With the exception of the Moon families associated with the Rev. John Moon of Newtyle (1790-1828) who can be traced back to John Moon in Errol, all of the others in Perthshire and Angus appear to originated from half a dozen families living close to Blair Castle in Blair Atholl parish.
The Hearth Tax (1694) lists 5 Moon families, three together, giving one of the three as "in the Mains", and the other two separate from them. Assuming that the list was set out in a logical order by the tax assessors, the first was probably west or south of Blair Castle. The next three were close to Kirkton of Blair which would include the Mains of Blair, and the last one would be Walter Gadd's Croft to the east of Blair Castle.
If this is correct then the families were:
1. John Moon (with Neil McMillan and Alexander McGlashan, having 3 hearths) in East Mains;
2. George Moon (with Colin Ross, Andrew Seaton and John Ritchie, having 4 hearths) in Kirkton of Blair;
3. John Moon (with Patrick McGlashan and Duncan McGlashan, having 6 hearths) in Kirkton of Blair;
4. Alexander Moon (having 3 hearths) in The Mains;
5. George Moon (with Alexander Bowie, William Tais and William McLaren, having 4 hearths) in Walter Gadd's Croft
(and Toldamph)
The 6 hearths in (3) probably include hearths for distilling, and it is known that the local inn (Tigh Glas) was run by the McGlashan family. Patrick McGlashan in Mains of Blair was an Officer for the Barony Court of Faskally in February 1697.
The Roll of the Duke of Atholl's Fencible Men (1705-06) lists all able men aged between 16 and 60
(i.e. born between 1645 and 1689) who could form a local militia. There are eight
men by the name of Moon and their places of habitation were given:
1. John Moon, younger, in Mill of Blair;
2. George Moon, tenant in East Mains;
3. John Moon, tenant in East Mains;
4. Donald Moon, the tailor, in East Mains;
5. Robert Moon, son to Alexander Moon, in Toldamph;
6. Thomas Moon, tenant in Toldamph;
7. Duncan Moon in Drumnacrich;
8. Duncan Moon in Toldunie.
There is a gap of 11 years between these two lists and the 'new' Moons, who did not appear in the Hearth Tax Roll, must be the sons of the original five Moons. At the time of the Hearth Tax they could have been lads in their twenties living with their fathers but, by 1705, would be independent young men. Some of the older men, like Alexander Moon were still alive but did not feature in the Fencible Roll, being over sixty.
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