Details of the monument you have selected are shown below. Click on the image(s) of the monument (at the bottom of the page) to view a larger version (opens in new window). Please allow a few moments for the larger version to load; although every effort has been made to ensure the large images download quickly, internet speeds may vary depending on connection speeds. Click here to go back to your search results.
Monument Inscription
[E]RECTED
B[Y]
JO[H]N [G]ILMO[U]R
O[F]
[S]OUTH WALTON
IN [ME]MO[RY] O[F] HI[S] [FATHE]R
[J]O[HN] [G]IL[M]O[U]R
[W][HO DIED ON THE 15TH DAY OF JULY 18[3]3
AGED 26 YEARS
Family History
John Gilmour who caused this monument to be erected in memory of his father, John Gilmour of South Walton, was only two years old when his father died in 1833 at the age of twenty-six. His parents, John and Barbara Gilmour, had married in Mearns on 24th July 1830 and John was born the following summer, on 7th July 1831.
Barbara remained a widow until October 1836 when she married Robert Hutchison. The couple had four sons and a daughter. They lived first in Gorbals where a son David (b.13.8.1837) and twins Allan and Robert (b.12.8.1839) were born: their daughter Margaret (b.24.2.1841) and a ‘replacement’ son Allan (b.5.2.1842) were born following the family’s move to Liverpool where her husband became a partner in the firm of Hutchison and Jarvie (cf. monument Z05).
It would appear that following his son-in-law’s death Barbara’s father, John Gilmour of Craigton Farm, managed South Walton Farm and that his wife Margaret took on this responsibility with the aid of her daughters Jane and Agnes following her husband’s death in 1841. Eventually only Jane remained at the farm with her mother and hired help, but by 1861 Jane remained there alone. Jane, who was designated as a fundholder, was obviously in the process of negotiating the sale of the farm, as Boswell (Basil) Baird, a land steward, was living with his wife and one child at the farm at this time. The Bairds were to remain at South Walton for the next four decades.
The farm at South Walton which is adjacent to South Craigton Farm was one of a complex of farms in the west of the parish which carried the name of Walton. Apart from South Walton there were North Walton, West Walton, High Walton and Nether Walton. These farms seem to have been agriculturally attractive to the tenants, who remained on them for years, and often raised and supported very large families. South Walton consisted of seventy acres of arable land, bordering on the Walton Dam.
Barbara Gilmour, the mother of John (b.1831), was one of eleven children born to John Gilmour of Craigton and Margaret Urie. The family consisted of Margaret (b.1799), Elizabeth (b.1801), Mary (b.1803), Allan (b.1805), Jane (b.1808), Barbara (b.1810), John (b.1812), Agnes (b.1815), David (b.1815), James (b.1818) and Thomas (b.1818).
Barbara Gilmour’s uncle was Allan Gilmour (cf. monuments Z25-Z27). Her brothers John and David Gilmour were partners in Allan Gilmour & Co. in Quebec, the firm founded by their brother Allan in 1828. Her brother James worked in the associated company in Montreal. Their involvement in the Canadian firms illustrates the extraordinary entrepreneurship shown by this Mearns family of farming origins.