Biggar

Biggar is a quietly prosperous market town situated on the upper reaches of the river Clyde. It had the misfortune to be raided by the Liddlesdale reivers during the near-breakdown of law and order during the few months from Darnley's death to Queen Mary's abdication. This town figures surprisingly little in the family records, given its close proximity to Lesmahagow and Douglas. However, the Museum in Biggar does have old books, the most notable being the Court Book of the Barony of Carnwath, which contains references to the family.

Glasgow

Probably the largest concentration of Greenshields anywhere in the world today is in Glasgow, but the family connections with the city extend back at least to the 17th century, and probably much earlier. We know, for example, that there were Greenshields at Glasgow University in the latter part of the 1600's. As the population expanded, many Greenshields moved away from the rural areas to seek work in the towns in the 18th century and, by the late nineteenth century, many Greenshields were to be found working in the mines and associated industries in and around Glasgow. One of the earlier migrants to Glasgow was Thomas, the stocking maker, who was born in Douglas and who sired a line that became wealthy merchants and shipowners both here and in Canada, and who are tenuously related to the Royal Family. Little is known about the present day Glaswegian Greenshields as we have much work to do on the Scots records of this century, so we are especially keen to receive information about them from 1900 to the present day. Glasgow contains what is probably the richest source of Greenshields family history, the Families Room at The Mitchell Library houses numerous genealogical research documents.

Westoun and Coalburn

Westoun is a farm that was owned by a branch of the family that has been especially well documented. They were evidently quite prosperous as they were able to build a large and comfortable home together with a number of farm cottages. This estate was owned by the family until comparatively recently. The house can be reached through the village of Coalburn, and may be recognised by the large statue of a Highlander in the grounds. If you carry on further south down the lane you eventually find "Blackie Greenshields" graveyard, a private burial and memorial plot belonging to the family of Westoun. It is set atop a grassy knoll, surrounded by railings, and is immaculately kept.

Douglas

Douglas is a small village south of Lesmahagow and part of the Douglas estate. Probably there were almost as many Greenshields who lived there as in Lesmahagow, and it is said that if you look in the Douglas Rent Book, every farm on the estate has at one time been tenanted by the Greenshields. Scrogtonhead, for example, was home to the family for the best part of two centuries that we know about, the line finally dying out at the beginning of this century. However, other descendants of this branch can be found all over the world. In South Africa today there are families who have family Bibles that detail their connections to the farm as far back as the 18th century. Douglas has a small Heritage Centre that is open in the summer months, and the churchyard of St Brides has a number of memorials to the family.

Lesmahagow

Lesmahagow is a village which lies south of Glasgow, now alongside the M75 motorway. From the beginning of the parish records in the 1690's until the beginning of this century there was a large concentration of Greenshields here. The Greenshields were mostly farmers and were very involved with the church as elders. J.B. Greenshields built his house, the 'Kerse' here, after making his fortune in Canada and it is still a family home, although it passed out of family hands in 1913. His other claim to fame was the writing of "The Annals of Lesmahagow", where some of the activities of the family are recorded, as well as the Poll Tax records of 1695. These are especially useful as they record the presence of Greenshields born too early to appear in the baptism or marriage records. There is now one Greenshields family left in Lesmahagow itself, whose line can be traced back to the beginning of the parish records, but many past members of the family can be found in the churchyard. There are also memorial windows in the church itself.

Lanark

The county town of Lanarkshire where many records may be found in the local library. Certainly some Greenshields have lived there, the earliest known being Samuel Greenshields, a stone mason, who brought up his family there with his wife Jean McQueen in the early 18th century, while Richard Greenshields was an innkeeper who went bankrupt there in the 19th century.

Edinburgh

There have been Greenshields living in Edinburgh since the 17th century that we know of and there are still a dozen or so households listed there. In the nineteenth century there was a large family who were all joiners and cabinetmakers, and one, Gavin, warned of an imminent collapse of a building he had been sent to work on. He was ignored, and the tenement did indeed collapse shortly afterwards, killing 38 people. There was a subsequent inquiry which praised Gavin, and the incident is remembered still by a plaque on the building that stands in place of the old tenement.

Greenshields Farm

Greenshields is a small hamlet in the parish of Libberton from where the family name is said to be derived. The earliest mention that we have so far discovered is 1474. Later records refer to 'Greinschillus of that Ilk', which indicates that they owned the land on which they lived. The farm was owned by the family for hundreds of years and, as far as we can make out, the last descendant moved out around 50 years ago, although that was a Patterson, who was kin of the Greenshields. It is still a working farm today.

Carluke

Carluke was the village where Sir Walter Scott visited the home of James Greenshields and his wife Betty Jack, who had six sons. The eldest of these was John, who started as a stonemason, but turned his hand to sculpture. His bronze of Scott stands on a tall column in the middle of George Square in Glasgow.

Carstairs and Carstairs Junction

A memorial stone in the churchyard shows Carstairs to have been the home of James Greenshields and his brother Samuel, part of a branch of the family who were millers for a number of generations. Later Greenshields went to work on the railway at the specially created village of Carstairs Junction.

Carnwath

Known to have been populated by Greenshields, there are a couple of memorial stones in the churchyard. However, research is hampered by the destruction by damp of earlier records.