Alexander Hughan and Christian Cowan.

This couple were married on April 21, 1792, at Kirkinner,Wigtownshire. Kirkinner is located across the bay from Kirkmabreck, about 16 miles by road around Wigtown Bay.There is a big contingent of Hughans from Wigtown and surrounds, some of whom emigrated to Australia at about the same time as my Hughans in the early 1850s.

Issue of Alexander Hughan and Christian Cowan:
1793; Mar 8th: Alexander Hughan, Labourer in Lowlands of Baldoon, had a son born to him by his wife Christian Cowan baptised named Thomas.

1795; April 3: Alexander Hughan Labourer in Lowlands of Baldoon had a son born to him by his wife Christian Cowan baptised the 5th named Ebenezer Drew.

1797; Sep 22: Alexander Hughan Worker in Stewarton had a son born to him by his wife Christian Cowan baptised the 24th named Sanders.

1800; March 23: Alexander Hughan Worker in Balfern had a son born to him by his wife Christian Cowan baptised the 26th of the same month, named Robert.

Eldest son, Thomas Hughan, married Janet Law, the daughter of Peter Law and Janet McKeand. Their children were:
PETER HUGHAN: baptised November 18,1821, Wigtown;
ELIZABETH HUGHAN: baptised December 2,1824,Kirkmabreck;
JANE HUGHAN: born c. 1829
GRACE HUGHAN born March 14, 1830, Kirkcowan, Wigtown. Married Robert Donaldson, 1854, Cheshire. Issue: Ann; William; Dorothy; Jane.
MARY HUGHAN born 1832;
ALEXANDER HUGHAN baptised March 26, 1834, Kirkmabreck. In 1851 census was living in Birkenhead with his mother's three spinster sisters- Margaret, Jane and Grace Law. Margaret and Jane sewed for a living, and Grace was their housekeeper. Alexander was an 'apprentice sailor'.
EUPHEMIA HUGHAN baptised March 24, 1838,Kirkmabreck; born March 17, 1838.Married William Gowling, 1857, Cheshire.

Second son, Ebenezer Drew Hughan, married twice, and had at least thirteen children with his two wives. His first wife, whom he married on March 18, 1819, in Sorbie, was Jean Leslie. Their children were:

1820: JANE HUGHAN baptised March 5, Sorbie.

ANNE HUGHAN born c. 1827, Sorbie. Ann never married, and worked as a domestic servant. She lived at Whithorn, and died there of pneumonia on October 21, 1899, aged 73 years.Her brother John was informant for her death certificate, and recorded her parents as "Ebenezer Hughan, agricultural labourer, deceased, and Jane Hughan maiden name Cowan, deceased." It is easy to see John's mistake...he gave his mother's maiden name as "Cowan" instead of "Leslie", 'Cowan' being the maiden name of Christian, Ebenezer's mother.

ALEXANDER HUGHAN born c. 1829, Sorbie. In the 1841 census he was 12 years old and living with his father Ebenezer and new stepmother, Maria,and six siblings at Orchardton Farm in Sorbie, Wigtownshire.In the 1851 census Alexander was working for farmer James Wild on a 300 acre farm called Calscaddon Farm at Sorbie, aged 21.
Alexander Hughan moved down to England, most likely for work. In 1859, he married Elizabeth Mason in the Dearham district.I can't locate them in the 1861 census.Their children were Ann Hughan died 1860; Elizabeth Hughan died 1860; and Elizabeth Hughan born and died 1863. Alexander's wife Elizabeth died in 1864, and in 1866 he remarried Ellen, or Ellenor, McDowall. Their children were: Sarah born 1867; William born 1869; and Alexander born 1871.The 1871 census shows a daughter, Jane Hughan, aged 17, who was born in Scotland in 1854. This was before either of Alexander's marriages-he married Elizabeth in 1859 and Ellen in 1866.
Baptismal records from Sorbie, however, show that Jane Hughan was born on December 26, 1853,at Calscaddon, the 'natural' ( meaning illegitimate) child of Alexander Hughan and Ellen McDowal. Further investigation reveals that the McDowel family lived and worked on the farm belonging to James Wild, where Alexander was also residing and working in 1851. The census for that year, as well as showing 21 year old Alexander, has on the same page an entry for 18 year old Helen McDowal( Helen and Ellen are interchangeable), a daughter of agricultural labourer Robert McDowal who was head of the family. Obviously Alexander and Ellen had a daughter out of wedlock, who was then taken in by her grandparents, Robert and Sarah McDowall.
Six year old Jane Hughan is found in the 1861 census as 'Jane McDowal', the granddaughter of Robert and Sarah McDowal of Calscaddon Farm.There is no sign of her mother Ellen living with the family, but there is another grandchild, four year old John was was also born in Sorbie.
A check of Scotlandspeople birth records shows that on September 1, 1856, Ellen McDowal gave birth to another illegitimate child named John McDowal, born at Garliestown, Sorbie. She was named as 'Helen' McDowal, and signed the certificate with a cross as she was unable to write.Unfortunately, unlike the parish registers, no father was named on his birth certificate.
Helen/Ellen McDowal is found in the 1861 census not living with her children and parents, but nearby in the Calscaddon Farm House with the Wild family, where she ws working as a 27 year old domestic servant.

