Hello,
I have been researching my family history, particularly my grandad, Frank Williamson Heywood, who claimed to be the illegitimate child of James Williamson Jr., or Lord James Williamson Ashton. When I started looking into my family tree, my mum mentioned that the story was he was the illegitimate child of some lord from Lancaster, though but never knew the name of the lord.
I struggled to find information about my grandad until I looked up the name Frank Williamson. This led me to a 1911 census record from Morecambe, Lancashire, England, where he was listed as the grandson of James Stott. James Stott had three children living with him, including Horence Haywood, who was listed as 20 years old and working as a housekeeper. Horence was noted as having one child, who could be either Horence Haywood or Edith Jane Haywood, James Stott's daughter, who was 15 at the time. It's possible that Horence is the mother instead of Edith.
There is limited information about Horence Haywood, apart from an outbound journey to Quebec, Canada, dated 1913. Additionally, I discovered a 1921 census that listed Frank Williamson Heywood as an adopted child of Mr. James Pritchard in Barrow-in-Furness, where my grandad lived until his death. He reportedly lived in isolation due to the stigma associated with being an illegitimate child.
I believe we might be able to help each other, as we could potentially be related and also be illegitimate children of James Williamson Jr. Perhaps we can consider doing a DNA test to confirm our relationship. If so, this could validate our ancestors’ claims and prove that he indeed had illegitimate children.
Just to confirm when I showed a picture of James Williamson Jr to my mum a few days after she told me the story she told me he is a spitting image of my Grandad Heywood and is currently looking for a picture for me to have a look at.
I hope to hear from you soon
Thanks
