Alyth's parish records began in 1623 and the first Wightons appeared in those records with a series of marriages. From these, we can deduce that six brothers/sisters/cousins were likely born between 1600 and 1612. In addition to the Wighton surname, the variants Wichtand, Wightone, Wichtan, Victan, Vighton, and Weighton were present in the records.

This first generation had 16 second-generation offspring between 1624 and 1650. Only 6 of those 16 married. It's possible that the 10 who disappeared from the records fell victim to the plague which swept the country between 1645 and 1650. They all would have been infants or young children at the time. Two second-generation males went on to have 15 children in Alyth between 1650 and 1675.

There were 21 fourth generation (1680 -1700) Wightons. However, after 1710, the Wighton family virtually disappeared from Alyth parish records. It was too early for the Lowland Clearances to explain their disappearance, but the famines in the 1690s are a possibility and the Alyth Wightons could have been part of the mass migration to Ireland at that time.

Wightons reappeared in Alyth in the 1800s, but only briefly. There was one marriage - the Meigle line's John Wighton and Ann Baxter. In addition, an Andrew Weighton had a daughter, Margaret, in 1823. And, a Thomas Wighton and his wife Janet Hogue had 9 children between 1795 and 1810. The last two children were born in Meigle. After Thomas Wighton left Alyth, there were no Wighton births or marriages in Alyth up to 1900. In all, 78 Wightons were found in Alyth making it our third largest population center during my research period.

For those of you from the Meigle Line of Wightons wondering if any of our ancestors lived in Dundee prior to the Industrial Revolution, --- as indicated above, the answer is yes. John Wighton, a shoemaker, married Ann Baxter, the daughter of an Alyth boot manufacturer in 1821. Their first child, John Baxter Wighton, was born in the town. Shortly afterwards, the family moved to Dundee.

Sources

ScotlandsPeople Database

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