Janet Wighton, the first child of Thomas Wighton and Elizabeth Taylor, was born or baptized on January 11, 1791 in Kettins. On June 13, 1812, when she was 21, Janet married William Lindsay in Newtyle. The wedding records show Janet as a resident of Meigle while William Lindsay was living in Newtyle. Janet may have been working in Meigle (perhaps as a domestic servant) just prior to getting married.

Janet's husband, William Lindsay, was born on January 20, 1788 to parents William Lindsay (Sr) and Elspeth Miller. William was the third of 6 children - the others being James, David, Robert, Catherine, and Agnes. Four of Janet's 9 children would have names from the paternal side of the family (while 4 were named from the maternal side and one name was dual). Since William's father died in Newbigging (just south of Meigle but in the Newtyle parish), it is likely that William grew up in that hamlet. At some point in his twenties (?), William took a lease on some farmland in the High Keillor hamlet in Newtyle Parish. It was probably then that he met Janet and the Wighton family. After her marriage, Janet left Meigle and returned to Newtyle parish where she gave birth to nine children over the next 19 years (1812-1831). (The names and birth years of Janet's children are shown in the table at the top of the page.) In all, Janet would spend the next 75 years in the High Keillor farm.

The small hamlet of High Keillor was about 2 miles south-west of Newtyle and on the boundary of the Newtyle Parish with Kettins Parish. (An 1861 census page showed some of High Keillor actually being in Kettins.) From census records, we know that William Lindsay was working as a pendiclar (also pendicler) which is a word meaning a person who farmed a small piece of land that was part of a larger piece. Later census records recorded the Lindsays as small farmers. William's lease was given by the Right Honourable James Archibald Steuart-Wortley-McKenzie, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe - an M.P. for Perth and member of a noble family primarily based in York. It is likely that William had leased his land for 99 years. (The neighbouring tract of land had been so leased.)

High Keillor would have been a collection of very basic accommodations housing people who had leased land from the Wharncliffe family. Some of those leases would have been for tracts of land for farming; other leases would have been smaller plots of land which people used for growing their own food while working in some other occupation. Over the course of several decades of census records, the following male occupations were recorded at least once: pendicler (small farmer), retired farmer, agricultural labourer, slater, stone mason, ploughman, cattle dealer, shepherd, brewer, and game keeper. Female occupations were: servant, linen weaver, hand loom weaver, and dress maker. Janet was unique in that she, a woman, was listed as a pendicler - a necessity brought on by her husband's early death.

From Robert Bain, we learn that William Lindsay died January 14, 1835 in High Keillor at the age of 46. In the 1841 census, Janet was shown as the head of the household, occupation pendicler. Living with her in 1841 were her five youngest children: Ann (20), Robert (18), James (14), Elizabeth (11), and Agnes (9). Also listed was a 30 year old woman (Isobel Anderson) and her three children. I tracked that family back to Dundee. Isobel Anderson may have been sub-leasing a portion of Janet's property or working for Janet in some capacity. Missing from the 1841 census (in addition to her husband) were Janet's four oldest children: William (28 in 1841), John (27), Margaret (25), and Janet (23). I'll give you more information about Janet's children below.

I couldn't find any entry in the 1851 census for the Lindsay family, but Janet was shown in the 1861 census at age 69. She was recorded as a small farmer. Her son, James (#7/9), was 31 and working as a ploughman at the farm. A 19 year old grandson, William Tait, was also recorded.

The 1871 census reported three people at the farm: Janet was listed as 79. Her son James (#7/9), an agricultural labourer, was listed as 38 but was actually 45 years old. A young boy, William Hardie (16 years old) was also working as an agricultural labourer at High Keillor. The farm consisted of 17 acres.

The 1881 census records continued to show Janet and James living at the farm together, but in 1881, James (53) was shown as the head of the household and Janet (92) simply as his mother. James' farm now consisted of 55 acres, substantially bigger than the 17 acres listed in 1871. A third resident, Margaret Bauerman, age 44, was listed as a general servant.

Janet Wighton, widow of William Lindsay, small farmer, died August 8, 1882 of senile decay at Hill of Keillor, Newtyle. The informant on Janet's death register was her son William (#1 son) who was living at North Street, Newtyle. Her death register shows Janet as being the daughter of Thomas Wighton and Elizabeth Wighton - just in case anyone had any doubts that this was our Janet.

Above, a Pictish stone near High Keillor. View is north; hills are behind.

Let's take a closer look now at Janet's children.