Five years later, Ellen McDowal was reunited with recently widowed Alexander Hughan in Cumberland. Her daughter Jane was also reunited with her father, but her brother John, aged ten, remained in Sorbie on the farm with his grandfather, Robert.

Alexander Hughan Senior, son of Ebenezer Hughan and Jean Leslie, died in 1871, aged 40 years. His widow, Helen/Ellen Hughan, returned with her young family to Sorbie. The 1881 census has the following entry:
1881: Sorbie.
Helen Hughan/ head/ widow/ 48/ ag labourer/ born Whithorn, Wigtown.
John McDowall/ son/ 24/ labourer in chemical works/ born Sorbie
Sarah Hughan/ daughter/ 13/ scholar/ born England.
William Hughan/ son/ 12/ scholar/ born England.
Alex Hughan/ son/ 9/ scholar/ born England.

I am yet to follow up this family further, but hope to return to them when I find the time.


WILLIAM HUGHAN:baptised September 11, 1831, Sorbie. Lost at sea as an adult.


MARGARET HUGHAN: baptised June 23, 1833, Sorbie.I cannot find any trace of Margaret after her appearance in the 1851 census as a 16 year old living in Sorbie with her widowed stepmother and siblings.

PETER HUGHAN: Baptised May 3, 1835, Sorbie.In the 1851 census, 16 year old Peter was working as a farm servant for an old couple at Old Mill, Haddington, East Lothian. Like his brother Alexander, Peter ended up working in England, where he married Ann and had two sons, William Thomas and Ebenezer Peter.Peter worked on the docks and as a general labourer.Their address for many years was Hickman's Folly,Bermondsay, Southwark. This was once a foul, disgusting, cholera-ridden area of London, written of by Dickens and infamous for its poverty and disease, but at the time the Hughan family moved there in the late 1860s, huge improvements had taken place.Second child Ebenezer Peter Hughan was born in 1867, but baptised in 1876 when his family were living at 28 Hickman's Folly, and his father was noted as being a 'labourer'. First child, William Thomas Hughan, was born on January 28, 1865, when Peter and Ann Hughan lived at York Place,Southwark. Peter's occupation at this time was 'sack maker'.
Ann Hughan died in 1890, and her husband Peter in 1892. In the 1891 census Peter had still been living at 28 Hickman's Folly,Bermondsey, with his son William Thomas Hughan, William's wife Rosa Wallineer (married in 1888)and their year old daughter Rose.Peter was noted as being a lumper on the docks, and William was a lighterman on a barge. Peter's son Ebenezer Hughan lived as a boarder with the Green family in Abbey Street, Bermondsey, and in 1891 was also a barge lighterman.
In 1901, William Thomas Hughan and his family were still living in the street where William had spent most of his life- Hickman's Folly.He was a 36 year old waterman on a barge, and his family with Rosa had risen in number to five: Catherine Ada,9; Elizabeth 7; Ada 4; William 2 and David 3 months.Two daughters, both named Rosa, had died aged 3 and 7 years respectively. The family lived next door to Rosa Hughan's family-her parents David and Rosa Wallineer, a sister and two grandchildren.
Another two sons were born to William and Rosa Hughan- John Peter in 1903, and Francis George in 1906.
Ebenezer Peter Hughan died in 1895, aged 28. His brother William Thomas Hughan died in 1908, aged 43. Poor Rosa was left a widow with seven children aged between 16 and 2, and to make a living she ironed collars. She still managed to keep the family's four room home at Hickman's Folly, as the children were still living there with her in 1911.
Rosa Wallineer Hughan died in 1917, aged 53.
Daughter Catherine Hughan married Albert Powell in 1915; Elizabeth Hughan married Frederick Titchener in 1924;John Peter Hughan married Phoebe Nunn in 1927, and Frances George Hughan married Rosina Rolles in 1925.


