Glasgow Surname Project

Individual research record

Mary Arter

before 1769 – ?

Glasgow-4030 · 1 mapped association

County Londonderry, Ireland→Death place unknown
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At a glance

Identity & family

Tree links organise the family; documentary status still varies.

1Mapped records
2Close relations
5Evidence items
10Candidate leads
Birth
before 1769 · County Londonderry, Ireland
Death
Not recorded · Place not recorded
Parents
James Glasgow IIuncertainMary (Harkness) Glasgowuncertain
Spouses
Not recorded
Children
Not recorded
Gender
Female
WikiTree
Glasgow-4030
Research clusters
Ireland One-Tree profile leads
Mapped descendants
0

Comparison context

These child positions and checks are the subject details used to rank possible parents below.

Naming sequence used by the parentage model

Paternal grandfather positionNot identifiable from dated child profiles
Maternal grandfather positionNot identifiable from dated child profiles
Maternal grandmother positionNot identifiable from dated child profiles
Paternal grandmother positionNot identifiable from dated child profiles

Known-position checks: 0 support · 0 conflict. Ordinals retain unnamed children and recognise reused names.

Relationship comparison

Potential parents or duplicates

Compare scored leads with the subject details above—not proof.

Higher-signal leadReview carefullyWeak lead

No named children are recoverable, so child-naming analysis cannot be run.

How parent leads are calculated

Automated leads use birth surnames—not married surnames—as parental eligibility, role-specific biological age limits, bounded and approximate-date uncertainty, household chronology, specific time-aware localities, mapped distance, tenancy succession, migration destinations and sex-aware Scottish naming positions across generations. People already attached as the subject's parents stay in the identity summary and are excluded from this alternative-candidate list, regardless of relationship confidence. The main calibration uses clues available on disconnected profiles; existing parent and sibling links are retained as comparison context rather than treated as transferable evidence. Common ordered names and grandparent-to-child echoes receive a small non-zero weight, so a John or James match can support several independent criteria without producing a lead alone. Rare names, repeated bearers and bundles across otherwise distinct branches receive substantially more weight according to catalogue frequency. An exact migration place is weighted by its rarity and repetition across both branches; a shared destination country is worth only one point. Extra weight is added only when at least three independent clue types converge: naming, locality, specific migration, household chronology or collateral networks. Sparse profiles retain a clearly labelled chronology-only fallback instead of disappearing. Countries, states, counties and research clusters do not count as a shared locality, and fallback, broad representative or kin-inferred coordinates are excluded from distance scoring. Shared descendant profiles are removed before branch-name comparison. A candidate already recorded as a parent-in-law is excluded. A confident or independently supported parent is treated as settled; uncertain and unassessed attachments remain open to alternative comparison. A different linked parent, an uncle/aunt or grandparent path, and a matching existing child profile prevent an alternative from being classified as a strong direct-parent lead until the underlying tree conflict or duplicate is resolved. Familiar forms such as Bessie are normalised. Surname remains an eligibility filter worth zero points.

Naming customs, shared farms and occupations are circumstantial. Children, spouses and collateral relatives may be missing, and tree-derived family networks are not independent evidence. Scores rank research leads; they do not prove parentage.

No sufficiently similar same-name person is currently indexed.

How duplicate leads are calculated

Dates are eligibility gates, not merely deductions: chronologically impossible people are excluded. Dates, places, spouses, parent certainty and children's profiles and names are then compared. A high score is a prompt to inspect records, not a merge recommendation.

Open only what you need

Research & records

Life and record timelineChronological mapped occurrences and their underlying sources.1 record
b. 1769

Profile-stated birthplace: County Londonderry, Ireland

County Londonderry — exact locality unproved

One-Tree export profile fields are search leads, not sources; relationships are shown only where the export supplies parent links.

One-Tree profile leadderivative
Source and mapping detail

Revolutionary War pension application R4057, Robert Glasgow, transcription and file extracts (https://revwarapps.org/r4057.pdf). Robert's declaration gives his own County Derry birth and 1769 migration but names no parent or sibling.

