Glasgow Branches in 15th and 16th Century Scotland

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Early Glasgow Branches in Scotland, c.1447–1650

This page brings together the evidence for people and families using the Glasgow surname in Scotland from the later fifteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century.

It continues the research begun on Bearers of the de Glasgu Name and the Emergence of the Glasgow Surname, c.1175–1500. That page establishes the early locative and surname evidence. This page deals with the later transition into documented burgh families, regional surname clusters and early-modern lines.

On this page, branch means a documented or proposed surname cluster. It does not necessarily mean that descent from another branch has been proved.

The evidence supports four distinct conclusions:

John de Glasgu is securely documented as the same Glasgow burgess before and after 1450, in 1447 and 1455;
the Glasgow surname remained in documented use from the mid-fifteenth century into the sixteenth century;
a burgh pedigree becomes demonstrable from William Glasgow and Esbell Brade onwards;
several other Glasgow households and regional clusters were contemporary with that pedigree, but their precise relationships remain partly or wholly unproved.

Navigation: Late-medieval continuity · Transitional John household · Proved burgh line · Other documented clusters · Regional distribution · Marriage and civic networks · One Tree export limits · Research priorities

1. Late-medieval continuity and transitional evidence, 1447–1553

The surviving record does not show the Glasgow surname disappearing between the medieval de Glasgu bearers and the sixteenth-century burgh family.

Instead, a sequence of Glasgow, Stirling, Border and burgh records demonstrates continued surname use:

Date	Bearer	Place and context	Current interpretation
1447 and 1455	John de Glasgu	Glasgow burgess and witness in property transactions recorded by the same notary, Henry Michaelis	Secure same individual crossing the 1450 boundary
1475 and 1479/80	John Glasgw	Witness to Stirling property and religious-endowment acts	Secure repeated fixed-form bearer; identity with the Glasgow John unproved
By 1495	Alan Glasgw	Named as the victim of a killing in a Border justice proceeding	Independent fixed-form surname occurrence
1506	John de Glasgow alias Smith	Joint acquirer of an annual rent from a Glasgow High Street property	Secure dual-name evidence; no proved descendants
1526	William Glasgow	Named in a royal remission with Sir James Sandilands of Calder, Robert Bruce of Auchenbowie and others	Possible earlier occurrence of William Glasgow; identity unproved
1527–1548; dead by 1553	John Glasgow, property holder near the Market Cross and South Port	Identifiable four-shilling annual-rent property recorded with the same neighbours in 1527 and 1548; adjoining land called his after his death in 1553	Secure separate household immediately before and alongside the proved burgh pedigree; relationship to William unproved
1531	William Glasgow	Witness in a protocol of the town clerks of Glasgow	Earliest secure bridge into the later burgh family
1534	William and Esbell Brade	Property transferred to their son John Glasgow and his wife Jonet Spreull	First proved parent-child link in the burgh pedigree

A John de Glasgu was recorded as a burgess and property witness in Glasgow on 21 June 1447 and again on 10 April 1455.^[1] Both acts were recorded by Henry Michaelis as notary, and the printed volume's index groups the two occurrences under Johannes de Glasgu. Shared town, civic role, notarial setting and name make this a high-confidence same-person identification.

This supplies a concrete person-level bridge across the conventional 1450 division:

John de Glasgu, Glasgow burgess and property witness, active 1447–1455.

It does not identify his parents, children or later heirs.

A John Glasgw later witnessed Stirling acts dated 11 April 1475 and 2 March 1479/80.^[2]

The two sets of records may represent:

one man active in Glasgow and Stirling;
two generations of one family;
collateral relatives;
or separate families already using the settled surname.

No repeated associate, office, inherited property, seal, notary or explicit relationship presently identifies the Glasgow and Stirling Johns as one person.

The profile or research page covering “John Glasgow, 1475–1536” should therefore not be treated as the biography of one demonstrated individual. The dates 1475 and 1479/80 are documentary occurrences, not birth dates, and no record presently extends the Stirling witness securely to 1536.

Alan Glasgw supplies a further fixed-form occurrence in a Border record by 26 February 1495.^[3]

On 28 April 1506, John de Glasgow alias Smith and Sir Allan Smith jointly acquired a four-shilling annual rent from a tenement on Glasgow High Street. Agnes, daughter and heir of Robert Watson, was the seller, and Sir Allan's property was the northern boundary.^[4] The description proves Robert Watson as Agnes's father; it does not identify Sir Allan as John's father or relative, or establish John's occupation.

Neither Alan nor John alias Smith is connected by a surviving parentage or succession record to the later burgh family.

A transitional John Glasgow household, 1527–1553

A separate John Glasgow held an identifiable tenement on the west side of the street running from Glasgow Market Cross towards the South Port. On 2 May 1527, a four-shilling annual rent was payable from his tenement, lying north of John Rankyn's land and south of James Young's land.^[5]

A fresh collegiate-foundation sasine dated 5 January 1548 repeated the same annual rent, street position and neighbouring owners.^[6] This is the same holding, but the act may repeat the foundation's older title wording and does not alone prove that John was still alive or possessed it in 1548.

The property can now be followed into William's proved family. A newly recovered instrument, source-dated 20 February 1528 (possibly 1528/29 under Annunciation year reckoning), places William Glasgow immediately north of a tenement and gardens sold by Malcolm Henryson alias Makandoy to James Houston, with Andrew Craig immediately south.^[7] This is the adjoining parcel later held by Rankin. On 17 February 1534/35 Rankin's tenement was again bounded by William Glasgow north and Andrew Craig south.^[8] On 16 March 1535/36 James Young's place was bounded by the lands of the late William Glasgow south and Robert Cochran north.^[9] Houston's St Andrew prebend rental, confirmed in 1542 and transumed in 1548/49, also charges the same four-shilling annual upon the tenement of the late William Glasgow between late John Crownar north and John Rankin south.^[10] These records place William on the older John's title only ten to twenty-two months after the 1527 entry. In 1564 William's son John entered the fore tenement as heir of William, his father, still between late John Rankin and Robert Young.^[11]

The rear title can now also be reconstructed. On 13 May 1563 John Glasgow senior and Jonet Spreull conveyed to their son John a tenement between Robert Young north, late John Rankin south and St Mary's collegiate-church land west, reserving five merks yearly.^[12] On 16 November 1564 Eufame Craig, widow of an unnamed Glasgow, sold John elder her conjunct-fee and liferent interest in the corresponding back tenement; he then sold the adjoining fore tenement to William Craig.^[13] This fee/liferent split strongly identifies the 1534 family settlement as the rear component of the Rankin–Young block, although no single instrument expressly equates them. Eufame's deceased husband's forename is blank; William is possible but not proved. The original books are NRS NP1/5 for Michael Fleming and Glasgow City Archives B/10/1/3 for the 1563–64 Heygate protocols.

The northern boundary also has a recoverable family network. In February 1554/55 Elizabeth Crownear, widow of James Young, conveyed land to their son David; in April 1555 Robert Young was called the eldest brother of George Young and Besse Crownare their mother.^[14] Robert later held the northern tenement between John Glasgow and John Cochran. Elizabeth and Besse are strongly, but circumstantially, identified as one woman. No record yet states how she was related to the late John Crownar whose rear land bounded the 1534 Glasgow tenement.

On 21 October 1553, John Ranking transferred the adjoining property. Its northern boundary was then described as the lands of the late John Glasgow, establishing that the older John had died between 5 January 1548 and 21 October 1553.^[15]

This man cannot be John Glasgow, son of William Glasgow and husband of Jonet Spreull, because that younger John remained alive and transferred property to his own son William in 1565.

The older property holder is therefore a distinct and potentially important transitional household. Exact property succession now makes him a serious possible predecessor or collateral of William; he could also have been John de Glasgow alias Smith of 1506. None of those identifications is yet proved. No inspected record calls William his son, heir, brother or nearest in blood, and the John-to-William transmission instrument has not been found.

The correct conclusion is:

The surname record is substantially continuous; the civic setting is continuous; the pedigree is not yet continuous.

2. The proved Glasgow burgh line

The first presently documented multi-generation pedigree begins with William Glasgow and Esbell Brade.

William Glasgow and Esbell Brade

A William Glasgow was included in a royal remission dated 2 July 1526 for the slaughter of James Somervile and other offences.^[16]

The date and central-Scotland network are compatible with William Glasgow, but the remission supplies no spouse, parent, property, occupation or explicit residence. It should be treated as a possible earlier occurrence rather than a conclusive identification.

William's first secure appearance in the Glasgow town-clerk material is dated 28 February 1530/31. He witnessed a sasine granted by John Wan, bailie, to John Allason in property on Our Lady's Street.^[17]

The decisive family record followed on 31 December 1534. William Glasgow, with the consent of his wife Esbell Brade, resigned a back tenement to:

John Glasgow, described as their son; and
Jonet Spreull, John's wife.

William and Esbell reserved the profits of the property during their lifetimes.^[18]

William was dead by 16 March 1535/36, when James Young's neighbouring property was described by reference to the lands of the late William Glasgow.^[9] He was still described without the deceased qualifier in the Rankin boundary on 17 February 1534/35, giving a documentary death interval between those dates; no death place is established.

No inspected source identifies William as the son or heir of the Glasgow John, the Stirling John, Alan Glasgw or John alias Smith.

John Glasgow and Jonet Spreull

The 1534 protocol directly establishes:

John Glasgow as the son of William Glasgow and Esbell Brade;
Jonet Spreull as John's wife;
and a transfer of identifiable Glasgow property between the generations.

A protocol dated 24 August 1565 records John Glasgow senior resigning a burgage tenement to:

William Glesgw, his son

John reserved liferent to himself and Jonet Spreull, his spouse.^[19]

This proves William Glasgow as John's son. Jonet was John's spouse and joint liferenter, but the surviving abstract does not expressly call the younger William her son.

A record dated 8 November 1575 identifies Stephen Glasgow as the son of the late John Glasgow and names Jonet Spreull as his mother.^[20]

The core pedigree is therefore:

William Glasgow and Esbell Brade

→ John Glasgow and Jonet Spreull

→ Stephen Glasgow

→ William Glasgow

Other children should not be attached to John and Jonet solely from repeated forenames, estimated dates or online trees.

A separate protocol dated 8 January 1570 names a John Glasgow younger, son of John Glasgow. That father-son pair requires independent identification. It should not automatically be merged with John, husband of Jonet Spreull, or with the Stirling witness of the 1470s.

Stephen Glasgow and municipal service

Stephen Glasgow, also recorded as Stevin or Stewin Glasgw, has the strongest surviving civic dossier in the proved line.

His documented activities include:

witnessing a sasine near Craigmak on 12 May 1574;
holding land beside Archibald Steven at the burgh boundary in June 1574;
selling a fore and back tenement to John Scott, baker and citizen, on 17 June 1575;
acting in property transactions and family business during the 1580s;
serving as curator to George Glasgow;
serving as water bailie of Glasgow;
and continuing to hold or transact in Glasgow property into 1598/99.

^[21]^[22]

The supplied material currently associates Stephen's water-bailie service with both 1585 and a council election dated 4 October 1589. The office is supported, but the precise appointment year or repeated years of service should be reconciled against the original council entries.

Stephen was not himself town clerk. His connection to the town-clerk network is institutional: the burgh's clerks and notaries repeatedly recorded his property, family relationships, curatorship and public office.

William, Margaret Herbesoun and George Glasgow

William Glasgow, directly identified as John's son in 1565, married Margaret Herbesoun.

William was dead by 15 July 1586, when George Glasgow received sasine as his heir.^[23]

On 1 September 1586, George acted with the consent of:

Margaret Herbesoun, his mother and liferenter;
Sir William Herbesoun;
and Stephen Glasgow, his curators.

^[24]

Because Stephen and William were both sons of John Glasgow, Stephen was George's paternal uncle or half-uncle.

The supported family structure is:

John Glasgow

→ Stephen Glasgow

→ William Glasgow and Margaret Herbesoun

→ George Glasgow

This curatorship and inheritance evidence is stronger than relationships inferred from shared surname, neighbouring property or estimated ages.

3. Other documented Glasgow clusters

The wider sixteenth-century evidence contains several contemporary Glasgow households. Some were probably related to the proved burgh line, but the surviving records do not yet join all of them into one pedigree.

Cluster	Secure evidence	Current position
William–John–Stephen burgh line	Explicit parent-child records in 1534 and 1575; John also had a son William	Best-documented Glasgow burgh pedigree
Older John Glasgow near Market Cross and South Port	Same identifiable tenement and four-shilling annual rent in 1527; William already on the parcel by source-dated February 1528 and the same rent later charged on his Crownar–Rankin tenement; William's son inherits it in 1564	Strong property bridge into the proved family; relationship of the older John to William is still unstated
Robert the fisher, Ninian and John	Ninian was admitted in 1596 as the second son of Robert Glasgow, fisher and burgess; Ninian's 1613 testament names his brother John	Ninian's father and brother are secure; Robert's fatherhood of John is possible because full versus half-brother is unstated
Corsinkell and Stevenston	James Glasgow elder and younger at Corsinkell in 1559–60; James and John directly named as sons of James elder in 1571	Secure Ayrshire father-son group; connection to the burgh line unproved
Katherine Glasgow and the Weirs at Stevenston	Katherine was Thomas Weir's wife; William, James and probably Jonet Weir were minor executors represented by Thomas	Secure couple and strongly probable children; no explicit child term and no proved parentage for Katherine
John in Hirmanscheillis (index identification)	Estate processed in 1577; widow Margaret [Cochrane?]; lawful children Katherine and [Androw?/Andrew]	Separate household; manuscript death month March and year unresolved; cannot be Ninian's brother John alive in 1613
Archibald Glasgow and Isobell Newlands	Jointly acquired Glasgow property in 1551	Secure couple; Archibald's parentage and alleged children remain unproved
Robert Glasgow and Margaret Rolland	Fisher, citizen and property-holding spouses in Glasgow	Secure civic household; exact relationship to the proved burgh line unresolved

Robert the fisher, Ninian and John

A burgess admission dated 23 October 1596 describes Ninian Glasgow as:

second son to Robert G., fisher, burgess

^[25]

Ninian's testament, made on 10 January 1613, expressly names:

Johne glasgw his brother

^[26]

The records establish Robert Glasgow, fisher and burgess, as Ninian's father and John as Ninian's brother. They do not say whether John was a full or half-brother, so Robert is only a possible father for John. Nor does Ninian's description as `second son` identify which brother was older.

