Williamson

[hdw]

Hopefully this link will work -

https://twitter.com/BotanicCottage/status/427871025104420864/photo/1

Harry

[hdw]

His death-notice is third from the bottom of the page. Aged 42 when he died. There are lots of John Williamsons born around 1738 on Scotlandspeople and I don't know which one is him.

He died , 25th Sept. 1780 . of a "Brows", presumably a bruise, full marks for understatement.

Harry


Copyright image cropped.

[ankerdine]

There's something very poignant about these very old records that gets me every time. The causes of death are stated so simply; "swelling" could this be cancer?

There seems to be a respect though for these unfortunate folk whether young or old.

Is it Boatnest Gardens or Beautiest Garden, Harry?

Judy

[hdw]

It looks like Boatnest, doesn't it? I suppose that could be an attempt to spell Botanist.

Harry

[ChristopherWilliamson]

Hello All,

         I've done about seven years worth of research on the genealogical roots of my surname, which is Williamson. What I have come to find is that the name originated from the son of George the Crowner, the first formally verifiable chief of Clan Gunn, his son being William of Gunn. The Clan Williamson became a sept of Clan Gunn when William Williamson (Son of William of Gunn) gained permission from the Clan Gunn Chieftain to begin his own Clan line. This is generally believed to have taken place between 1480 - 1500, since these are difficult to place as the northern clans used a method of "word of mouth" to pass their history from generation to generation, which was the tradition of their Pictish ancestors. This is outside of the symbols carved into stone, for which the Picts are known. What's crucial to remember is that the he Clan Gunn is descended from Vikings who later intermingled with Northern Scotland's Pictish tribes.

       William Williamson is addressed as so being that one of the dialectic traditions of the clan systems is to form a surname that identifies your lineage, i.e. Williamson - Son of William. This would have been, and was, kept to later identify the clan you're affiliated with and its origin from the ancient ancestral line of William of Gunn, outside of the Tartan system. The Williamson's did well in it's role as a sept of Clan Gunn, but I have found no documentation of recognition from the crown regarding clan legitimacy and gaining a formal seat within the peerage system. At least not through my direct line to William, this could be different regarding the McKay line.

         In regard to the Williamson's immigration to Ireland, this happened after the family had set roots in Fifeshire, and had done so around the time of the English Civil war where Oliver Cromwell usurped control of the state from Charles the I and executed him in 1642. The Williamson's along with many other Scottish Clans fought on the side of the royalists to reinstate Charles the II to the throne being that he was of Scottish decent and the peerage system added legitimacy to the clan system as well. Samuel Williamson, the ancestor that I am directly descended from, immigrated from Fifeshire to Ulster in 1720 where many Presbyterians were migrating to in order to distance themselves from the religious turmoil in England and Scotland. In 1723 he immigrated to Pennsylvania, where a great number of Scottish Presbyterians had settled. This began one of the many lines of Williamson's in America. Samuels Son, Moses Williamson, gave birth to my (x5) Great-Grand Father Thomas Williamson who fought in the Revolutionary war. Moses was also brother to Hugh Williamson, my (x5) Great-Uncle who was the first representative of North Carolina and helped to draft and sign the Constitution, unfortunately both of Hugh's sons died from what they have just labeled a "Sickness, so his line ended. So, from this point on the Williamson's continued their slow journey west through the generations.

I have more detailed research, but for the sake of my fingers...I digress. I hope my summation helped tell a little bit of the story, and helped shed light on your lineage as well.

[ChristopherWilliamson]

Hello All,

         I've done about seven years worth of research on the genealogical roots of my surname, which is Williamson. What I have come to find is that the name originated from the son of George the Crowner, the first formally verifiable chief of Clan Gunn, his son being William of Gunn. The Clan Williamson became a sept of Clan Gunn when William Williamson (Son of William of Gunn) gained permission from the Clan Gunn Chieftain to begin his own Clan line. This is generally believed to have taken place between 1480 - 1500, since these are difficult to place as the northern clans used a method of "word of mouth" to pass their history from generation to generation, which was the tradition of their Pictish ancestors. This is outside of the symbols carved into stone, for which the Picts are known. What's crucial to remember is that the he Clan Gunn is descended from Vikings who later intermingled with Northern Scotland's Pictish tribes.