Candidate matched on record type, year; inspect before treating it as the underlying record.

Precision: County-level representative point

Evidence assessmentWhat is supported, uncertain or disputed in the current case model.8 claims
2Derivative
2Unknown
1Tree Only

Documented or strongly supported

No claims in this category have been formally assessed.

Working hypotheses and conflicts

No claims in this category have been formally assessed.

Research questionsOpen problems, missing bridges and the next records to inspect.0 open

No formal open question is recorded for this person.

Next records to inspect

  1. research assessment — 14–15; WorldCat catalogue record and summary (https://search.worldcat.org/title/22731567).
  2. will — Inspect the original 1779 will and John Glasgow's probate packet for every occurrence of Mary Arter.
Sources and provenanceStructured citations and source-quality classifications.5 sources

Source or provenance: quality describes the record layer, not every conclusion drawn from it.

  1. unknown David Faris, The Glasgow Family of Adams County, Ohio: A Genealogy of the Descendants of Robert Glasgow (1749–1839) and His Wife Rosanna of Bush Creek, Adams County, Ohio (Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1990), especially pp. 14–15; WorldCat catalogue record and summary (https://search.worldcat.org/title/22731567).
  2. derivative Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Will Book C, p. 161, will of John Glasgow of Peters Township, dated 14 March and proved 3 September 1779; published will-book index (https://www.sampubco.com/wills/pa/pacumberland01.htm). The abstract establishes Mary Arter as a witness but does not state that she was John's sister.
  3. unknown Joyce Wilson, “Our Ancestors of Adams County,” People's Defender, 29 March 2024, online article (https://www.peoplesdefender.com/2024/03/29/our-ancestors-of-adams-county-3/).
  4. derivative Revolutionary War pension application R4057, Robert Glasgow, transcription and file extracts (https://revwarapps.org/r4057.pdf). Robert's declaration gives his own County Derry birth and 1769 migration but names no parent or sibling.
  5. tree_only WikiTree profile export for Glasgow-4030
Technical profile and raw captureDataset metadata, machine dossier and captured WikiTree biography.Advanced

WikiTree profile information

Dataset: ONT_Glasco_2026-08-18T16_05.json · generated 2026-08-30

Machine-readable dossier

WikiTree biography, citations and relationship snapshot

Glasgow-4030 was captured 2026-08-21T14:34:54+00:00; WikiTree profile revision 2026-08-20.

Profile location claims

EventDateLocationStatus
birth—County Londonderry, IrelandWikiTree profile field

Immediate relationship snapshot

RelationshipPersonWikiTree IDDates and places returned
ParentsJames GlasgowGlasgow-10241731-00-00 · 0000-00-00
ParentsMary GlasgowHarkness-11491725-00-00 · County Londonderry, Ireland · 0000-00-00
SiblingsJames GlasgowGlasgow-33051740-00-00 · Moneymore, County Londonderry, Ireland · 0000-00-00
SiblingsRobert GlasgowGlasgow-121749-02-00 · Moneymore, County Londonderry, Ireland · 1839-08-05 · Georges Creek, Adams County, Ohio
SiblingsArthur GlasgowGlasgow-6491750-00-00 · Moneymore, County Londonderry, Ireland · 1822-05-00 · Rockbridge, Virginia, United States
SiblingsJohn GlasgowGlasgow-40271758-00-00 · 1779-09-03 · Peters Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States
SiblingsJoseph GlasgowGlasgow-15431760-00-00 · Moneymore, County Londonderry, Ireland · 1831-04-11 · Wythe, Virginia, United States

