McWilliam(s) around the world

I can’t easily count the number of ggg or even gggg  or ggggg grandchildren who are descended from Lewis McWilliam and Anne Munro. I guess that there are probably about 70 or 80 of us alive today, and we are fairly well spread around the world. I have to say that the maternal lines seem stronger than the male – in that the women have gone on to have larger families. So many of these offspring are not named McWilliam. Around Scotland and England we have Ramsay, McDonald, Taylor, Wood, Sutherland, Thorpe, Mill, Hendry, Edward, Fraser, Bennett, Baxter, Laing, Wilcox, Nevada – and of course Chisholm and no doubt many more surnames by now. I know many of you personally and some I have never met.

We have Jill Stewart in France, Derek McWilliam and Bob Ramsay’s family in Australia (after South Africa), Jill (Fraser) Yang in Hong Kong and a fair contingent in North America.

In Canada we have Ronnie Fraser (son of William Fraser and Margaret McWilliam) and his own dynasty based in Calgary. In British Columbia we have the descendants of Robert Mair and Helen (Nellie) McWilliam, and also of Peter Ramsay (son of Peter Ramsay and Mary McWilliam).

The California line, thanks to Chal (all now with the surname McWilliams) consists of  Lucy (b. 1953), Mark (b. 1955) daughter and son of Peter, and Chalmer III (b. 1963), Glenn (b. 1964) and Stuart (b. 1966) the sons of Chalmer II – and no doubt some further offspring from these folks.

I believe that some of this family have now spread to other states, including Texas.

   

In New York, Bob McW (b. 1918) had 5 children. I don’t know their names or have birth years, but they are quite likely grandparents themselves by now.

I have no contact with any of these North American teams, but of course I would be very pleased to – particularly if they have an interest in their ancestry, and also in case they have something they can add to make this picture more complete!

And of course if I ever get to take the line firmly back from our Lewis, perhaps another two generations as seems just possible, we could have an even bigger crowd to contemplate.

Maternal lines

I am pleased to show that I am not only interested in paternal ancestry, and can offer the following for now. I hope eventually to be able to show this in a chart and also to be able to include some more photographs.

My grandfather Robert McWilliam married Janet (known as Jessie) Pirrie in 1905 – and they had 10 children. Jessie was born in Inveravon parish in 1882. Here again is the only picture I have of a young Jessie - aged 16 in 1898. (Thanks to cousin Susan.)

                                                                     

Inveravon is a rural parish, south of Dufftown and stretching from Chapeltown through Tomnavoulin, Auchbreck and Glenlivit across to Ballindalloch on Speyside. Excellent whisky country these days, but otherwise mostly pretty difficult hill farming! The parish includes most of Ben Rinnes – one of my favourite hills. It borders Mortlach and Cabrach parishes to the north-east.

Jessie was the 9^th child in a family of 13. Her parents were George Pirrie (1848 – 1920) and Jane Stuart (1848 – 1914). George Pirrie was the eldest of 5 born to John Pirie (1816 - ?) and his wife Margaret Anderson (1817? - ?). John Pirie was a cooper by trade, i.e. he made wooden barrels – no doubt for the whisky industry, which began to grow significantly (and legally) after the excise act of 1823. Please note that the variation in the spelling of the Pirrie/Pirie surname is an accurate reflection of the records! Jane Stuart was the youngest in a family of 3 born to her parents James Stuart (1806 – 1877) and his second wife Ann Sharp (? - ?). James Stuart also had 3 children with his first wife Mary Grant (1817 - ?).

And James Stuart (1806 – 1877) was the youngest of 3 children of William Stuart (1770 – 1845) and Jean Riach (dates?). James and William Stuart were both shoemakers by trade.

So for those of you who are my first cousins, William Stuart and Jean Riach are great great great grandparents. John Pirie and Margaret Anderson are great great grandparents.

And thank you to cousin Diana for much of the above!

Grandfather Robert McWilliam’s parents were Robert McWilliam (1844 – 1915) and Elizabeth Green (1848 – 1934). Elizabeth was the daughter of Alexander Green (1801 – 1890) a crofter at Sandyhillock, Glack of Pitglassie, and his wife Ann Spence (1815 – 1895) who was born in Drumachter (presumably an old spelling of Drumochter).

