Charles presents us with a double mystery.

The first question we have to puzzle over is Was there really a Charles Wighton born to John Wighton?

The reason we have to ask that question is because there is no reference to a Charles Wighton being born in 1739 to a John Wighton in the ScotlandsPeople database. In fact, that database has no reference to any Charles Wighton being born to anyone, anywhere in Scotland, in 1739. The Scots Ancestry Research Society report makes no mention of Charles either.

If the ScotlandsPeople database didn't have a Charles Wighton, why the dilemma then? That's because the records from the Mormon Church show a Charles Wighton being christened in 1739 in Meigle. The parent indicated on that record is John Wighton. The LDS database is based on Scotland's Old Parish Registers - the same source as what the ScotlandsPeople database used. How did one database find this Charles and the other using the same source data miss him?

To determine which was the correct information, I searched the LDS microfilm of the original Meigle parish records and found an entry for Charles Wighton, born to John Wighton in August 1739 in Potento, Meigle. This information was doubly pleasing because it also confirmed his Potento birth place. However, the microfilm did not give us a clear indication of Charles' actual birth/christening day. The entry prior to Charles was for a birth on August 31, 1749. The entry after Charles was for September 9. Moreover, since Meigle's clerks did not always put a birth date in the register when there were two or more children born on the same date, we might reasonably assume that Charles was born/christened on August 31, 1739.

The second mystery is What happened to Charles after he was born?

I found no record of a Charles Wighton marrying anyone anywhere in Scotland in the appropriate time period. Since not all marriages were recorded, I then began looking for evidence of a marriage - I looked for children who were born to a Charles Wighton somewhere between 1760 and 1780.

I discovered that a Charles Wighton and Elisabeth Ross had a son George (b. 5/7/1772) and a daughter Janet (b. 7/17/1774) - both born in Dundee. If our Charles was their father, that would make him 33 at the time of the first birth which is possible.

There's no record of a Wighton/Ross marriage in either of the databases. However, according to the LDS database, an Elspeth Ross did marry a Charles Wightman in Arbroath on January 14, 1769. The time frame for the marriage fits with the births. Arbroath is on the east coast of Scotland, up the coast from Dundee. It's close enough that the married couple could have moved to Dundee after the marriage.

Was this our Charles? I think - probably not. The LDS records show that the Charles Wighton who married Elizabeth Ross was born in Dundee about 1746. The absence of a specific birth date is a little troublesome - and that's probably why he can't be found in the ScotlandPeoples Database. (Their records have specific dates.) It appears that this birth date was entered in the LDS database by someone who had searched the family history and was updating the records - the exact source of the conclusion is not given. The marriage location at Arbroath is another indicator. Arbroath is not that far from Dundee; but, it's a considerable hike from Meigle. For these reasons, this Charles does not appear to be ours.

We have very little access to any death data during this period. However, given the absence of any signs of Charles marrying and/or having children, we could reasonably assume that he died young. The Meigle parish records are mute on that point. Although I had some success in finding a record of fees for a mort cloth being received for Charles' parents John Wighton and Helen Mill, the Kirk Session Minutes do not record any such fee being received for a Charles Wighton. Such fees were charged for burials of children (albeit at a reduced rates), but no such reduced fee was found. Perhaps the parish was not diligently collecting (or recording) fees in this early part of their record keeping.

For your reading pleasure, the following link will give you information on Scottish Clothing Prior to the Agricultural Revolution.

Sources

Family Search, The LDS Genealogical Website: (http://www.familysearch.org/)

LDS microfilm of Meigle's parish records

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

Scots Ancestry Research Society (March 26, 1971). Report to John L. Wighton

Where to now? To read more about Generation 2 William's immediate family, just click top to make a selection from Generation 2's genealogical table at the top of this page. The navigation buttons just below will give you quick access to biographies in other generations.