WILLIAM, Janet's oldest child, was born March 7, 1813. He was obviously named after his father. William was not living with his mother at High Keillor in 1841, but this was not expected as he would have been 28. I could not find any reference to him in the 1841, 1851, 1861, or 1871 census records for Newtyle. He had obviously moved out of the parish but there were too many William Lindsays in Scotland at the time to pursue his location further.

Robert Bain reported that William married Charlotte Bolbeck who was born in 1811, died on Mafch 30, 1881 in North Street, Newtyle at the age of 70 and from apoplexy/paralysis. William did show up in the 1881 census record, as a widower living at North Street, Newtyle. He was 68 at the time and recorded as a retired farmer. William died March 11, 1891 at his residence of North Street, Newtyle at the age of 78. (North Street is a couple of blocks long and serves as the northern boundary of Newtyle. To the west, it becomes Coupar Angus Road and, to the east, it becomes Bulb Park.) The cause of death was the fracture of his skull.

William's will revealed that his estate had assets worth 2,126 pounds that were made up principally of three bonds of 700, 600 and 600 pounds respectively. These were purchased in 1882, 1880, and 1888 from the Toscas Land and Cattle Company, the Dundee Mortgage and Trust Investment Company, and the Scotland American Mortgage Company. He also possessed a promissory loan of 200 pounds from a George Goff in England. To get a sense of what a 2000 pound estate was worth, consider that William rented his North Street residence for 4 pounds, 10 shillings per half-year. Further, he gave the three executors of his will 10 pounds as a gift, his funeral expenses totalled about 9 pounds (6 pounds for the joiner, 3 pounds for a hotel), and he owed his housekeeper Agnes Wighton 6 pounds in wages. I assume that would be her monthly wage but I don't know that for sure. (Incidentally, there's nothing in my records to suggest that Agnes Wighton was related to us.) Margaret Serzans (Gen.9) found a reference that gives us a conversion figure for UK currency in 1887. At that time, 1,568 pounds was worth $180,000 U.S. Using that as a ratio, William's estate would have been worth about $250,000 US. This would have been a sizeable amount for a farmer.

Since William left his entire estate to his brothers and sisters and their children, we're able to get some interesting information on what happened to Janet's other 8 children. I also had the will from James (#7/9) Lindsay to assist, but William's will was more detailed and thus more informative.

JOHN, Janet's second child, was born December 18, 1814. I assume that he was named after Janet's brother, John - our ancestor. I found no mention of John Lindsay in Newtyle's marriage records and there were too many John Lindsay males being married in Scotland for me to pursue. He was not listed in the 1841, 1851, or 1861 census records for Newtyle. Nor was he mentioned in William's will, or in James' will, so I presume that he died young.

MARGARET (#3/9) was born June 30, 1816 and was presumably named after Janet's sister, Margaret Wighton. From William's will, we learn that Margaret had married someone with the surname George and moved to Melbourne, Australia. William Lindsay did not leave Margaret a specific bequest, and in light of the fact that he did so with other living siblings, we can presume that she predeceased him. However, William did leave 100 pounds each to his two nieces, Jessie George and Emma George. I was unable to find Margaret's marriage to Mr. George, nor any record of the birth of her children either in Scotland or in Australia. (James Lindsay also left a bequest for Margaret but her married name was not given.)

JANET (#4/9) was born June 14, 1818 and was obviously named after her mother. The wills of her two brothers were key to revealing Janet's life because both wills mentioned her married name. William's will also left a small bequest to her son, John. Armed with her married name, I began searching birth, marriage and census records. Here's the picture that emerged.

Let's start with the 1841 census showing Janet (Sr.) and her family at High Keillor. Janet (Jr) was not recorded on that census page, but she would have been 23 and it's reasonable to expect that she and her three older siblings had all moved elsewhere by that time. If you were of a curious mind, you might have scanned down the 1841 census page to see who Janet (Sr)'s neighbours were. The census entry immediately after the entry for Janet (Sr) and the Lindsay family was for a man named John Hardie, aged 35, and a pendicler like Janet (Sr). Living with this John Hardie was an Elizabeth Hardie, aged 70, and presumably his mother. Well, if you were inclined to be a real busy-body, or if you had found a reason to investigate further, you might have used that information to research Mr. John Hardie even further - solely out of mindless curiosity, of course. Turns out that John Hardie was born to William Hardie and Elizabeth Mill in Newtyle, May 9, 1802. This would make him 39 years old, not 35 as the census stated, but all of this is just useless information, isn't it?