Ninian's records also establish:

Jonet Meik as his earlier wife;
Robert Glasgow as the son of both Ninian and Jonet Meik;
Jonet Hutchesoun as his later spouse;
Marion Glasgow as his sister; and
William Glasgow only as a possible son, because the earlier asserted

relationship wording and exact clothing description following John's name are not secure in the supplied working transcription.

Ninian's brother John was alive in January 1613.

John Glasgow in Hirmanscheillis

John Glasgow was already deceased when his estate was processed on 4 May 1577. The derivative index identifies him as being in Hirmenschelis; the place-name itself is unresolved in the present manuscript reading.

His testament names:

Margaret [Cochrane?], his widow;
Katherine Glasgow, his lawful child;
[Androw?/Andrew] Glasgow, his second lawful child.

Katherine and [Andrew?] were appointed executors-dative to their father. The death month reads March, but the year remains unresolved.^[27]

This John cannot be the brother named in Ninian Glasgow's 1613 testament because the estate record establishes that he was dead before May 1577. Marjorie Glasgow is not supported as the second child in the corrected reading.

Any WikiTree relationship showing the Hirmanscheillis testator as Ninian's brother should therefore be removed unless a source establishes that Ninian had two brothers named John.

Calder and Croftmalloch households

Two further Edinburgh Commissary Court records reveal distinct rural households in the Calder district without proving a bridge to either the Glasgow burgh line or the Corsinkell family.

Margaret Glasgow of Croftmalloch died intestate in December 1578; her estate was confirmed on 8 November 1580. The record calls her the sometime wife of John Easton and repeatedly identifies Cuthbert Kaddell/Keddell as her son. It does not identify Cuthbert's father. Livestock, six bolls of oats and household goods made up much of her inventory; the principal account figures reconcile to a gross estate of £58 4s 8d and a net estate of £57 4s 8d.^[28]

Andrew Glasgow of [Corsoun?] in Calder Cleir made his will on 6 February 1597/8 and died the following day; 10 July 1598 is the confirmation date. He named Elizat Stevinsoun as his wife and expressly called Robert Glasgow his son by her. He also named daughters Marion, Janet and Isobel, made conditional provision for a possible unborn child, and directed that Elizat retain the land until Robert came of age. The conditional clause does not establish that a further child was born.^[29]

These records establish their own nuclear relationships and an agricultural estate setting. They do not show that John of Hirmanscheillis, Margaret of Croftmalloch and Andrew of Corsoun were siblings or descendants of the city burgesses.

Katherine Glasgow and the Weir household at Stevenston

Katherine Glasgow, wife of Thomas Weir in Stevenston parish, died in January 1603. Thomas submitted her testament dative in the names of William, James and probably Jonet/Janet Weir. The court's confirmation expressly refers to the executors' minority. The three were therefore very probably Katherine and Thomas's children, although the record does not call them sons, daughter or bairns.^[30]

The inventory of horses, cattle, grain, household contents and clothing, together with rent owed to the Earl of Glencairn and teind grain to the Stevenston minister, places the household firmly in the same estate economy as the Corsinkell group. Its debts exceeded its assets. That shared landscape makes local kinship a worthwhile hypothesis, especially alongside Geillis Glasgow dying in the same month in neighbouring Ardrossan parish, but neither testament calls Katherine and Geillis sisters or names Katherine's parents.

Saltcoats maritime household

John Glasgow, a sailor in Saltcoats within Ardrossan parish, died in December 1636. His 1637 testament dative calls Katherine and Agnes Glasgow his lawful children and names Isobell Gray as his widow. Isobell submitted the inventory on the children's behalf, but the document does not expressly call her their mother. Another sailor, John Brown, appears as debtor and cautioner; no kinship is stated. A possible old fishing boat in the inventory remains a tentative reading.^[31]

The Saltcoats estate belongs to a maritime household rather than the city fisher pedigree merely because both involved water-based trades. John's possible identity as Glasgow-1030 remains on hold, and the record does not name Mary Glasgow.

The Corsinkell family

The Cunninghame teind material for 1559–60 lists James Glasgow elder and James Glasgow younger at Corsinkell in Stevenston parish.^[32]

On 9 February 1571, Corsinkell was described as occupied by James Glasgow elder and by James and John Glasgow, his sons.^[33]

This proves:

James Glasgow elder

→ James Glasgow younger

→ a son John Glasgow

The present candidate for the son John is John Glasgow, but no reviewed record yet connects the Corsinkell son directly with Burrowland, Dalgarven or Kilwinning.

No inspected source identifies James elder as the son of William Glasgow and Esbell Brade. The Ayrshire family should remain separate from the proved Glasgow burgh pedigree unless a parentage, succession or migration record joins them.

Archibald Glasgow and Isobell Newlands

On 21 May 1551, Archibald Glasgow and Isobell Newlands, spouses, acquired a fore and back tenement near the South Port and Bridge of Clyde.

The witnesses included a Robert Glasgow.^[34]

The transaction securely establishes the couple and their property holding. It does not prove:

Archibald's parents;
that Robert was his brother;
or the children currently attached to Archibald and Isobell.

Those relationships require independent evidence.

Robert Glasgow and Margaret Rolland

Robert Glasgow and Margaret Rolland were spouses and Glasgow property holders.

Robert appears in burgh records as a fisher and citizen. On 12 February 1572/73, Robert and Margaret transferred property near the Market Cross and South Port. The tenement bordered property belonging to a John Glasgow.^[35]

The shared occupation and later burgess evidence make Robert a strong candidate for the father of Ninian Glasgow. That identification is not yet stated explicitly in a record naming both men.

Likewise, Robert's proximity to other Glasgow households supports association but does not define whether they were brothers, cousins, uncle and nephew or members of separate lines.

4. Regional distribution by c.1650

By the later sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the surname was documented in several Scottish regions.

Region	Documented or proposed cluster	Evidential caution
Glasgow and Lanarkshire	William–John–Stephen line; the older John property holder of 1527–53; Robert the fisher; Ninian; Archibald; other civic households	Several explicit relationships, but no complete pedigree joining every household
Ayrshire	Corsinkell and Stevenston; Kilwinning and Dalgarven records	James elder's sons are proved; relationship to the Glasgow burgh line remains unproved
Lothian and West Lothian	Hirmanscheillis; later Kirknewton, Mid Calder, Edinburgh and Leith profiles	Some profiles rely on estimated dates or unverified parentage and require individual source audits
Stirling	John Glasgw in 1475 and 1479/80	Important surname continuity; relationship to later Glasgow families unproved
Borders	Alan Glasgw in 1495; later Cavers, Hawick and Berwickshire profiles	May contain more than one line; no single descent route should be assumed
Argyll and other outliers	Isolated seventeenth-century profiles	Presence may be genuine, but connection to the central pedigrees requires proof

The evidence supports regional spread and diversification. It does not show that every later regional household descended from the proved William–John–Stephen line.

Several models remain possible:

some regional households were descendants of the Glasgow burgh family;
some descended from other late-medieval surname bearers;
several early Glasgow families may already have existed;
and some profile connections may be products of later unsourced trees rather than contemporary evidence.

Migration to Ireland, England, the Americas and the Caribbean should be treated on separate pages. Those movements extend beyond the Scottish branch question and often involve distinct seventeenth-century lines.

5. Marriage, property and civic networks

The documented households repeatedly married or transacted with families active in Glasgow and the surrounding Lowland regions. One sequence now gives a concrete network bridge from the late-medieval bearer into the family environment of the first proved sixteenth-century pedigree.

The Brade–Spreull network bridge, 1430–1534

The sequence is:

In 1430, a Glasgow tenement on the west side of High Street was bounded on the south by the land of the heirs of Walter Sprewl. This is explicit inherited Spreull property before 1450.^[36]
On 10 April 1455, John de Glasgu and Andrew Brady appeared in the same witness group.^[37]
On 27 November 1488, William Sprwl and his wife Joneta Burl sold an annual rent from a Glasgow tenement; Robert Brade witnessed the transaction.^[38]
On 31 December 1534, William Glasgow and Esbell Brade transferred property to their son John Glasgow and his wife Jonet Spreull.^[18]

This is evidence of continuity within a specific Glasgow burgh-property network. The late-medieval Glasgow bearer was operating in the same civic environment in which the Brade or Brady and Spreull names recur, and those two names became the affinal families defining the first proved Glasgow pedigree.

It remains a network bridge, not a bloodline. No record yet proves that Andrew Brady was related to Robert or Esbell Brade, that Robert Brade was Esbell's father or kinsman, that Walter or William Spreull was an ancestor of Jonet Spreull, or that John de Glasgu was an ancestor of William Glasgow.

Later documented marriages and associations

Directly evidenced examples include:

The 1534 marriage evidence places the proved burgh family within a demonstrably older Glasgow Spreull property network. It does not identify Jonet Spreull's exact parents or prove her descent from Walter Sprewl's heirs, William Sprwl, or the Spreulls of Cowden or Ladymuir.

Likewise, the recurring Herbison, Hutcheson, Rolland and Newlands associations are important where they appear in property, curatorship and testamentary records. Their value lies in reconstructing actual civic relationships.

Later appearances of Cunningham, Stewart, Hamilton, Graham, Scot, Fraser and other surnames do not automatically prove marriage into the senior noble or chiefly houses carrying those names. Each connection should be supported by documented parents, estates, marriage contracts, sasines, testaments or equivalent contemporary evidence.

The sixteenth-century evidence is best understood as an overlapping network of:

burgesses and citizens;
fishers and maritime workers;
property holders;
notaries, clerks and civic officers;
chaplains and minor ecclesiastical figures;
and tenant households in the surrounding counties.

Kinship between several Glasgow households is probable. The exact degree cannot be supplied from surname recurrence or a small urban population alone.

6. What the One Tree export can and cannot establish

The One Tree export is useful for:

locating existing WikiTree profiles;
displaying current parent, spouse and child attachments;
identifying geographical concentrations;
finding profiles requiring review;
and generating research hypotheses.

It is not itself a genealogical source.

The export does not prove that:

John Glasgow was the common ancestor of the later Scottish lines;
William, Robert and Archibald were all his sons;
each displayed parent-child relationship is supported by a contemporary record;
people with estimated locations were born in those places;
every Y-DNA-labelled profile belongs to one documented medieval paternal line;
or a group of connected WikiTree profiles represents one historically proved branch.

A Y-DNA indicator on a WikiTree profile may show that DNA information has been associated with that profile or a descendant. It does not by itself demonstrate descent from the earliest displayed ancestor.

A lineage back to John Glasgow c.1475 and a single paternal root remain possible hypotheses, but the export cannot confirm either conclusion without a documented relationship chain.

The export should be treated as a map of the current tree, not as evidence that the tree is correct.

7. Current research map

Research cluster	Anchor evidence	Status
Late-medieval fixed-surname group	Glasgow John, Stirling John, Alan Glasgw and John alias Smith	Documentary continuity; John de Glasgu securely crosses 1450, but no joined pedigree
Brade–Spreull civic network	Spreull inherited property in 1430; John de Glasgu with Andrew Brady in 1455; Robert Brade with William Sprwl in 1488; Brade–Spreull marriage linkage in the 1534 Glasgow transfer	Concrete burgh-property network bridge; exact kinship between the earlier and later bearers unproved
Older John Glasgow household	Identifiable Market Cross–South Port property in 1527/1548; exact parcel held by William in 1535 and inherited by William's son in 1564	Strong property succession; possible predecessor or collateral of William, but no relationship proved
William–John–Stephen burgh pedigree	Protocols of 1531, 1534, 1565, 1575 and 1586	Partly proved across three generations
Robert the fisher and Ninian	1596 burgess admission and 1613 testament	Secure father-son and sibling evidence; profile identification still being tested
Corsinkell family	Teind material of 1559–60 and GD39/5/59 of 1571	Secure father and two sons; relationship to other lines unproved
Hirmanscheillis household	Testament of John Glasgow, 1576–77	Secure separate family with two daughters
Other Glasgow burgh households	Archibald and Isobell; Robert and Margaret Rolland; neighbouring property and witness records	Secure individuals and couples; wider parentage unresolved
Lothian, Borders and other regional profiles	Parish, testament, property and later family records	Mixed quality; each line requires an independent audit

The best current model is:

John de Glasgu, the same Glasgow burgess in 1447 and 1455

→ later fixed-surname bearers in Stirling and the Borders

→ John de Glasgow alias Smith in 1506

→ a Brade–Spreull civic and property network extending from 1430 to the 1534 proved family transfer

→ an older John Glasgow household holding identifiable burgh property in 1527–1548, with the holder dead by 1553

→ an unproved genealogical connection

→ the documented William–John–Stephen burgh pedigree

→ overlapping fisher and property-holding households

→ separate or partly connected Ayrshire, Lothian and Border clusters

Documentary bridge matrix

Proposed bridge	Evidence already present	Missing decisive evidence	Status
John de Glasgu of Glasgow, 1447–1455 ↔ John Glasgw of Stirling, 1475–1479/80	compatible chronology and repeated fixed surname in royal burgh settings	repeated associate, office, property, seal, title or explicit origin	Open identity question
Stirling John ↔ Alan Glasgw, 1495	fixed surname in adjacent generations	relationship, common estate, patron or witness network	No relationship proved
late-medieval bearers ↔ John de Glasgow alias Smith, 1506	surname continuity and a Glasgow property transaction	repeated alias, matching property title or named relationship	Open
alias Smith, 1506 ↔ older John household, 1527–1553	compatible name, place, generation and burgh-property milieu	a later record repeating Smith, Sir Allan Smith or the 1506 annual rent	Plausible identity; unproved
older John household ↔ William Glasgow, 1528–1534	exact Rankin–Young parcel occupied by both within 10–22 months, same four-shilling institutional burden, and inherited by William's son	John-to-William transfer plus heir, son, brother or nearest-in-blood clause	Strong property succession; genealogy open
William and Esbell → John and Jonet, 1534	direct protocol naming John as their son and Jonet as his wife	full verified volume, protocol, page and transcription still desirable	Proved relationship
John and Jonet → William and Stephen	1565 protocol names William as John's son; 1575 entry names Stephen's parents	complete direct verification of the 1575 citation	Partly proved; citation completion open
burgh pedigree ↔ Corsinkell, fisher, Hirmanscheillis and other clusters	proximity, property, occupations and overlapping associates	explicit relationship or succession record for each proposed edge	Clusters remain separate
Scottish clusters ↔ early Ulster households	compatible surname, Presbyterian context and later migration traditions	an original migration, probate, church, deed or relationship record naming both sides	No bridge proved

