Thomas' infancy

Thomas Wighton was our 3rd generation forefather. He was born, out of wedlock, to William Wighton and Marjory Anderson on December 21st, 1760 and baptized December 24th. Since Thomas' birth and baptism were recorded in Meigle, we can assume that Marjory Anderson was living in Meigle at the time of his birth. She had married John Fairweather some six months previously. By early February, Marjory and John Fairweather had moved to Glamis, approximately 5 miles to the east, where they began their own family. Given the need for an infant to be with his mother, we can be relatively sure that Thomas was raised in Glamis by his mother and stepfather. See, the History of Glamis for further information on the town.

According to information in the ScotlandsPeople database, an illegitimate child would be registered under the father's name if the father acknowledged paternity, which William did. Thus, Thomas was raised as Thomas Wighton and not as Thomas Anderson which would have been the case otherwise. Thus, had William not acknowledged paternity, we all would be Andersons right now.

An interesting fact about the times: In Scotland in the 1700s, couples did not marry until they had financial independence (e.g., a place to live) and, given the general poverty at the time, this could take a long time to achieve. (Thomas, for example, was 29 when he married.) This changed in the 1800s. Increasingly, couples married for love and did not wait for economic independence. Also, the marriage age decreased because the growth of cottage industries allowed couples to save money more quickly.

Life in Scotland when Thomas was growing up/Thomas' apprenticeship

As I described in his father's (William) biography, agriculture in Scotland was undergoing rapid and tremendous change during Thomas' childhood. See, for example, the essay on Agriculture in 18th Century Scotland: Part 4 -The Agricultural Revolution. Also as described earlier, a transportation network of turnpikes was being developed. Meigle and Glamis would not be connected until much later in Thomas' life, but other turnpikes were being built and word about their construction would have spread to the villages.

Perhaps more importantly, Scotland was beginning to enter a period of peace and prosperity. A rising merchant class took the place of the landed nobles who had displaced themselves to the government in London. Scotland's economy improved dramatically on the backs of the new industries (e.g., jute) made possible by steam power. The Industrial Revolution had arrived and people began to migrate from the farms to the cities. In the case of Meigle and Glamis villagers, that would mean migration to Dundee.

Another significant long-term event was the change in farming practices. Land owners became attracted by the new agricultural tools that became available at this time. However, those tools and their high initial capital expense only made economic sense for large farms. As Scottish society began to gravitate to the accumulation of wealth as an indicator of power, land owners too looked to prosper. (Previously, the power of Scottish landowners was reflected in the number of people on their lands, their fealty (e.g., in the Highlands), and the rents that they paid them.) That feudal-based system did not exist any longer. Individual rents were insignificant now. What counted was the ability to grow large quantities of produce that could be sold both domestically and as exports. Unfortunately, landowners couldn't consolidate their holdings into large farms because tenant farmers had a traditional claim on the land and many of these people were not willing to adapt to the new system. Landowners solved the problem by making it inherently impossible for their tenants to survive on their small parcels of land. (This process was known as the Lowland Clearances.) Rents were doubled and then tripled. In addition, landowners made changes to the leases encouraging tenants who adopted the new farming ways but making it impossible for anyone else to survive. Unlike the Highland Clearances which would follow in about 50 years, there was no use of force and no destruction of property, but the end-result was the same. An entire generation of farmers quickly disappeared off the land and into low paid agricultural jobs, into the towns, or off to the colonies.

Probably when Thomas was a young teenager, a decision was made to apprentice him to a mason. (We know Thomas was a mason because this was noted on the death certificate of his sons John and William.) It's possible that John Fairweather was a mason and took Thomas into the trade at that time; or Thomas may have been apprenticed to a local mason. We know that Glamis had several quarries in the parish so there would be some local masonry business. The prospects for masons (and crafts people of all kinds) were improving in the Lowlands. With growing prosperity in rural Scotland, people were able to live in more solid, stone and mortared walled houses rather than in the little cottars. We also know that Glamis' 9th Earl of Strathmore would have been married early in Thomas' life and there would probably be news circulating around Glamis that the Earl planned to restore his estate, including extensive upgrading on the castle. Castles are built of stone... so perhaps, for one or more of these reasons, somebody decided that stone masonry would be a good trade for the boy. (Click Apprenticeships for further information on the apprenticeship system in Scotland.)

Thomas and his family

I have assumed that Thomas was raised by his mother in Glamis and that he was apprenticed to a mason as a teenager, again presumably in Glamis which had quarries. However, after his birth in 1760, we lose sight of Thomas until his marriage in 1789. That marriage took place in Meigle. Records at the time indicate that both he and his wife were residents of Meigle parish. So, at some point after his apprenticeship (?), Thomas returned to Meigle, perhaps to stay with William? Perhaps to work part time on William's plot of land? Perhaps to practice his trade? While he was in Meigle, he met his future wife.