Alexander Green’s parents were Robert Green and Elizabeth Donald. Ann Spence was the daughter of John Spence and Janet McWilliam.

Great grandfather Robert McW was the son of great great grandfather James McWilliam (1804 – 1872) and Margaret Shearer (1802 – 1873), who was born at the Raws (another Mortlach farm). Margaret’s parents were Alexander Shearer and Isabella Donald.

I have no dates or further information on these six who were great great great grandparents to me and my cousins, but I will try to look into this. They must have been roughly contemporaries of Lewis McWilliam (1760 – 1840).

So, just to repeat some of that, 8 of our great great great grandparents were Lewis McWilliam and Anne Munro, Alexander Shearer and Isabella Donald, Robert Green and Elizabeth Donald, John Spence and Janet McWilliam. Farming or crofting stock all the way, with a couple of minor variations in whisky and in shoe-making! Who needs anything else?

Thanks to Helen Bennett for this information.

Letter from America: 1918

Here is the text of Willie's letter to his brother James, dated  6th February 1918. He refers to his brother John (known as Jack) who died just 3 years later, aged only 36, and also to his new-born baby boy Robbie (later known as Bob). Some interesting references to the way things were then.

                                                                                                                     311 E. 65th Street

                                                                                                                      New York City    

                                                                                                                       Feb. 6^th 1918                                                                                           

Dear Brother

I have been intending to write you for sometime past, but as usual I always put it off. How are things going with you all? I hope you are not having a severe winter. We have had a severe cold winter here. Coal you can’t buy it is so scarce. It has not bothered us so bad as we cook and heat the house by gas,  but the gas gave out twice this winter when the temperature got down to zero. Sugar is also hard to get and quite a few more things are also scarce. The cost of everything  has advanced about 100% as well.

Maggie wrote us about the New Year time and she said you had bought a pony. I had a letter from Craig as I have no doubt you know, and Jack and I signed same and returned it over a month ago.

Jack has been living with us here since the New Year. He is doing a job in the City here, same boss. He is leaving in a few weeks to be a Foreman for another firm on a government job down in Virginia. He is getting more money and of course that is an attraction, and he likes the country I think. He is still a British Subject but I hardly think they will call any(one) here meantime over the draft age 21 to 31 years. The building line is very slow here just now outside the government work that is going on. We have been rather slow the last three months.

Isn’t it too bad about poor Davie Grierson. I am to act as executor on his estate, but have not got the proper power of attorney from his people yet. Of course I have been communicating with them. I think altogether there ought to be about $2,300 got to people. Roughly about £465 after deducting the death duties etc. It will take over six months before they can get any of it. The City Administrator will not pay anything sooner. I turned the whole thing over to them of course and they took charge of his Bank Book, Insurance Policy etc. His clothes and tools are still left with us.

Bye the bye I have been talking to Jack lately about Father’s gravestone. I think I wrote you once before asking you about it but I don’t think you said much about it. Now I expect you paid for the stone yourself Jamie. Maggie told me one time that the price was £31.0.0 if I remember right. Now Jack and I wish to give our fair share towards that, and as our share of Father’s estate is £25.14.0 each we will leave the £5.14.0 each. That will make 1/3 the cost of the stone.

I have just seen in an Elgin paper that Nicoll the baker is dead. We have not heard from ??? for quite some time now, but I expect they are all well out there. Things are in a bad way all over Canada I believe. If this awful carnage in Europe was only finished, but peace just looks about as far away as ever. I see they have decided to take lots of the young men from the munitions and put them in the fighting line. How is Peter going to fare in this. I expect he is still in Sheffield.

May and Robbie are both in fairly good health. The little fellow is hardy and strong. He is just about able to walk himself now. Jack and him are great friends. I expect Mary is still in Glenrinnes. Maggie says she likesTuriff (?) very well. She won’t manage to get home so often now.

Well I think I have given you about all my news meantime. I hope mother is keeping well and is not bothered with rheumatism. How is everyone else at home? In good health I hope. Trusting to hear from you with all the home news. With best love to all from Jack, May and I.