CHRISTINE HUGHAN: baptised January 21, 1837, Sorbie. She was only an infant when her mother Jean died. The 1851 census finds Christina aged 14 and living with her uncle and aunt, Robert and Mary Hughan, on Robert's farm in Bridge Street, Creetown. Also living there was her 16 year old cousin, John Hughan.
On August 3, 1858, in Garliestown,21 year old Christina Hughan gave birth to an illegitimate son, whom she named Ebenezer hughan after her father. In the 1861 census, two year old Ebenezer was a “boarder” in Garliestown with the “Fitsommon” family (as spelt in the census entry). Head of the family was 42 year old ploughman Alexander. His wife Margaret and two daughters Sarah, 17, and 10 year old Sarah also lived in the house.
Alexander Fitzsimmons died of small pox in 1863, and Ebenezer next turns up as a twelve year old in the 1871 census, living in England with the family of his Uncle, Alexander Hughan, in Dearham, Cumberland.

In the 1861 census, 24 year old Christina Hughan was working at Glasserton Mains as a domestic servant for the family of Archibald Stewart, Minister of Glasserton Parish.She has dropped out of sight after this time.

Some time after the birth of baby Christina, between 1837 and the end of 1838, Jean Leslie Hughan died, leaving her husband Ebenezer with seven children to raise. It was not surprising then that on January 18, 1839, at Sorbie, Ebenezer Hughan married young Maria Shillon, daughter of John Shillon/Shillan,the sexton of Sorbie Parish church, and his wife Agnes Campbell.
The couple had nine years of marriage together, during which time Maria gave birth to a further six children:-

JOHN HUGHAN: baptised May 3, 1840, Sorbie. Married Joan Knox on December 5, 1872, at Sorbie.John was a ploughman and agricultural labourer like his father Ebenezer. He died December 29, 1910, at Garliestown.
Memorial inscription in Sorbie Kirkyard:
" No. 292 In loving memory of John Hughan husband of Joan Hughan died at #Garlieston# 29th Dec 1910 aged 69 years ** Also Joan Knox the beloved wife of the above John Hughan who died at #Garlieston# 19th November 1916 aged 73 years."

THOMAS HUGHAN: born November 25, 1841, at Orchardton Farm, Sorbie baptised December 9, 1841, Sorbie. In the 1851 census when he was 9 years old and living with his mother and siblings in Sorbie. As with brothers Alexander and Peter, Thomas Hughan made his way across the border to England, and spent the rest of his life there, working and raising a family.In 1866, In Deptford, Kent, Thomas married Elizabeth Carter. I have located five children born to Thomas and Elizabeth, all of whom were born at either Deptford, Rotherhithe or Lee:
Thomas born c. 1867,Deptford; married Sarah Hughan, 1891. Children Thomas William; Alexander Charles; Arthur; Helen and Margaret.
Margaret: born c.1869, Lee. Married baker John Michael Pettitt, 19 July, 1891, St. Luke, Deptford.
Eliza Born 1871, Lee.
Charles born 1873, Deptford.Occupation: butcher. Married Hepzibah Alice Ashfield in 1901.
Elizabeth born c. 1877, Rotherhithe. Married William Painter, December 25, 1895, Rotherhithe.