Janet (Jr) does show up in the 1841 census but not at High Keillor. She was in Newtyle, working in the Manse of Newtyle as a servant. Her age was shown as 20 years old, but in that particular census, ages were supposed to be rounded down to the next 5. In fact, Janet was 23.

The 1851 census was silent on both the Lindsay and Hardie families, but the 1861 year was chock-block full of information. First, we find Janet Lindsay giving birth to a son (John) on March 23, 1861 in Kettins Parish, on the southern border with Newtyle Parish. The father's name? John Hardie. Two weeks later, census takers fanned out across Scotland to record who was living where. John Hardie was living in the hamlet of High Keillor with his sister, Margaret Walker (62) who was acting as a house servant. Janet (Sr) Lindsay was living in High Keillor with her son, James. Janet (Jr) was living with Betty Wighton (her mother's younger sister) in the parish of Kettins along with her two week old son, John. Janet (Jr)'s occupation was listed as a house servant. It's difficult to make out the name of the location where Janet and her aunt were staying, but the location of another residence on the very same census page was High Keillor! Thus, although Janet (Jr) had her child in Kettins, she was still living very close to her family in Newtyle and was being cared for during her pregnancy by an Aunt (who was working as a field labourer at the time).

The census provides evidence that High Keillor spanned both the Newtyle and Kettins parishes. That location supports my contention (that I put forward in Thomas Wighton's biography) that Janet (Jr)'s grandparents (Thomas Wighton and Elizabeth Taylor) did not live in Kettins, have two children, then move to Newtyle and have five more children. They probably lived in the High Keillor hamlet on the border between the two parishes and just decided for some reason to register the births in different parishes.)

One week after the 1861 census was taken, on April 12, 1861, Janet Lindsay (almost 43) married John Hardie (almost 59). Want to take a bet whether John Hardie, the husband, was John Hardie, the neighbour?

The answer to that not-too-difficult question is found in the 1871 census. John Hardie was still at High Keillor, but this time he was accompanied by a wife named Janet and a son named John (Jr). The ages given for both John (Sr) and Janet were off by a bit, but John (Jr)'s age was dead on what you would expect. Also noted in the census was the fact that John Hardie (Sr) was a pendicler of 12 acres while Janet (Sr) Lindsay was farming 17 acres.

Ten years later in 1881, Janet (Jr) Hardie was registered as 59 (really 62), her husband John Hardie was retired at 79, and son John (20) was working as a railroad clerk. They also had a visitor, Elizabeth Lindsay, who was unmarried, 51, born in Newtyle and working in a jute factory. This Elizabeth was Janet (Jr)'s younger sister.

Janet's husband, John Hardie, died December 23, 1883 and was buried in Newtyle. His will was probated June 8th, 1885. That will was created in 1864, about three years after his marriage and the birth of son John. John Hardie's will revealed that, in 1835 at the age of 33, he had entered into a 99 year lease on the High Keillor plot of land. That lease was given by the Right Honourable James Archibald Steuart-Wortley-McKenzie, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe. Apparently, John Hardie had the right to own and dispose of that lease as he (or the trustees of his estate) wished. In his will, John Hardie assigned to Janet the whole rents, subrents profits and duties to be derived from the said lot of ground... and the dwelling houses and other buildings erected thereof - subject of course to the rent owing Baron Wharncliffe and his successors and that during all the days of her lifetime which she survives me and continues my widow, but declaring that in the event of her marrying again, then she shall forfeit all right and interest in this settlement. Janet also got the household furniture but the will expressly declared that that was the full extent of his estate that she was entitled to. The balance of the estate (e.g., investments, income derived from his land and the lease itself) was to be held in trust for John (Jr). The trustees could encroach upon the capital to pay for his education or establishment in business before he reached 21. At the age of 21, the trustees were to convey to John the full estate, excepting what was provided to his mother. (John was already 21 when his father died.) If John (Jr) died before his mother, John (Sr) declared that half of his estate would go to his nearest kin and the other half would go to Janet's nearest kin.

From the 1891 census, we see Janet, 69, living off "private means". Her son, John (30) was unmarried and working as an agricultural labourer. (Subsequently, I determined that he was working next door for James Lindsay, Janet's brother.) At about the same time, the plot of land that James was farming increased from 17 acres (1871) to 55 acres (1891). It's possible that he acquired the Hardie lease from John (Jr) Hardie.

in 1891, Janet received 100 pounds from her brother William's will and her son John inherited 20 pounds. That amount was reduced to 9 pounds in a codicil to the will, the reason being that John had already received 11 pounds from William. (William created the will in 1886 but died five years later in 1891.) Shortly afterwards, in 1892, Janet was named in her younger brother, James' will. She split the estate with her three other sisters: Margaret, Elizabeth, and Agnes. Robert Bain reported that she died February 20, 1894 in High Keillor at the age of 75 and was buried in Newtyle. (Robert Bain found that Janet Jr's son, John, died December 11, 1884 in Dundee at the age of 71.)

