This gentleman was sued by my great-great grandmother, Helen McKissock for child maintenance, on behalf of their illegitimate son William, in 1858. In the action he is named as 'Hugh Hutcheon', a cattle dealer from Girvan. There has always been a problem with his surname: why Hutcheon and not McCutcheon, after all subsequent to the outcome of the paternity case my great-grandfather was given the surname 'McHutcheon'. I can't explain that one. But I've have searched the records of New Register House for a Hugh Hutcheon matching the description and nothing has come up. But according to the 1861 census for Girvan, there is only one cattle dealer in the Ayrshire town, and his name is Hugh McHutchion ! Good enough for me.
In the said census, he is a 30-year old married man, with three young children. His first wife, Mary McQuarrie had died about 1857, leaving two young daughters. The following year my great-great grandmother had her son by him. A year on he married a domestic servant, Margaret Johnstone. She was pregnant when they married. It seems Rabbie Burns wasn't the only Ayrshireman to have a way with the lassies....... Anyway, Hugh and Margaret would go on to have five children.
The nature of relationship between my great-great grandparents, is lost in the mists of the past. Was he a sad man missing his dead wife and falling for the charms of Helen ? Was it a 'one night stand' ? The court notes, and they are extensive, do not say. Certainly she couldn't have been a jilted fiance, as nothing as such is mentioned in the said court notes.
Ancestors of Robert McCutcheon