I remain your loving Bro.

Willie

Robert McWilliam 1844 – 1915 and Elizabeth Green 1849 - 1934

Robert and Elizabeth McWilliam in 1893

Robert was the youngest son of James McWilliam and his wife Margaret Shearer. He had an older sister, Margaret, who died aged just 20 in 1850, and two older brothers (John and Alex) who both emigrated to the USA around 1860. James spent several years in the USA both before and after the birth of Robert. We don’t know exactly how long these absences were, but they must have been fairly substantial, and therefore must have made things quite difficult for his wife and family back home in Smithston. There were other families at Smithston though (particularly the Garden family), so at least I guess Robert wasn’t left to be an all-round farmer while still a teenager. But farming was certainly to be his career – first at Smithston and then moving in 1887 to nearby Glencorrie. He and Elizabeth Green had 12 (or 13?) children, starting (?) with James in 1869. I have a copy of young James’ birth certificate which shows that he was born out of wedlock. The certificate has an endorsement which says that the birth was legitimised by subsequent marriage, but this is dated 1892. In fact I now understand that the marriage took place on 26 June 1869. The 1871 census shows Robert (27), Elizabeth (22) to be married and living with son James (1) in Fife Street, Dufftown, and with a daughter Robina (3) in Speymouth.

Robina was in fact the illegitimate daughter of Robert McWilliam and Marjory (May) Black. I believe that May grew up in Knockando and was working as a cook in the Fochabers area. I don’t know the story of Robina’s earliest years, but she was eventually brought up as Robina McWilliam with the rest of the McWilliam family at Glencorrie.

When his father James died in 1872 Robert was just 28 years old, and the father of two boys - as well as of Robina, and it seems that he got stuck in to being a successful farmer and family man. In 1887 the family made the move from Smithson to nearby Glencorrie, thus taking on a slightly larger farm – with its bigger responsibilities and better housing. The farms were rented (from the Duke of Gordon’s estates - partly in Glenfiddich and partly in Glenrinnes estates), but this move was a small step up in the world. Robert and Elizabeth continued to have a growing family, with a new baby born every two, or sometimes three, years. These included my own grandfather, Rob, in 1873.

Here again is the 1893 photo of the whole family, including baby Mary who was born that year.

And an extract from the family tree. See an earlier post for who's who in the photo.

When Robert died in 1915, farming at Glencorrie was continued by James, with Rob as 2^nd in command and Jean (known as Jane) as housekeeper. Robert’s wife Elizabeth lived till age of 85 in 1934, and I understand that she was a very strong character who remained in full charge of her faculties, and she was probably the real boss at the farm, as well as an important influence in the lives of her grandchildren.

James remained single all his life. Rob and his wife Janet (or Jessie) Pirrie had a family of 10 including my father George. Alex married Helen Ramsay and farmed at Clunymore, raising a family of 8. Elizabeth (Bessie-Ann) and her husband Willie McDonald lived in Dufftown and had a family of 10.

Janet married Alex Taylor, a farmer from Skene, and they raised a family of 9. The youngest was Isabella (Tibby) who still lives there.  Margaret married Willie Fraser of Dufftown (a distillery manager), and they raised a family of 4 – the eldest being Helen Bennett (who has helped considerably in filling me in with much of this information). She and her two sisters live in the Aberdeen area of Scotland, while brother Ronnie is a retired Doctor in Calgary, Canada.

Mary married Peter Ramsay, and the family moved to Glasgow where Peter initially worked on the trams – and they had a family of 3 boys. Peter, the middle son, moved to British Colombia in the late 1940s?

Hellen (Nellie) married Robert Mair and the family emigrated to Canada (BC) in approx. 1912. Their first three children were born in Scotland, and the youngest (Gladi) was born in Canada.

Willie and John left for the USA when they were young men (somewhere between 1905 and 1910), and Peter followed them later, maybe about 1920. They all settled in the New York area. John died there very young in 1921 (of an infection). Willie and Peter each died in 1958. The only offspring was Robert (Bob) – son of Willie and his wife May Younie (originally from Elgin). Helen Bennett visited Bob in NY in 1956, and she tells me that he and his wife (name?) had five children.