Anne Fleeming Lindsay (#5/9) was born on March 11, 1821. Unlike Janet (Sr)'s other 8 children, the name Anne was not found in the immediate Wighton or Lindsay families. Also, Anne was the only child given a middle name. Apparently, there was something special about Anne Fleeming (Fleming), but it was not initially apparent what. I discovered the key when I was wrapping up my research on Janet's family. I was wondering if Janet (Sr)'s husband, William Lindsay, had left a will. I was interested to see if, like John Hardie, William Lindsay's will contained a clause that allowed his wife Janet to live in the house and draw money from the farm, while the farm property itself was reserved to one of his sons. I did find an 1833 will for a William Lindsay - this was right in the time span that Janet's husband disappeared from the records. There was also a reference to this William Lindsay residing in the hamlet of Newbigging, Newtyle Parish, but I didn't know the significance of that location at the time. So, I purchased a copy of the will.

Turns out that this was the will of William Lindsay, Janet's father-in-law, and not her husband's. William (Sr) Lindsay's will was focused almost entirely on Anne Fleeming, to wit. The said William Lindsay and Ann Fleeming considering that they have been sometime ago married and that there has been no contract of marriage entered into between them nor any provision made by the said William Lindsay to the said Ann Fleeming his spouse in the event of her surviving him, and whereas there are no children procreate and existing betwist them, they have thought it just and reasonable to enter into these [illegible] in a manner as underwritten. This part of the will was written in 1810. A brief phrase in the will refers to William as having been previously married and having children from that marriage.

Thus ... We know that William Lindsay (Sr) was married to Elspeth Miller who bore him 6 children between 1784 and 1799. At some point after 1799 (perhaps as a result of the last birth, Elspeth Miller died. Since the 1810 will refers to Ann Fleeming having been William (Sr)'s spouse for some time, this suggests that Ann Fleeming probably helped William raise his six children. It was this that probably prompted William Lindsay to name his 5th child after his step-mother.

As to Anne Fleeming Lindsay, Janet's 5th child, she appeared in the 1841 census records as living at High Keillor. She was 15 years old at the time. Robert Bain determined that she married James Smith, son of George Smith and Elspeth Robertson, on 21 Dec 1849 in Newtyle, Angus, Scotland. James was born on 19 Aug 1825 in Millhill Estate, Longforgan Parish, Perthshire, Scotland, was christened on 28 Aug 1825 in Caputh, Perthshire, Scotland, and died on 6 Feb 1904 in Ashbank Lodge, Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland aged 78. Anne and George would have 4 children in Angus and Fife. she died in 1884 at the age of 63 in Blairgowrie. (Robert Bain has compiled a genealogocial history of Anne Lindsay's descendants and you can see a summary of that lineage by clicking Smith family.

ROBERT (#6/9) was born January 18, 1824 and could have been named after either William's brother Robert or Janet's brother Robert. He appeared in the 1841 census (age = 18) as living at High Keillor. He died September 3, 1858 at the age of 34 from unspecified reasons. He was single at the time and working as an agricultural worker at High Keillor. His younger brother James was the informant for the register.

JAMES, (#7/9) born April 8, 1827, was presumably named after William's brother. In the 1841 census, he was shown simply as a 14 year old. Twenty years later, in 1861, he was listed as a ploughman (shown as 31 but actually 34); in 1871, he was recorded as 38 years old (really 44) and was working for his mother as an agricultural labourer. At that time, High Keillor consisted of 17 acres and employed one other person. Ten years later, in the 1881 census, James was recorded as 53 years old (accurately) and was now registered as the head of the household and as a farmer which suggests that he had taken over the management of the now 55 acre farm, about triple its size in 1871. It's possible that he acquired the neighbouring Hardie lease as part of that expansion. Other than his mother Janet (aged 92), there was only one other person in the census register - a Margaret Bannerman, unmarried, 44 years old and employed as a servant.