In early 1899, Thomas lost his wife Sarah. She died aged 58, and the 1901 census found dock worker Thomas living as head of his household in Rotherhithe with son Charles, a butcher, and his new wife, Hephzibah Ashfield.
In 1911, Thomas was still living with son Charles,'shipping butcher' although Charles was head of the household.They were living at 76 Lower Road, Rotherhithe, with Hepzibah, Charles' wife, and a five year old daughter also named Hepzibah.
This is the last trace I can find on Thomas Hughan. There is a death for a Thomas Hughan, aged 75, dying in Lewisham district, London, in 1922 that is five or six years out on Thomas's actual age. This is the only death ebtry that comes remotely close to Thomas, son of Ebenezer.



AGNES HUGHAN: baptised May 9, 1843, Sorbie. In 1865, Agnes gave birth to an illegitimate daughter named Harriet Hughan, who lived with her grandmother Maria Hughan in Sorbie. Agnes Hughan married farm labourer James McCreadie in 1873.They had three children- James, Eliza and Ebenezer, and adopted a son in 1890 also named James. Agnes Hughan McCreadie died May 3, 1914, aged 70 years.
The memorial inscription in Sorbie Kirkyard rads as follows:
" No.291. Erected by James McCreadie in loving memory of his wife Agnes Hughan who died 3rd May 1914 aged 70 years ** Also the above James McCreadie who died 20th September 1923 aged 70 years."

ROBERT HUGHAN: baptised January 28, 1845, Kirkinner. Died February 1851, aged six years.(Name was registered as 'Heughan' in Kirkinner register).

ELIZA HUGHAN: born c. 1848, Sorbie.Eliza never married. She worked as a domestic servant and housekeeper, and her final years were spent in Glasgow. At the time of her death she had been living with her nephew,James McCreadie (the son of her sister Agnes)at 34 Aberfeldy Street,Glasgow.She died aged 92 years, of "senility", on November 21, 1938.

MARIA HUGHAN: born c. 1850, Sorbie.She married shipwright John McCulloch in Govan, Lanarkshire, on July 16, 1880, at the age of 30 years. Her residence at the time of the marriage had been "8 The Terrace, Farquar Road, Upper Norwood, London, and her occupation "Domestic servant". Her husband John was 29 years old, the son of John McCulloch, farm servant, and Elizabeth Montgomery, and his address at the time of their marriage was 58 Main Street, Govan.

Ebenezer Hughan died on February 22, 1849. His second wife, Maria Hughan, was left to support six children under the age of nine, plus several step-children.A memorial inscription was placed on Ebenezer's grave in the Sorbie Kirkyard by his second youngest daughter Eliza Hughan. It reads as follows:


"37 Erected by Eliza Hughan in loving memory of her father Ebenazor Hughan who died at #Garliestown# 22nd Feb 1849 ** Also her mother Maria Shillon wife of the above who died 1st March 1894 aged 73 years ** Also her brother William who was lost at Sea. ** Also Robert who died Feby 1851 ** Gone but not forgotten"

By the time the 1881 census was taken, all of Maria Hughan's children had left home, and 61 year old Maria was residing with her 15 year old granddaughter Harriet Hughan at 'Penkiln Cothouse No. 3, Sorbie".Both were employed as "outdoor farm workers". Next door in "Penkiln Cothouse No. 4" was the family of Maria's daughter Agnes McCreadie, consisting of her husband 29 year old Ag. labourer James; 34 year old Agnes; and their three children- 7 year old James,4 year old Eliza and Ebenezer aged 3.
Ten years later we find Maria living by herself in Ropewalk, Sorbie, and at 71 years of age still employed as an outdoor farm worker. Harriet had moved to Stranraer with her 17 year old half-brother James McCreadie, where she was a tobacconist and he a joiner's apprentice.
The census for 1891 also finds the family of Agnes Hughan McCreadie still in Sorbie, living at Penkier Cottage.Their children Eliza and Ebenezer were still living at home and attending school, and as mentioned eldest son James was living with his sister Harriet Hughan in Stranraer. Strangely,living with the McCreadie family in Sorbie is a five month old baby also named James McCreadie, who was born in England and noted as being their "adopted son".
On March 1, 1894, at the house of her grandchildren Harriet Hughan and James McCreadie in Stranraer, Maria Shillon Hughan passed away at the age of 73.She had suffered a fractured femur and died afterwards. Her grandson James McCreadie registered his grandmother's death, and mistakenly recorded her age as 63 instead of 73.

