Kate’s notes: I assume the Hugh Gilliland in this record is the Hugh Gilliland who is recorded as having died in Wilkes County in 1783, unless these girls were daughters of a younger Hugh Gilliland; I have only a record for the Hugh who died in 1783. My understanding is that once children reached the age of fourteen – at which point they were no longer considered “minors” – they were legally allowed to choose their guardian. I believe that is the case in this instance.
                                                                                                             -Kate Maynard, 2013

Source: Early Records of Georgia: Wilkes County
 by Grace Gillam Davidson
published at Macon, Georgia, 1933

Page 324 – Gilliland, Bridget and Mary, daus of Hugh Gilliland, late of said county, dec’d, ask the court to appoint Owen Sullivan their guardian. Nov. 4, 1788