John Williamson.....

[Douglas Williamson]

Trying to find when John Williamson died and where he is buried.

He was born 18th April 1807, Dalgety Parish, Fife and married Ann Muir 24th March 1832, Dalgety Parish, Fife. I know from marriage certificates of his children that he died between 22nd April 1864 and 15th June 1864 possibly Lanarkshire somewhere as his wife Ann (born c.1805) died 24th June 1879, McLeans Land, High Coats - is that in the Holytown area ?
They had 6 children that I know of:

Andrew, Thomas, James, Montgomery, Isabella and Alexander all born Fife except Alexander who was born Carriden, West Lothian.

If anyone could help I would be grateful. Also where would anyone who died in High Coats be possibly be buried. Have queried Scotland's People for John's death but there are too many to check unless I win Lottery!

[sporran]

Hello Douglas,


in which district(s) did the Williamson children marry in 1864? There is a strong possibility that the parents were not too far away. There were 14 deaths for John Williamsons in 1864, and 4 have ages, all of them much too young.


Regards,

John

[Douglas Williamson]

Hello John

Thanks for your interest.

Andrew was married 31 Dec 1857, Grahamsdyke.

James was married 31 Dec 1858, Thankerton, Bothwell, Lanarkshire

Isabella and Montgomery were married 22 April 1864 (joint marriage), Bridgeness, Carriden, Linlithgow.

Alexander was married West Lothian 15 June 1866.

James (above) second marriage was 19 Feb 1869, McDowall Street, Johnstone, Renfrewshire.

John is shown as deceased on Alexander's marriage certificate (1866) and living on Isabella and Montgomery's certificates (1864). I have looked at the death certificates for all John Williamsons for West Lothian and for Fife for the years 1864 to 1866 on Scotland's People, but none match up. I can only assume that John and his wife moved sometime away from West Lothian in this 3 year period.

[nelmit]

...... I know from marriage certificates of his children that he died between 22nd April 1864 and 15th June 1864!.....

John,

I'm sure you will have spotted this by now but looking back at the marriage dates of the children I think Douglas meant to type 15th June 1866.

Annette M

[sporran]

Hello Annette,


thanks for the information. I had spotted that, but it does no harm to mention it.

Douglas: I have been working on the problem on and off this evening, but without any joy. I found Ann on the 1871 census in Maryhill, Lanarkshire (also Alexander's usual residence in 1866), a widow living with son Andrew, who was a widower. I thought that one of the children may have made an error about John Williamson being alive or not, so I have checked deaths in West Lothian and Maryhill.

I am a little suspicious that John Williamson may not have been with the rest of the family, and I would be interested in the 1861 census for Carriden, West Lothian (Linlithgowshire), if any kind soul has access to it.


Regards,

John

[Douglas Williamson]

Thanks John for your last posting and for your time so far. Managed to view 1861 census today at Falkirk Library and found John and Ann with son Alexander at Bridgeness, Carriden, presumably at the address they had been at since moving from Fife in the early part of the 1840's. Still trying to work out where he died. The family have moved at some point to the Coatbridge area sometime after 1864 when Alexander was born in Carriden. Also spent the afternoon going round Old Monkland Cemetery, Coatbridge looking for his grave but with no luck. Found a couple of Williamson stones which I am about to follow up on.It was one of the biggest cemeteries my wife and I have visited, and we have been round quite a few in the last 10 years or so. It helps to have two people to split the searching and is good exercise for both of us.

The search goes on!!!

[sporran]

Hello Douglas,


"the search goes on!!!" It does indeed, and unfortunately will continue. I have tried everything that I can do remotely. To summarise the position:

1861: living at Bridgeness, Carriden in census with wife and son Alexander.
1864: daughters Montgomery and Isabella marry in Carriden. Father not reported as deceased, and Montgomery was living in Bridgeness.
1866: son Alexander marries in Linlithgow, giving usual address as Maryhill, Lanark and father deceased.
1871: widow Ann is living with son Andrew (a widower) and his children in Maryhill at census time.

The likeliest conclusion is that John died in Carriden or Maryhill during 1864-1866. Even if the information at marriages was wrong or omitted, it seems likely that he died between 1861 and 1871. I have tried all Williamson names in the areas, John Williamson in West Lothian and Lanarkshire, and all John Williamsons born in 6 years either side of 1809.

The possibilities that I can come up with are:
he died somewhere completely unexpected, e.g. Caithness, Shetland or foreign parts, that I did not look at;
bizarre spellings were used (I have looked at Williams, Wilkison, etc);
his death was recorded at GROS but did not get loaded into SP (unlikely);
he deserted and took on another identity, and the family covered up by saying that he was dead (far from unknown).

The only thing left is to suggest a day at NRH doing a "sledgehammer" search of all John Williamson deaths in the decade.

Please let us know if you find an answer.


Regards,

John