8. Research priorities

Find the John-to-William transmission of the Rankin–Young parcel. Search every surviving instrument between 2 May 1527 and source-dated 20 February 1528 (or 1528/29) for an heir, sale, resignation, spouse, widow, liferenter or assignee, using Rankin, Young, Houston, Henryson/Makandoy and Craig as well as Glasgow. Priority formulae include heres quondam Johannis Glasgu, filius, relicta, proximior de sanguine and in defectu heredum.
Inspect the two exact protocol manuscripts. In NRS NP1/5 inspect Michael Fleming protocols 1196, 1201 and 1233, including fols. 67 and 87 and all margins. In Glasgow City Archives B/10/1/3 inspect protocols 748, 805 and 809–810 through fol. 54, seeking Eufame Craig's husband's blank forename and the western owner omitted in protocol 805.
Trace the Young–Crownar title. Search Elizabeth/Besse Crownar, David, Robert and George Young, Margaret Arbuckle and the new collegiate church, looking for the James-to-Robert transfer and an explicit relationship to late John Crownar.
Identify the late-medieval predecessor of William Glasgow. Test whether the older John of 1527–53, John alias Smith of 1506, the Glasgow John of 1447–55 or another bearer can be joined to William by parentage, inheritance, burgess transfer, property succession or repeated associates.
Transcribe GUA BL/204 in full and reconstruct the property. Record the complete alias syntax, witnesses, source of title and terms of joint acquisition, then trace the same four-shilling rent through later conveyances for a named successor, widow or heir.
Build the Brade or Brady and Spreull pedigrees independently. Search for heirs, siblings, marriage contracts and property succession connecting Andrew Brady, Robert Brade and Esbell Brade, and connecting Walter or William Spreull with Jonet Spreull.
Verify the 1534 protocol directly. Add the complete volume, protocol number, page, exact wording, witness list and previous title for William, Esbell, John and Jonet.
Test the 1526 William identification. Compare the remission's associates with William's later property, witness and civic network.
Verify Stephen's 1575 parentage record. Add the complete protocol citation and transcription.
Reconcile Stephen's water-bailie chronology. Check the council records for 1585 and 4 October 1589 and determine whether he served once or repeatedly.
Confirm the father of Ninian Glasgow. Test whether Robert Glasgow is the Robert described in 1596 as fisher and burgess.
Correct the Hirmanscheillis relationships. Remove the impossible identification with Ninian's brother John unless new evidence establishes two brothers of that name.
Identify James elder's son John. Search for a direct connection between Corsinkell and the Kilwinning, Burrowland or Dalgarven records.
Audit Archibald Glasgow's family. His marriage and property are documented; his parents and proposed children are not.
Audit every regional branch independently. Do not infer migration solely from estimated profile locations or existing tree links.
Separate migration research. Move Irish, English, American and Caribbean lines to dedicated migration pages.

9. Current conclusion

The Scottish Glasgow surname was in continuing documentary use from at least the mid-fifteenth century. John de Glasgu is securely the same Glasgow burgess in records of 1447 and 1455, providing a concrete individual bridge across 1450.

A second, more contextual bridge is visible in the Brade–Spreull civic network: inherited Spreull property in 1430, John de Glasgu and Andrew Brady in the same 1455 witness group, Robert Brade witnessing a William Sprwl transaction in 1488, and the Brade and Spreull affiliations defining the proved 1534 family transfer.

A direct pedigree from the late-medieval bearers to the sixteenth-century burgh family has not yet been established. The older John Glasgow who held identifiable Market Cross–South Port property in May 1527 is the strongest current candidate for a missing predecessor or collateral: William occupied the same title position by the instrument source-dated February 1528 and the same four-shilling burden was later charged on William's tenement. No surviving record yet calls William Glasgow John's son, heir or kinsman.

The first securely reconstructed multi-generation line is:

William Glasgow and Esbell Brade

→ John Glasgow and Jonet Spreull

→ Stephen Glasgow

→ William Glasgow

→ George Glasgow

Alongside that line, the records establish the older John Glasgow property household, other Glasgow families at Corsinkell and Hirmanscheillis, and several households within Glasgow's fishing and burgess community.

The current evidence therefore establishes three different kinds of continuity: the same bearer across 1450, a recurring burgh-property network into 1534, and a separate transitional John Glasgow household immediately before and alongside the proved pedigree. Some of these people were probably related. The evidence does not yet show the degree or route of kinship.

Contribute

Useful contributions include:

complete archival citations and transcriptions;
corrections to unsupported profile relationships;
independent evidence for parentage and inheritance;
property and witness-network reconstruction;
and Y-DNA results tied to documented paternal pedigrees.

Tree connections should be treated as hypotheses until supported by contemporary or near-contemporary records.

Source references

Liber Collegii Nostre Domine: Munimenta Fratrum Predicatorum de Glasgu (Glasgow, 1846), acts dated 21 June 1447 and 10 April 1455.
Charters and Other Documents Relating to the Royal Burgh of Stirling, A.D. 1124–1705 (Glasgow, 1884), acts dated 11 April 1475 and 2 March 1479/80.
Robert Pitcairn, ed., Criminal Trials in Scotland, vol. I, part I (Edinburgh, 1833), p. 19, Jedburgh justice ayre, 26 February 1495.
Glasgow University Archives, Blackhouse Charters, GUA BL/204, formerly GUA 16403, instrument dated 28 April 1506; Your Scottish Archives catalogue description.
Liber Collegii Nostre Domine: Munimenta Fratrum Predicatorum de Glasgu (Glasgow, 1846), act dated 2 May 1527, recording a four-shilling annual rent from the tenement of John Glasgu between the lands of John Rankyn and James Young.
Liber Collegii Nostre Domine, foundation sasine dated 5 January 1548, again recording the tenement of John Glasgu with the same four-shilling annual rent and adjoining lands.
Liber Collegii Nostre Domine (Glasgow, 1846), pp. 90–91, instrument source-dated 20 February 1528, inter tenementa ... Andree Craig ex australi et Willelmi Glasgu ex boreali.
Robert Renwick, ed., Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, vol. IV, protocol 1201, 17 February 1534/35, pp. 73–74.
Ibid., protocol 1233, 16 March 1535/36, pp. 86–87, fol. 87.
Liber Collegii Nostre Domine, St Andrew prebend, p. 36 (contents fol. xij b): quatuor solidi annui redditus de tenemento quondam Wilelmi Glasgu ... inter tenementa quondam Johannis Crovnar ... et tenementum Johannis Rankyn.
Robert Renwick, ed., Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, vol. III, protocol 805, 28 October 1564, p. 57.
Renwick, Abstracts of Protocols, vol. III, protocol 748, 13 May 1563, p. 40.
Ibid., protocols 809–810, 16 November 1564, pp. 58–59, manuscript fol. 54.
Renwick, Abstracts of Protocols, protocol 207, 13 February 1554/55, p. 70; Bain and Rogers, eds., Rental Book of the Diocese of Glasgow, p. 160, 12 April 1555.
Robert Renwick, ed., Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, act dated 21 October 1553, describing the adjoining lands of the late John Glasgow.
Registrum Secreti Sigilli Regum Scotorum, vol. I, no. 3433, remission dated 2 July 1526.
Robert Renwick, ed., Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, protocol no. 1058, 28 February 1530/31.
Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, protocol dated 31 December 1534 at 10 a.m., recording the resignation by William Glasgow and Esbell Brade to their son John Glasgow and his wife Jonet Spreull.
Robert Renwick, ed., Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, vol. III, protocol no. 847, p. 73, 24 August 1565.
Glasgow protocol abstract dated 8 November 1575, identifying Stephen Glasgow as son of the late John Glasgow and naming Jonet Spreull as his mother. The full volume, protocol number and printed page remain to be added after direct verification.
Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, protocol dated 12 May 1574; Records of the Burgh of Glasgow, vol. I, burgh-boundary perambulation dated 1 June 1574.
Glasgow town-clerk protocol dated 17 June 1575, recording Stephen Glasgow's sale to John Scott, baker and citizen.
Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, protocol dated 15 July 1586, recording George Glasgow as heir to the late William Glasgow.
Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, protocol dated 1 September 1586.
James R. Anderson, ed., Burgesses & Guild Brethren of Glasgow, 1573–1750 (Scottish Record Society, 1925), p. 24, entry dated 23 October 1596.
National Records of Scotland, Glasgow Commissary Court, CC9/7/9, images 142–145, testament of Niniane Glasgw, fisher and burgess of Glasgow, made 10 January 1613.
National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh Commissary Court, CC8/8/5, images 276–277, testament dative and inventory of Johne Glasgw; marginal date 4 May 1577; published index p. 109.
National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh Commissary Court, CC8/8/8, images 355–356, testament dative and inventory of Margaret Glasgow; published index p. 108.
National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh Commissary Court, CC8/8/32, images 123–124, testament testamentar and inventory of Andro Glasgw; published index p. 108.
National Records of Scotland, Glasgow Commissary Court, CC9/7/4, images 6–7, testament dative and inventory of Katherine Glasgow. The manuscript confirmation day appears [26?] May 1605, whereas Francis J. Grant's printed calendar and Findmypast SCOT/WILLS/057453 give 9 May; working transcription and analysis.
National Records of Scotland, Glasgow Commissary Court, CC9/7/27, register pp. 478–480, testament dative and inventory of John Glasgow, sailor in Saltcoats.
Margaret H. B. Sanderson, “The People of Sixteenth Century Ayrshire”, Ayrshire Collections, vol. XIV, appendix “The Cunninghame Teind Lists of 1559–60”, p. 331.
National Records of Scotland, Charter Chest of the Earls of Glencairn, GD39/5/59, letters of reversion concerning the 40-shilling land of Corsinkell, 9 February 1571.
Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, act dated 21 May 1551. The precise volume, protocol number and printed page remain to be added.
Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, act dated 12 February 1572/73. The complete volume, protocol number and printed page remain to be added.
Liber Collegii Nostre Domine: Munimenta Fratrum Predicatorum de Glasgu (Glasgow, 1846), Glasgow property entry of 1430 describing the adjoining land of the heirs of Walter Sprewl.
Liber Collegii Nostre Domine, act dated 10 April 1455, witness list including Andrew Brady and John de Glasgu.
Liber Collegii Nostre Domine, act dated 27 November 1488, recording William Sprwl and Joneta Burl and witnessed by Robert Brade.

Earlier saved variant of this study

This is an additional saved text for the same WikiTree page. It remains available for comparison; the maintained reading above and outgoing draft use the principal account.

Early Glasgow Branches in Scotland, c.1447–1650

This page brings together the evidence for people and families using the Glasgow surname in Scotland from the later fifteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century.

On this page, branch means a documented or proposed surname cluster. It does not necessarily mean that descent from another branch has been proved.

The evidence supports four distinct conclusions:

John de Glasgu is securely documented as the same Glasgow burgess before and after 1450, in 1447 and 1455;
the Glasgow surname remained in documented use from the mid-fifteenth century into the sixteenth century;
a burgh pedigree becomes demonstrable from William Glasgow and Esbell Brade onwards;
several other Glasgow households and regional clusters were contemporary with that pedigree, but their precise relationships remain partly or wholly unproved.

1. Late-medieval continuity and transitional evidence, 1447–1553

The surviving record does not show the Glasgow surname disappearing between the medieval de Glasgu bearers and the sixteenth-century burgh family.

Instead, a sequence of Glasgow, Stirling, Border and burgh records demonstrates continued surname use:

Date	Bearer	Place and context	Current interpretation
1447 and 1455	John de Glasgu	Glasgow burgess and witness in property transactions recorded by the same notary, Henry Michaelis	Secure same individual crossing the 1450 boundary
1475 and 1479/80	John Glasgw	Witness to Stirling property and religious-endowment acts	Secure repeated fixed-form bearer; identity with the Glasgow John unproved
By 1495	Alan Glasgw	Named as the victim of a killing in a Border justice proceeding	Independent fixed-form surname occurrence
1506	John de Glasgow alias Smith	Joint acquirer of an annual rent from a Glasgow High Street property	Secure dual-name evidence; no proved descendants
1526	William Glasgow	Named in a royal remission with Sir James Sandilands of Calder, Robert Bruce of Auchenbowie and others	Possible earlier occurrence of William Glasgow; identity unproved
1527–1548; dead by 1553	John Glasgow, property holder near the Market Cross and South Port	Identifiable four-shilling annual-rent property recorded with the same neighbours in 1527 and 1548; adjoining land called his after his death in 1553	Secure separate household immediately before and alongside the proved burgh pedigree; relationship to William unproved
1531	William Glasgow	Witness in a protocol of the town clerks of Glasgow	Earliest secure bridge into the later burgh family
1534	William and Esbell Brade	Property transferred to their son John Glasgow and his wife Jonet Spreull	First proved parent-child link in the burgh pedigree

This supplies a concrete person-level bridge across the conventional 1450 division:

John de Glasgu, Glasgow burgess and property witness, active 1447–1455.

It does not identify his parents, children or later heirs.

A John Glasgw later witnessed Stirling acts dated 11 April 1475 and 2 March 1479/80.^[2]

The two sets of records may represent:

one man active in Glasgow and Stirling;
two generations of one family;
collateral relatives;
or separate families already using the settled surname.

No repeated associate, office, inherited property, seal, notary or explicit relationship presently identifies the Glasgow and Stirling Johns as one person.

