On the combined evidence of his 1885 death certificate and the 1855 death certificates of his parents, Robert Wilson was born at some time between 20^th March and 25^th December 1829.

Robert was entered as 25 on the 1855 death certificate (registered 20^th March) of his father, also Robert Wilson, and 26 on the death certificate (registered 25^th December) of his mother, Janet Wilson MS Brown, later that same year.

Robert Wilson, farmer (bachelor), aged 30, married Christina McColl on 9^th December 1859 at West Hookhead, Avondale, when ‘Marriage after Banns was solemnized between us according to the Forms of the United Presbyterian Church’. Robert was usually resident at Parkhead, Avondale, and Christina at West Hookhead, Avondale. The Register was signed by Andrew J (Gimior?), Minister of the West Church (United Presbyterian), and by witnesses Andrew Wilson and Jane Ballantine.

When his daughter Jessie Brown Wilson was born in 1872, Robert Wilson was designated as a farmer.

At the time of the 1881 census, Robert Wilson was a ‘farmer of 16 acres arable employing one girl’, living at Sidehill, Avondale, in premises having two rooms with one or more windows. Living with him were Christina, his wife, 45; unmarried sons Robert, 20, a railway clerk, and Hugh, apparently Robert’s twin, also 20, wright journeyman; daughters Jane, 12, Jessie, 8, and Helen, 6, all scholars; son Gavin, 3, and Margaret Golden, an unmarried ‘General Serv. Domestic’, aged 13. All members of the household were entered as having been born in Avondale.

Robert Wilson, a farmer, married to Christina McColl, died on 19^th June 1885 at 9^h 15^m pm, at Sidehill, Parish of Avondale. His age was entered as 55. The cause of death was certified as congestion of the lungs, from which he had been suffering for four days. The informant was on the following day at Strathaven was the deceased’s son, Hugh Wilson, of Auldhouse, East Kilbride, entered as present.

When his daughter Jessie Brown Wilson married Thomas Park in 1897, Robert Wilson was recalled as a farmer (deceased).

Robert Wilson was again recalled as a farmer (deceased) when Jessie died in 1961.

Brothers & Sisters

Robert was the tenth child of a family of twelve, as listed on his parents’ 1855 death certificates. The others were: Margaret, deceased aged 23 in 1837; Mary, 40; Gavin, 38; Janet, deceased aged 31 in 1850; Sarah, 34 on her father’s death certificate, registered on 20^th March, and 35 on her mother’s, registered on 25^th December; Marion, 32; Elizabeth, deceased aged 28 in 1853; David, deceased aged 8 in 1837; Andrew, deceased 9 in 1837; Robert, 25 on his father’s death certificate and 26 on his mother’s; Alexander, deceased aged 16 in 1848, and Isabella, 19 on her father’s death certificate and 20 on her mother’s.

Gavin Wilson acted as the informant on the 1855 death certificates of both parents, Robert Wilson on 20^th March and Janet Wilson MS Brown on 25^th December.

Maternal grandfather of Thomas Park