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Glasgow archive/Repeated Glasgow Marriages
Catalogue · 27 Sep 2026
Scotland and records

Repeated Glasgow Marriages

A maintained local edition of the research, with the original sources and assessments.

Repeated Glasgow Marriages, 1400–Present

Glasgow Name Study: project home · research directory · kinship circle · compare people

This is the central marriage-association page. Glasgow Unions provides a shorter route into the same research, while the detailed marriage lists and interpretation are presented here.

This page is part of the Glasgow One-Name Study. It analyses two profile-sets drawn from the project’s working spreadsheets (File 1 = 1400-1800; File 2 = 1400-Present) to show which spouse surnames recur. The counts describe the profile dataset; they do not establish that people sharing a spouse surname were related, belonged to one social circle, or participated in a coordinated migration or property network.

  • File 1 – 809 profiles, 41 repeat pairings (up to 1800)
  • File 2 – 3 545 profiles, 1 201 repeat pairings (1400-present)

Records where LNAB = Current or either surname was Unknown were excluded. Spelling variants (e.g. Nicol ≈ Nichol) were merged when their Levenshtein similarity was ≥ 0.85.

Key Findings

1400-1800: ten most frequent alliances

Rank Family Marriages
1 Cunningham 6
2 Finley 4
3 Anderson 4
4 Wilson 3
5 Smith 3
6 Robertson 3
7 Stewart 3
8 Davidson 2
9 Glenn 2
10 Weir 2

Top 10 Families (1400-1800): Backgrounds and Marriages

The summaries below explain who these families were and list the specific Glasgow marriages involving them recorded between 1400 and 1800. Birth years are shown where known.

Cunningham (6 Marriages)

Six profiles in the pre-1800 dataset have a Cunningham spouse. Each marriage must be evaluated separately: the shared surname does not prove descent from the Earls of Glencairn, connection to an Ulster undertaker, or access to land.

Finley / Finlay (4 Marriages)

Four profiles in the pre-1800 dataset have a Finley or Finlay spouse. The count does not establish that the spouses shared one ancestry or formed a transatlantic ministerial network.

Anderson (4 Marriages)

Four profiles in the pre-1800 dataset have an Anderson spouse. Anderson is widespread, so the repeated surname is a search aid rather than evidence for one burgess or migration network.

Wilson (3 Marriages)

Three profiles in the pre-1800 dataset have a Wilson spouse. No general conclusion about occupation, denomination or a shared western-Scottish network follows from that count.

Smith (3 Marriages)

Three profiles in the pre-1800 dataset have a Smith spouse. Because Smith is extremely common, the count has little relational value without records identifying the particular families and occupations.

Robertson (3 Marriages)

Three profiles in the pre-1800 dataset have a Robertson spouse. The surname alone does not connect those spouses to Clan Donnachaidh or to one trading network.

Stewart (3 Marriages)

Three profiles in the pre-1800 dataset have a Stewart spouse. A Stewart surname does not by itself prove royal descent, an Ulster Plantation connection or any resulting social advantage.

Davidson (2 Marriages)

Two profiles in the pre-1800 dataset have a Davidson spouse. Their precise families and any wider connection require record-level proof.

Glenn / Glen (2 Marriages)

Two profiles in the pre-1800 dataset have a Glenn or Glen spouse. The count does not prove a Clyde shipping or Ulster Presbyterian connection.

Weir (2 Marriages)

Two profiles in the pre-1800 dataset have a Weir spouse. The surname alone does not identify the Blackwood family or prove property consolidation.

Earliest Known Marriages

What the pattern establishes

Observed Some spouse surnames recur in the working profile datasets. The linked profiles provide a practical queue for checking marriage records and distinguishing same-named families.
Not established The counts do not prove that spouses with the same surname were related, that marriages were strategic, or that the couples shared property, trade, political, religious or migration networks.
Next step Verify each marriage against an original register or dependable transcript, identify both sets of parents where possible, and only then test whether two couples belong to the same documented kin group.

Modern-Period Leader Families (brief profiles)

1400-Present: ten current leaders

Rank Family Marriages
1 Henry 16
2 Smith 14
3 Bell 11
4 Patton 10
5 Campbell 10
6 Anderson 9
7 Cunningham 9
8 Wilson 8
9 Hamilton 8
10 Mitchell 8
  • Henry – Ulster sept Ó hInneirghe plus Lowland Hendrys; supplied kirk elders and schoolmasters across Ulster and the Ohio Valley.
  • Bell – Border riding clan pacified by relocation to Ulster; later pillars of frontier Presbyterian communities in America.
  • Patton – Border variant of Patrick; Colonel James Patton’s Shenandoah settlement illustrates the family’s pioneer drive.
  • Campbell – Argyll magnates whose cadets flooded Glasgow; by 1841 Campbell was the city’s commonest surname, giving the Glasgow clan cousins in every municipal office.

To Do

  • Geo-map marriage clusters with WikiTree+ Mapper.
  • Add <ref> citations for external sources listed in the narrative above.
  • Continue harvesting CSV data for post-1800 marriages so the modern-period tables reflect every match, not just the top ten.

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Saved source: 2026-08-29. Local corrections are preserved; differences are reviewed before either edition is replaced.

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