Alan Glasgw supplies a further fixed-form occurrence in a Border record by 26 February 1495.^[3]

Neither Alan nor John alias Smith is connected by a surviving parentage or succession record to the later burgh family.

A transitional John Glasgow household, 1527–1553

A property inventory dated 5 January 1548 repeated the same annual rent, street position and neighbouring owners. This is the same holding and establishes continuity of the household for at least twenty years.^[6]

This man cannot be John Glasgow, son of William Glasgow and husband of Jonet Spreull, because that younger John remained alive and transferred property to his own son William in 1565.

The older property holder is therefore a distinct and potentially important transitional household. He could have been William Glasgow's father, brother, uncle or collateral kinsman; he could also have been John de Glasgow alias Smith of 1506. None of those identifications is yet proved. No inspected record calls William his son, heir, brother or nearest in blood, and no matching succession record has yet been found.

The correct conclusion is:

The surname record is substantially continuous; the civic setting is continuous; the pedigree is not yet continuous.

2. The proved Glasgow burgh line

The first presently documented multi-generation pedigree begins with William Glasgow and Esbell Brade.

William Glasgow and Esbell Brade

A William Glasgow was included in a royal remission dated 2 July 1526 for the slaughter of James Somervile and other offences.^[8]

The decisive family record followed on 31 December 1534. William Glasgow, with the consent of his wife Esbell Brade, resigned a back tenement to:

John Glasgow, described as their son; and
Jonet Spreull, John's wife.

William and Esbell reserved the profits of the property during their lifetimes.^[10]

William was dead by about 1543, when neighbouring property was described by reference to the lands of the late William Glasgow.^[11]

No inspected source identifies William as the son or heir of the Glasgow John, the Stirling John, Alan Glasgw or John alias Smith.

John Glasgow and Jonet Spreull

The 1534 protocol directly establishes:

John Glasgow as the son of William Glasgow and Esbell Brade;
Jonet Spreull as John's wife;
and a transfer of identifiable Glasgow property between the generations.

A protocol dated 24 August 1565 records John Glasgow senior resigning a burgage tenement to:

William Glesgw, his son

John reserved liferent to himself and Jonet Spreull, his spouse.^[12]

This proves William Glasgow as John's son. Jonet was John's spouse and joint liferenter, but the surviving abstract does not expressly call the younger William her son.

A record dated 8 November 1575 identifies Stephen Glasgow as the son of the late John Glasgow and names Jonet Spreull as his mother.^[13]

The core pedigree is therefore:

William Glasgow and Esbell Brade

→ John Glasgow and Jonet Spreull

→ Stephen Glasgow

→ William Glasgow

Other children should not be attached to John and Jonet solely from repeated forenames, estimated dates or online trees.

Stephen Glasgow and municipal service

Stephen Glasgow, also recorded as Stevin or Stewin Glasgw, has the strongest surviving civic dossier in the proved line.

His documented activities include:

witnessing a sasine near Craigmak on 12 May 1574;
holding land beside Archibald Steven at the burgh boundary in June 1574;
selling a fore and back tenement to John Scott, baker and citizen, on 17 June 1575;
acting in property transactions and family business during the 1580s;
serving as curator to George Glasgow;
serving as water bailie of Glasgow;
and continuing to hold or transact in Glasgow property into 1598/99.

^[14]^[15]

William, Margaret Herbesoun and George Glasgow

William Glasgow, directly identified as John's son in 1565, married Margaret Herbesoun.

William was dead by 15 July 1586, when George Glasgow received sasine as his heir.^[16]

On 1 September 1586, George acted with the consent of:

Margaret Herbesoun, his mother and liferenter;
Sir William Herbesoun;
and Stephen Glasgow, his curators.

^[17]

Because Stephen and William were both sons of John Glasgow, Stephen was George's paternal uncle or half-uncle.

The supported family structure is:

John Glasgow

→ Stephen Glasgow

→ William Glasgow and Margaret Herbesoun

→ George Glasgow

This curatorship and inheritance evidence is stronger than relationships inferred from shared surname, neighbouring property or estimated ages.

3. Other documented Glasgow clusters

Cluster	Secure evidence	Current position
William–John–Stephen burgh line	Explicit parent-child records in 1534 and 1575; John also had a son William	Best-documented Glasgow burgh pedigree
Older John Glasgow near Market Cross and South Port	Same identifiable tenement and four-shilling annual rent in 1527 and 1548; dead by 21 October 1553	Secure separate household; strongest current candidate for a missing predecessor or collateral, but no relationship to William is proved
Robert the fisher, Ninian and John	Ninian was admitted in 1596 as the second son of Robert Glasgow, fisher and burgess; Ninian's 1613 testament names his brother John	Ninian's father and brother are secure; Robert's fatherhood of John is possible because full versus half-brother is unstated
Corsinkell and Stevenston	James Glasgow elder and younger at Corsinkell in 1559–60; James and John directly named as sons of James elder in 1571	Secure Ayrshire father-son group; connection to the burgh line unproved
Katherine Glasgow and the Weirs at Stevenston	Katherine was Thomas Weir's wife; William, James and probably Jonet Weir were minor executors represented by Thomas	Secure couple and strongly probable children; no explicit child term and no proved parentage for Katherine
John in Hirmanscheillis (index identification)	Estate processed in 1577; widow Margaret [Cochrane?]; lawful children Katherine and [Androw?/Andrew]	Separate household; manuscript death month March and year unresolved; cannot be Ninian's brother John alive in 1613
Archibald Glasgow and Isobell Newlands	Jointly acquired Glasgow property in 1551	Secure couple; Archibald's parentage and alleged children remain unproved
Robert Glasgow and Margaret Rolland	Fisher, citizen and property-holding spouses in Glasgow	Secure civic household; exact relationship to the proved burgh line unresolved

Robert the fisher, Ninian and John

A burgess admission dated 23 October 1596 describes Ninian Glasgow as:

second son to Robert G., fisher, burgess

^[18]

Ninian's testament, made on 10 January 1613, expressly names:

Johne glasgw his brother

^[19]

Ninian's records also establish:

Jonet Meik as his earlier wife;
Robert Glasgow as the son of both Ninian and Jonet Meik;
Jonet Hutchesoun as his later spouse;
Marion Glasgow as his sister; and
William Glasgow only as a possible son, because the earlier asserted

relationship wording and exact clothing description following John's name are not secure in the supplied working transcription.

Ninian's brother John was alive in January 1613.

John Glasgow in Hirmanscheillis

His testament names:

Margaret [Cochrane?], his widow;
Katherine Glasgow, his lawful child;
[Androw?/Andrew] Glasgow, his second lawful child.

Katherine and [Andrew?] were appointed executors-dative to their father. The death month reads March, but the year remains unresolved.^[20]

Any WikiTree relationship showing the Hirmanscheillis testator as Ninian's brother should therefore be removed unless a source establishes that Ninian had two brothers named John.

Calder and Croftmalloch households

Two further Edinburgh Commissary Court records reveal distinct rural households in the Calder district without proving a bridge to either the Glasgow burgh line or the Corsinkell family.

Katherine Glasgow and the Weir household at Stevenston

Saltcoats maritime household

The Corsinkell family

The Cunninghame teind material for 1559–60 lists James Glasgow elder and James Glasgow younger at Corsinkell in Stevenston parish.^[25]

On 9 February 1571, Corsinkell was described as occupied by James Glasgow elder and by James and John Glasgow, his sons.^[26]

This proves:

James Glasgow elder

→ James Glasgow younger

→ a son John Glasgow

The present candidate for the son John is John Glasgow, but no reviewed record yet connects the Corsinkell son directly with Burrowland, Dalgarven or Kilwinning.

Archibald Glasgow and Isobell Newlands

On 21 May 1551, Archibald Glasgow and Isobell Newlands, spouses, acquired a fore and back tenement near the South Port and Bridge of Clyde.

The witnesses included a Robert Glasgow.^[27]

The transaction securely establishes the couple and their property holding. It does not prove:

Archibald's parents;
that Robert was his brother;
or the children currently attached to Archibald and Isobell.

Those relationships require independent evidence.

Robert Glasgow and Margaret Rolland

Robert Glasgow and Margaret Rolland were spouses and Glasgow property holders.

The shared occupation and later burgess evidence make Robert a strong candidate for the father of Ninian Glasgow. That identification is not yet stated explicitly in a record naming both men.

Likewise, Robert's proximity to other Glasgow households supports association but does not define whether they were brothers, cousins, uncle and nephew or members of separate lines.

4. Regional distribution by c.1650

By the later sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the surname was documented in several Scottish regions.

Region	Documented or proposed cluster	Evidential caution
Glasgow and Lanarkshire	William–John–Stephen line; the older John property holder of 1527–53; Robert the fisher; Ninian; Archibald; other civic households	Several explicit relationships, but no complete pedigree joining every household
Ayrshire	Corsinkell and Stevenston; Kilwinning and Dalgarven records	James elder's sons are proved; relationship to the Glasgow burgh line remains unproved
Lothian and West Lothian	Hirmanscheillis; later Kirknewton, Mid Calder, Edinburgh and Leith profiles	Some profiles rely on estimated dates or unverified parentage and require individual source audits
Stirling	John Glasgw in 1475 and 1479/80	Important surname continuity; relationship to later Glasgow families unproved
Borders	Alan Glasgw in 1495; later Cavers, Hawick and Berwickshire profiles	May contain more than one line; no single descent route should be assumed
Argyll and other outliers	Isolated seventeenth-century profiles	Presence may be genuine, but connection to the central pedigrees requires proof

The evidence supports regional spread and diversification. It does not show that every later regional household descended from the proved William–John–Stephen line.

Several models remain possible:

some regional households were descendants of the Glasgow burgh family;
some descended from other late-medieval surname bearers;
several early Glasgow families may already have existed;
and some profile connections may be products of later unsourced trees rather than contemporary evidence.

5. Marriage, property and civic networks

The Brade–Spreull network bridge, 1430–1534

The sequence is:

In 1430, a Glasgow tenement on the west side of High Street was bounded on the south by the land of the heirs of Walter Sprewl. This is explicit inherited Spreull property before 1450.^[29]
On 10 April 1455, John de Glasgu and Andrew Brady appeared in the same witness group.^[30]
On 27 November 1488, William Sprwl and his wife Joneta Burl sold an annual rent from a Glasgow tenement; Robert Brade witnessed the transaction.^[31]
On 31 December 1534, William Glasgow and Esbell Brade transferred property to their son John Glasgow and his wife Jonet Spreull.^[10]

Later documented marriages and associations

Directly evidenced examples include:

The sixteenth-century evidence is best understood as an overlapping network of:

burgesses and citizens;
fishers and maritime workers;
property holders;
notaries, clerks and civic officers;
chaplains and minor ecclesiastical figures;
and tenant households in the surrounding counties.

Kinship between several Glasgow households is probable. The exact degree cannot be supplied from surname recurrence or a small urban population alone.

6. What the One Tree export can and cannot establish

The One Tree export is useful for:

locating existing WikiTree profiles;
displaying current parent, spouse and child attachments;
identifying geographical concentrations;
finding profiles requiring review;
and generating research hypotheses.

It is not itself a genealogical source.

The export does not prove that:

John Glasgow was the common ancestor of the later Scottish lines;
William, Robert and Archibald were all his sons;
each displayed parent-child relationship is supported by a contemporary record;
people with estimated locations were born in those places;
every Y-DNA-labelled profile belongs to one documented medieval paternal line;
or a group of connected WikiTree profiles represents one historically proved branch.

A lineage back to John Glasgow c.1475 and a single paternal root remain possible hypotheses, but the export cannot confirm either conclusion without a documented relationship chain.

The export should be treated as a map of the current tree, not as evidence that the tree is correct.

7. Current research map

Research cluster	Anchor evidence	Status
Late-medieval fixed-surname group	Glasgow John, Stirling John, Alan Glasgw and John alias Smith	Documentary continuity; John de Glasgu securely crosses 1450, but no joined pedigree
Brade–Spreull civic network	Spreull inherited property in 1430; John de Glasgu with Andrew Brady in 1455; Robert Brade with William Sprwl in 1488; Brade–Spreull marriage linkage in the 1534 Glasgow transfer	Concrete burgh-property network bridge; exact kinship between the earlier and later bearers unproved
Older John Glasgow household	Identifiable Market Cross–South Port property in 1527 and 1548; dead by 1553	Secure transitional household; possible predecessor or collateral of William, but no relationship proved
William–John–Stephen burgh pedigree	Protocols of 1531, 1534, 1565, 1575 and 1586	Partly proved across three generations
Robert the fisher and Ninian	1596 burgess admission and 1613 testament	Secure father-son and sibling evidence; profile identification still being tested
Corsinkell family	Teind material of 1559–60 and GD39/5/59 of 1571	Secure father and two sons; relationship to other lines unproved
Hirmanscheillis household	Testament of John Glasgow, 1576–77	Secure separate family with two daughters
Other Glasgow burgh households	Archibald and Isobell; Robert and Margaret Rolland; neighbouring property and witness records	Secure individuals and couples; wider parentage unresolved
Lothian, Borders and other regional profiles	Parish, testament, property and later family records	Mixed quality; each line requires an independent audit

The best current model is:

John de Glasgu, the same Glasgow burgess in 1447 and 1455

→ later fixed-surname bearers in Stirling and the Borders

→ John de Glasgow alias Smith in 1506

→ a Brade–Spreull civic and property network extending from 1430 to the 1534 proved family transfer

→ an older John Glasgow household holding identifiable burgh property in 1527–1548, with the holder dead by 1553

→ an unproved genealogical connection

→ the documented William–John–Stephen burgh pedigree

→ overlapping fisher and property-holding households

→ separate or partly connected Ayrshire, Lothian and Border clusters

8. Research priorities

Trace the older John Glasgow tenement after his death. Search the 1548–1553 and immediately later protocols for an heir, successor, widow, liferenter or assignee. Priority formulae include heres quondam Johannis Glasgu, filius, relicta, proximior de sanguine and in defectu heredum.
Identify the late-medieval predecessor of William Glasgow. Test whether the older John of 1527–53, John alias Smith of 1506, the Glasgow John of 1447–55 or another bearer can be joined to William by parentage, inheritance, burgess transfer, property succession or repeated associates.
Transcribe GUA BL/204 in full and reconstruct the property. Record the complete alias syntax, witnesses, source of title and terms of joint acquisition, then trace the same four-shilling rent through later conveyances for a named successor, widow or heir.
Build the Brade or Brady and Spreull pedigrees independently. Search for heirs, siblings, marriage contracts and property succession connecting Andrew Brady, Robert Brade and Esbell Brade, and connecting Walter or William Spreull with Jonet Spreull.
Verify the 1534 protocol directly. Add the complete volume, protocol number, page, exact wording, witness list and previous title for William, Esbell, John and Jonet.
Test the 1526 William identification. Compare the remission's associates with William's later property, witness and civic network.
Verify Stephen's 1575 parentage record. Add the complete protocol citation and transcription.
Reconcile Stephen's water-bailie chronology. Check the council records for 1585 and 4 October 1589 and determine whether he served once or repeatedly.
Confirm the father of Ninian Glasgow. Test whether Robert Glasgow is the Robert described in 1596 as fisher and burgess.
Correct the Hirmanscheillis relationships. Remove the impossible identification with Ninian's brother John unless new evidence establishes two brothers of that name.
Identify James elder's son John. Search for a direct connection between Corsinkell and the Kilwinning, Burrowland or Dalgarven records.
Audit Archibald Glasgow's family. His marriage and property are documented; his parents and proposed children are not.
Audit every regional branch independently. Do not infer migration solely from estimated profile locations or existing tree links.
Separate migration research. Move Irish, English, American and Caribbean lines to dedicated migration pages.