       William Williamson is addressed as so being that one of the dialectic traditions of the clan systems is to form a surname that identifies your lineage, i.e. Williamson - Son of William. This would have been, and was, kept to later identify the clan you're affiliated with and its origin from the ancient ancestral line of William of Gunn, outside of the Tartan system. The Williamson's did well in it's role as a sept of Clan Gunn, but I have found no documentation of recognition from the crown regarding clan legitimacy and gaining a formal seat within the peerage system. At least not through my direct line to William, this could be different regarding the McKay line.

         In regard to the Williamson's immigration to Ireland, this happened after the family had set roots in Fifeshire, and had done so around the time of the English Civil war where Oliver Cromwell usurped control of the state from Charles the I and executed him in 1642. The Williamson's along with many other Scottish Clans fought on the side of the royalists to reinstate Charles the II to the throne being that he was of Scottish decent and the peerage system added legitimacy to the clan system as well. Samuel Williamson, the ancestor that I am directly descended from, immigrated from Fifeshire to Ulster in 1720 where many Presbyterians were migrating to in order to distance themselves from the religious turmoil in England and Scotland. In 1723 he immigrated to Pennsylvania, where a great number of Scottish Presbyterians had settled. This began one of the many lines of Williamson's in America. Samuels Son, Moses Williamson, gave birth to my (x5) Great-Grand Father Thomas Williamson who fought in the Revolutionary war. Moses was also brother to Hugh Williamson, my (x5) Great-Uncle who was the first representative of North Carolina and helped to draft and sign the Constitution, unfortunately both of Hugh's sons died from what they have just labeled a "Sickness, so his line ended. So, from this point on the Williamson's continued their slow journey west through the generations.

I have more detailed research, but for the sake of my fingers...I digress. I hope my summation helped tell a little bit of the story, and helped shed light on your lineage as well.

[Cumberland Ferret]

A number of years ago, before my genealogy interest, I purchased a Williamson family history chart from a stall at a vintage steam rally.  Since researching my Williamson line I have become intrigued to learn that most info on this chart is basically factual, and fits in with my own research, to date.   

Long shot since this is such an old thread but I'd be interested in details of the history on your chart. There are a number of coats of arms with similar outlines to yours, though varying in colours and sometimes details, linked with Williamson families, several of which are from or linked to the parish of Crosthwaite in Cumberland.
My likely Crosthwaite Williamson ancestors are here http://www.ianewilliamson.co.uk/gen/lines/WilliamsonC/WilliamsonCStory.html
Would be good to get in touch.

[Leanne283]

I am so glad I happened to come across this thread.  I have recently discovered ancestors - William Williamson and his wife, Catherine Campbell Williamson - that I need lots of help in researching.  I have found very little on William at all as far as discovering any of his ancestors.   

The following is an excerpt I read in a book entitled History of North Carolina volume vi:
William Williamson, the father of Isabella, had an interesting and adventurous career.  He was a man of fine education, his home being in Glasgow, Scotland.  Before leaving his native country, he engaged in teaching English, Latin, and Mathematics, first in private families and later in colleges, but when he had won the love of Catherine Campbell, the niece and adopted daughter of the Duke of Argyle, to the extent that she was willing to go with him to the ends of the earth and the proposed match proving unsatisfactory to the Duke on the ground that Williamson was only a teacher and not the owner of an estate, the married couple sailed for America and landed on the Island of Jamaica, where they remained for two years and afterwards, landing at Wilmington, came up the Cape Fear River to Campbellton, afterwards Fayetteville where they located.  Here William Williamson engaged in teaching while he was permitted to remain in America, but when the subject of independence began to be agitated, the British soldiers after investigation, were heard to remark that man’s head might overturn a government, and so Williamson and Rev. John McLeod, a Presbyterian minister, were taken under guard, carried to Wilmington, and placed on a vessel to be deported to Scotland.  Nothing more was ever known about the vessel after sailing and it was supposed to be lost at sea. 
Catherine (Campbell) Williamson and her two daughters were visiting friends near the McLauchlin home twenty miles west from Fayetteville when the husband and father were taken to be seen by them no more. William Williamson left many interesting and valuable papers and documents which would now be of considerable historical value, but all were lost in the confusion of the times, except portions of a diary which he kept before leaving Scotland.

Again, I know very little about William, my sixth great grandfather, other than excerpts that say essentially just this.  According to Ancestry, he was born in 1749, but I am unsure of exactly where.  I would greatly appreciate any information anyone might have for me.

Thank you so much!

[Skoosh]

Botanist Gardens sounds right!

Skoosh.