Has anyone come across the surname Welsh while fossicking through the Castleton records? A Thomas Welsh and Isoble Grieve had a son called John in Castleton in 1759. I think this is the same Thomas Welsh who later married Agnes Hall, who bore him Agnes(1764), Gilbert(1765), Beatrix(1768) and Thomas(1775), in the same parish. Needless to say, there is no record of either of Thomas Welsh's marriages.
The children of Thomas Welsh and Agnes Hall were all born at Bilhopefoot, which is in a remote part of Castleton parish near Hermitage Castle. I believe that the above Thomas Welsh born in 1775 is my notorious 4 x great-grandfather of that name who served in the Hopetoun Fencibles then became a coachman in Wilton, Hawick. I know he was about 34 in July 1808 when Wanted notices about him were published in the Kelso Mail and Edinburgh Evening Courant, and from the same notices I know that he was "stout-built" and had "reddish-brown" hair, so that accounts for two features of my appearance. However, I haven't yet had the procurator-fiscal's office in Hawick taking an interest in my whereabouts!
Harry