Wallaces of Cairnhill

Back at the very beginning, or at least as far as we know, Sir Thomas Wallace of Cairnhill was born in 1687 and grew to have thirteen children, give or take a few, of whom ours, a William was among the first, if not the first, and was named after his grandfather, also a William. All Wallaces of course must remember Braveheart, and they do this by naming one of theirs William, though John, Robert and even James have pretty fair representation. In this family the most famous is Hugh, which back then might have been spelled Hew. One of the Hughs ended up in Jamaica.

So the Wallaces of Scotland are known by their geographical area; for example, there are Wallaces of Craigie, etc. Cairnhill is just east of Glasgow. I can't ascertain for sure whether it is part of Ayrshire or not. It's the historic east side of Glasgow.

The Book of Wallaces (1917) has all the Wallaces by geographical area, and has lots of genealogical information though at this point it is like an ocean to me. It's online though; anyone can find it. Charles Rogers was the author. Imagine setting out to find all the Wallaces, and actually getting most of them.

The way you ensure that people still care about you three hundred years later is to have thirteen. Hugh was the famous one, but at least William went and had eleven more, of whom John was our man that married Geneva Jane. That William lived and died in Scotland, so I know there are some left in the old country once I figure out where the heck they could have ended up. Slowly I'll familiarize myself with Scottish geography.

Now my goals are much clearer. I found my way back to Scotland; now I can learn about it.