I have a copy of a letter that Willie wrote to James in 1918, with his news from New York, and referring to the financial settlement for their father Robert's gravestone. I can't lay my hands on the photo I have of the stone, but I will try to come back here with that when I track it down. In the meantime here is the text.

In loving memory of

Robert McWilliam, farmer, who died at Glencorrie 23.1.1915, aged 70 years.

Also his son John who died at Pennsylvania, USA 23.1.1921, aged 36 years.

Elizabeth Green, wife of the above Robert McWilliam who died at Glencorrie 21.1.1934, aged 85 years.

Their daughter Jane who died at Glencorrie 7.11.1939 aged 61 years.

Their son James who died at Glencorrie 29.11.1939, aged 70 years.

And I will include Willie's letter as a separate item, because I find it an interesting reflection of the way things were.

Letter from America: 1853

This entry is really just about the letter James McWilliam wrote to his wife Margaret on June 11^th 1853 shortly after his arrival back in the USA after a long absence. As mentioned in the previous post, it comes across to me as a well written letter, i.e. the handwriting is good and the grammar and spelling are pretty good. I attach scanned copies of the letter – or rather of my fairly poor photocopy. In my transcription I have made some small alterations to spelling here and there, but I have left in many of what we would regard as misspellings by today’s conventions.

In the letter James reports on his voyage, and on the money he has in the bank. $4180 must have been a comfortable sum in 1853! He also talks about his thoughts on whether or not he should be asking his family to make the move to America, clearly coming out somewhat against the idea. There is also mention of some domestic and family matters, but it is unclear what lies behind these comments, e.g. regarding the suggestion that his wife Margaret would need a good horse. He mentions that Jane Garden is in New York.  At first I read this as James Garden  (a former neighbour at Smithstown who was also part of that group who got into some trouble with the law).  I now know that he was transported to Australia in 1827, and believe that the letter to refers to his sister Jane/Jean Garden (a niece of James McW).  He also mentions staying with James Perry nearby to Schenectady. He was a nephew of James (son of sister Anne), who has his own tree of descendants in NY State and elsewhere in the US.

In the letter we learn that James travelled on the SS City of Glasgow. At first I presumed that the journey would have been from Glasgow to New York. I have looked up this ship and find that it was a newish kind of steamship (screw propeller rather than paddles, and assisted by sail). It was launched in Glasgow in early 1850. At first it plied the Glasgow – NY route with a mix of passengers and cargo, but moved to the Liverpool-Philadelphia route later that year. It was lost at sea on that  route in January 1854 with 480 people on board. I have come across a drawing of it which I have included above.

And here’s the letter. I’ll let it do the rest of the talking.

To: Mrs Margaret McWilliam

       Smithstown, Mortlach,

       Banffshire, Scotland

                                                                                                                    Schenectady, June 11^th 1853

Dear Margaret

I have now accomplished the journey long contemplated. Thank God I stood the fatigue fully as well as I expected.  I was a good dale sick, but when I went to bed I got over it. The Glasgow is a verie good ship and with a fair wind veri easy. But the wind was right ahead of us all the time which made the passage more disagreeable. We made the passage in 13 days and 4 hours which was a veri good run against a headwind. I did not find Jane Garden in New York, and I did not stop but a few hours in it. I came right on to here. All my old acquaintances and friends seem glad to see me and is (sic) remarkably kind to me. I am now stopping with John Ellis, but there is a little too much grandure for me. I do not feel as if I was at home. Tomorrow I mean to go to the country to James Perry and I shall stay with him for a week or two.

With regard to the money concern it is all right and I do not believe that ever it was refused. I think it was  self interest which made Mr Ellis say so. He wanted to get me here to settle some disputable affairs. Mr Ellis went with me and introduced me to the cashier of the bank, and he was readie to pay me the money at any time I chuse to call for it. All he said about was I think Mr you have not been afraid of losing your money it has not accumulated as far as I expected. I shall be plain and tell you all about it. The amount is Four Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Dollars, which would amount to about Eight Hundred and Forty Pounds Sterling. The interest of it here is a few shillings over Forty Pounds a year. I expected the stock to be about a Hundred pounds more, but I must be content as it is. I know it will not increase much as long as I am here idle.