Harriet Hughan, Maria's granddaughter and illegitimate daughter of Agnes Hughan, was married on November 5, 1897, at Barnultoch in Inch Parish, Wigtown, to Thomas Simpson, a railway engine stoker.At the time she was working as a retail confectioner.
In the 1901 census, Harriet and Thomas were living at 55 Caledonia Road,Glasgow, and Thomas was noted as being an 'engine driver'. They had no children, but living with them were three of Harriet's half-siblings from her mother's marriage to James McCreadie....27 year old James who by now was a fully qualified joiner; 23 year old Ebenezer McCreadie who was a railway engine fireman; and 24 year old Eliza McCreadie who was a vest maker.

That takes care of Thomas and Ebenezer Hughan,the first two of Alexander Hughan and Christian Cowan's four sons, but what do we know of the other two, Sanders and Robert?

No record has been found of a Sanders Hughan beyond his 1797 baptismal record in the Kirkinner register. I have a theory, however, that this Sanders is actually the Alexander Hughan who married Marion Kidd Storm in London in 1826. The reasons I have formed this opinion are as follows:
Sanders Hughan was born in 1797, and in census returns Alexander Hughan's age puts his year of birth as c. 1799-1800, while his death certificate suggests c. 1798. This is well within the birth year of Sanders Hughan.
Secondly, the name 'Sanders' is a little-used derivation of the name 'Alexander'.
Thirdly, Alexander Hughan and Marion Storm had a son Ebenezer Hughan. 'Ebenezer' is not often used amongst Scots families in that period, and it is logical that a son may have been named after his father's brother.
Finally, Alexander Hughan and his family moved to Birkenhead, England, in the mid-1840s. Living very near them in the 1851 census was 17 year old Alexander Hughan, son of Thomas Hughan (brother of Sanders Hughan) and Janet Law. He was living with three spinster maternal aunts- Margaret, Jane and Grace Law, all sisters of his mother Janet. Margaret and Jane were semptresses, and Grace was their housekeeper. Alexander, their nephew, was an 'apprentice sailor'.

I will, therefore, treat this Alexander Hughan as being one and the same as 'Sanders Hughan', son of Alexander Hughan and Christian Cowan, and record him and his family here as such:

ALEXANDER/SANDERS HUGHAN: b September 22, 1797, Kirkinner, Wigtownshire, Scotland. In 1826 in London, aged 28, Alexander Hughan married Marion Kidd Storm. Their banns were proclaimed in front on the congregation of St. Marylebone parish, London, on April 30, May 7 and May 14, 1826, and then their marriage ceremony was conducted on May 15, 1826, and witnessed by Philadelphia Scott and Robert Stewart.
They must have returned to Scotland within the year, as their first child, a son named David Hughan, was baptised in the parish church of Kirkmabreck in March 1827, and it was noted that his parents were living at 'Glenquicken'.
Issue of Alexander Hughan and Marion Storm:

1. DAVID HUGHAN: baptised March 29, 1827, Kirkmabreck. Married Ann Morris Oakley on July 8, 1855, St. Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney, aged 28 years.

2. ISABELLA HUGHAN: b c. 1829, Sorbie, Wigtownshire.

3. JANET/JESSIE HUGHAN: baptised September 9, 1831, Kirkmabreck.

4.WILHELMINA HUGHAN: baptised January 31, 1836, Sorbie.