9. Current conclusion

A direct pedigree from the late-medieval bearers to the sixteenth-century burgh family has not yet been established. The older John Glasgow who held identifiable Market Cross–South Port property from 1527 to 1548 and died by 1553 is the strongest current candidate for a missing predecessor or collateral, but no surviving record yet calls William Glasgow his son, heir or kinsman.

The first securely reconstructed multi-generation line is:

William Glasgow and Esbell Brade

→ John Glasgow and Jonet Spreull

→ Stephen Glasgow

→ William Glasgow

→ George Glasgow

Contribute

Useful contributions include:

complete archival citations and transcriptions;
corrections to unsupported profile relationships;
independent evidence for parentage and inheritance;
property and witness-network reconstruction;
and Y-DNA results tied to documented paternal pedigrees.

Tree connections should be treated as hypotheses until supported by contemporary or near-contemporary records.

Source references

Liber Collegii Nostre Domine: Munimenta Fratrum Predicatorum de Glasgu (Glasgow, 1846), acts dated 21 June 1447 and 10 April 1455.
Charters and Other Documents Relating to the Royal Burgh of Stirling, A.D. 1124–1705 (Glasgow, 1884), acts dated 11 April 1475 and 2 March 1479/80.
Robert Pitcairn, ed., Criminal Trials in Scotland, vol. I, part I (Edinburgh, 1833), p. 19, Jedburgh justice ayre, 26 February 1495.
Glasgow University Archives, Blackhouse Charters, GUA BL/204, formerly GUA 16403, instrument dated 28 April 1506; Your Scottish Archives catalogue description.
Liber Collegii Nostre Domine: Munimenta Fratrum Predicatorum de Glasgu (Glasgow, 1846), act dated 2 May 1527, recording a four-shilling annual rent from the tenement of John Glasgu between the lands of John Rankyn and James Young.
Liber Collegii Nostre Domine, property inventory dated 5 January 1548, again recording the tenement of John Glasgu with the same four-shilling annual rent and adjoining lands.
Robert Renwick, ed., Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, act dated 21 October 1553, describing the adjoining lands of the late John Glasgow.
Registrum Secreti Sigilli Regum Scotorum, vol. I, no. 3433, remission dated 2 July 1526.
Robert Renwick, ed., Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, protocol no. 1058, 28 February 1530/31.
Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, protocol dated 31 December 1534 at 10 a.m., recording the resignation by William Glasgow and Esbell Brade to their son John Glasgow and his wife Jonet Spreull.
Liber Protocollorum M. Cuthberti Simonis and the Rental Book of the Diocese of Glasgow, vol. II, p. 87, property entry describing the lands of the late William Glasgow.
Robert Renwick, ed., Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, vol. III, protocol no. 847, p. 73, 24 August 1565.
Glasgow protocol abstract dated 8 November 1575, identifying Stephen Glasgow as son of the late John Glasgow and naming Jonet Spreull as his mother. The full volume, protocol number and printed page remain to be added after direct verification.
Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, protocol dated 12 May 1574; Records of the Burgh of Glasgow, vol. I, burgh-boundary perambulation dated 1 June 1574.
Glasgow town-clerk protocol dated 17 June 1575, recording Stephen Glasgow's sale to John Scott, baker and citizen.
Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, protocol dated 15 July 1586, recording George Glasgow as heir to the late William Glasgow.
Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, protocol dated 1 September 1586.
James R. Anderson, ed., Burgesses & Guild Brethren of Glasgow, 1573–1750 (Scottish Record Society, 1925), p. 24, entry dated 23 October 1596.
National Records of Scotland, Glasgow Commissary Court, CC9/7/9, images 142–145, testament of Niniane Glasgw, fisher and burgess of Glasgow, made 10 January 1613.
National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh Commissary Court, CC8/8/5, images 276–277, testament dative and inventory of Johne Glasgw; marginal date 4 May 1577; published index p. 109.
National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh Commissary Court, CC8/8/8, images 355–356, testament dative and inventory of Margaret Glasgow; published index p. 108.
National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh Commissary Court, CC8/8/32, images 123–124, testament testamentar and inventory of Andro Glasgw; published index p. 108.
National Records of Scotland, Glasgow Commissary Court, CC9/7/4, images 6–7, testament dative and inventory of Katherine Glasgow. The manuscript confirmation day appears [26?] May 1605, whereas Francis J. Grant's printed calendar and Findmypast SCOT/WILLS/057453 give 9 May; working transcription and analysis.
National Records of Scotland, Glasgow Commissary Court, CC9/7/27, register pp. 478–480, testament dative and inventory of John Glasgow, sailor in Saltcoats.
Margaret H. B. Sanderson, “The People of Sixteenth Century Ayrshire”, Ayrshire Collections, vol. XIV, appendix “The Cunninghame Teind Lists of 1559–60”, p. 331.
National Records of Scotland, Charter Chest of the Earls of Glencairn, GD39/5/59, letters of reversion concerning the 40-shilling land of Corsinkell, 9 February 1571.
Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, act dated 21 May 1551. The precise volume, protocol number and printed page remain to be added.
Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow, act dated 12 February 1572/73. The complete volume, protocol number and printed page remain to be added.
Liber Collegii Nostre Domine: Munimenta Fratrum Predicatorum de Glasgu (Glasgow, 1846), Glasgow property entry of 1430 describing the adjoining land of the heirs of Walter Sprewl.
Liber Collegii Nostre Domine, act dated 10 April 1455, witness list including Andrew Brady and John de Glasgu.
Liber Collegii Nostre Domine, act dated 27 November 1488, recording William Sprwl and Joneta Burl and witnessed by Robert Brade.

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[[Category:Glasgow Name Study]]
{{One Name Study|name=Glasgow}}

<small>'''Glasgow Name Study:''' [[Space:Glasgow Name Study|project home]] · [[Space:Glasgow Research|research directory]] · [https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Bearers_of_the_%27%27de_Glasgu%27%27_Name_and_the_Emergence_of_the_Glasgow_Surname%2C_c.1175%E2%80%931500 before 1500] · [https://glasgow.phenotype.dev/map/ family map]</small>


== Early Glasgow Branches in Scotland, c.1447–1650 ==

This page brings together the evidence for people and families using the '''Glasgow''' surname in Scotland from the later fifteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century.

It continues the research begun on '''[https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Bearers_of_the_%27%27de_Glasgu%27%27_Name_and_the_Emergence_of_the_Glasgow_Surname%2C_c.1175%E2%80%931500 Bearers of the ''de Glasgu'' Name and the Emergence of the Glasgow Surname, c.1175–1500]'''. That page establishes the early locative and surname evidence. This page deals with the later transition into documented burgh families, regional surname clusters and early-modern lines.

<small>On this page, '''branch''' means a documented or proposed surname cluster. It does not necessarily mean that descent from another branch has been proved.</small>

The evidence supports four distinct conclusions:

# [[Space:John Glasgow-1|John de Glasgu]] is securely documented as the same Glasgow burgess before and after 1450, in 1447 and 1455;
# the Glasgow surname remained in documented use from the mid-fifteenth century into the sixteenth century;
# a burgh pedigree becomes demonstrable from [[Glasgow-1098|William Glasgow]] and [[Brade-232|Esbell Brade]] onwards;
# several other Glasgow households and regional clusters were contemporary with that pedigree, but their precise relationships remain partly or wholly unproved.

'''Navigation:'''  
[[#late_medieval_continuity|Late-medieval continuity]] ·
[[#transitional_john|Transitional John household]] ·
[[#proved_burgh_line|Proved burgh line]] ·
[[#other_clusters|Other documented clusters]] ·
[[#regional_distribution|Regional distribution]] ·
[[#marriage_networks|Marriage and civic networks]] ·
[[#export_limits|One Tree export limits]] ·
[[#research_priorities|Research priorities]]

<span id='late_medieval_continuity'></span>
=== 1. Late-medieval continuity and transitional evidence, 1447–1553 ===

The surviving record does not show the Glasgow surname disappearing between the medieval ''de Glasgu'' bearers and the sixteenth-century burgh family.

Instead, a sequence of Glasgow, Stirling, Border and burgh records demonstrates continued surname use:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Date
! Bearer
! Place and context
! Current interpretation
|-
| 1447 and 1455
| [[Space:John Glasgow-1|John de Glasgu]]
| Glasgow burgess and witness in property transactions recorded by the same notary, Henry Michaelis
| Secure same individual crossing the 1450 boundary
|-
| 1475 and 1479/80
| John Glasgw
| Witness to Stirling property and religious-endowment acts
| Secure repeated fixed-form bearer; identity with the Glasgow John unproved
|-
| By 1495
| [[Space:Alan Glasgw|Alan Glasgw]]
| Named as the victim of a killing in a Border justice proceeding
| Independent fixed-form surname occurrence
|-
| 1506
| [[Space:John Glasgow|John de Glasgow alias Smith]]
| Joint acquirer of an annual rent from a Glasgow High Street property
| Secure dual-name evidence; no proved descendants
|-
| 1526
| William Glasgow
| Named in a royal remission with Sir James Sandilands of Calder, Robert Bruce of Auchenbowie and others
| Possible earlier occurrence of [[Glasgow-1098|William Glasgow]]; identity unproved
|-
| 1527–1548; dead by 1553
| John Glasgow, property holder near the Market Cross and South Port
| Identifiable four-shilling annual-rent property recorded with the same neighbours in 1527 and 1548; adjoining land called his after his death in 1553
| Secure separate household immediately before and alongside the proved burgh pedigree; relationship to William unproved
|-
| 1531
| [[Glasgow-1098|William Glasgow]]
| Witness in a protocol of the town clerks of Glasgow
| Earliest secure bridge into the later burgh family
|-
| 1534
| William and [[Brade-232|Esbell Brade]]
| Property transferred to their son [[Glasgow-1093|John Glasgow]] and his wife [[Spreull-4|Jonet Spreull]]
| First proved parent-child link in the burgh pedigree
|}

A [[Space:John Glasgow-1|John de Glasgu]] was recorded as a burgess and property witness in Glasgow on 21 June 1447 and again on 10 April 1455.<ref name="JohnGlasgow1447">''Liber Collegii Nostre Domine: Munimenta Fratrum Predicatorum de Glasgu'' (Glasgow, 1846), acts dated 21 June 1447 and 10 April 1455.</ref> Both acts were recorded by Henry Michaelis as notary, and the printed volume's index groups the two occurrences under ''Johannes de Glasgu''. Shared town, civic role, notarial setting and name make this a high-confidence same-person identification.

This supplies a concrete person-level bridge across the conventional 1450 division:

<blockquote>
'''John de Glasgu, Glasgow burgess and property witness, active 1447–1455.'''
</blockquote>

It does not identify his parents, children or later heirs.

A '''John Glasgw''' later witnessed Stirling acts dated 11 April 1475 and 2 March 1479/80.<ref name="JohnStirling1475">''Charters and Other Documents Relating to the Royal Burgh of Stirling, A.D. 1124–1705'' (Glasgow, 1884), acts dated 11 April 1475 and 2 March 1479/80.</ref>

The two sets of records may represent:

* one man active in Glasgow and Stirling;
* two generations of one family;
* collateral relatives;
* or separate families already using the settled surname.

No repeated associate, office, inherited property, seal, notary or explicit relationship presently identifies the Glasgow and Stirling Johns as one person.

The profile or research page covering “John Glasgow, 1475–1536” should therefore not be treated as the biography of one demonstrated individual. The dates 1475 and 1479/80 are documentary occurrences, not birth dates, and no record presently extends the Stirling witness securely to 1536.

[[Space:Alan Glasgw|Alan Glasgw]] supplies a further fixed-form occurrence in a Border record by 26 February 1495.<ref name="Alan1495">Robert Pitcairn, ed., ''Criminal Trials in Scotland'', vol. I, part I (Edinburgh, 1833), p. 19, Jedburgh justice ayre, 26 February 1495.</ref>

On 28 April 1506, [[Space:John Glasgow|John de Glasgow alias Smith]] and Sir Allan Smith jointly acquired a four-shilling annual rent from a tenement on Glasgow High Street. Agnes, daughter and heir of Robert Watson, was the seller, and Sir Allan's property was the northern boundary.<ref name="AliasSmith1506">Glasgow University Archives, Blackhouse Charters, GUA BL/204, formerly GUA 16403, instrument dated 28 April 1506; [https://yourscottisharchives.com/catalogues/565b7ef3-fc87-3f6f-aaac-149925faa39d?component-id=7cdbf375-dc6d-3de3-b53a-86376e2106da Your Scottish Archives catalogue description].</ref> The description proves Robert Watson as Agnes's father; it does not identify Sir Allan as John's father or relative, or establish John's occupation.