I find as I go along that this country has improved a great dale since I left it, every thing is nice and pretty to look at. But what does that avail to me?  There is none of it mine and I cannot say I am at home. Mr Ellis and my other acquaintances I have seen insists upon me to settle in this country but I have not consented to do so as yet. I acknowledge it a good country and if we were once settled in it we could do well enough. But I know that you are too old for ever liking the country. To me it would soon become familiar and our other young people would soon come to like it well enough but I think it would be different with you, therefore I shall not say that I will or will not until you write me again which I want you to do as soon as you receive this. If I come home this fall I must leave upon the 10^th of September because the next trip would be too late in the season. Jean Garden is stopping here and has been for the last three weeks. Her health was rather poor and she left the Citty for some time. She is to return to New York about the first of August. Please to tell her father and all her friends that she is well.

I am sorrey to say that I have not been too well since I landed as I could wish. We was cool upon sea until the day we landed, then when we landed the weather was extremely hot and I got a verie bad cold which will take me some time to get over that makes me rather uncomfortable at present but I think I will soon get over it. I hope that this will find you and the rest of the family enjoying good health and every other comfort of life. Tell Robert that I think a great dale about him. Tell him he must be good and learn to read well until we meet again. When you write be shure to mention how John’s knee is. I should be glad to hear that it was well. With regard to your other affairs I need not say anything about them. Aney of you should know what is right to be don as it should be. I will not see it and it will not anger me. All I shall say is that by attention, economy, perciverence, and industry you can do well enough, and without that no one will or can do right. The greatest difficulty you will have is in getting a horse to sute you. I told Alexander all my mind about that before we parted, so I hope you will be fortunat in getting one to sute you. There is another thing that grieves much that is your woman. I know she will not do well. I told Alexr to try to get clear of her if possible, if you can do so. If not you must do the best that you can. The time will wear past.

Please give my compliments to all neighbours and acquaintances. And I shall remain yours faithfully till death, James McWilliam

James McWilliam 1804 – 1872 (and some descendants)

James McWilliam was the youngest son of Lewis McWilliam and Anne Munro. James was born in 1804 and grew up to take over the family farm at Smithstown (sometimes Smithston), despite there having been older male siblings (see chart). I don’t know what became of the others, but we can assume from the fact that three of them were named William that infant death was a major problem. It is possible, though, that Robert (b.1799) or William (b.1801) emigrated from Scotland.  In a 2020 edit I can add that his sister Anne (b.1792) had a child with William Pirie in 1813 and then married William Anderson in 1824. This family emigrated to Canada, where her son's name was altered to James Anderson Perry.

Now (in 2021) I have to edit the next bit to reflect my latest understanding.

James McW married Margaret Shearer, date unknown - or maybe they were just presumed to be married. I had understood that they had four children: John (b.1826), Margaret (b.1830), Alexander (b.1832) and Robert (b.1844). James was my great great grandfather, and Robert my great grandfather.

I have now seen John's belated birth registration - dated June 1932, and where father is recorded as James McWilliam, but mother's name is not recorded and the birth is listed as illegitimate. When John married Mary McDonald in 1860, his mother is noted as Janet Green.  

One thing we do know is that in February 1827 James got into a spot of trouble with the law – following an encounter with some excisemen. I have copy of several pages of handwritten records from the Banff Procurator Fiscal’s office outlining a case in which James along with 4 others (William Garden, James Garden, William Anderson, James McKerron) are alleged to have attacked an excise party under the leadership of Donald McKenzie – with musket shots being fired in the process. In case it isn't obvious from the mention of excisemen, it seems that James and his pals were involved in the making or the movement of illicit whisky! The records indicate that a court case was pending, but it is unclear what happened as a result. It does appear, though, that James remained at liberty.  In a 2020 edit I can add that the two Garden brothers were eventually tried at court in Edinburgh in July 1827, with both being sentenced to "transportation for life". James Garden was transported to Australia later that year. As yet I don't know what happened to William. As mentioned in my update to the Lewis post here, I believe that their mother, Margaret (McWilliam) Garden was the mother of these lads, and so they were half brothers to James McW.

