Looking for my ancestor Christian Robson of clan Gunn (I think!)

[Maria Robsahm]

Sorry about posting in Swedish. Here is a translation of my earlier posting (with minor corrections)!
all the best
Maria Robsahm

Robertson came to Sweden around the turn of the 16th to 17th century. By then he was already PhD and MD and it is assumed that he settled in Stockholm to make a living, as did many of his fellow scotsmen who arrived in Sweden at the time.
On February 15th 1614 Robertson was appointed personal physician to King Gustavus Adolphus, three years after he had been installed as court physician. He was by then accompanying the King to Livonia [roughly present-day southern Estonia and northern Latvia], and he made many overseas journeys with the king.
He received several gifts of estates and land both in Sweden and in Livonia. This indicates partly that his work was appreciated and also that he was able to get financial rewards. It was often said about him that he was very driven concerning everything that had to with money.
Fisher wrote of him that he was ‘greedy and constantly applied for new royal gifts’.

On 23 Novermber 1623 he gained the privilege of establishing a new pharmacy in Stockholm, one of the very first in the Swedish capital. It is still in existence. In 1626 or 1627 he hired a help to run the business for him, probably because he was with the King at war and no longer was staying in Stockholm.of
A few years later he sold the pharmacy probably because the ongoing conflict with his countryman Ralle Sanderson. Even though Robertsson seems to have easily fallen into conflict with fellow citizens of Stockholm he continued to be in the Kings good trust and he was knighted in 1630.

In the 1620’s Robertson married Margaret Blomen, and during their 20-year marriage they had four children, a son Adolf and daughters Christina Jacobina, Elisabeth and Maria Eleonora. Margareta Blomen died in 1646 and Robertson married Anna Seitserf. She was born in the summer of 1650, so the bridegroom was aged 84 and the bride was 15 years old. Robertson died in 1652.

[Forfarian]

Thank you. I am relieved to find only one glaring error in my attempt at translation. Must try harder :-)

[helenastark]

I have figured it out too that Christian Robson might not be related to Jacob Robertson. Thank´s, Maria!

[proberton]

Hello everyone related to this thread,
I'm not sure how old the thread is or if any one might still monitor it.

I believe there could be another angle here. I am researching the Roberton family, sometimes spelled Robertoun or misspelt as Robertson.

There are two sources that state that 3 brothers Roberton came from Scotland under the Marquis of Hamilton to support King Gustav. One ended up in France (John) but that two stayed in Sweden:

"The other emigrants went to Sweden, where they prospered and left
descendants, who were ennobled as Robsalm and of Robson ; they bore
the helmet with the addition of a large plume of feathers, and for crest,
an anchor, the same as the Robertons in Scotland" https://archive.org/stream/ScottishArmsV2/42540-ScottishArmsV2_reduced_djvu.txt

If this helps great, if I'm missing the mark please let me know.

Thanks,
Paul

[Forfarian]

According to The Surnames of Scotland Robertson is of territorial orgin from the place of that name in Lanarkshire, and Robertson is a patronymic meaning 'son of Robert'.

But if these brothers' surname was Roberton, why would they choose variants of Robertson with an 's' when they adopted Swedish surnames?

Maybe you should not dismiss the possibility that it is Roberton which is the 'misspelling' and that the brothers' surname was in fact Robertson.

[proberton]

Roberton is definitely a locative surname, literally the "ton" or "town" of Robert. The etymology very distinct from Robertson. Nesbit in A System of Heraldry Vol II makes the case for Roberton going back to c1220 with charter evidence. Most academics such as GSW Barrow in The Kingdom of the Scots, and others such as  AA Duncan, Lauran Toorians, Richard Oram, and more recently Alex Fleming in Scotland and the Flemish People, 2018 Birlinn Books all cite  Robert the brother of Lambin Fleming as the progenitor the Roberton family. They were Roberton of that Ilk, of Earnock, of Bedlay. Completely separate to Robertson.

As for the Swedish connection, both Nesbit and Stoddart cite Matthew Roberton following the Marquis of Hamilton to Sweden (via Germany I think). They actually cite Robsalm, but I found "af Robsahm" but in either case I agree it's incongruous that the name evolved to an equivalent of Robertson.What piqued my interest was the heraldic reference where the Robsalm arms were described as "a helm on a  field with a plume" topped with an anchor which very much echoes the Roberton arms "quarterly, 1st and 4th gules a close helm argent, 2nd and 3rd Argent a cross crossed fitchee gules" crest, an anchor proper. Robertson were "gules three boars heads or".

That's stating what I know based on the work of others. I'm at a loss as to what happened to the Robertons who left Scotland with the Marquis but if you're interested in collaborating, I'm keen to find out.

[Forfarian]

Some musings on the original post in this thread.

Traditionally, the name Christian in Scotland was more usually given to girls than to boys.

Out of sheer curiosity I had a look at the indexes at Scotland's People.

In the Old Parish Registers of the Church of Scotland are 13,791 girls and 22 boys who were given the name Christian. The earliest record of a girl being named Christian is in 1566 and the earliest boy is in 1614.

The 'other churches' baptisms record 14 boys, the earliest in 1776, and 1360 girls, the earliest in 1360.

The Roman Catholic baptism show a different pattern, with 199 boys to 118 girls. However the earliest girl was in 1708 and the earliest boy in 1782.

I'd also be interested in why you associate your Christian Robson with Clan Gunn? If he was associated with Robertson of Struan, that would suggest a connection with Clan Donnachaidh rather than Clan Gunn.

[hdw]

I would also point out that Robson and Robertson are completely different names. Robson is or was a common surname on both sides of the Scottish-English border. Robertson can be a Highland clan name but is also common in Lowland Scotland. I don't think the two surnames are often confused.

Harry