5. MARGARET HUGHAN: born c. 1839, Sorbie.Married farmer James Wilcox

6. ANN HUGHAN: born 1841, Sorbie.

7. EBENEZER HUGHAN: baptised December 12, 1843, Sorbie, Wigtownshire. Died 1847,Birkenhead, aged four years.

In 1841, the Hughan family were living in one of several Millilse Cothouses in Sorbie:
Alexander Hughan/ head/ ag lab/ born in Wigtownshire.
Marion Hughan/ 30, not born in Wigtownshire.
Isabella Hughan/ 12/ born in Wigtownshire
Jessie Hughan/ 9/ born in Wigtownshire
Manie Hughan/ 4/ born in Wigtownshire
Margaret Hughan/ 2/ born in Wigtownshire
Ann Hughan/ 3 months/ born in Wigtownshire.

By 1847 Alexander had moved his family to England, as their second son, Ebenezer Hughan, died in Birkenhead in 1847 at the age of four.
In the 1851 census, the Hughans were residing at Birkenhead:
Alexander Hughan/ head/ 51/ labourer/ born Scotland
Marion Hughan/ wife/ 48/ born Scotland
Isabella Hughan/ daughter/ 21/ dressmaker/ born Scotland
Ann Hughan/ daughter/ 9 / scholar/ born Scotland.

Daughter Wilhelmina, known as 'Mina', was 15 years old and working as a servant in West Derby, Lancashire, for 53 year old widow Sarah Duckworth.

Daughter Ann Hughan died in Birkenhead in early 1852, aged 11 years.

The 1861 census found the Hughans still in Birkenhead:
14 Gladstone Street, Birkenhead.
Alexander Hughan/ head/ 60/ labourer/ born Scotland
Marion Hughan/ wife/ 58/ born Scotland
Isabella Hughan/ daughter/ 31/ dressmaker/ born Scotland
Jessie Hughan/ daughter/ 28/ dressmaker/ born Scotland.

Marion Kidd Storm Hughan died in Birkenhead in 1866, aged 64. Alexander continued to live and work in Birkenhead:
1871 Census:
30 Peel Street, Birkenhead.
Alexander Hughan/ head/ 72/ widower/ labourer/ born Scotland
Isabella Hughan/ daughter/ unmarried/ 41/ dressmaker/ born Scotland
Jessie Hughan/ daughter/ 39/ unmarried/ dressmaker/ born Scotland
Andrew Mints/ cousin/ unmarried/ 26/ mariner/ born Scotland
James Wilcox/ son-in-law/ married/ 29/ farmer/ born Cheshire City, Cheshire
Margaret Wilcox/ daughter/ married/ 32/ born Scotland.

Margaret Hughan married James Wilcock (name as according to marriage index) in early 1871 at Birkenhead.
The following year, in the December 1/4 of 1872, Alexander Hughan, son of Ebenezer Hughan and Christian Cowan, died at Birkenhead, aged 74 years. The newspaper "The Liverpool Mercury" reported on January 3, 1873:

"DEATHS: HUGHAN-Decemeber 3, at 30 Peel Street, Oxton Road, Birkenhead, in his 75th year, ALEXANDER HUGHAN."

His spinster daughters, Isabella and Jessie, both lived long lives in Birkenhead...:
1891 census: 17 Gordon Street, Birkenhead.
Isabella Hughan/ head/ single / 61/ seamstress/ born Kirkcudbright, Scotland
Jessie Hughan/ sister/ single/ 59/ seamstress/ born Kirkcudbright, Scotland.

1901: 17 Gordon Street, Birkenhead.
Isabella Hughan/ head/ single/ 71/ seamstress (shirt)/ own account , at home/ born Scotland
Jessie Hughan/ sister/ single/ 69/ seamstress, own account, at home/ born Scotland.

1911: 10 Menai Street, Birkenhead.
Isabella Hughan/ head/ 81/ single/ plain sewing/ own account, at home/ born Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland.
Jessie Hughan/ sister/ single/ 79/ plain sewing, own account at home/ born Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland.
Number of rooms in house: four.

Margaret Hughan, the daughter of Alexander and Marion Hughan who married James Wilcox, had four daughters: Phoebe, Margaret, Henrietta and Annie.
1881 Census: Frankby, Cheshire.
James Wilcox/ head/ 39/ farmer of 60 acres employing 2 labourers/ born Cheshire
Margaret Wilcox/ wife/ 42/ born Scotland
Phoebe Wilcox/ daughter/ 7/ scholar/ born Frankby, Cheshire.
Margaret Wilcox/ daughter/ 5/ scholar/ born Frankby
Henrietta Wilcox/ daughter/ 10 months/ born Frankby.
Elizabeth Bennett/ servant/15/ general servant/ born Birkenhead.

