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--- Official Tree - Complete
--- Official Tree - Narrative
--- John Gilliland and Hester Rome
--- John Gilliland, 1689
--- Alexander Gilliland, 1724
--- Family Register Report
--- Hewit Family Tree
--- Holloway Family Tree

Just For Fun Pages:
--- The Name Game
------The Name History
--- Family Stories
------ J. S. Gililland
------ Jim Gililland - Part 1
------ Jim Gililland - Part 2
------ Aunt Minnie
------ Uncle Roy's Letter
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--- Sulfur Lick Cemetery
--- Fairview Cemetery
--- Other Lincoln County Cemeteries

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--- Marriage Records
--- Wills and Probates
--- Land Grants
--- Funeral Records

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2 Centuries Ago...

Prior to 1814, John Richardson Gililland and his wife Agnes (maiden name Johnston or Johnson) traveled by covered wagon from Kentucky to Lincoln County, Missouri, near what is now the city of Troy. John, the son of John Gilliland and Charity Richardson Gilliland, was later joined in Missouri by two of his younger brothers, Mathias and Robert. Together they established extensive families and farming estates in east-central Missouri. Many of their descendants remain in that area today, but many more moved on and can now be found in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and California.

This web site is dedicated to the brothers John, Mathias, and Robert as it traces their families and descendants.

This web site is maintained by Michael L. Gililland, 5g-grandson of John and Charity Gilliland.

10 Centuries Ago...

Learn more about name variations at The Name Game page...

The first record of the name Gilliland was found in Midlothian, a county in Southeastern Scotland, and is dated to some time prior to the Norman Conquest of 1066 AD. A mixture of Gaelic and Celt, known as the Strathclyde Britons, the name appears taken from  the Celtic chief Gillander, in the Parish of Walton in the north of Scotland. There are many known variations of the name, including MacGillanders, Gilleland, Gillsland, Gilsland, Gillesland, Gillander, Gillerland, Gilliland, and Gililland.

The territory of the Strathclyde Britons ranged from Laneashire in the south of Scotland to the south bank of the River Clyde in the north of Scotland. Between 400 AD and 900 AD this territory was overrun by the Irish Gaels, the Angles, the Diets, and Diaradians. One branch of the race was in the north and one in the south where Sir Richard Gillesland was head of the branch. Members of this clan held the lands of Kirktown (Pitblae) in 1206 and later became involved with the Ross Clan. Many of the Strathclyde families straddled the border between Scotland and England and after 1000 AD life along the border was in turmoil. In 1246, chiefs for the two sides met  and established laws governing the border clans, making it a greater offense to refuse to assist a neighbor than it was to steal from him. In 1603, the English and Scottish Crowns united under King James VI of Scotland (King James I of England). The border clans were banished to England, Northern Scotland, and Ireland. It was from Ireland that our ancestors came to America during the 1700's.

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