Sunday, March 15, 2009

Homeplace of my Hughans-Kirkcudbright.

Now that I have completed the story of my Hughans in London and Australia as well as I can for the moment, I can turn my attention to their homeland...the small villages of Kirkmabreck and Creetown in Kirkcudbright, southern-most Scotland.
My great-great-great grandfather Robert Alexander Hughan was born c. 1795, ‘Burns Park’ Creetown, Kirkmabreck, Kirkcudbright, Scotland.His parents were Alexander Hughan and Agnes Herris( or Herries). He was baptised on October 17, 1795, Kirkmabreck. Baptisms have been found for a brother, Alexander Hughan, on July 1, 1787, and a sister, Agnes, on June 13, 1792.
I have been researching and collecting Hughans from this specific region for years now, and they have proved very difficult to put into distinct family groups. That they are all somehow related generations back is beyond dispute- the name Hughan, or Heughan, is not a common one, and most seem to come from Kirkmabreck parish in the 18th-19th century before spreading futher afield to Galloway and other areas
The Kirkmabreck parish records, which I have examined thoroughly on the Scotlandspeople site, are very incomplete for the mid-1700s, which unfortunately is the exact period in which crucial information for my family is missing.
I plan in this blog to publish any information that I have found about Hughan families from the Kirkmabreck area..the format will be very "hodge-podge", but hopefully any Hughan researchers who may find something useful here perhaps will be able to assist me in sorting out the Hughan families and where they all fit in.
I will also place my research that I have done into the more well-known Hughans...anyone who has ever "Googled" the name Hughan will have noticed three conspicuous names continually appear...the famous Masonic author and scholar W.H Hughan, American scholar, teacher and activist Jessie Wallace Hughan, and Janetta Hughan, daughter of Thomas Hughan of Airds who through marriage became the Duchess of Rutland.I have traced all three back to Kirkmabreck through their parents and beyond, and their stories make very interesting reading.
The family legend in my family that was passed down five generations to me stated that Robert Hughan, my g-g-g grandfather, was the cousin of Sir Thomas Hughan whose daughter was the Duchess of Rutland(although Thomas Hughan was certainly never a 'Sir'!)His father Thomas Hughan was born in Creetown, parish of Kirkmabreck, and always kept a residence in the district even after he moved to Jamaica for ten years and then London.Thomas Hughan Senior had a fascinating life, right down to the drama that surrounded the making of his will on his deathbed in 1811, just prior to his bride of nine months going into labour and producing Thomas a son and heir after his death.

1 comment:

  1. I have a great great great grandfather Robert Hughan who was born in Scotland in 1796. He died in 1865 and is buried in Prospect Cemetery in Brackenridge Pa. Could he be Robert Alexander Hughan?

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