1891 Census: Frankby, Cheshire.
James Wilcox/ head/ 49/ farmer/ born Cheshire
Margaret Wilcox/ wife/ 51/ employed on farm/ born Birkenhead (NOTE: Incorrect information- she was born in Scotland)
Phoebe Wilcox/ daughter/ 17/ employed on farm/born Frankby.
Maggie Wilcox/ daughter/ 15/ employed on farm/ born Frankby
Henriette Wilcox/ daughter/ 10/ employed on farm/ born Frankby
Annie Wilcox/ daughter/ 8/ employed on farm/ born Frankby
Plus three male servants employed on the farm.

Margaret Hughan Wilcox/Wilcocks died in 1892, aged 53 years.

Phoebe and Annie, her daughters, were still living with their farmer father at the time of the 1901 census, aged 27 and 17 respectively. Both were dairymaids employed by their father James.
Phoebe Wilcox died in 1909 aged 27 years.

That is all that has been found about the family of Alexander Hughan and Marion Storm in this initial investigation.

Finally, I can turn my attention to the last of the four sons born to Alexander Hughan and Christian Cowan...Robert Hughan.

Born in Balfern, Kirkinner, Scotland, on March 23, 1800, Robert married Mary Kelly on July 22, 1834, at Kirkmabreck. Robert and Mary lived their whole lives in Creetown, choosing not to head south into England for work as did Robert's brothers Ebenezer and Alexander.

It appears that Robert and Mary had only one child- a son named John Hughan. he was baptised at Kirkmabreck on May 6, 1835.

1841 census: Bridge Street, Kirkmabreck.
Robert Hughan/ 40/ ag lab/ born in county
Mary Hughan/ 40/ born in county
John Hughan/ 6/ born in county

1851 census: 2 Bridge Street, Creetown.
Robert Hughan/ head/ 37/ farmer of 15 acres/ born Kirkinner
Mary Hughan/ wife/ 51/ farmer's wife
John Hughan/ son/ 16/born Kirkmabreck
Christina Hughan/ niece/ 14/ scholar/ born Sorbie.
NOTE: Robert's age is more than ten years incorrect-he was actually 50-51.

1861: Clanary. Kirkmabreck.
Robert Hughan/ head/ 60/ farmer of 321 acres/ born Kirkinner
Mary Hughan/ wife/ 61/ farmer's wife/ born Sutherlandshire
John Hughan/ son/ 26/ farmer's son/orn Kirkmabreck
Also Peter and Ann Kelly, aged 13 and 15 respectively, employed as a shepherd and a dairymaid by Robert Hughan.

1871: Barholm Street, Creetown.

Robert Hughan/ head/ 71/ field labourer
Mary Hughan/ wife/ labourer's wife/ born Sutherlandshire.

1881: Creetown.
Robert Heughan/ head/ 81/ retired farmer/ born Kirkinner, Wigtownshire.
Mary Heughan/ wife/ 81
Alexander Kellie/ lodger/ 37/ Granite cutter/ born Gatehouse.

Mary Kelly Hughan died on October 22, 1881, at Creetown. Her death certificate details as given by her husband Robert are as follows:
Mary Hughan, married to Robert Hughan, formerly granite quarry labourer, died October 22, 1881,3 h 20 m P.M, at Bridge Street, Creetown.81 years old. Daughter of Peter Kelly, farmer, deceased, and Jane Kelly (MS Heron, deceased) Cause: Bronchitis, 4 months.

Robert Hughan died on February 20, 1882, at Barholm Street, Creetown, aged 81 years. His death certificate noted that he was the son of Alexander Hughan, farm grieve, deceased, and Christian Cownes(deceased).He was the widower of Mary Kelly, and died of paralysis of eight days duration. Information on his certificate was given by his granddaughter Jane Hughan.