Neither Alan nor John alias Smith is connected by a surviving parentage or succession record to the later burgh family.

<span id='transitional_john'></span>
==== A transitional John Glasgow household, 1527–1553 ====

A separate John Glasgow held an identifiable tenement on the west side of the street running from Glasgow Market Cross towards the South Port. On 2 May 1527, a four-shilling annual rent was payable from his tenement, lying north of John Rankyn's land and south of James Young's land.<ref name="OlderJohn1527">''Liber Collegii Nostre Domine: Munimenta Fratrum Predicatorum de Glasgu'' (Glasgow, 1846), act dated 2 May 1527, recording a four-shilling annual rent from the tenement of John Glasgu between the lands of John Rankyn and James Young.</ref>

A fresh collegiate-foundation sasine dated 5 January 1548 repeated the same annual rent, street position and neighbouring owners.<ref name="OlderJohn1548">''Liber Collegii Nostre Domine'', foundation sasine dated 5 January 1548, again recording the tenement of John Glasgu with the same four-shilling annual rent and adjoining lands.</ref> This is the same holding, but the act may repeat the foundation's older title wording and does not alone prove that John was still alive or possessed it in 1548.

The property can now be followed into William's proved family. A newly recovered instrument, source-dated 20 February 1528 (possibly 1528/29 under Annunciation year reckoning), places William Glasgow immediately north of a tenement and gardens sold by Malcolm Henryson alias Makandoy to James Houston, with Andrew Craig immediately south.<ref name="WilliamBoundary1528">''Liber Collegii Nostre Domine'' (Glasgow, 1846), pp. 90–91, instrument source-dated 20 February 1528, ''inter tenementa ... Andree Craig ex australi et Willelmi Glasgu ex boreali''.</ref> This is the adjoining parcel later held by Rankin. On 17 February 1534/35 Rankin's tenement was again bounded by William Glasgow north and Andrew Craig south.<ref name="WilliamBoundary1535">Robert Renwick, ed., ''Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow'', vol. IV, protocol 1201, 17 February 1534/35, pp. 73–74.</ref> On 16 March 1535/36 James Young's place was bounded by the lands of the late William Glasgow south and Robert Cochran north.<ref name="WilliamDeath1536">Ibid., protocol 1233, 16 March 1535/36, pp. 86–87, fol. 87.</ref> Houston's St Andrew prebend rental, confirmed in 1542 and transumed in 1548/49, also charges the same four-shilling annual upon the tenement of the late William Glasgow between late John Crownar north and John Rankin south.<ref name="WilliamRent1542">''Liber Collegii Nostre Domine'', St Andrew prebend, p. 36 (contents fol. xij b): ''quatuor solidi annui redditus de tenemento quondam Wilelmi Glasgu ... inter tenementa quondam Johannis Crovnar ... et tenementum Johannis Rankyn''.</ref> These records place William on the older John's title only ten to twenty-two months after the 1527 entry. In 1564 William's son John entered the fore tenement as heir of William, his father, still between late John Rankin and Robert Young.<ref name="JohnHeir1564">Robert Renwick, ed., ''Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow'', vol. III, protocol 805, 28 October 1564, p. 57.</ref>

The rear title can now also be reconstructed. On 13 May 1563 John Glasgow senior and Jonet Spreull conveyed to their son John a tenement between Robert Young north, late John Rankin south and St Mary's collegiate-church land west, reserving five merks yearly.<ref name="Rear1563">Renwick, ''Abstracts of Protocols'', vol. III, protocol 748, 13 May 1563, p. 40.</ref> On 16 November 1564 Eufame Craig, widow of an unnamed Glasgow, sold John elder her conjunct-fee and liferent interest in the corresponding back tenement; he then sold the adjoining fore tenement to William Craig.<ref name="Eufame1564">Ibid., protocols 809–810, 16 November 1564, pp. 58–59, manuscript fol. 54.</ref> This fee/liferent split strongly identifies the 1534 family settlement as the rear component of the Rankin–Young block, although no single instrument expressly equates them. Eufame's deceased husband's forename is blank; William is possible but not proved. The original books are [https://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrsonlinecatalogue/details.aspx?reference=NP1%2f5 NRS NP1/5] for Michael Fleming and [https://cityarchives.glasgowlife.org.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=B%2f10%2f1%2f3 Glasgow City Archives B/10/1/3] for the 1563–64 Heygate protocols.

The northern boundary also has a recoverable family network. In February 1554/55 Elizabeth Crownear, widow of James Young, conveyed land to their son David; in April 1555 Robert Young was called the eldest brother of George Young and Besse Crownare their mother.<ref name="YoungCrownar">Renwick, ''Abstracts of Protocols'', protocol 207, 13 February 1554/55, p. 70; Bain and Rogers, eds., ''Rental Book of the Diocese of Glasgow'', p. 160, 12 April 1555.</ref> Robert later held the northern tenement between John Glasgow and John Cochran. Elizabeth and Besse are strongly, but circumstantially, identified as one woman. No record yet states how she was related to the late John Crownar whose rear land bounded the 1534 Glasgow tenement.

On 21 October 1553, John Ranking transferred the adjoining property. Its northern boundary was then described as the lands of the late John Glasgow, establishing that the older John had died between 5 January 1548 and 21 October 1553.<ref name="OlderJohn1553">Robert Renwick, ed., ''Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow'', act dated 21 October 1553, describing the adjoining lands of the late John Glasgow.</ref>

This man cannot be [[Glasgow-1093|John Glasgow]], son of William Glasgow and husband of Jonet Spreull, because that younger John remained alive and transferred property to his own son William in 1565.

The older property holder is therefore a distinct and potentially important transitional household. Exact property succession now makes him a serious possible predecessor or collateral of William; he could also have been [[Space:John Glasgow|John de Glasgow alias Smith]] of 1506. None of those identifications is yet proved. No inspected record calls William his son, heir, brother or nearest in blood, and the John-to-William transmission instrument has not been found.

The correct conclusion is:

<blockquote>
'''The surname record is substantially continuous; the civic setting is continuous; the pedigree is not yet continuous.'''
</blockquote>

<span id='proved_burgh_line'></span>
=== 2. The proved Glasgow burgh line ===

The first presently documented multi-generation pedigree begins with [[Glasgow-1098|William Glasgow]] and [[Brade-232|Esbell Brade]].

==== William Glasgow and Esbell Brade ====

A William Glasgow was included in a royal remission dated 2 July 1526 for the slaughter of James Somervile and other offences.<ref name="William1526">''Registrum Secreti Sigilli Regum Scotorum'', vol. I, no. 3433, remission dated 2 July 1526.</ref>

The date and central-Scotland network are compatible with [[Glasgow-1098|William Glasgow]], but the remission supplies no spouse, parent, property, occupation or explicit residence. It should be treated as a possible earlier occurrence rather than a conclusive identification.

William's first secure appearance in the Glasgow town-clerk material is dated 28 February 1530/31. He witnessed a sasine granted by John Wan, bailie, to John Allason in property on Our Lady's Street.<ref name="William1531">Robert Renwick, ed., ''Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow'', protocol no. 1058, 28 February 1530/31.</ref>

The decisive family record followed on 31 December 1534. William Glasgow, with the consent of his wife [[Brade-232|Esbell Brade]], resigned a back tenement to:

* [[Glasgow-1093|John Glasgow]], described as their son; and
* [[Spreull-4|Jonet Spreull]], John's wife.

William and Esbell reserved the profits of the property during their lifetimes.<ref name="WilliamJohn1534">''Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow'', protocol dated 31 December 1534 at 10 a.m., recording the resignation by William Glasgow and Esbell Brade to their son John Glasgow and his wife Jonet Spreull.</ref>

William was dead by 16 March 1535/36, when James Young's neighbouring property was described by reference to the lands of the late William Glasgow.<ref name="WilliamDeath1536" /> He was still described without the deceased qualifier in the Rankin boundary on 17 February 1534/35, giving a documentary death interval between those dates; no death place is established.

No inspected source identifies William as the son or heir of the Glasgow John, the Stirling John, Alan Glasgw or John alias Smith.

==== John Glasgow and Jonet Spreull ====

The 1534 protocol directly establishes:

* [[Glasgow-1093|John Glasgow]] as the son of William Glasgow and Esbell Brade;
* [[Spreull-4|Jonet Spreull]] as John's wife;
* and a transfer of identifiable Glasgow property between the generations.

A protocol dated 24 August 1565 records John Glasgow senior resigning a burgage tenement to:

<blockquote>
'''William Glesgw, his son'''
</blockquote>

John reserved liferent to himself and Jonet Spreull, his spouse.<ref name="JohnWilliam1565">Robert Renwick, ed., ''Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow'', vol. III, protocol no. 847, p. 73, 24 August 1565.</ref>

This proves [[Glasgow-3522|William Glasgow]] as John's son. Jonet was John's spouse and joint liferenter, but the surviving abstract does not expressly call the younger William her son.

A record dated 8 November 1575 identifies [[Glasgow-1029|Stephen Glasgow]] as the son of the late John Glasgow and names Jonet Spreull as his mother.<ref name="Stephen1575">Glasgow protocol abstract dated 8 November 1575, identifying Stephen Glasgow as son of the late John Glasgow and naming Jonet Spreull as his mother. The full volume, protocol number and printed page remain to be added after direct verification.</ref>

The core pedigree is therefore:

: [[Glasgow-1098|William Glasgow]] and [[Brade-232|Esbell Brade]]
:: → [[Glasgow-1093|John Glasgow]] and [[Spreull-4|Jonet Spreull]]
::: → [[Glasgow-1029|Stephen Glasgow]]
::: → [[Glasgow-3522|William Glasgow]]

Other children should not be attached to John and Jonet solely from repeated forenames, estimated dates or online trees.

A separate protocol dated 8 January 1570 names a '''John Glasgow younger, son of John Glasgow'''. That father-son pair requires independent identification. It should not automatically be merged with John, husband of Jonet Spreull, or with the Stirling witness of the 1470s.

==== Stephen Glasgow and municipal service ====

[[Glasgow-1029|Stephen Glasgow]], also recorded as '''Stevin''' or '''Stewin Glasgw''', has the strongest surviving civic dossier in the proved line.

His documented activities include:

* witnessing a sasine near Craigmak on 12 May 1574;
* holding land beside Archibald Steven at the burgh boundary in June 1574;
* selling a fore and back tenement to John Scott, baker and citizen, on 17 June 1575;
* acting in property transactions and family business during the 1580s;
* serving as curator to [[Glasgow-1099|George Glasgow]];
* serving as water bailie of Glasgow;
* and continuing to hold or transact in Glasgow property into 1598/99.

<ref name="Stephen1574">''Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow'', protocol dated 12 May 1574; ''Records of the Burgh of Glasgow'', vol. I, burgh-boundary perambulation dated 1 June 1574.</ref><ref name="Stephen1575Sale">Glasgow town-clerk protocol dated 17 June 1575, recording Stephen Glasgow's sale to John Scott, baker and citizen.</ref>

The supplied material currently associates Stephen's water-bailie service with both 1585 and a council election dated 4 October 1589. The office is supported, but the precise appointment year or repeated years of service should be reconciled against the original council entries.

Stephen was not himself town clerk. His connection to the town-clerk network is institutional: the burgh's clerks and notaries repeatedly recorded his property, family relationships, curatorship and public office.

==== William, Margaret Herbesoun and George Glasgow ====

[[Glasgow-3522|William Glasgow]], directly identified as John's son in 1565, married [[Herbison-439|Margaret Herbesoun]].

William was dead by 15 July 1586, when [[Glasgow-1099|George Glasgow]] received sasine as his heir.<ref name="GeorgeHeir1586">''Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow'', protocol dated 15 July 1586, recording George Glasgow as heir to the late William Glasgow.</ref>

On 1 September 1586, George acted with the consent of:

* Margaret Herbesoun, his mother and liferenter;
* Sir William Herbesoun;
* and [[Glasgow-1029|Stephen Glasgow]], his curators.

<ref name="GeorgeSale1586">''Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow'', protocol dated 1 September 1586.</ref>

Because Stephen and William were both sons of John Glasgow, Stephen was George's paternal uncle or half-uncle.

The supported family structure is:

: [[Glasgow-1093|John Glasgow]]
:: → [[Glasgow-1029|Stephen Glasgow]]
:: → [[Glasgow-3522|William Glasgow]] and [[Herbison-439|Margaret Herbesoun]]
::: → [[Glasgow-1099|George Glasgow]]

This curatorship and inheritance evidence is stronger than relationships inferred from shared surname, neighbouring property or estimated ages.