Profile categories

Estimated_Birth_Date Glasgow_Name_Study Unsourced_Profiles

Record-bearing passages

  • Biography Mary Glasgow, later identified in a published family reconstruction as Mary Arter, is named as a sister of Robert Glasgow. Her identity, dates and later life have not yet been established from a record that expressly states the relationship.
  • David Faris's genealogy describes Robert as a son of “James Glasgow of Moneymore” and states that Robert emigrated in 1769 with three brothers and one sister. David Faris, The Glasgow Family of Adams County, Ohio: A Genealogy of the Descendants of Robert Glasgow (1749–1839) and His Wife Rosanna of Bush Creek, Adams County, Ohio (Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1990), especially pp. 14–15; WorldCat catalogue record and summary (https://search.worldcat.org/title/22731567).
  • Faris discusses the 1779 Peters Township tax and probate cluster containing John, Robert, Arthur and Joseph Glasgow. John's will was witnessed by Joseph Glasgow, James Neely and Mary Arter. Faris concludes that John, Joseph, Robert and Arthur were the four brothers and that Mary Arter was their sister. Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Will Book C, p. 161, will of John Glasgow of Peters Township, dated 14 March and proved 3 September 1779; published will-book index (https://www.sampubco.com/wills/pa/pacumberland01.htm). The abstract establishes Mary Arter as a witness but does not state that she was John's sister.
  • A later Adams County account independently calls John a brother of Joseph, Robert and Arthur, and says the three surviving brothers moved to Virginia after John's death. Joyce Wilson, “Our Ancestors of Adams County,” People's Defender, 29 March 2024, online article (https://www.peoplesdefender.com/2024/03/29/our-ancestors-of-adams-county-3/). It does not mention Mary.
  • The will and tax cluster makes the identification of Mary Arter a useful and geographically specific hypothesis. It is not direct proof: the will calls her a witness, not a sister, and no located marriage or other record yet demonstrates that a woman born Mary Glasgow became Mary Arter.
  • No located record presently:

  • gives Mary's age or exact birthplace;

    • expressly calls her a sister of Robert, Arthur, Joseph or John;
    • names her parents;
    • identifies her Arter husband or any child; or
    • traces her after the 1779 will.

  • Her birth is entered as before 1769 only because the family tradition places the sister in the 1769 migration party. County Londonderry is uncertain and inferred from Robert's sworn statement that he was born there. Revolutionary War pension application R4057, Robert Glasgow, transcription and file extracts (https://revwarapps.org/r4057.pdf). Robert's declaration gives his own County Derry birth and 1769 migration but names no parent or sibling. Proposed parents James Glasgow and Mary Harkness are attached as uncertain parents to represent the existing family hypothesis. Faris names James of Moneymore as Robert's father but does not name the sister's parents or the father's wife. Mary Harkness derives from later compiled pedigrees and remains unsupported by an independently located family record. Research priorities

    • Inspect Faris's complete citations and underlying family papers for the basis of the Mary Arter identification.
    • Inspect the original 1779 will and John Glasgow's probate packet for every occurrence of Mary Arter.
    • Reconstruct the Arter households of Peters Township, Cumberland County, and nearby Cecil County to identify Mary's husband, residence and maiden name.
    • Search Nottingham/Cecil County church, land, probate and marriage records for a Mary Glasgow or Mary Arter in the immigrant network.
    • Locate the original 1806 Joseph-and-Betty-to-Arthur letter and check it for references to a sister or her descendants. Sources

Profile source citations

  1. David Faris, The Glasgow Family of Adams County, Ohio: A Genealogy of the Descendants of Robert Glasgow (1749–1839) and His Wife Rosanna of Bush Creek, Adams County, Ohio (Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1990), especially pp. 14–15; WorldCat catalogue record and summary (https://search.worldcat.org/title/22731567). source link 1
  2. Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Will Book C, p. 161, will of John Glasgow of Peters Township, dated 14 March and proved 3 September 1779; published will-book index (https://www.sampubco.com/wills/pa/pacumberland01.htm). The abstract establishes Mary Arter as a witness but does not state that she was John's sister. source link 1
  3. Joyce Wilson, “Our Ancestors of Adams County,” People's Defender, 29 March 2024, online article (https://www.peoplesdefender.com/2024/03/29/our-ancestors-of-adams-county-3/). source link 1
  4. Revolutionary War pension application R4057, Robert Glasgow, transcription and file extracts (https://revwarapps.org/r4057.pdf). Robert's declaration gives his own County Derry birth and 1769 migration but names no parent or sibling. source link 1
Full captured biography text
Biography
Mary Glasgow, later identified in a published family reconstruction as Mary Arter, is named as a sister of Robert Glasgow. Her identity, dates and later life have not yet been established from a record that expressly states the relationship.

