In 1981, John George Wilson was recognized by Scotland's Lyon Court as an indeterminate cadet of the historic and honourable House of Wilson of Croglin, a Dumfries-shire landowning family who, by tradition, bear the ancient arms of the name in Scotland, although they have never been officially recognised as such. 

The family of Wilson of Kilwinnet trace their line of descent back to Mauchline in Ayrshire, were they were involved in the weaving trade (and later the production of Mauchline Ware) for many generations. John George Wilson was granted the territorial designation 'of Kilwinnet' by Lyon Court in 1993, following his successfull purchase of the lands of Kilwinnet, Ayrshire, in 1992.

The Kilwinnet Line of Descent:

1. Mr (John?) Wilson, was of Paisley. It is said he presented to the Armour family the shawl worn by their daughter, Jean Armour, on the occasion of her marriage to Scotland's national bard and poet, Robert Burns. Mr Wilson's son Robert Wilson (2 below) was an admirer of Jean, although this feeling was not returned by her. The shawl in question was later returned to the Wilson family. Eventually it was bequeathed to a Mrs. Robertson at Falkirk in the 1880s, by a Miss Jane Ewing who claimed to be related to the Wilson family. Miss Ewing was a boarder with Mrs Robertson when she died in her house. The shawl was later found on display in an Ayrshire museum by John george Wilson where it had been on display for many years.  
2. Robert Wilson the "gallant weaver" by tradition was said to be a native of Mauchline, but may have been born in Paisley where his father belonged. The Burns tradition tells us that Robert Wilson was a childhood sweetheart of Jean Armour. Robert Wilson made an entry in his bible in 1770 which reads: 'Robert Wilson His Bible 1770.' He later wrote: 'Robert Wilson his Bible written at Mauchline 6th Sept. 1771.' In 1786, Robert was in Paisley working as a weaver when he was visited there by Jean Armour (now pregnant to Burns). Burns and Armour were later married in 1788 after Jean's return to Mauchline from Paisley, while Robert Wilson, either returned or moved to Mauchline from Paisley, to marry a Margaret Thomson at Maybole, in 1789. Robert Wilson had a large family and lived in Loudoun Street, Mauchline, where his widow died in 1855. Robert Wilson and Margaret Thomson are buried in Mauchline churchyard.
3. William Wilson, born 1809 in Mauchline, was the second youngest son of the "gallant weaver". He also worked in Mauchline as a weaver and was married in 1833 to Margaret Duncan, from the neighbouring parish of Sorn. William, like many members of his family, was involved in snuffbox making.
4. John Wilson, the above William's oldest son was last to work as a weaver in Mauchline. He married his second wife in 1862, she was Agnes Watt from Tarbolton, the daughter of a local farmer. John gave up weaving to later work as a snuffbox maker in Mauchline.
5. Robert Wilson, second son of the above John, married Marion Maxwell Johnstone* and lived for a time at Strathaven, Lanarkshire, before later moving to the parish of Campsie, Stirlingshire. Two of his sons Johnstone and George (George being John G. Wilson's grandfather) farmed at The Hole and Kilwinnet.
6. George Wilson, late farmer, Kilwinnet [Campsie], had three sons.
7. John B. Wilson, second son of above, retired and resides in Glasgow.
8. John G. Wilson, later John Wilson of Kilwinnet [Ayrshire], has a son and daughter. 
9. Robert Wilson of Kilwinnet, the Younger, lives and works in Ayrshire, as does his sister Michelle.

Kilwinnet House, Campsie, 1993. picture copyright

*You can view Marion Johnstone's family at: http://n.rowberry.users.btopenworld.com/johnstone.htm