Illustrated manuscript reading
Died December [1578?]; marginal confirmation 8 November 1580
NRS Edinburgh Commissary Court CC8/8/8, images 355-356, supplied as two-page PDF
Second manuscript pass · 10 September 2026
New readings and unchanged uncertainties are both recorded. A confirmed name or role does not by itself confirm a WikiTree identity or a relationship.
image 355 opening and image 356 confirmation
images 355-356 residence
image 356 debts owing in
image 356 debt owing out
image 356 confirmation
image 355 dates
Follow the handwriting
Margaret's mother-son relationship appears twice: once in the inventory opening and again in the confirmation. Reading both passages keeps the relationship distinct from the executor appointment and from the preceding estate higher on image 355.
Follow the writing line. Ascenders rise above small letters; descenders fall below them. A neighbouring line can cross the word you are reading.
Count the short strokes. These are called minims. Joined i, m, n and u shapes can be ambiguous; compare a clear repeated word by the same clerk rather than guessing from a modern alphabet.
Separate reading from expansion. A contraction is not a fully written modern word. Square brackets retain doubtful letters or editorial additions. A familiar legal formula is a clue, not permission to fill a gap.
Then assess the relationship. Reading a name securely is not the same as proving kinship. Look for the actual role words and who they refer to.
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Choose a name or relationship below. Compare the original ink, a paper-free view and the same spelling in a secretary-hand teaching font. Open the reasoning only when you need it.
Proposed readingspous
The existing reading is ‘sumtyme spous to Johne estoun’, the phrase identifying John Easton as Margaret Glasgow’s husband.
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spous
The white-background view suppresses paper colour; reviewed focus boundaries exclude separable neighbouring fragments where available. It does not restore missing strokes. Colour follows retained source pixels inside proposed letter groups, not a reconstructed pen path. Ambiguous crossings remain neutral where reviewed; other crossing ink may still belong to another line.
The font repeats the proposed spelling, not this clerk's handwriting. Similarity is a teaching aid, not confirmation; uncertainties remain in the reading above.
Expansion: spouse
Confidence: high
Evidence boundary: The literal marital reading ‘spous’ is retained. The source securely supports the traced p, but overlapping ink prevents a responsible isolated trace of the opening s; this word does not by itself establish any relationship beyond the marital statement in its own phrase.
Teaching typeface: Joscelyn by Peter S. Baker, based on a different Renaissance secretary hand. SIL Open Font License. Source images remain separate and unchanged.
NRS Edinburgh Commissary Court CC8/8/8, image 355
Choose a phrase to locate it in the manuscript. Only its outline is shown, so overlapping strokes stay readable.
On the page
vmqle Margaret glasgw sumtyme spous to Johne estoun
In modern English
the late Margaret Glasgow, sometime spouse of John Easton
The fresh testament begins at this lower-page heading. Read each enlarged sample by following the dark connected strokes rather than expecting modern separated letters: Margaret's capital has a long entry stroke, while the tall s in spous rises above its neighbours. Sumtyme spous to is the marital phrase; it does not make every Easton elsewhere on the page a relative.
The estate belongs to Margaret Glasgow, and John Easton is explicitly named as her husband.
This phrase does not identify the father of Margaret's son.
high
Slow reading
Compare the original strokes with the proposed reading. Tall or trailing strokes from neighbouring lines may enter a sample; the notes distinguish what is visible from what remains uncertain.
Phrase 01
Margaret Glasgow
Compare in this hand: The same name reappears lower on image 356 in the confirmation sample, where the capital M and compressed glasgw ending provide a same-record check.
Reading limits: The given name and surname are clear; this sample does not identify her son's father.
Phrase 02
sometime spouse of
Reading limits: The marital formula is secure; 'sometime' describes status, not a date.
Phrase 03
John Easton
Reading limits: The name is secure; the line does not say he fathered Cuthbert.
NRS Edinburgh Commissary Court CC8/8/8, image 355
Choose a phrase to locate it in the manuscript. Only its outline is shown, so overlapping strokes stay readable.
On the page
gevin vp be cuthbert kaddell[?] ... hir sone executour dative
In modern English
given up by Cuthbert Kaddell [?] ... her son, executor dative
Hir sone is the kin phrase: 'her son'. In the enlarged samples, first find the tall opening stroke of Cuthbert, then use the separate short phrase hir sone as the decisive relationship evidence. Executor dative describes his court-appointed role; without hir sone, the office alone would allow a creditor or other suitable administrator.
Cuthbert is expressly called Margaret's son.
His appointment as executor does not itself prove kinship, and the record does not call John Easton his father.
high for the mother-son wording; moderate for Cuthbert's surname spelling
Slow reading
Compare the original strokes with the proposed reading. Tall or trailing strokes from neighbouring lines may enter a sample; the notes distinguish what is visible from what remains uncertain.
Phrase 01
Cuthbert Kaddell/Keddell [?]
Compare in this hand: Image 356 repeats Cuthbert's surname more distinctly as keddell, supporting the person while showing spelling variation.
Reading limits: Cuthbert is clear; Kaddell versus Keddell remains provisional.