David Faris's genealogy describes Robert as a son of “James Glasgow of Moneymore” and states that Robert emigrated in 1769 with three brothers and one sister. David Faris, The Glasgow Family of Adams County, Ohio: A Genealogy of the Descendants of Robert Glasgow (1749–1839) and His Wife Rosanna of Bush Creek, Adams County, Ohio (Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1990), especially pp. 14–15; WorldCat catalogue record and summary (https://search.worldcat.org/title/22731567). 

Faris discusses the 1779 Peters Township tax and probate cluster containing John, Robert, Arthur and Joseph Glasgow. John's will was witnessed by Joseph Glasgow, James Neely and Mary Arter. Faris concludes that John, Joseph, Robert and Arthur were the four brothers and that Mary Arter was their sister. Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Will Book C, p. 161, will of John Glasgow of Peters Township, dated 14 March and proved 3 September 1779; published will-book index (https://www.sampubco.com/wills/pa/pacumberland01.htm). The abstract establishes Mary Arter as a witness but does not state that she was John's sister. 

The family reconstruction therefore identifies the emigrant siblings as:

* John Glasgow of Peters Township;
* Robert Glasgow;
* Joseph Glasgow;
* Arthur Glasgow; and
* Mary Glasgow, possibly the witness Mary Arter.

A later Adams County account independently calls John a brother of Joseph, Robert and Arthur, and says the three surviving brothers moved to Virginia after John's death. Joyce Wilson, “Our Ancestors of Adams County,” People's Defender, 29 March 2024, online article (https://www.peoplesdefender.com/2024/03/29/our-ancestors-of-adams-county-3/). It does not mention Mary.

The will and tax cluster makes the identification of Mary Arter a useful and geographically specific hypothesis. It is not direct proof: the will calls her a witness, not a sister, and no located marriage or other record yet demonstrates that a woman born Mary Glasgow became Mary Arter.

No located record presently:

* gives Mary's age or exact birthplace;
* expressly calls her a sister of Robert, Arthur, Joseph or John;
* names her parents;
* identifies her Arter husband or any child; or
* traces her after the 1779 will.

Her birth is entered as before 1769 only because the family tradition places the sister in the 1769 migration party. County Londonderry is uncertain and inferred from Robert's sworn statement that he was born there. Revolutionary War pension application R4057, Robert Glasgow, transcription and file extracts (https://revwarapps.org/r4057.pdf). Robert's declaration gives his own County Derry birth and 1769 migration but names no parent or sibling. 
Proposed parents
James Glasgow and Mary Harkness are attached as uncertain parents to represent the existing family hypothesis. Faris names James of Moneymore as Robert's father but does not name the sister's parents or the father's wife. Mary Harkness derives from later compiled pedigrees and remains unsupported by an independently located family record.
Research priorities
* Inspect Faris's complete citations and underlying family papers for the basis of the Mary Arter identification.
* Inspect the original 1779 will and John Glasgow's probate packet for every occurrence of Mary Arter.
* Reconstruct the Arter households of Peters Township, Cumberland County, and nearby Cecil County to identify Mary's husband, residence and maiden name.
* Search Nottingham/Cecil County church, land, probate and marriage records for a Mary Glasgow or Mary Arter in the immigrant network.
* Locate the original 1806 Joseph-and-Betty-to-Arthur letter and check it for references to a sister or her descendants.
Sources
Raw WikiTree biography markup
{{Estimated Date}}
{{Unsourced}}
{{One Name Study|name=Glasgow}}
{{Ireland Native}}

== Biography ==

'''Mary Glasgow''', later identified in a published family reconstruction as '''Mary Arter''', is named as a sister of [[Glasgow-12|Robert Glasgow]]. Her identity, dates and later life have not yet been established from a record that expressly states the relationship.

