Susan Wighton was born (or baptized) on December 26, 1736 in Meigle parish. The Scots Ancestry Research Society made no reference to her being born in Potento, although they did make note of that fact for her older brother, William. However, the LDS microfilm of the parish records showed clearly that Susan was born in Potento.

I found no further reference to our Susan Wighton in the Scottish records. There was no Susan Wighton married in Meigle or in the surrounding parishes. The only remotely possible marriage of a Susan Wighton that I could find was to an Alexander Blacky in Dunkeld some 15 miles west of Meigle. The location is possible, but the 1778 marriage date would make Susan 42 at the time and this seems unlikely.

Nor could I find any child born to a Susan Wighton. However, many births at that time were recorded only to the father's name and so one would not expect the sole use of a mother's maiden name as a search term to be successful.

We have very little access to any death data during this period. However, given the absence of any signs of Susan marrying and/or having children, we could reasonably assume that she 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 Susan's parents John Wighton and Helen Mill, the Kirk Session Minutes do not record any such fee being received for a Susan Wighton. Perhaps the parish was not diligently collecting (or recording) fees in this early part of their record keeping.

Infant mortality rates were high at the time and there certainly were enough diseases floating around that Susan could have died as a child. Here's some further information on Diseases in 18th Century Scotland.

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

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