Phrase 02
her son
Compare in this hand: The confirmation reverses this same relationship as Cuthbert 'sone' and Margaret 'his mother'.
Reading limits: The kin wording is explicit even though the father's identity is not stated.
NRS Edinburgh Commissary Court CC8/8/8, image 356
Choose a phrase to locate it in the manuscript. Only its outline is shown, so overlapping strokes stay readable.
On the page
cuthbert keddell sone to the said vmqle Margaret ... the said vmqle Margaret glasgw his mother
In modern English
Cuthbert Keddell, son of the said late Margaret ... the said late Margaret Glasgow, his mother
The confirmation reverses the relationship wording: first Cuthbert is Margaret's sone, then Margaret is called his mother. Compare the two pulled-out rows rather than relying on the executor label: the reciprocal possessives make the maternity explicit, while still leaving paternity unstated. The two formulations are repeated evidence inside one record, not two independent sources.
Margaret and Cuthbert are explicitly mother and son in a second part of the record.
The repetition still does not identify Cuthbert's father.
high for the relationship; moderate for the Keddell spelling
Slow reading
Compare the original strokes with the proposed reading. Tall or trailing strokes from neighbouring lines may enter a sample; the notes distinguish what is visible from what remains uncertain.
Phrase 01
Cuthbert Keddell
Compare in this hand: Compare the earlier image-355 form labelled kaddell [?]; this clearer repetition favours Keddell without erasing the first form's uncertainty.
Reading limits: The surname is more legible here but period spelling need not be fixed.
Phrase 02
son
Compare in this hand: The same relationship word occurs after hir in the opening passage.
Reading limits: The word is clear and directly links Cuthbert to Margaret.
Phrase 03
Margaret Glasgow
Compare in this hand: This repetition checks the lower-page opening's Margaret glasgw in the same record.
Reading limits: The identity is secure; no paternal statement follows from the name alone.
Phrase 04
his mother
Compare in this hand: This reciprocal phrase confirms the earlier hir sone wording from the opposite direction.
Reading limits: It establishes maternity, not that John Easton was Cuthbert's father.
Modern interpretation
Margaret Glasgow, sometime wife of John Easton, died intestate in December, apparently 1578. Her estate was administered later; 8 November 1580 is the marginal confirmation date, not her death date.
Cuthbert Kaddell/Keddell of the same provisionally read residence is expressly called her son in the opening. The confirmation again calls him son of the deceased Margaret and calls Margaret his mother. These kinship phrases independently establish their mother-son relationship; executor appointment alone is not the basis.
The inventory records livestock, six bolls of oats, household furnishings and clothing. Debts receivable include James Easton and Michael Mertyn. A debt to Roland Dundas concerns a year's teind. Those financial connections do not establish kinship.
The totals are consistent with the earlier reading of goods at 47 pounds 14 shillings 8 pence; receivables 10 pounds 10 shillings; gross estate 58 pounds 4 shillings 8 pence; debts payable 20 shillings; net estate 57 pounds 4 shillings 8 pence; and one half as the deceased's portion. Individual numeral forms remain marked provisional in the working lines rather than silently supplied from the arithmetic.
Evidence and limits
Still open
LLM-assisted working transcription
Square brackets mark uncertainty, editorial expansions or missing text. Ellipses mark omitted or unresolved wording. Numbering identifies lines in this working reading, not official manuscript line numbers. This is not a complete diplomatic edition.
Both PDF pages were rendered at 170 dpi and visually examined, with enlarged crops for the opening, accounts and confirmation; prior saved readings were consulted only after the initial fresh image pass. High confidence in the three mother-son expressions and document boundaries; moderate confidence in dates/aggregate accounts; low confidence in some names, figures and legal formula. Full coverage describes the supplied span, not a fully resolved diplomatic edition. Original spellings are retained where legible; superscripts are lowered and uncertain expansions bracketed.
Reviewed: 2026-09-10. Method: LLM-assisted fresh image review.
The full originals remain in the local research archive. Selected unaltered crops are shown above for reading and commentary, with separate switchable highlights. Image credit: Crown copyright, National Records of Scotland / ScotlandsPeople. Duplicate downloads are not independent evidence. Consult the original using the reference above through ScotlandsPeople.
| Direct genealogical result |
|---|
| Margaret Glasgow was the mother of Cuthbert Kaddell/Keddell. The record calls him hir sone, later sone to the said umquhile Margaret, and calls Margaret his mother. Margaret was the sometime wife of John Easton, but the record does not identify Cuthbert's father. |
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.
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 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:
| Account | Amount | Evidence note |
|---|---|---|
| Goods and possessions | £47 14s 8d | Inventory total |
| Debts receivable | £10 10s | James Estoun in Wester Quhitburne owed £8; [Michaell Mertyn?] apparently owed 50s |
| Gross estate | £58 4s 8d | Inventory plus debts receivable |
| Debt payable | £1 | Owed to Roland Dundas in an entry concerning a year's teind or tithe |
| Net estate | £57 4s 8d | Gross estate less 20s |
| Recorded deceased's portion | £28 12s 4d | One half of the net estate |
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.