<span id='other_clusters'></span>
=== 3. Other documented Glasgow clusters ===

The wider sixteenth-century evidence contains several contemporary Glasgow households. Some were probably related to the proved burgh line, but the surviving records do not yet join all of them into one pedigree.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Cluster
! Secure evidence
! Current position
|-
| '''William–John–Stephen burgh line'''
| Explicit parent-child records in 1534 and 1575; John also had a son William
| Best-documented Glasgow burgh pedigree
|-
| '''Older John Glasgow near Market Cross and South Port'''
| Same identifiable tenement and four-shilling annual rent in 1527; William already on the parcel by source-dated February 1528 and the same rent later charged on his Crownar–Rankin tenement; William's son inherits it in 1564
| Strong property bridge into the proved family; relationship of the older John to William is still unstated
|-
| '''Robert the fisher, Ninian and John'''
| Ninian was admitted in 1596 as the second son of Robert Glasgow, fisher and burgess; Ninian's 1613 testament names his brother John
| Ninian's father and brother are secure; Robert's fatherhood of John is possible because full versus half-brother is unstated
|-
| '''Corsinkell and Stevenston'''
| James Glasgow elder and younger at Corsinkell in 1559–60; James and John directly named as sons of James elder in 1571
| Secure Ayrshire father-son group; connection to the burgh line unproved
|-
| '''Katherine Glasgow and the Weirs at Stevenston'''
| Katherine was Thomas Weir's wife; William, James and probably Jonet Weir were minor executors represented by Thomas
| Secure couple and strongly probable children; no explicit child term and no proved parentage for Katherine
|-
| '''John in Hirmanscheillis (index identification)'''
| Estate processed in 1577; widow Margaret [Cochrane?]; lawful children Katherine and [Androw?/Andrew]
| Separate household; manuscript death month March and year unresolved; cannot be Ninian's brother John alive in 1613
|-
| '''Archibald Glasgow and Isobell Newlands'''
| Jointly acquired Glasgow property in 1551
| Secure couple; Archibald's parentage and alleged children remain unproved
|-
| '''Robert Glasgow and Margaret Rolland'''
| Fisher, citizen and property-holding spouses in Glasgow
| Secure civic household; exact relationship to the proved burgh line unresolved
|}

==== Robert the fisher, Ninian and John ====

A burgess admission dated 23 October 1596 describes [[Glasgow-3188|Ninian Glasgow]] as:

<blockquote>
'''second son to Robert G., fisher, burgess'''
</blockquote>

<ref name="Ninian1596">James R. Anderson, ed., ''Burgesses & Guild Brethren of Glasgow, 1573–1750'' (Scottish Record Society, 1925), p. 24, entry dated 23 October 1596.</ref>

Ninian's testament, made on 10 January 1613, expressly names:

<blockquote>
'''Johne glasgw his brother'''
</blockquote>

<ref name="Ninian1613">National Records of Scotland, Glasgow Commissary Court, CC9/7/9, images 142–145, testament of Niniane Glasgw, fisher and burgess of Glasgow, made 10 January 1613.</ref>

The records establish [[Glasgow-1096|Robert Glasgow]], fisher and burgess, as
Ninian's father and John as Ninian's brother. They do not say whether John was
a full or half-brother, so Robert is only a possible father for John. Nor does
Ninian's description as `second son` identify which brother was older.

Ninian's records also establish:

* [[Meik-14|Jonet Meik]] as his earlier wife;
* Robert Glasgow as the son of both Ninian and Jonet Meik;
* [[Hutcheson-1774|Jonet Hutchesoun]] as his later spouse;
* [[Glasgow-3062|Marion Glasgow]] as his sister; and
* William Glasgow only as a possible son, because the earlier asserted
  relationship wording and exact clothing description following John's name
  are not secure in the supplied working transcription.

Ninian's brother John was alive in January 1613.

==== John Glasgow in Hirmanscheillis ====

[[Glasgow-3181|John Glasgow]] was already deceased when his estate was processed on 4 May 1577. The derivative index identifies him as being in Hirmenschelis; the place-name itself is unresolved in the present manuscript reading.

His testament names:

* Margaret '''[Cochrane?]''', his widow;
* [[Glasgow-3590|Katherine Glasgow]], his lawful child;
* '''[Androw?/Andrew] Glasgow''', his second lawful child.

Katherine and [Andrew?] were appointed executors-dative to their father. The death month reads March, but the year remains unresolved.<ref name="Hirmanscheillis1577">National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh Commissary Court, CC8/8/5, images 276–277, testament dative and inventory of Johne Glasgw; marginal date 4 May 1577; published index [https://archive.org/details/commissariotreco16scot/page/n117/mode/2up?q=Glasgow p. 109].</ref>

This John cannot be the brother named in Ninian Glasgow's 1613 testament because the estate record establishes that he was dead before May 1577. [[Glasgow-3589|Marjorie Glasgow]] is not supported as the second child in the corrected reading.

Any WikiTree relationship showing the Hirmanscheillis testator as Ninian's brother should therefore be removed unless a source establishes that Ninian had two brothers named John.

==== Calder and Croftmalloch households ====

Two further Edinburgh Commissary Court records reveal distinct rural households in the Calder district without proving a bridge to either the Glasgow burgh line or the Corsinkell family.

[[Glasgow-3613|Margaret Glasgow]] of Croftmalloch died intestate in December 1578; her estate was confirmed on 8 November 1580. The record calls her the sometime wife of [[Edstoun-3|John Easton]] and repeatedly identifies '''[[Edstoun-4|Cuthbert Kaddell/Keddell]]''' as her son. It does not identify Cuthbert's father. Livestock, six bolls of oats and household goods made up much of her inventory; the principal account figures reconcile to a gross estate of £58 4s 8d and a net estate of £57 4s 8d.<ref name="Margaret1580">National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh Commissary Court, CC8/8/8, images 355–356, testament dative and inventory of Margaret Glasgow; published index [https://archive.org/details/scottishrecordso01scotuoft/page/n117/mode/1up p. 108].</ref>

[[Glasgow-3163|Andrew Glasgow]] of '''[Corsoun?]''' in Calder Cleir made his will on 6 February 1597/8 and died the following day; 10 July 1598 is the confirmation date. He named '''Elizat Stevinsoun''' as his wife and expressly called '''Robert Glasgow''' his son by her. He also named daughters '''Marion, Janet and Isobel''', made conditional provision for a possible unborn child, and directed that Elizat retain the land until Robert came of age. The conditional clause does not establish that a further child was born.<ref name="Andrew1598">National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh Commissary Court, CC8/8/32, images 123–124, testament testamentar and inventory of Andro Glasgw; published index [https://archive.org/details/scottishrecordso01scotuoft/page/n117/mode/1up p. 108].</ref>

These records establish their own nuclear relationships and an agricultural estate setting. They do not show that John of Hirmanscheillis, Margaret of Croftmalloch and Andrew of Corsoun were siblings or descendants of the city burgesses.

==== Katherine Glasgow and the Weir household at Stevenston ====

[[Glasgow-1495|Katherine Glasgow]], wife of [[Weir-4172|Thomas Weir]] in Stevenston parish, died in January 1603. Thomas submitted her testament dative in the names of William, James and probably Jonet/Janet Weir. The court's confirmation expressly refers to the executors' minority. The three were therefore very probably Katherine and Thomas's children, although the record does not call them sons, daughter or ''bairns''.<ref name="Katherine1603">National Records of Scotland, Glasgow Commissary Court, CC9/7/4, images 6–7, testament dative and inventory of Katherine Glasgow. The manuscript confirmation day appears [26?] May 1605, whereas Francis J. Grant's printed calendar and [https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=SCOT%2FWILLS%2F057453&tab=this Findmypast SCOT/WILLS/057453] give 9 May; [[Space:Kathereine Glasgow: Will and testament translation|working transcription and analysis]].</ref>

The inventory of horses, cattle, grain, household contents and clothing, together with rent owed to the Earl of Glencairn and teind grain to the Stevenston minister, places the household firmly in the same estate economy as the Corsinkell group. Its debts exceeded its assets. That shared landscape makes local kinship a worthwhile hypothesis, especially alongside [[Glasgow-3179|Geillis Glasgow]] dying in the same month in neighbouring Ardrossan parish, but neither testament calls Katherine and Geillis sisters or names Katherine's parents.

==== Saltcoats maritime household ====

John Glasgow, a sailor in Saltcoats within Ardrossan parish, died in December 1636. His 1637 testament dative calls '''Katherine and Agnes Glasgow''' his lawful children and names '''Isobell Gray''' as his widow. Isobell submitted the inventory on the children's behalf, but the document does not expressly call her their mother. Another sailor, John Brown, appears as debtor and cautioner; no kinship is stated. A possible old fishing boat in the inventory remains a tentative reading.<ref name="Saltcoats1637">National Records of Scotland, Glasgow Commissary Court, CC9/7/27, register pp. 478–480, testament dative and inventory of John Glasgow, sailor in Saltcoats.</ref>

The Saltcoats estate belongs to a maritime household rather than the city fisher pedigree merely because both involved water-based trades. John's possible identity as [[Glasgow-1030]] remains on hold, and the record does not name [[Glasgow-3539|Mary Glasgow]].

==== The Corsinkell family ====

The Cunninghame teind material for 1559–60 lists James Glasgow elder and James Glasgow younger at Corsinkell in Stevenston parish.<ref name="Corsinkell1559">Margaret H. B. Sanderson, “The People of Sixteenth Century Ayrshire”, ''Ayrshire Collections'', vol. XIV, appendix “The Cunninghame Teind Lists of 1559–60”, p. 331.</ref>

On 9 February 1571, Corsinkell was described as occupied by James Glasgow elder and by '''James and John Glasgow, his sons'''.<ref name="Corsinkell1571">National Records of Scotland, Charter Chest of the Earls of Glencairn, GD39/5/59, letters of reversion concerning the 40-shilling land of Corsinkell, 9 February 1571.</ref>

This proves:

: [[Glasgow-1168|James Glasgow elder]]
:: → [[Glasgow-3921|James Glasgow younger]]
:: → a son John Glasgow

The present candidate for the son John is [[Glasgow-3193|John Glasgow]], but no reviewed record yet connects the Corsinkell son directly with Burrowland, Dalgarven or Kilwinning.

No inspected source identifies James elder as the son of William Glasgow and Esbell Brade. The Ayrshire family should remain separate from the proved Glasgow burgh pedigree unless a parentage, succession or migration record joins them.

==== Archibald Glasgow and Isobell Newlands ====

On 21 May 1551, [[Glasgow-1097|Archibald Glasgow]] and [[Newlands-647|Isobell Newlands]], spouses, acquired a fore and back tenement near the South Port and Bridge of Clyde.

The witnesses included a Robert Glasgow.<ref name="Archibald1551">''Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow'', act dated 21 May 1551. The precise volume, protocol number and printed page remain to be added.</ref>

The transaction securely establishes the couple and their property holding. It does not prove:

* Archibald's parents;
* that Robert was his brother;
* or the children currently attached to Archibald and Isobell.

Those relationships require independent evidence.

==== Robert Glasgow and Margaret Rolland ====

[[Glasgow-1096|Robert Glasgow]] and [[Rolland-239|Margaret Rolland]] were spouses and Glasgow property holders.

Robert appears in burgh records as a fisher and citizen. On 12 February 1572/73, Robert and Margaret transferred property near the Market Cross and South Port. The tenement bordered property belonging to a John Glasgow.<ref name="RobertRolland1573">''Abstracts of Protocols of the Town Clerks of Glasgow'', act dated 12 February 1572/73. The complete volume, protocol number and printed page remain to be added.</ref>

The shared occupation and later burgess evidence make Robert a strong candidate for the father of Ninian Glasgow. That identification is not yet stated explicitly in a record naming both men.

Likewise, Robert's proximity to other Glasgow households supports association but does not define whether they were brothers, cousins, uncle and nephew or members of separate lines.

<span id='regional_distribution'></span>
=== 4. Regional distribution by c.1650 ===

By the later sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the surname was documented in several Scottish regions.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Region
! Documented or proposed cluster
! Evidential caution
|-
| '''Glasgow and Lanarkshire'''
| William–John–Stephen line; the older John property holder of 1527–53; Robert the fisher; Ninian; Archibald; other civic households
| Several explicit relationships, but no complete pedigree joining every household
|-
| '''Ayrshire'''
| Corsinkell and Stevenston; Kilwinning and Dalgarven records
| James elder's sons are proved; relationship to the Glasgow burgh line remains unproved
|-
| '''Lothian and West Lothian'''
| Hirmanscheillis; later Kirknewton, Mid Calder, Edinburgh and Leith profiles
| Some profiles rely on estimated dates or unverified parentage and require individual source audits
|-
| '''Stirling'''
| John Glasgw in 1475 and 1479/80
| Important surname continuity; relationship to later Glasgow families unproved
|-
| '''Borders'''
| Alan Glasgw in 1495; later Cavers, Hawick and Berwickshire profiles
| May contain more than one line; no single descent route should be assumed
|-
| '''Argyll and other outliers'''
| Isolated seventeenth-century profiles
| Presence may be genuine, but connection to the central pedigrees requires proof
|}

The evidence supports regional spread and diversification. It does not show that every later regional household descended from the proved William–John–Stephen line.

Several models remain possible:

# some regional households were descendants of the Glasgow burgh family;
# some descended from other late-medieval surname bearers;
# several early Glasgow families may already have existed;
# and some profile connections may be products of later unsourced trees rather than contemporary evidence.

Migration to Ireland, England, the Americas and the Caribbean should be treated on separate pages. Those movements extend beyond the Scottish branch question and often involve distinct seventeenth-century lines.

<span id='marriage_networks'></span>
=== 5. Marriage, property and civic networks ===

The documented households repeatedly married or transacted with families active in Glasgow and the surrounding Lowland regions. One sequence now gives a concrete network bridge from the late-medieval bearer into the family environment of the first proved sixteenth-century pedigree.

==== The Brade–Spreull network bridge, 1430–1534 ====

The sequence is:

* In 1430, a Glasgow tenement on the west side of High Street was bounded on the south by the land of the '''heirs of Walter Sprewl'''. This is explicit inherited Spreull property before 1450.<ref name="Spreull1430">''Liber Collegii Nostre Domine: Munimenta Fratrum Predicatorum de Glasgu'' (Glasgow, 1846), Glasgow property entry of 1430 describing the adjoining land of the heirs of Walter Sprewl.</ref>
* On 10 April 1455, [[Space:John Glasgow-1|John de Glasgu]] and '''Andrew Brady''' appeared in the same witness group.<ref name="JohnBrady1455">''Liber Collegii Nostre Domine'', act dated 10 April 1455, witness list including Andrew Brady and John de Glasgu.</ref>
* On 27 November 1488, William Sprwl and his wife Joneta Burl sold an annual rent from a Glasgow tenement; '''Robert Brade''' witnessed the transaction.<ref name="BradeSpreull1488">''Liber Collegii Nostre Domine'', act dated 27 November 1488, recording William Sprwl and Joneta Burl and witnessed by Robert Brade.</ref>
* On 31 December 1534, [[Glasgow-1098|William Glasgow]] and [[Brade-232|Esbell Brade]] transferred property to their son [[Glasgow-1093|John Glasgow]] and his wife [[Spreull-4|Jonet Spreull]].<ref name="WilliamJohn1534" />

This is evidence of continuity within a specific Glasgow burgh-property network. The late-medieval Glasgow bearer was operating in the same civic environment in which the Brade or Brady and Spreull names recur, and those two names became the affinal families defining the first proved Glasgow pedigree.

