The catalogue securely identifies John by both Glasgow and Smith in a joint four-shilling-rent acquisition. It proves no occupation and no relationship to Sir Allan Smith. The only explicit descent is Robert Watson → Agnes. Maintain this pre-1500-born subject on the canonical free-space draft, not a person profile.
Relationship labels belong to each link. Partners are not assumed to be parents of every child.
What would move the research forward
Evidence and next steps
Evidence highlighted in the case file
Glasgow University Archives GUA BL/204 catalogue description, instrument dated 28 April 1506. Agnes, daughter and heir of Robert Watson, disposed the rent to Sir Allan Smith and John de Glasgow alias Smith; Allan's property was the northern boundary. The catalogue's legacy wording includes the malformed Watsonm, which must be checked against the instrument. The complete instrument was not retrieved, so the terms of joint acquisition, survivorship and any omitted associates or relationships remain unknown.
Joint acquirer with Sir Allan Smith of a four-shilling annual rent
Mentioned person; role not specified
High Street, Glasgow, Scotland
Seller Agnes is explicitly daughter and heir of Robert Watson. Sir Allan's property was the northern boundary. No relationship between Allan and John and no occupation for John are stated; legacy `Watsonm` wording requires checking.
Dated assessments, source transcriptions and earlier working notes remain available in full. Where those disagree, use the current conclusion above and inspect its reasoning.
Latest case researchThe current conclusion from the durable research case file.Updated
Current conclusion
record-medieval-1506-john-alias-smith
The catalogue securely identifies John by both Glasgow and Smith in a joint four-shilling-rent acquisition. It proves no occupation and no relationship to Sir Allan Smith. The only explicit descent is Robert Watson → Agnes. Maintain this pre-1500-born subject on the canonical free-space draft, not a person profile.
Life and record timelineChronological mapped occurrences and their underlying sources.1 record
1506
Joint acquirer with Sir Allan Smith of a four-shilling annual rent
Seller Agnes is explicitly daughter and heir of Robert Watson. Sir Allan's property was the northern boundary. No relationship between Allan and John and no occupation for John are stated; legacy `Watsonm` wording requires checking.
Candidate matched on record type, year, place; inspect before treating it as the underlying record.
Precision: Street-level property context
Case-file source findingsSource extracts and analysis regenerated from findings.md.1 section(s)
Source findings
record-medieval-1506-john-alias-smith
Glasgow University Archives GUA BL/204 catalogue description, instrument dated 28 April 1506. Agnes, daughter and heir of Robert Watson, disposed the rent to Sir Allan Smith and John de Glasgow alias Smith; Allan's property was the northern boundary. The catalogue's legacy wording includes the malformed Watsonm, which must be checked against the instrument. The complete instrument was not retrieved, so the terms of joint acquisition, survivorship and any omitted associates or relationships remain unknown.
Evidence assessmentWhat is supported, uncertain or disputed in the current case model.1 claim
1Derivative
Documented or strongly supported
John de Glasgow alias Smith was recorded in High Street, Glasgow, Scotland (1506).
proved1 linked evidence item
Joint acquirer with Sir Allan Smith of a four-shilling annual rent
Working hypotheses and conflicts
No claims in this category have been formally assessed.
Case-file assessments
Identity and relationship assessment
record-medieval-1506-john-alias-smith
John's dual designation is secure at catalogue level. Sir Allan Smith → John is unsupported. Identity with the 1527–1553 Saltmarket holder is plausible but unproved.
Research questionsOpen problems, missing bridges and the next records to inspect.0 open
No formal open question is recorded for this person.
Case-file priorities and cautions
Recommended next records
record-medieval-1506-john-alias-smith
Transcribe BL/204 completely and follow the same four-shilling High Street annual rent through later conveyances for a named successor, widow or heir.
Sources and provenanceStructured citations and source-quality classifications.1 source
Source or provenance: quality describes the record layer, not every conclusion drawn from it.
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.
Estimate and relationship notes
Estimated as age 18 at the earliest known adult record (1506).
Estimated from the earliest mapped residence record (1506).
Candidate comparisons and scoring
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.
Documentary subject
Canonical WikiTree Space page
This evidence is maintained on a supporting free-space page, not forced into a person profile.