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Parentage of John Glasgow (Glasgow-1022)
Current conclusion
The parents of John Glasgow, born about 1751 in County Antrim, have not been identified. Robert Glasgow of Kilwaughter is a candidate father and James Glasgow a possible half-brother, but no inspected record states either relationship. They remain research candidates and should not be attached or described as probable relatives without further evidence.
Y-DNA supports a broad paternal affinity among tested Glasgow lines. It cannot identify which eighteenth-century man was John's father, convert a project tree into evidence, or distinguish a father-son relationship from another paternal relationship.
Established evidence for John
The detailed 1851 return records John at Glenleslie, Dunaghy parish, County Antrim. He was a 99- or 100-year-old Antrim-born farmer who could read. His wife Rose Alexander, aged 80, was also born in County Antrim and could read. Their first marriage year was recorded as 1791.[1][2]
The household relationships directly identify:
- Andrew Glasgow, son, linen weaver, who died of consumption in 1848;
- Ellen Glasgow, daughter, linen weaver;
- Nancy Glasgow, daughter, who died of dysentery in 1847;
- Ann and Mary Ann or Maryan Glasgow, granddaughters;
- Jane and James Grimes, grandchildren;
- John Glasgow, a married nephew aged 40;
- Sarah Alexander, a visitor;
- Barbera McKillop, a servant; and
- William Alexander, John's brother-in-law, a labourer who died of rheumatism in 1846.[2]
The census does not name the parents of John, identify the parents of the grandchildren, make Sarah a relative, or specify how William became John's brother-in-law. It also does not prove Rose was the biological mother of every listed child.
Assessment of the former Robert hypothesis
1747 Kilwaughter discipline entry
A published transcription says a former Kilwaughter session member named Robert Glasgow was accused of fornication in 1747 and refused public satisfaction.[3] The entry does not name a woman or child and does not refer to John. A censure in 1747 is not evidence that a child born about four years later was Robert's son.
1772 petition
The reconstructed Kilwaughter chronology reports Robert Glasgow, James Glasgow and Hugh Shannon together among Kilwaughter petitioners. It reports men named John and James Glasgow separately among the Larne petitioners.[4] Shared participation in a regional petition does not identify the Larne John as Glasgow-1022, make him Robert's son, or make James his brother.
Y-DNA
The public Glasgow project can support surname-line clustering, subject to each tester's documentary pedigree.[5] Genetic distance between descendants does not identify the common ancestor by name. Y-DNA is compatible with the proposed descent from Robert and possible half-brother relationship with James, but does not confirm either claim.
Naming and geography
John's use of the name Robert and his County Antrim birthplace are research clues only. Several unrelated or unconnected Glasgow households used the same forenames across Antrim and adjoining counties. Kilwaughter and Glenleslie are not the same locality, and no deed, baptism, marriage, will, church entry or land record has bridged them for John.
Other relationships and candidates
John Glasgow and Samuel Glasgow of Lisnagaver were brothers. The younger John's 1846 marriage names his father as John Glasgow, farmer, but that description does not uniquely identify Glasgow-1022.[6][7]
George Glasgow headed adjacent Glenleslie household 20. His locality, age and marriage to another Sarah Alexander make him a plausible relative, but the census does not call him John's son.
Robert Glasgow headed Glenleslie household 23. The locality and generation support possible kinship, but an intervening household and the absence of a relationship statement prevent treating him as John's son.[8]
The separate nephew research page assesses the forty-year-old resident nephew. He remains unidentified.
Research priorities
- Locate an original baptism, marriage, will, deed or church record that names John's parents.
- Identify the father of the 1851 nephew through a direct record.
- Trace John and Rose's 1791 marriage and the parentage of the four grandchildren.
- Inspect the original 1772 petition before assigning any signer to a profile.
- Use Y-DNA only alongside proved tester-to-ancestor documentary pedigrees.
Sources
See also
Source references
- 1851 Irish Census Returns: detailed comma-delimited transcription, Glenleslie household 21, p. 103.
- Bill Macafee and W. Scott, 1851 Census for some Parishes and Townlands in the Barony of Kilconway, County Antrim, Dunaghy parish, Glenleslie household 21.
- Classon Porter, “Congregational Memoirs: Larne and Kilwaughter,” The Christian Unitarian, vol. 3 (1864), Internet Archive text.
- Donna Jean Glasgow, “Chronology of the Glasgow Family”, archived 24 November 2010.
- FamilyTreeDNA Glasgow Surname Project, public Y-DNA overview.
- Civil marriage of John Glasgow and Margaret Garvin, 16 November 1846.
- 1851 Census of Ireland, Lisnagaver household 34.
- 1851 Census of Ireland, Glenleslie household 23.
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