Scottish Ancestors

It's hard to know just how many Scottish ancestors I have because some records have been lost. But here's a quick summary.

Weir family from Buckie, near Gollachy in Banffshire. My 4 x gt grandfather John Weir was born there, and then moved to London where he was a successful coal merchant. He appears to have had two marriages, and my 3 x gt grandmother Anne Weir was born of the first marriage. His second was to Sarah Hall. We can't find any trace of the first marriage. It's also extremely difficult to work out John Weir's ancestry, due to overuse of common names. I have been right through the Rathven parish registers to look at the Weir family, and I thought I had it worked out until I read John Weir's will. Alexander Weir also moved to London with his family and he's mentioned as a cousin in the will when I thought he was the brother, so it's difficult to work it out properly. Anne Weir was born c. 1799 and married Joseph Spencer in 1822. She died 1 Feb 1864. John Weir died in London in Novemberf 1833.

Another 3 x gt grandmother was Mary Anderson (1826-1881), who was probably from Glen Falloch in Perthshire. Her parents Alexander Anderson (1803 -1879) and Janet (Jean) McCullum (Malcom) (1790-1867) emigrated to Australia in 1838 on the Duncan under the Dunmore Bounty Scheme. Janet had been previously married to John Campbell and had 3 children. Mary Anderson married James Belford in Sydney in 1846 and they moved to Newcastle and had five children. On the immigration papers, James' name was spelled Balfourd. In Australia, the spelling "Belford" seems to have been adopted by the whole family.

Which leads on to the Belford family from co. Fermanagh in Ireland. So how are they Scottish? Well records have been lost because so far it's been almost impossible to trace them back to Scotland, but I believe that my Belford famers in Drumkeerin in co. Fermanagh are descendants from the Balfour family that were part of the Plantation of Ulster around 1610. James Belford's parents were James Balfour and Mary Marshall, and his parents were James Balfour and Mary Rankin. That's as far back as Australian records show.

The Belford family emigration to Australia began with Robert Belford in 1838 on the Parland. "Bishop" Belford was a farmer and Wesleyan lay preacher who died in Glenthorne, near Taree in 1889. His wives were Eliza Clinton and Sarah Rutherford, and he was my 3 x gt grandfather James' older brother. The rest of the family who emigrated did so in 1840 on the Crescent.

As mentioned on the page for England, Henry Lambert's mother was Margaret Gray. She had Scottish ancestry in her distant past, including George Gordon, the 1st Earl of Huntly.

I could well have more Scottish ancestry, but brick walls have so far prevented me finding it.