Thomas Ballingall (c.1670-1752)

by Michael T. Tracy

Description The future tenant farmer and proprietor was born in about 1670 in Kettle Parish, Fife and was first found in 1713 when he married Grisel (Grace) Swan. Thomas Ballingall is descended from a long line of tenant farmers of the parish of Kettle. His father, Alexander Ballingall (1629-1699) was a sometime tenant farmer in Clatto, whose gravestone still stands in the Kettle Parish Churchyard today. According to the Reverend James Ballingall (1846-1926), a great-great-grandson of Thomas Ballingall "It appears that this Alexander Ballingall was connected to the Ballingalls who were the owners of Riggs from 1490, the year that William Ballingall of Ballbriggie enfeoffed the second son in the ownership, down to the last owner, Thomas Ballingall (1603-1669), but the link is far from certain. And it appears likely that William Ballingall of Ballbriggie, born about 1440, was a younger son of the Ballingalls of that IIK [issue in kind]." Thomas and Grisel (Grace) shortly after their marriage relocated to Cults Parish and settled at Cults farm. Their first two children were born there, however; by 1720 they had relocated back to Kettle Parish and were at Clatto farm. In that same year Thomas and his eldest son, George (1714-1793), took possession of Gallowhill and Drummaird known as Gourlays Hill both lands in Kennoway Parish. Thomas Ballingall was now a proprietor but continued to farm the lands of Clatto where he had four more children. He was also a tenant farmer of Wester Ballingall which was later known as Balmalcolm. Ballingall lived through the beginnings of the 18th-century 'Age of Enlightenment' and the outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments that Scotland was experiencing. It is more than likely that Ballingall benefitted from these improvements in agriculture at the time. After the death of his first wife, he married Agnes Trail and they had six children, all of whom did not survive long. In his later years, Thomas dearly loved his family and this is apparent in his Bonds of Provisions that survive presently. This then is the narrative of the life and times of Thomas Ballingall.