Glasgow Wills & Testaments

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Structured testament index

Use rule: distinguish death, will-making, decree and confirmation dates. A testament dative is a court administration, not a statement of the deceased's wishes. A same-name person in the same county is not an identification, and a spouse is not automatically the named children's other parent.

Ninian Glasgow and later proposed branches

Ninian Glasgow (about 1550–1613) was a fisher and burgess, not a flesher. His 1613 testament directly names Robert as his son, John as his brother and Marion as his sister. His then wife was Jonet Hutchesoun; a separate testament establishes that earlier wife Jonet Meik was Robert's mother. Damaged wording does not safely prove William or Elizabeth as further children.

The following later testaments remain important but should not be indented as a proved descent from Ninian:

• John Glasgow, merchant burgess, died September 1635; spouse Jonet Wilson; the testament names sons Robert, William and Ninian and daughters Margaret and Jonet. Glasgow-1561 is only a possible identity: its sourced baptisms place a same-name father at Linlithgow, but no inspected record yet joins him to this Glasgow merchant household.
• William Glasgow, mealmaker in Leith, died September 1645; Archibald Glasgow is independently proved as his son, but William's placement beneath Ninian remains uncertain.
• John Glasgow, indweller in Quothquan, died February 1650; spouse Marioun Cok and lawful sister Bessie are established, while proposed sons and identification of a later Quothquan John require separate proof.

Edinburgh Commissary Court rural households

• John Glasgow, whose estate was processed on 4 May 1577
  • Widow Margaret [Cochrane?]; lawful children Katherine and [Androw?/Andrew]. The death month is March, but the year is unresolved. The index says Hirmenschelis; the place is unclear in the present manuscript reading. See the detailed working transcription.
• Margaret Glasgow, apparently died December 1578; confirmed 8 November 1580
  • Sometime wife of John Easton in Croftmalloch; Cuthbert Kaddell/Keddell is expressly her son. The record does not identify his father.
• Andrew Glasgow, will made 6 February 1597/8; died 7 February; confirmed 10 July 1598
  • Of [Corsoun?] in Calder Cleir; wife Elizat Stevinsoun; Robert expressly their son; daughters Marion, Janet and Isobel. A further child is only a conditional provision if Elizat was pregnant.
• Thomas
  • 1691 writer in Edinburgh
  • Possibly Thomas Glasgow (bef.1627-) ?

These records show livestock-and-grain estates, rent and wage debts, household goods and, in Andrew's case, succession to a rural landholding. They establish three nuclear relationships but do not prove that the John, Margaret and Andrew households were siblings or branches of the Glasgow burgh pedigree.

Margaret Glasgow of Croftmalloch: detailed reading

The Edinburgh Commissary Court testament-dative and inventory is NRS CC8/8/8, images 355–356. Margaret's entry begins in the lower part of the first image and continues into the confirmation on the second; the upper part of the first image belongs to the preceding estate. Margaret died ab intestato—without a will—in December, apparently 1578. The appointment decree appears dated [16?] October 1580, and the clear marginal confirmation date is 8 November 1580. The 1580 date is therefore not her date of death.^[1]

The opening family clause reads in part:

The testament dative & inventar of the guidis, geir, soumes of money & dettis pertening to umquhile Margaret Glasgw, sumtyme spous to Johne Estoun in [Croftmelloch?] … quha deceissit ab intestato in the moneth of December, the zeir of God jᵐ vᶜ [lxxviij?] … gevin up be Cuthbart Kaddell in [Croftmelloch?], hir sone, executour dative surrogate …

The confirmation repeats the relationship independently:

… the said Cuthbert Keddell, sone to the said umquhile Margaret …

… confirmis the said Cuthbert Keddell in executour dative to the said umquhile Margaret Glasgw, his mother …

The spelling Croftmalloch is supplied by the published index rather than silently expanded from the difficult manuscript hand. Likewise, the son's surname is preserved in both manuscript forms, Kaddell and Keddell; it should not be converted to Easton merely because Margaret had been John Easton's wife.

Margaret's estate account

Margaret's inventory includes two cows, two one-year-old heifers, sheep including hoggis or young sheep, six bolls of oats in the barn and barnyard, household utensils and furnishings, and her clothing. Several individual livestock quantities and prices remain unresolved, but the aggregate figures are unusually clear and reconcile:

James Easton and the tentatively read Michael Mertyn appear as debtors, not stated relatives. The possible cautioner's name in the later formula also remains unresolved. The secure family conclusion depends on the three explicit mother–son phrases, not on those account names or on Cuthbert's executor appointment alone.

Andrew Glasgow of [Corsoun?]: detailed reading

This testament-testamentar and inventory is NRS CC8/8/32, images 123–124. Andrew lived at a place provisionally read as [Corsoun?] in the parish of [Calder Clair/Cleir], within the sheriffdom of Edinburgh. He made the will on 6 February 1597 as written, died on 7 February, and was confirmed on 10 July 1598. Because the official Scottish year then began on 25 March, the February dates are conventionally recorded as 1597/8; this adjusts the year numbering, not the calendar day.^[2]

The strongest parentage clause reads:

First, he nomis Elizat Stevinsoun his spous and Robart Glasgw his sone, begottin be him vpoun the said Elizat his wyff, to intromet with his guidis and geir and moveabill dettis awin to him, and to pay his dettis awin be him to vtheris.

