Trying to find my 3 x GGF

According to the baptism records for my 2 x great grandfather John Thomson (1819-1887), his father was also named John Thomson. But that is all I know about him. I have been researching my family tree since the early 2000’s, and still don’t know with any certainty where and when he was born, when and where he died, and if he ever married and had any other children. My great-great grandfather John Thomson Jnr was born to Elizabeth Chirnside (5 June 1791 – 14 March 1869) on 8th July 1819. He was baptised John Thomson in June 1820 in the civil parish of Eccles, Berwickshire, Scotland. It was noted that John Thomson Jnr was ‘illegitimate’ on the baptism record, and that his father was John Thomson. Two witnesses to the baptism were John and Mary Spark. **

Elizabeth Chirnside was born on 5 June 1791 at 3, Dovecotemains in Hutton, Berwickshire, with her birth registered in the district of Coldstream. She was baptised on 10 June at Hutton, and her father’s name was given as John Chirnside. Her mother’s name, gleaned from census records, was Alison Kinghorn (1755-1842). Elizabeth was one of nine children born to John and Alison:

Janet Chirnside 1778–1804, Margaret Chirnside 1780–1782, Alison Chirnside 1782-1868, William Kinghorn Chirnside 1784-1823, Agnes Chirnside 1786–1859, Betty Chirnside 1789–1789, Elizabeth CHIRNSIDE 1791–1869, John Chirnside 1795–1872 and Thomas Chirnside 1798–?

I have traced the Chirnsides and the Kinghorns back to William Chirnside 1540-1627 (unconfirmed as of March 2026, still researching) and William Kinghorn 1665 – ? also unconfirmed at present.

But on my father’s direct male line, I cannot be sure who my 3 x Great Grandfather was. In despair, I engaged the services of a professional genealogist (whose wife’s 5 x Great Grandparents were John and Mary Spark**, the witnesses at John Thomson Jnr’s baptism!) who was unable to find any records for the area where my 2xGGF was conceived that would confirm who John Thomson Snr might be. The genealogist concluded that possibly the only way to find him, would be via a DNA match from any of his descendants, on the assumption that he very likely married and had other children after the birth of my great-great grandfather. John Thomson Snr must have been known to the local Kirk authorities, otherwise surely they would not have accepted Elizabeth’s assertion that the boy’s father was also named John Thomson!

The genealogist , Gary Lawrie of Heart of Scotland Genealogy, found six possible candidates for my 3 x great grandfather. I have been researching all of them by adding them to my tree as ‘theories’, but so far no definitive DNA matches have come up. I have had a few matches to Thomsons come up, but none of their trees have gone back far enough for me to be sure if they are related to John Thomson Snr, although it has to be a possibility. Watch this space!

Here are the six candidates, who were all married after the birth of my great-great grandfather. Could one of these be my ancestor?

John Thompson married Harriet Napier on 20th September 1820 in the Parish of Eyemouth

John Thomson married Janet Thomson 23rd January 1824 in the Parish of Fogo

John Thompson married Agnes Graham 20th May 1827 in the Parish of Westruther

John Thompson married Agnes Cowe 15th September 1828 in the Parish of Hutton

John Thomson married Jane English 31st December 1830 in the Parish of Hutton

It’s interesting to note that three of the six are spelt Thompson not Thomson. It is likely that Elizabeth could not read or write and so may not have known how the name should be spelt, but if the Kirk elders knew of him, one would like to think that the spelling given on the baptism records is correct…

If you are a Thompson/Thomson descendant with Thomson ancestors in the Scottish borders around this time, perhaps you might recognise one of the names shown above. Please get in touch if you do!

Here is my great-great grandfather’s headstone in Tweedmouth Cemetery. He died in Edinburgh hospital. His home was Brickfield Lodge, Tweedmouth. His mother Elizabeth Chirnside died at Brickfield Lodge on 14th March 1869 with a George Logan as the informant (I have yet to discover who he was or his relationship to Elizabeth) ; her brother John Chirnside died at the same address on 2nd May 1872. Interestingly, the informant who was present at the death, was my great great grandfather John Thomson Jnr. My great grandfather, James Kinghorn Thomson, was born at Brickfield Lodge on 16th Feb 1873. So it seems clear that John Thomson Jnr had some contact with his mother and his uncle, and that following his uncle John’s death, John, his wife Louisa (nee Freeman) and their five children moved into Brickfield Lodge, where they remained until John Jnr’s death in 1887. Sometime after that, Louisa followed her eldest children to London, where she passed away in 1929.

I have no photographs of John Thomson Jnr, who spent his working life as a ‘Farm Baliff’ (or farm manager) at various landed gentry estates Wales, Ireland and in the border counties of Scotland and England. I have photographs of my great-great grandmother Louisa Thomson (nee Freeman) in her later years, and photos of all six of their children. Here they are in order of age:

Above: My great-great grandmother, Louisa Thomson nee Freeman 1834-1929

Above: John Freeman Thomson 1860-1918 married Kathleen Daisy Maud Taylor. They had three children.

Above: believed to be Eliza Jane Thomson 1862-1924. Married Thomas John Dyer. They had three children.

Above: Alice Chirnside Thomson 1863-1933. Alice married Robert Lindsey Russell, a widower fifteen years her senior, and was stepmother to his four children. Alice had no children of her own.

Above: Alfred William Thomson on the right (with younger brother James) 1868-1951. Alfred married Janet Henderson Home and they had three children.

Above: Emma Giles Thomson 1871-1942. Emma married James Biggs and they had five children. James and Emma emmigrated to Australia in 1920.

Above: My great-grandfather, James Kinghorn Thomson 1873-1936. James married Martha Evans and they had four children.

Above: My great grandparents James Kinghorn Thomson and Martha Evans (on his left) with their children. The young lady on James’s right is daughter Alice Churnside Thomson, who died of Parkinson’s Disease aged 40. Back Row L-R: James Frederick Thomson (known to my dad as ‘Uncle Fred’), Roderick Thomson (who ran a sweet shop in Fulham) and my grandfather, John William Thomson, who ran a drugstore in Aldershot. My father and his twin Roderick would have been two years old when this photograph was taken.

The Thomson names lives on in my first cousin once removed who is the son of James Frederick Thomson, and in his son and grandsons. Roderick had two sons, but I have been unable to trace any further descendants on that line. I have a female cousin who has a son also with the surname Thomson, but no further offspring on that line. My parents had two girls, so no Thomson name there!

If you have Thomson, Chirnside or Kinghorn ancestors, I would love to hear from you!

March 2026