David Faris's genealogy describes Robert as a son of “James Glasgow of Moneymore” and states that Robert emigrated in 1769 with three brothers and one sister.<ref name="Faris">David Faris, ''The Glasgow Family of Adams County, Ohio: A Genealogy of the Descendants of Robert Glasgow (1749–1839) and His Wife Rosanna of Bush Creek, Adams County, Ohio'' (Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1990), especially pp. 14–15; [https://search.worldcat.org/title/22731567 WorldCat catalogue record and summary].</ref>

Faris discusses the 1779 Peters Township tax and probate cluster containing John, Robert, Arthur and Joseph Glasgow. John's will was witnessed by Joseph Glasgow, James Neely and '''Mary Arter'''. Faris concludes that John, Joseph, Robert and Arthur were the four brothers and that Mary Arter was their sister.<ref name="JohnWill">Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Will Book C, p. 161, will of John Glasgow of Peters Township, dated 14 March and proved 3 September 1779; [https://www.sampubco.com/wills/pa/pacumberland01.htm published will-book index]. The abstract establishes Mary Arter as a witness but does not state that she was John's sister.</ref>

The family reconstruction therefore identifies the emigrant siblings as:

* [[Glasgow-4027|John Glasgow of Peters Township]];
* [[Glasgow-12|Robert Glasgow]];
* [[Glasgow-1543|Joseph Glasgow]];
* [[Glasgow-649|Arthur Glasgow]]; and
* Mary Glasgow, possibly the witness Mary Arter.

A later Adams County account independently calls John a brother of Joseph, Robert and Arthur, and says the three surviving brothers moved to Virginia after John's death.<ref name="AdamsCounty">Joyce Wilson, “Our Ancestors of Adams County,” ''People's Defender'', 29 March 2024, [https://www.peoplesdefender.com/2024/03/29/our-ancestors-of-adams-county-3/ online article].</ref> It does not mention Mary.

The will and tax cluster makes the identification of Mary Arter a useful and geographically specific hypothesis. It is not direct proof: the will calls her a witness, not a sister, and no located marriage or other record yet demonstrates that a woman born Mary Glasgow became Mary Arter.

No located record presently:

* gives Mary's age or exact birthplace;
* expressly calls her a sister of Robert, Arthur, Joseph or John;
* names her parents;
* identifies her Arter husband or any child; or
* traces her after the 1779 will.

Her birth is entered as before 1769 only because the family tradition places the sister in the 1769 migration party. County Londonderry is uncertain and inferred from Robert's sworn statement that he was born there.<ref name="RobertPension">Revolutionary War pension application R4057, Robert Glasgow, [https://revwarapps.org/r4057.pdf transcription and file extracts]. Robert's declaration gives his own County Derry birth and 1769 migration but names no parent or sibling.</ref>

=== Proposed parents ===

[[Glasgow-1024|James Glasgow]] and [[Harkness-1149|Mary Harkness]] are attached as uncertain parents to represent the existing family hypothesis. Faris names James of Moneymore as Robert's father but does not name the sister's parents or the father's wife. Mary Harkness derives from later compiled pedigrees and remains unsupported by an independently located family record.

=== Research priorities ===

* Inspect Faris's complete citations and underlying family papers for the basis of the Mary Arter identification.
* Inspect the original 1779 will and John Glasgow's probate packet for every occurrence of Mary Arter.
* Reconstruct the Arter households of Peters Township, Cumberland County, and nearby Cecil County to identify Mary's husband, residence and maiden name.
* Search Nottingham/Cecil County church, land, probate and marriage records for a Mary Glasgow or Mary Arter in the immigrant network.
* Locate the original 1806 Joseph-and-Betty-to-Arthur letter and check it for references to a sister or her descendants.

== Sources ==
<references />