Thomas was married to Elizabeth Taylor on October 24th, 1789 in Meigle. He was almost 29, she was 27. The marriage was recorded in the parish records as follows: 24th October 1789, Thomas Weighton and Elizabeth Taylor, both in this parish, were contracted in order to marriage and married. Note the spelling of Thomas' last name.

Thomas and Elizabeth's stay in Meigle was short-lived. By January of 1791, they were in Kettins parish where their first daughter, Janet, was born. John (our Generation 4 forefather) followed 11 months later. However, their other five children were born in Newtyle parish. Later, since daughter Janet was living in Meigle when she was married, it appeared that Thomas and Elizabeth had moved there after all their children had been born. I had initially assumed when I was first researching Thomas that the family had moved from one parish to the next, perhaps because of changing economic conditions, demand for masons, and so forth. For example, if he was primarily engaged in work as a mason, he might be forced to move from town to town as business became available. I don't know how busy a mason might be kept in a rural community. Their work would include: gravestones, construction of new homes built of stone, perhaps even construction of stone walls to mark the boundaries of farm lands as agricultural land became enclosed. However, I came across some interesting information when I was researching Thomas and Elizabeth's children that changed my mind. I now believe that it was likely that Thomas and Elizabeth lived in the same location for their entire lives. That location would have been the hamlet of High Keillor and it was located in the southern end of the parish of Newtyle, near the border with the parish of Kettins. (Here's a History of Newtyle if you're interested. Census information provided the following insight.

• The area known as High Keillor actually fell inside both parishes and was roughly equidistant to the two main centres of the parishes. It is entirely possible that the family was living in the same place, but simply decided to register the births in different parishes for the sake of convenience, choice of church, etc.
• Their first born child, Janet, married a man named William Lindsay who was farming land in High Keillor before they were married. However, Janet was a resident of Meigle just before she got married. The distance between Meigle and High Keillor was not insignificant. How did the couple meet and court if they were so far apart? If Thomas and Elizabeth were living in High Keillor the entire time that Janet was growing up, and if William Lindsay began farming his land during that time, the small nature of the hamlet would have allowed the two to meet and know each other for years before their marriage. Janet's presence in Meigle before the wedding can be explained if she was working in Meigle (e.g., as a domestic servant). This scenario makes more sense to me than the scenario of Thomas and Elizabeth moving their family from Kettins, to Newtyle, to Meigle.
• The High Keillor hamlet served as a Wighton hub for decades after Thomas and Elizabeth's presumed death. First born Janet remained there her entire life - as would be expected because she married another resident. However, Bette spent part of her early life in Dundee, but was in High Keillor from about 1861 on. Presumably, she died there. William showed up in the 1871 census for High Keillor and died there in 1880. In fact, Bette and William were living together at that time. At one point, Robert was working just across the road. If High Keillor had been the family homestead, that would explain their return to the area.
• At least one other mason had lived in High Keillor and found employment. (from Census info)

All of this is speculative of course, but my sense is that Thomas and Elizabeth probably spent their entire lives in High Keillor. Neither Thomas nor Elizabeth appeared in the 1841 census. They would have been 81 and 79 at the time.

Thomas' favourite joke

A Scotsman and an Englishman lived next door to each other. The Scotsman owned a hen and each morning would look in his garden and pick up one of his hen's eggs for breakfast. One day he looked into his garden and saw that the hen had laid an egg in the Englishman's garden.

He was about to go next door when he saw the Englishman pick up the egg. The Scotsman ran up to the Englishman and told him that the egg belonged to him because he owned the hen. The Englishman disagreed because the egg was laid on his property.

They argued for a while until finally the Scotsman said, In my family we normally solve disputes by the following actions: I kick you in the groin and time how long it takes you to get back up, then you kick me in the groin and time how long it takes for me to get up. Whoever gets up quicker wins the egg.

The Englishman agreed to this and so the Scotsman found his heaviest pair of boots and put them on, he took a few steps back, then ran toward the Englishman and kicked as hard as he could.

The Englishman fell to the floor clutching himself, howling in agony for 30 minutes. Eventually the Englishman stood up and said, Now it's my turn to kick you. At this, the Scotsman said, Nay lad - you can just keep the wee egg.

Sources

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

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

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

Smout, T.C. (1998). A history of the Scottish people. London, Fontana Press.

Statistical Accounts of Scotland (http://edina.ac.uk/stat-acc-scot/)

Where to now? To read more about Generation 3 Thomas' immediate family, just click top to make a selection from Generation 3's genealogical table at the top of this page. The navigation buttons just below will give you quick access to biographies in other generations.