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

[helenastark]

I will look for Jacob Robertson in Stockholm right away to determine if he is the grandfather of my ancestor Christian Robson (Robsahm).

 THANK YOU for all the help! I will gladly read more if you have more suggestions about doing research in Scotland.

/ Helena

[Elwyn Soutter]

Helena,

Just a word of caution about doing research in Scotland in the early 1600s. That era was well before the start of statutory records. Even the church (parish) records had barely started, in many places did not start for many more years and even when they did start many births were not recorded. There was no comprehensive system of recording key events in peoples lives, as there is today. In the period 1610 - 1620, only a handful of births would be recorded. Perhaps less than 5% of the population.

In the 1600s, unless you were very wealthy, famous or influential, or in trouble with the authorities, it was quite possible to live your entire life without leaving any documentary record at all. So you should consider the possibility there may not be any record of Christian's birth or life in Scotland at all.

If you have found some data that suggests it might be him, you really need some confirmation from another source to make sure you have the right person. Ideally something like a will in Sweden, naming relatives back in Scotland. That way you can place him geographically, and link him to other family. Otherwise there is a danger that you are just guessing his ancestors, based on information on the handful of Robsons who did leave some documentary traces in the 1600s.


Elwyn

[helenastark]

Dear, Elwyn!
  Absulutely! I understand that there is very difficult to find any more information about his birth family. But I will keep looking here in Sweden where you can find a lot more around this time in history. I will check up this possible grandfather of his and see if they might be related.
  Actually, I am doing this for two reasons. I am first of all interested because  of my family tree. I have been doing genealogy reserach for many years now and I am fascinated by all the surpises you get along the way to find your ancestors.
  But second, I´m writing a historic novel about Christian Robson. I will use what I can find, but if necessary I will make it up while I am writing. He is a very interesting character and I am sure this novel will be a long, very long, project of mine.

  So if I don´t find any more evidence that Christian Robson was born in clan Dunnachaid for instance, I will still do more research about that clan to include that in my book. (But not in my family tree!)

  Thanks again! / Helena

[Forfarian]

Kirkwall which I believe is Argyll

Kirkwall is not in Argyll; it is the capital of Orkney.

[helenastark]

Thank You all!! I have come a long way in my research and it´s worth so much to me.

Right now I am trying to locate a Partick Robertson and his wife Elizabeth Ramsay that might be the parents of Jacob Robertson of Struan who might be the grandfather of my ancestor Christian Robson (1613-1685).
Elizabeths Ramsay´s parents names were Jacob Ramsay and Jonetha Scot.

Anyone who have heard of them before??

Thank you again!! This is really a great forum.

/Helena in Sweden

[marcie dean]

Kirkwall which I believe is Argyll?

Kirkwall is not in Argyll; it is the capital of Orkney.

Sorry Forfarian,
I get Lochend in Campbeltown and Kirkwall mixed up.

Both places I have had a little research not a lot and perhaps I should have followed that remark with a question mark and not make it sound as if it was a positive. I don't live in Scotland and I only visit occasionally when funds allow.  Most of the people who I would have gone to see are now dead.
So once again, apologies if I have offended you with my ignorance of Scotlands Islands.  marcie

[Forfarian]

Absolutely no offence imagined, Marcie. Just didn't like to think of the frustration of looking for Kirkwall at the other end of the country.

[Maria Robsahm]

Christian Robsahm (of whom my husband Peter Robsahm is a direct descendant)  is no relation to Jacob/James Robertson of Struan. Robertson of Struan had four children, three daughters and one son, The daughters married at leat partly into Swedish nobility, whereas his only son, Jacob, died in the Russian-occupied town of Dorpat 1659 without offspring. All these children were born well into the 1620's so it is even for other reasons impossible for Christian Robson to be a son or grandson of Robertson of Struan.
Here is the info in Swedish:
Robertssons liv

Jakob Robertsson föddes 1566 och var son till Elisabeth Ramsay och Patrik Robertson, som tillhörde den friherrliga ätten Robertson till Strovane6 i grevskapet Perth i Skottland.
Robertsson kom från Skottland till Sverige runt sekelskiftet 1500-1600. Då var han redan både filosofie och medicine doktor och antas ha slagit sig ner i Stockholm för att söka sitt uppehälle, liksom många andra skottar som kom till Sverige på den tiden.
Den 15 februari år 1614 antogs Robertsson till konung Gustav II Adolfs livmedikus, tre år efter det att han blivit anställd som hovmedikus. Då han utsågs till livmedikus var han med kungen i fält i Livland, en av många utlandsfärder han gjorde i tjänsten.
Åtskilliga gånger tog han emot donationer av gods och gårdar både i Sverige och Livland.  Detta tyder dels på att hans förtjänster uppskattades, dels på att han själv såg till att hävda sin rätt och förskaffa sig ekonomiska förmåner. Det sades ofta om honom att han var påstridig vad gällde det ekonomiska. Fisher skriver rentav om honom att han var ”greedy and constantly applied for new royal gifts”.
Den 26 november 1623 erhöll han privilegium på inrättande av ett nytt apotek i Stockholm. År 1626 eller 1627 överlät han dock skötseln av det, antagligen därför att han var med kungen i fält och inte längre tider kunde vistas i Stockholm. Några år senare sålde han apoteket, förmodligen till följd av den konflikt angående inköp och leverans av apoteksvaror, som han hade hamnat i med sin landsman Ralegh eller Ralle Sanderson. Även om Robertsson lätt hamnade i konflikter med borgare och andra personer i Stockholm vid hans läkarpraktik, så syntes kungen tillfreds med hans insatser och upphöjde honom år 1630 i adligt stånd.
Robertsson ingick på 1620-talet äktenskap med Margareta Blomen med vilken han fick fyra barn, nämligen sonen Adolf och döttrarna Christina Jacobina, Elisabeth och Maria Eleonora.
Margareta Blomen dog 1646 och därefter gifte Robertsson om sig med Anna Seitserf. Bröllopet ägde rum sommaren 1650, då brudgummen uppnått en ålder av 84 år, medan bruden bara var 15 år gammal. Robertsson dog år 1652.
Best regards/vänliga hälsningar Maria Robsahm, Hjo

[Forfarian]

My Swedish isn't really up to much, but I think this is the gist of Maria's Swedish information. The rest of it is a bit beyond me. Corrections and improvements welcome.

James Robertson was born in 1566 and was the son of Elizabeth Ramsay and Patrick Robertson, who was a member of the baronial family of Robertson of Struan in the county of Perth in Scotland. Robertson came to Sweden around the turn of the 16th to 17th century. There he studied both philosophy and medicine  ….. and many other Scots also came to Sweden at that time. On the 15th February 1614 Robertson became personal physician to King Gustave II Adolf, and three years later he was installed as court physician. ….. With the King to Livonia [roughly present-day Estonia and Latvia], and he made many overseas journeys with the king. ….. Many gifts of goods and land both in Sweedn and in Livonia. …. 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 apothecary’s business in Stockholm. In 1627 or 1628 ….. sold the apothecary’s business …. with his countryman Ralle Sanderson. ….. conflict with town and other people in Stockholm over his medical practice …. king raised him to the nobility in 1630. In 1620 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.