James would have been about 61 when his mother died in 1887, however his name does not appear in Janet (Sr)'s death register. That duty fell to his older brother William. When William himself died in March 1891, he left James his gold watch which was a gift from Sir Reginald Knightly. (Although William must have thought highly of Sir Reginald Knightly, Google does not. I found no reference to the man.) In addition, William left James his whole body clothes as well as a specific bequest of 100 pounds, similar to what he left to his other siblings.

In the 1891 census, James (64) was living alone in High Keillor. He was registered as a small farmer and also as an employer, although none of his employees was living in his house. James died January 23, 1892. He had only 8 pounds of assets in household furniture, but his farming stock, crop, and implements of husbandry were worth 159 pounds. This reveals that the High Keillor farm had a mixture of crops and livestock. Note that for almost the entire period of the Lindsay ownership of the farm, they were able to do it with only two or three workers resident on the farm. At the time of his death, James owed John Hardie 3 pounds for wages, confirming that sister Janet's son was working for him and was not farming the lease that had been left to him by his father. James also had a debt of 5 pounds for rent owing to the Earl of Wharncliffe, confirming that the entire area of High Keillor was owned by the Wharncliffe family. Net, James' estate was worth 198 pounds.

James split his estate evenly between his four sisters: Margaret, Janet, Elizabeth and Agnes. Interestingly, his will referred to Margaret as Margaret Lindsay or               - the blank space suggesting that he had not been able to remember her married name. His two other married sisters were referred to as Janet Lindsay or Hardie and Agnes Lindsay or Geddes. Unlike William, James did not acknowledge that his two Australian-based sisters had predeceased him. (William had not left specific bequests for his Margaret or Agnes but left money to their children instead.) Instead, James just stipulated that his estate should be split four ways.

James did not specify what should be done with the lease on the High Keillor farm but did lay out the options: sell the lease to someone else, try to sell the lease back to the owner, or carry on with the farming. His one caveat was that if they decided to maintain the farm, any losses that were incurred would be borne by his estate and not by the executors. James also left William Lindsay, son of my sister Elizabeth Lindsay his body clothes and two silver watches.

Elizabeth (#8/9) was born May 3, 1829 and was presumably named after Janet's sister Betty Wighton. (Elizabeth appeared in the birth records as Betty, but all other references that I found identified her as Elizabeth.) She appeared in the 1841 census as an 11 year old living with her mother Janet at High Keillor. The next time Elizabeth's name appeared was in the 1881 census when she was visiting with her older sister Janet Hardie in High Keillor. She was shown as unmarried, born in Newtyle, and working in a jute factory (possibly in Dundee?).

In 1891, Elizabeth received 100 pounds from her brother William's will. She was identified as Elizabeth Lindsay but there was no additional reference to a married name as William did for sisters Janet and Agnes. This confirms that Elizabeth was unmarried. William also left her son, John 20 pounds, but does not identify John's last name. Elizabeth's name appears again in James' 1892 will with the bequest of a one-fourth share of James' estate. Her son, William, is also favoured with a bequest (James' clothes and two watches) but this time he is fully identified, as William Lindsay, son of Elizabeth Lindsay. (William's use of his mother's surname probably indicates that his father did not acknowledge the birth and/or provide for him.) Robert Bain found that Betty died on Mar 17, 1911 in Church Street, Newtyle at the age of 82. The cause of death was Endocarditis - Influenza - Senile Decay.

However, the 1891 census provided a clue on her son, William Lindsay. The census was taken about three weeks after the death of Elizabeth's older brother, William. In that census, Elizabeth's son, William Lindsay was listed as a visitor at his Aunt Janet's (Hardie) residence. William was aged 27, married, and a police constable by profession. Also shown in the census was a second visitor, Janet Lindsay, aged 26, and with no occupation given but shown as married. I presume that she was William's wife. The census not only gives William's age, but it also gives his birth place - Cupar, Fife. The Cupar, Fife reference allowed me to determine that William had been born June 18, 1863 to Elizabeth Lindsay, no father indicated. Elizabeth and William had left Cupar, Fife by the 1871 census and I was unable to fill in any other gaps.

Agnes (#9/9) was born April 22, 1831 and was likely named after her paternal aunt. Agnes appeared in the 1841 census as a 9 year old living with her mother Janet at High Keillor. However, she disappeared after that until she was mentioned in her brother William's 1891 will in which her five children received 80 pounds each. Those children were: Jessie Ann Geddes, Agnes Geddes, Margaret Geddes, Devinia Geddes, and William Robert Geddes. Agnes herself did not receive William's standard 100 pounds so we can assume that she had predeceased him. Agnes' family lived in Victoria, Australia. Her other brother, James, left Agnes a 1/4 share of his estate. I had no success in finding any information on the Geddes family either in Scotland or in Australia.