Elizat is the manuscript form and probably represents Elizabeth; it should remain visible in research notes. Stevinsoun, his spous and the parentage wording are clearer. James Stevisoun appears among the named advisers whose counsel Elizat and Robert were to use, but the testament does not state whether he was her father, brother or another relative.

Andrew's possessions and accounts

The inventory appears to include three cows with calves valued at £8 each, two yearling cattle, two horses valued at £10 each or £20 together, nine sheep, eight bolls of oats in the barn and barnyard, four firlots of barley, household utensils and furnishings, and Andrew's clothing. The number of cows and several valuations remain tentative, and neither the inventory total nor the debt totals have been securely transcribed.

Among the people apparently owing Andrew money are John Mure, a person described as the widow of a deceased John whose full name remains unclear, and James Stevisoun. The debts owed by Andrew include an item for a brown horse and entries involving David Lyoun, James Stevisoun and a laird tentatively read as [Westhall?]. These financial names are research leads, not evidence of kinship.

Distribution, land and the children

After debts, Andrew directed that the free estate be divided into three parts: one third to Elizat and a second third to Robert. For Andrew's own third he provided:

… incais his said spous be with bairne to him, the samin sall [pass?] to the said bairne. And gif scho be not with bairne, that his said thrid be deuidit equallie betuix his said sone and his said [word beginning dochter…, struck through] Marione, Jonet, Isobell.

The named women are therefore Andrew's daughters, although the same explicit maternal wording used for Robert is not repeated for them. No profile should be created for the merely possible unborn child.

Andrew further directed that Elizat should bruik his [word unclear] land quhill his said Robart cum to aige, after which the holding was to pass to Robert. This establishes intended succession within Andrew's household and shows that Robert had not attained the relevant age or majority. It does not establish whether the land was heritable or tenanted, from whom Andrew obtained it, or any descent from the Glasgow burgh family.

The will also provides that, if Elizat his spous do not hir pairt to his said bairnis, she was to be removed from the administration. The closing notarial formula indicates that the notary signed at Andrew's direction because Andrew could not write. The remaining execution and confirmation formula is only partly resolved.

The current profile candidates for Robert, Marion, Janet and Isobel remain identity hypotheses, not established matches. The strongest next evidence would be a Caldercleir estate rental, tack, transfer, marriage or later testament carrying the Corsoun residence, Stevenson connection or Andrew-to-Robert succession into another record.

Katherine Glasgow and the minor Weir executors

Katherine's testament dative is NRS CC9/7/4, images 6–7. Her entry begins at the bottom of image 6 and ends before another testament begins at the bottom of image 7. It is an intestate estate administration, not a personal will or marriage record. Fresh visual review on 10 September 2026 of image 7 reads “the nynt day of may 1605”: confirmation on 9 May 1605. This supersedes the earlier [26?] reading and agrees with Grant's printed calendar and the Findmypast transcript. The confirmation date is not a death or marriage date.^[3]

Her inventory names two grey horses, an old black nag, two cows, a farrow cow, bere or barley, oats and fodder, household contents and clothing. No debts owed to her were recorded. Rent to James, Earl of Glencairn, teind grain to Mr Alexander Campbell, minister at Stevenston, other private debts and servants' wages left the estate insolvent: Et sic debita excedunt bona—“and thus the debts exceed the assets”—with Quota nulla in the margin. A separate creditor, John Weir in an unresolved Nether … locality, is a possible relative but is not called one. Robert Chirnsyde of Over Possill confirmed the estate, and John Crawford in Glen acted as cautioner; those official roles do not imply kinship.

Full record page: working transcription, modern-English rendering and research analysis.

Saltcoats maritime household

John Glasgow, sailor in Saltcoats within Ardrossan parish, died in December 1636. His widow Isobell Gray submitted the estate for his lawful children Katherine and Agnes Glasgow. Another Saltcoats sailor, John Brown, owed money to the estate and acted as cautioner; no kinship is stated. The inventory may describe an old fishing boat and equipment, but that reading remains tentative. See the working transcription and analysis.

Glasgow (Unconnected)

• Geillis (Glasgow) Wilson (-1603)
  • Spouse to Thomas Wilson in Chaipliehill
• Katherine Glasgow (died January 1603)
  • Wife of Thomas Weir in Stevenston; William, James and probably Jonet Weir were minor executors and very probably their children. See the detailed record page.
• Jonet (Glasgow) Logan (abt.1610-)
  • 1628 spous to George Logane
• Agnes (Glasgow) Logan (-abt.1628)
  • 1628 spous to Johnne Logane

Lanark (Later Generations)

• John Glasgow (abt.1610-abt.1685)
  • 1662 in Quodquen; 1685 in Quodquan
• 1673 William Glasgow
  • 1673 in Quodquen
  • Possibly William Glasgow (1612-) ?
• 1680 James Glasgow
  • 1680 weaver in Biggar