It remains a '''network bridge, not a bloodline'''. No record yet proves that Andrew Brady was related to Robert or Esbell Brade, that Robert Brade was Esbell's father or kinsman, that Walter or William Spreull was an ancestor of Jonet Spreull, or that John de Glasgu was an ancestor of William Glasgow.

==== Later documented marriages and associations ====

Directly evidenced examples include:

* [[Glasgow-1093|John Glasgow]] and [[Spreull-4|Jonet Spreull]];
* [[Glasgow-3522|William Glasgow]] and [[Herbison-439|Margaret Herbesoun]];
* [[Glasgow-1096|Robert Glasgow]] and [[Rolland-239|Margaret Rolland]];
* [[Glasgow-1097|Archibald Glasgow]] and [[Newlands-647|Isobell Newlands]];
* [[Glasgow-3188|Ninian Glasgow]] and [[Meik-14|Jonet Meik]];
* [[Glasgow-1027|Robert Glasgow]] and [[Cunningham-20923|Jonet Cunningham]].

The 1534 marriage evidence places the proved burgh family within a demonstrably older Glasgow Spreull property network. It does not identify Jonet Spreull's exact parents or prove her descent from Walter Sprewl's heirs, William Sprwl, or the Spreulls of Cowden or Ladymuir.

Likewise, the recurring Herbison, Hutcheson, Rolland and Newlands associations are important where they appear in property, curatorship and testamentary records. Their value lies in reconstructing actual civic relationships.

Later appearances of Cunningham, Stewart, Hamilton, Graham, Scot, Fraser and other surnames do not automatically prove marriage into the senior noble or chiefly houses carrying those names. Each connection should be supported by documented parents, estates, marriage contracts, sasines, testaments or equivalent contemporary evidence.

The sixteenth-century evidence is best understood as an overlapping network of:

* burgesses and citizens;
* fishers and maritime workers;
* property holders;
* notaries, clerks and civic officers;
* chaplains and minor ecclesiastical figures;
* and tenant households in the surrounding counties.

Kinship between several Glasgow households is probable. The exact degree cannot be supplied from surname recurrence or a small urban population alone.

<span id='export_limits'></span>
=== 6. What the One Tree export can and cannot establish ===

The One Tree export is useful for:

* locating existing WikiTree profiles;
* displaying current parent, spouse and child attachments;
* identifying geographical concentrations;
* finding profiles requiring review;
* and generating research hypotheses.

It is not itself a genealogical source.

The export does '''not''' prove that:

* [[Glasgow-1095|John Glasgow]] was the common ancestor of the later Scottish lines;
* William, Robert and Archibald were all his sons;
* each displayed parent-child relationship is supported by a contemporary record;
* people with estimated locations were born in those places;
* every Y-DNA-labelled profile belongs to one documented medieval paternal line;
* or a group of connected WikiTree profiles represents one historically proved branch.

A Y-DNA indicator on a WikiTree profile may show that DNA information has been associated with that profile or a descendant. It does not by itself demonstrate descent from the earliest displayed ancestor.

A lineage back to John Glasgow c.1475 and a single paternal root remain possible hypotheses, but the export cannot confirm either conclusion without a documented relationship chain.

The export should be treated as a map of the current tree, not as evidence that the tree is correct.

<span id='current_branch_map'></span>
=== 7. Current research map ===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Research cluster
! Anchor evidence
! Status
|-
| '''Late-medieval fixed-surname group'''
| Glasgow John, Stirling John, Alan Glasgw and John alias Smith
| Documentary continuity; John de Glasgu securely crosses 1450, but no joined pedigree
|-
| '''Brade–Spreull civic network'''
| Spreull inherited property in 1430; John de Glasgu with Andrew Brady in 1455; Robert Brade with William Sprwl in 1488; Brade–Spreull marriage linkage in the 1534 Glasgow transfer
| Concrete burgh-property network bridge; exact kinship between the earlier and later bearers unproved
|-
| '''Older John Glasgow household'''
| Identifiable Market Cross–South Port property in 1527/1548; exact parcel held by William in 1535 and inherited by William's son in 1564
| Strong property succession; possible predecessor or collateral of William, but no relationship proved
|-
| '''William–John–Stephen burgh pedigree'''
| Protocols of 1531, 1534, 1565, 1575 and 1586
| Partly proved across three generations
|-
| '''Robert the fisher and Ninian'''
| 1596 burgess admission and 1613 testament
| Secure father-son and sibling evidence; profile identification still being tested
|-
| '''Corsinkell family'''
| Teind material of 1559–60 and GD39/5/59 of 1571
| Secure father and two sons; relationship to other lines unproved
|-
| '''Hirmanscheillis household'''
| Testament of John Glasgow, 1576–77
| Secure separate family with two daughters
|-
| '''Other Glasgow burgh households'''
| Archibald and Isobell; Robert and Margaret Rolland; neighbouring property and witness records
| Secure individuals and couples; wider parentage unresolved
|-
| '''Lothian, Borders and other regional profiles'''
| Parish, testament, property and later family records
| Mixed quality; each line requires an independent audit
|}

The best current model is:

: [[Space:John Glasgow-1|John de Glasgu]], the same Glasgow burgess in 1447 and 1455
:: → later fixed-surname bearers in Stirling and the Borders
:: → [[Space:John Glasgow|John de Glasgow alias Smith]] in 1506
::: → a Brade–Spreull civic and property network extending from 1430 to the 1534 proved family transfer
::: → an older John Glasgow household holding identifiable burgh property in 1527–1548, with the holder dead by 1553
:::: → an unproved genealogical connection
::::: → the documented William–John–Stephen burgh pedigree
::::: → overlapping fisher and property-holding households
::::: → separate or partly connected Ayrshire, Lothian and Border clusters

==== Documentary bridge matrix ====

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="padding:5px; width:100%;"
|-
! style="background-color:#E1F0B4;" | Proposed bridge
! style="background-color:#E1F0B4;" | Evidence already present
! style="background-color:#E1F0B4;" | Missing decisive evidence
! style="background-color:#E1F0B4;" | Status
|-
| John de Glasgu of Glasgow, 1447–1455 ↔ John Glasgw of Stirling, 1475–1479/80 || compatible chronology and repeated fixed surname in royal burgh settings || repeated associate, office, property, seal, title or explicit origin || '''Open identity question'''
|-
| Stirling John ↔ Alan Glasgw, 1495 || fixed surname in adjacent generations || relationship, common estate, patron or witness network || '''No relationship proved'''
|-
| late-medieval bearers ↔ John de Glasgow alias Smith, 1506 || surname continuity and a Glasgow property transaction || repeated alias, matching property title or named relationship || '''Open'''
|-
| alias Smith, 1506 ↔ older John household, 1527–1553 || compatible name, place, generation and burgh-property milieu || a later record repeating Smith, Sir Allan Smith or the 1506 annual rent || '''Plausible identity; unproved'''
|-
| older John household ↔ William Glasgow, 1528–1534 || exact Rankin–Young parcel occupied by both within 10–22 months, same four-shilling institutional burden, and inherited by William's son || John-to-William transfer plus heir, son, brother or nearest-in-blood clause || '''Strong property succession; genealogy open'''
|-
| William and Esbell → John and Jonet, 1534 || direct protocol naming John as their son and Jonet as his wife || full verified volume, protocol, page and transcription still desirable || '''Proved relationship'''
|-
| John and Jonet → William and Stephen || 1565 protocol names William as John's son; 1575 entry names Stephen's parents || complete direct verification of the 1575 citation || '''Partly proved; citation completion open'''
|-
| burgh pedigree ↔ Corsinkell, fisher, Hirmanscheillis and other clusters || proximity, property, occupations and overlapping associates || explicit relationship or succession record for each proposed edge || '''Clusters remain separate'''
|-
| Scottish clusters ↔ early Ulster households || compatible surname, Presbyterian context and later migration traditions || an original migration, probate, church, deed or relationship record naming both sides || '''No bridge proved'''
|}

<span id='research_priorities'></span>
=== 8. Research priorities ===

# '''Find the John-to-William transmission of the Rankin–Young parcel.''' Search every surviving instrument between 2 May 1527 and source-dated 20 February 1528 (or 1528/29) for an heir, sale, resignation, spouse, widow, liferenter or assignee, using Rankin, Young, Houston, Henryson/Makandoy and Craig as well as Glasgow. Priority formulae include ''heres quondam Johannis Glasgu'', ''filius'', ''relicta'', ''proximior de sanguine'' and ''in defectu heredum''.
# '''Inspect the two exact protocol manuscripts.''' In NRS NP1/5 inspect Michael Fleming protocols 1196, 1201 and 1233, including fols. 67 and 87 and all margins. In Glasgow City Archives B/10/1/3 inspect protocols 748, 805 and 809–810 through fol. 54, seeking Eufame Craig's husband's blank forename and the western owner omitted in protocol 805.
# '''Trace the Young–Crownar title.''' Search Elizabeth/Besse Crownar, David, Robert and George Young, Margaret Arbuckle and the new collegiate church, looking for the James-to-Robert transfer and an explicit relationship to late John Crownar.
# '''Identify the late-medieval predecessor of William Glasgow.''' Test whether the older John of 1527–53, John alias Smith of 1506, the Glasgow John of 1447–55 or another bearer can be joined to William by parentage, inheritance, burgess transfer, property succession or repeated associates.
# '''Transcribe GUA BL/204 in full and reconstruct the property.''' Record the complete alias syntax, witnesses, source of title and terms of joint acquisition, then trace the same four-shilling rent through later conveyances for a named successor, widow or heir.
# '''Build the Brade or Brady and Spreull pedigrees independently.''' Search for heirs, siblings, marriage contracts and property succession connecting Andrew Brady, Robert Brade and Esbell Brade, and connecting Walter or William Spreull with Jonet Spreull.
# '''Verify the 1534 protocol directly.''' Add the complete volume, protocol number, page, exact wording, witness list and previous title for William, Esbell, John and Jonet.
# '''Test the 1526 William identification.''' Compare the remission's associates with William's later property, witness and civic network.
# '''Verify Stephen's 1575 parentage record.''' Add the complete protocol citation and transcription.
# '''Reconcile Stephen's water-bailie chronology.''' Check the council records for 1585 and 4 October 1589 and determine whether he served once or repeatedly.
# '''Confirm the father of Ninian Glasgow.''' Test whether [[Glasgow-1096|Robert Glasgow]] is the Robert described in 1596 as fisher and burgess.
# '''Correct the Hirmanscheillis relationships.''' Remove the impossible identification with Ninian's brother John unless new evidence establishes two brothers of that name.
# '''Identify James elder's son John.''' Search for a direct connection between Corsinkell and the Kilwinning, Burrowland or Dalgarven records.
# '''Audit Archibald Glasgow's family.''' His marriage and property are documented; his parents and proposed children are not.
# '''Audit every regional branch independently.''' Do not infer migration solely from estimated profile locations or existing tree links.
# '''Separate migration research.''' Move Irish, English, American and Caribbean lines to dedicated migration pages.

=== 9. Current conclusion ===

The Scottish Glasgow surname was in continuing documentary use from at least the mid-fifteenth century. John de Glasgu is securely the same Glasgow burgess in records of 1447 and 1455, providing a concrete individual bridge across 1450.

A second, more contextual bridge is visible in the Brade–Spreull civic network: inherited Spreull property in 1430, John de Glasgu and Andrew Brady in the same 1455 witness group, Robert Brade witnessing a William Sprwl transaction in 1488, and the Brade and Spreull affiliations defining the proved 1534 family transfer.

A direct pedigree from the late-medieval bearers to the sixteenth-century burgh family has not yet been established. The older John Glasgow who held identifiable Market Cross–South Port property in May 1527 is the strongest current candidate for a missing predecessor or collateral: William occupied the same title position by the instrument source-dated February 1528 and the same four-shilling burden was later charged on William's tenement. No surviving record yet calls William Glasgow John's son, heir or kinsman.

The first securely reconstructed multi-generation line is:

: [[Glasgow-1098|William Glasgow]] and [[Brade-232|Esbell Brade]]
:: → [[Glasgow-1093|John Glasgow]] and [[Spreull-4|Jonet Spreull]]
::: → [[Glasgow-1029|Stephen Glasgow]]
::: → [[Glasgow-3522|William Glasgow]]
:::: → [[Glasgow-1099|George Glasgow]]

Alongside that line, the records establish the older John Glasgow property household, other Glasgow families at Corsinkell and Hirmanscheillis, and several households within Glasgow's fishing and burgess community.

The current evidence therefore establishes three different kinds of continuity: the same bearer across 1450, a recurring burgh-property network into 1534, and a separate transitional John Glasgow household immediately before and alongside the proved pedigree. Some of these people were probably related. The evidence does not yet show the degree or route of kinship.

=== See also ===

* [[Space:Glasgow_Name_Study|Glasgow Name Study]]
* [https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Bearers_of_the_%27%27de_Glasgu%27%27_Name_and_the_Emergence_of_the_Glasgow_Surname%2C_c.1175%E2%80%931500 Medieval ''de Glasgu'' bearers]
* [[Space:Glasgow Surname Protocol Books|Glasgow surname protocol books]]
* [[Space:Repeated Glasgow Marriages|Repeated Glasgow marriages]] — detailed marriage and association study
* [[Space:Glasgow Kinship Circle|Glasgow kinship circle]]
* [[Space:The Ayrshire Crossroads|The Ayrshire Crossroads]]
* [[Space:Glasgow Surname in the Scottish Borders|Glasgow surname in the Scottish Borders]]
* [[Space:Chronology of the Glasgow Family in Northern Ireland in Historical Context|Glasgow families in Northern Ireland]]

=== Contribute ===

Useful contributions include:

* complete archival citations and transcriptions;
* corrections to unsupported profile relationships;
* independent evidence for parentage and inheritance;
* property and witness-network reconstruction;
* and Y-DNA results tied to documented paternal pedigrees.

Tree connections should be treated as hypotheses until supported by contemporary or near-contemporary records.

<references />