line - an Isobel Wighton died in 1764 and a Margaret Wighton died in 1750 - both in Meigle.) Considering the very small number of Wightons in Meigle at the time, the presence of those names would be extremely coincidental if they were not the members of the Wightons of Kettins.

As you can see, of the three men that we know about who had children in Kettins and Newtyle, George Wighton is the most likely father of our ancestor John. I am assuming that George, the younger brother, followed John and Robert in leaving Kettins and moving north-east. Rather than settling in Newtyle, he settled a couple of miles away in Meigle - possibly in Potento. However, we don't know for sure that John, Robert and George are the only Kettins Wightons who might have migrated to Meigle. Also, it's always possible that our John's father came from somewhere else entirely.

Not content to just speculate on our John's father, let's speculate on that speculation. Who was George's father? (i.e., Who was John's grandfather?) The parish of Kettins began keeping birth/marriage data in 1618, so we have at least an outside chance of getting an answer.

There are four Wighton families who lived in Kettins during the rough time period (1664-1669) that George was born. Two of these families are poor candidates. That leaves the following two.

1. John Wightone and his wife Margaret Grey had a daughter Margaret in 1656. A 9-14 year gap to George's presumed birth in 1664-69 is possible.

2. James Wighton married Anna Campbell in 1664 in Kettins. There is no record of them having any children but their wedding date fits very nicely with our estimated birth dates (1664-1669) for George. This would be my first choice.

So, our speculated speculation suggests, speculatively speaking, that the Meigle line of Wightons actually started in Kettins with James Wighton and Anna Campbell. This couple had a son George Wighton who married Catharine Wilson and had three children in Kettins before moving to Meigle sometime after 1699. There, they had three more children - David in 1701, our John in 1708, and James in 1710.

Our speculations must cease at this point. James Wighton of Kettins would have been born around 1637 and there is no record of any such birth in Kettins. Neighbouring parishes did not keep records at that time, so we can't even pursue that line of research. However, since we're assuming that the Meigle line of the Wightons migrated out of Kettins and into the Newtyle/Meigle area, we can extend that migration theory one further step back in time. With Kettins only a half mile outside of Coupar Angus, it would make sense to consider Kettins as the first stop of what might have been a century-long migration out of Coupar Angus. Coupar Angus was a dominant village in that part of Perthshire in the 17th century. There were 28 Wighton families living there prior to 1700.

Sources

ScotlandsPeople Database: http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/