Hi there,
Thank you for all the information, which is extremely interesting!
I am certainly still 'chasing shadows'. many of my files happen to be in boxes currently, so my dates are approximate and I am currently having a little break from Scotland's People. But i do have more information now.
Wilson is , in fact, the married name of my ancestor. Several dates for her are given only as approximate, if provided at all. She was born Margaret Mitchelson at Old Belton date 1765- 1783?
Her maternal ancestors were generally named Margaret and one of them was Margaret Emloch/Imloch. I am unsure without looking it up if that side of the lfamily were living at Dunbar or Belton yet. maybe further west.
Married William Wilson, Dunbar, 1789.
2 children, William, born Dunbar and Jean, born Belton. She was probably the elder.
The father, William, a servant at Belton Mill and then a mi;;er, died 1802. Chilren probably born before 1804. Their surname is given always as Wilson.
Jean/Jane married George Sanson,a tailor/ draper, Dunbar, 1830.They are at Dunbar in 1841 census with their children, Mother in law margaret and her son, William. Ditto for 1851 census.
Margaret, in her late 80's, I think, disappears from the census at this point. There was a Margaret Wilson who died in the poorhouse in Dunbar in 1854 & another who died somewhere nearby in the 1850's.
Her son William is not in the Dunbar 1861 census. His trade is jorneyman carpenter/joiner. There is one William Wilson of this trade at the 1861 census in the house of a Mr Barrie, who was a carpenter and family at Innerwick or Oldhamstocks. He disappears when the barrie family move. No death date.
One of George and Jean's children, William Sanson, a draper and merchant were very well known. He did a lot of work with the Dunbar Rifle Volunteers & after his retirement was granted the honour of being permitted to wear his uniform.
William sanson and his wife Elizabeth Cook, from Frome had married in 1869. They had 3 children, Annie, a renowned singer, who is my grandmother, who married a Norwegian, harald Christian Dannevig. They came to Australia in 1902, where he was Commonwealth Director of Fisheries. He and his ship, The Endeavour were lost off Macquarie Island in a storm in 1914.
The next child, Flora Jane Sanson/Collins had a career over several decades.
The son, Frederick George Sanson, married Helen 'Daisy' Brand Taylor. She was a well-known singer, also. They are dirctly related to the Porteous family.
I'm afraid that after all, we do not seem to be related to Middlemass or to your Wilsons. If i find them at Dirleton, I will let you know.
Thank you for your help, Nordmann
