John Sinton

     
     John Sinton was born on 4 Jun 1806 at Clesleepeel, Par. of Southdean, ROX, SCT, "son to Jas Sinton Clesleepeel", or at least it is my assumption that this is the right birth. Certainly it is the right timeframe, and in 1851 John said he was born Southdean, and was resident there when he married Alison in 1829. This is the best fit I've found to date, even though "son" isn't necessarily "John". Some weight is added to the identification in that at least one child has Oliver as a middle name.^2,3
     John Sinton married Alison Hall, daughter of John Hall and Betty Briggs, on 30 Oct 1829 at Southdean, Par. of Southdean, ROX, SCT, John of Southdean, Alice of Jedburgh (igi only has the Jedburgh entry for John and "Alison").^4,5
     John Sinton died on 3 Nov 1854 at Arling House, ARL, SCT, ; 47, and unfortunately a few months short of civil registration in Scotland for us to fully confirm his parents!⁶ He was buried with Alison Hall at Eckford, ROX, SCT, #53 EIMO John Sinton who died at Arling House Argyleshire 3.11.1854 aged 47 years also his wife Alison Hall who died at Bowmont Forest 10.3.1866 aged 58 years.⁶
     
     In Oct 1829 John was living at Southdean, Par. of Southdean, ROX, SCT, (when he married Alison).⁷
     John Sinton and Alice Sinton appeared on the census of 1841 at Highgate, Linthaugh Old Rd, Jedburgh, ROX, SCT, and are assumed to be husband and wife. They were enumerated as SINTON: John, 35, ag. lab. Alison, 35 (assumed to be wife). Children (assumed): Robert, 9; John, 7; William, 5; Betsy 2. John FORSYTH 30 ag lab b ROX.^8,9,10
     The census of 1851 showed John with his wife Alison, their sons John, William and James, their dtr Elizabeth at Portnacroish, Lismore & Appin, ARL, SCT, household enumerated as SINTON: John 44 wood forrester b Sthdean, ROX; wife Alison (indexed as Alieen) 42 b Oxnam, ROX; Children: John 17 farm lab b Jedburgh; William 15, Betsy 13 both scholars b Jedburgh; James Oliver 2 b Jedburgh.³
     John Sinton marr. to Alison Hall was initially considered, and subsequently rejected, as a potential duplicate of John Sinton s/o James & Margaret (Wilkie) Sinton. However the latter John is shown as living in 1855 on parent's dth cert but the former died 1854, and states he was of Southdean, not of Bowden.¹¹
     Given the exciting news (Oct 2008) from the Sinton Surname DNA Project that there is a match between a descendant of John Sinton and Alison Hall, and the descendants of Peter Sinton and Janet Donaldson, I have been rechecking all my Sinton data to see how the families might actually be connected.
Much of the original data was in the form of transcripts of the patchy Southdean and Abbotsrule OPRs received many years ago from Margaret Steele in Canada, a descendant ofJohn Sinton & Margaret Kay, John being believed to be a son of James Sinton & Janet Oliver.
The match is 64 out of 67 markers, so with the same surname and evidence of the families both being in the same small locality on the Borders, there is highly likely to be a close connection.

Anyway, as a result, I have currently surmised that:
- there was only one James, carrier of Abbotrule, in this timeframe, not two
- that this James married firstly someone unknown (poss. a Margaret by naming pattern of Peter and Janet's currently known children?) and had "my" Peter, plus at least three other children 1755 thru 1760
- that he then married Janet Oliver (1762). This makes step-brothers of my Peter and the James bap. 1772 to James and Janet.
- that this 1772 James is the one who married Barbara Oliver, this being based on the Clesleepeel connection. (James Snr died Clesleepeel in 1802, and a Barbary Sinton died there in 1809)
- that this Clesleepeel connection is also sufficient to identify the "son born to Jas Sinton Clesleepeel" as being the baptism of the John Sinton who married Alison Hall (he is of an age, and currently the only candidate).
- and now that Ken has found Classleypeel for me on a map (about 2.5km directly east of Chesters, passing Southdean Mill en route, assuming there was a road) I'm even more convinced, as this is slap bang in the middle of a heap of haunts and events connected with the Sinton families.

Regardless of how these families do all connect, somehow they do, and I do so wish Margaret was still with us to share this exciting new development.

Still looking for male Sinton representatives of as many different lines as possible for the Sinton surname dna project to try and identify further connections, particularly if your family is from Southdean and/or Northumberland. A subsidy may be available for first of a line to test, or where a participant may be able to help unravel "puzzles".^12,13,14