10th-17th Generations
The surname Paxton was first found in the ancient county of Berwickshire, now an administrative area of the Scottish Borders region, home of Paxton House, a historic house built between 1758 and 1766. This was the former seat of the Paxton family and is now open to the public as a Partner Gallery of the National Galleries of Scotland.
Paxton dates back to around 400AD when the Saxons arrived and settled in Northumbria. The Saxon name of Paccuston, after the original family who settled here changed over a period of time to Paxton. The Paxton family acquired land in both Scotland and England becoming medieval barons with their own coat of arms. During the reign of Edward I when Scotland and England were frequently at war Paxton, along with other lands belonging to the Paxton family were forfeited. It became impossible for the family to have loyalty with both Kings. Eventually the village became the property of the Home family of Wedderburn.
I have tried to represent the ancestors I have spent time researching on the table below. As you will notice I have kept to the parental line as much as possible to give you an insight into the name Paxton and my direct ancestors over the past 17 generations (almost 500 years). Many of the men below married women of high standing strengthening the family link back to nobility
Hugh Paxton is my 5th times great grandfather, this has been confirmed through DNA testing. Hugh was an affluent man in Fife and I have a lot of information on him which has allowed me to research further back in history, his parents are the 10th Generation of this line of my story.
The house was not built during the time my family lived here, this house was build by the home family of wedderburn, it was however Paxton land some 400 years before this and why they named the house “Paxton House”.
This line goes as far back as the time of Edward Longshanks, that was when the land was Paxton Land.
10th Generation – George Paxton & Helen McKenzie
George was born in Kirkcaldy in 1755 and lived in the neighbouring villages of Auchtertool and Burntisland all of his life. The map below depicts Kirkcaldy in 1824, it is how Kirkcaldy would have been in his life, It show’s how small the Lang Toun was, it mainly stretched along the water front. The boundaries lies for Dysart and Dunniker. In the 16th and 17th centuries the high street was less than 1 mile long, by 1876 in was 4 miles long. The town only gained its independence from Abbey rule (Dunfermline) when it was created into a royal burgh by Charles I in 1644.
George married Helen McKenzie in Burntisland on 24th November 1774, the marriage certificate states that Hugh was from the Auchtertool parish at this time. I believe his father owned land there. They had 4 children that lived into adulthood, all of them were baptised in Burntisland. Helen, Hugh’s wife, was born in 1744 and was 11 years older than George.
This newspaper article from 1824 shows that after George’s death his eldest son Hugh sold his land.
This land would be worth a fair amount of money in it’s time due to it being on the turnpike road. George is buried with his wife in St. Columba’s Parish Churchyard, Burntisland. The number circled below is where you will find his tombstone. Helen died on the 1st August 1816, she died only 5 years before him, the were together for over 40 years.
11th Generation – Hugo Paxton & Sarah Miller
Hugo was baptised on 27th December 1730 in Abbotshall, he married Sarah Miller in 1754. They had 3 children, George, Hugo and Margaret . Sarah died shortly after the birth to her 4 child Hugh who never survived infancy. Hugo remarried 3 years later to Margaret Richardson, they had a further 7 children together.
Abbotshall was not always part of Kirkcaldy like it is today. It was separated from the parish of Kirkcaldy in 1650. The name of Abbotshall is derived from one of the Abbots of Dunfermline having built a house here, This also symbolises the separation from the royal burgh of Dunfermline. The parish is mostly rural with 2631 of its 3166 acres under tillage (agriculture) and another 535 acres of woodland. Little livestock was raised in this area with only a few mills in the parish. The population of the parish in 1755 was 1348, in 1791 it was 2136, and in 1831 it was 4206. A church was built in 1674 with it being replaced by the present church in 1788.
Hugo was a Weaver, this is way before the Industrial revolution and an important part of village life in the 1700s
12th Generation – George Paxton & Agnes Anderson
George was in baptised on 27th March 1698 in Abbotshall, his parents were Hew Paxton and Christian Tosh. He married Agnes Anderson in 1725
I know very little about this couple but for a couple to have £6 to give the church for marrying them they would have to have title/money/land/produce – I just don’t know which one they had!
13th Generation – Hew Paxton & Christian Tosh
Hew’s parents were Hew Paxton and Margaret Staige, he was born in Abbotshall in 1675. Hew’s sister Elizabeth, was born in Haddington 5 years earlier. This is when the family moved to Fife. This shows that the Paxton family lived between the Kirkcaldy and Burntisland area’s from 1675 to 1854. When Janet Paxton marries John Leitch the Paxton lines ends and the Leitch line begins.
Hew’s wife, Christian was born in Dundee on 3rd September 1672. They were married in Abbotshall in 1697. I found birth records for the following children in Abottshalls Parish records – George 1698, Hew 1702, Christian 1703, Hugh 1708, Robert 1708 and Margaret 1711! There was also a Henry Paxton and Agnes Tosh who married not long before them, having children at the same time. Christian and Agnes were sisters born in Dundee, they moved to Abottshall and brought their children up together. This is lovely to hear as their father, Andro died when Christian was only 3.
I can trace the Toshe line back to Aberdeenshire in 1560….Yes, still in Scotland more than 500 years ago…..
This passage is very difficult to read. Their father, Andrew Toshach, is named on the Perthshire, Scotland, Cess, Stent, and Valuation Rolls 1756-1757 with land and 8 pence.
It is very difficult to find death records this far back but we do have one for Christian….she lived until she was 96 years old!!
14th Generation – Hew Paistoun & Margaret Staige
The parish book that recorded this next generation was damaged and I feel very lucky that enough information has been restored to allow me to complete another generation of my story.
The name in 1641 is recorded as Paistoun, in Dalkeith. By the time Hew married Margaret Staige the name has changed. Margaret was born in Kirkcaldy in 1647
They married in 1662, Margaret would only be 15 years old. This is a time of turbulence in Scotland and in Kirkcaldy. Local support for the Covenanting War (1644–65) led to the death of over 250 of their men. Oliver Cromwell’s troops came to the town to seek riches and nearly destroyed the town, the treasure was eventually found by Cromwell in Dundee where it had been moved to from the burgh for “safe-keeping”.
In researching the name Staige in Kirkcaldy I found that Margaret’s parents were Sir Henry Staige and Margaret Bruce. Margaret Bruce was born 11th July 1626, to Sir William Bruce and Lady Issobell Black Clarke. Her parent’s were married 10 years earlier in Kilconquhar, Fife. Due to the noble line I could trace this line a few further generations back to Sir William Robert Bruce, 4th of Earlshall and then back to William Bruce, 2nd of Earlshall who claims to be a descendant of Robert the Bruce!!! (When I get enough time I plan on researching this line in even more depth to confirm the connection)
Earlshall Castle, Fife
15th Generation – Williame Paistone & Barbara Landells
Williame’s parents were Samuel Paistoun and Catherine Fergusone. Unfortunately I can’t decipher the writing to confirm this and so am unable to search any further back.
William was one of 4 children, his siblings were George, Richards, and Isobell. Williame married at only 16 years old, his wife, Barbara was only 14! They lived in the Edinburgh and Musselburgh area. The Paistoun burn now runs through where their land used to be.
Barbara’s birth certificate is much clearer, she was born in Edinburgh and the marriage certificate below proves she was only 14 years old when she married.
16th Generation – Williame Paistone
Williame’s father was George Paistoun, he married Elizabeth Warrendar in 1619 in Haddington. After reading all the information above I think we can agree that we are moving closer to the time and place of Paxton land and Edward 1 and maybe even a link to William the Bruce…..
Marie's Genealogy 