If you like mysteries, here's one for you. In the 1861 census, Janet (Sr) Lindsay was shown as living in the High Keillor with her son, James. There was a third person present. A grandson! His name was William Tait, aged 19, and he was listed as an apprentice millwright. His birthplace was given as Newtyle. That would put his birth year somewhere around 1842.

1. Margaret, at the age of 26, and before she left for Melbourne?

2. Janet (Jr) at the age of 24, and before she married John Hardie in 1861; and

3. Ann who would have been around 21.

• No William Tait birth was recorded in Newtyle in the appropriate period.

• No William Lindsay birth was recorded in Newtyle in the appropriate period.

• No William Tait birth was recorded to a Margaret, Janet, Ann, or to a Lindsay anywhere in Scotland in the appropriate period.

• No William Tait birth was recorded to a Margaret, Janet, Ann or to a Lindsay anywhere in Scotland in the appropriate period with the exception of a William Lindsay born to an Ann Lindsay Nov 22, 1843 in Roberton, Lanark. This was a very long way from Newtyle.

• In the 1851 census, I found only 1 William Tait that was anywhere close to the right age in Scotland. His mother was Janet Tait, and she was 40 years old; that doesn't fit with what we know.

• There were no records of any Tait males being born in Newtyle between 1819 and 1854 ruling out the possibility that William's father was born in Newtyle.

• There were no marriages involving a Tait male in Newtyle between 1819 and 1854 (again focusing on William's possible father).

• Searching the 1851 census for a William Tait, aged 19 pulled up the necessary record. That means that I had not misinterpreted the boy's last name or the age.

• There were no William Tait's in Newtyle in the 1871 census; there were far too many to pursue in other parts of Scotland.

• There were no William Tait's in the 1881 census who were born in Newtyle.

• There were no William Tait's in Newtyle in the 1891 census; there were far too many to pursue in other parts of Scotland. <

• There was no death record post 1855 for a William Tait, born in 1842 (plus or minus 2 years) to a Lindsay mother anywhere in Scotland.

So, who was William Tait? Who was his mother? Where did he go after 1841? He was not mentioned in any of the Lindsay wills, so did he die?

Let's refocus on Janet Lindsay, born in 1791, our fourth generation aunt. Consider: Janet Wighton gave birth to 9 children between 1812 and 1831. Her husband died in that decade and she not only completed raising her 9 children but she ran the family farm in addition. She ran that farm with very little help (son plus one employee) for at least the next 40 years, turning it over to her son James some time after her 79th birthday and before her 89th birthday. She lived to the age of 92. This was one formidable woman!

However, as a woman in Victorian England, she lived under certain restraints. The three wills that I explored during my research of Janet Lindsay's family revealed some of those restraints.

• The following clause was part of the legal boiler plate of William's will. The legacies falling to females shall be exclusive always of the right of administration of any husband to whom they are or may be married, and the same shall in no wise be affectable or attachable for the debts or deeds of such husbands, nor subject to the diligence of the husbands creditors.
• The following clause was part of John Hardie's will. In the event of my wife Janet Lindsay or Hardie surviving me then and while she continues my widow, my Trustees shall pay over to her the whole rents, subrents, profits, and duties to be derived from the said land.... and that during all the days of her lifetime while she survives me and continues my widow, but declaring that in the event of her marrying again, then she shall forfeit all right and interest in this settlement. William left rents arising from his land to his wife; however, he left the capital assets (his lease) to his son.

It is likely that Janet's husband made a similar will that provided for Janet to live off the farm land but leaving any capital assets to one or more of his sons. She could run a farm by herself for over 40 years, but she wasn't allowed to own property or handle money. Of course, none of this is new to you - we're familiar with this history. For those of you interested in more of this background, you can read the essay on Women in Victorian Britain.

Sources

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

Margaret Serzans (Gen.9)

Mary Maxwell (née Wighton,Gen.9)) and David Maxwell

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

Robert Bain's research on The Descendants of Thomas Wighton as provided to the author in March 2011. Robert's partner, Eilidh Mary Smith is a descendant of Janet Wighton through her daughter Anne Fleeming Lindsay.

Where to now? To read more about Generation 4 John's immediate family, just click top to make a selection from Generation 4's genealogical table at the top of this page. The navigation buttons just below will give you quick access to biographies in other generations.