I found at least two documents in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Library in Washington, D.C. which spell the name as " Gilmour".  One such source, was prepared by "The Media Research Bureau in Washington D.C. [date of publication unknown]. It states: "The first to come was John Gilmour or Gilmore who came from Ulster, Ireland in 1713..." Another document states this John Gilmour "moved to Ireland about 1690 and later came to America in 1713" and that he was "the father of Alexander, James and John"..."who left Scotland and settled in Londonderry, Ireland [Ulster]" and that the three sons,"Alexander, James and John are believed to be the common ancestors of all the Gilmores, Gilmours and Gilmers in America"

I have searched for many years through countless sources to positively identify our ancestor who arrived in Philadelphia from Ulster about 1713, settled in the vicinity of Lancaster, Pennsylvania prior and then moved to Augusta County, Virginia shortly after 1745. To date, I have found no other Gilmore or Gilmour than the John, who is cited in the preceding paragraph who might have been been our ancestor.

The forenames, James, John and Alexander have been used for generations in our Gilmour family.

For many generations, our Gilmour family members have spelled their last name "Gilmour".  This is the spelling used today by our relatives in the states of Oregon, Washington and California who are descended from John Wilson Gilmour who was born in Kentucky in 1813 and whose grandfather, James Gilmour was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1745. This lineage is verifiable.

Gilmour is usually associated with those arriving in this country from Scotland, and our family tradition for many generation has insisted our family was "Scots- Irish" indicating that our forbearers originated in Scotland and then lived for a time in Northern Ireland before coming to America.

There was a John Gilmour who came from Scotland and who settled in Lancaster County, Virginia in the 1700's. He spelled his last name "Gilmour" and descended from "John of Scotland", a man of great wealth whose father had been a Baron in Fife, Scotland.  However, there seems to be no connection to our ancestors as there is no record of his having lived in Ireland and his arrival in the Colonies seems to be a bit later than when our ancestors arrived in Pennsylvania .  Also, Lancaster County, Virginia is located in eastern Virginia between the Rappahannock River and the Chesapeake Bay, and our ancestors went from Pennsylvania to the Shenandoah Valley County of Augusta, VA.