After John was born in 1826 (to Janet Green?), James McW and Margaret Shearer had 3 children:  Margaret in 1829, Alexander in 1832, and then a long gap between these and the birth of Robert in 1844. It seems that much of the time in the interim, and also later, was spent in the USA. James travelled at least twice to the USA, and I now understand that his first journey to the US was August 1832.  This is just a few short months after the birth of baby Alexander.  I always suspected that this journey possibly had something to do with escaping the consequences of his 1827 misdemeanours, but now |I am quite uncertain about this. What we do know is that he became a US citizen in March 1842, and that he was working as a contractor on the building of railroads in New York State. I have a photocopy of his US citizenship certificate (issued March 17^th, 1842 in Saratoga County), as well as of a contract (dated August 29^th 1836) he had to build a section of the Saratoga and Washington Railroad. I have looked it up and find that this is a piece of railroad, about 45 miles in total length between Saratoga Springs and Whitehall, both north of Albany in NY State. Ownership and names have changed over the years, but it is still in operation and appears to be owned by Canadian Pacific. In fact it forms a part of the main rail route between New York City and Montreal (known as the Adirondack route). 

In the 1841 census, James' and Margaret's children are found to be living with the (maternal?) grandparents at Smithston. Neither James nor Margaret are reported there. James was likely in America, but perhaps Margaret was too.

US citizenship certificate

We also have a copy of a letter written by James to his wife Margaret on the occasion of his final arrival in the USA, dated June 11^th 1853. I will attach a copy of the handwritten letter as well as a transcription. I think this merits a blog entry of its own though! As you will see this is a well-written letter, which talks of his voyage on the ship Glasgow and of the money still in his US bank account from his earlier stays. The address is given just as Schenectady in New York State.

I am guessing that this final trip was for a relatively short stay, perhaps largely to retrieve the money he had in the US ($4180, which he says amounts to about £840 – a fairly substantial sum in those days). And I presume that he spent the remainder of his days working the farm back at Smithston until his death in 1872.

Robert, who took over the farm, would have been aged just 28 at this time. He too will have his own blog entry!

James’ other two sons, John and Alex, both emigrated to the USA in the later 1850s. John came back to marry Mary McDonald in Dufftown in March 1860, and they travelled to the USA later that year. John and Alex both settled in Oak Park, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago). John and Mary later moved to a town called Turner Junction - which was later renamed to West Chicago.  Alex married Maria Luttrell, and moved to Champaign, IL. They had 4 children and their descendants are still there today in Champaign. Alex died there in 1878 at the age of just 46. John and Mary raised a family of 5. John died in 1894, and Mary in 1896. I have the newspaper announcement of her death and attach a copy here.

Only one of their children (Edward: 1865 – 1924) went on to marry and have a child. Edward’s wife was Alice Close and the child was named Chalmer – and known as Chal (1899 – 1992). By this time the surname had been changed to McWilliams. Chal was very interested in his heritage and visited Scotland on a number of occasions. Helen Bennett remembers some of his visits to Dufftown and she corresponded with him over many years. I have a copy of a fine letter written by Chal to Helen in 1975. Chal had the originals of some of the old family documents, but we seem to have lost touch with his family for the time being. He and his wife Lucy lived in Los Angeles and retired to Carmel in California – until they both died in 1992. As I understand it there are 5 grandchildren (Lucy, Mark, Chalmer, Glen and Stuart – all now in their 40s or 50s, and mostly in other parts of the US). Of course I would welcome the prospect of being in touch with them!

Final document here is a copy of a page from 1983 the programme for the Highland Games of  the Scottish Society of the Monterey Peninsula. It is a brief but interesting biography of Chal, referring to his career, his family and his interest in Scotland.

There is a memorial stone to James and his family in Mortlach churchyard. At the next opportunity I will aim to take a photograph and post it here.

Lewis McWilliam 1763 - 1844

Lewis McWilliam is about as far back as we can go with any degree of certainty, and even then of course there is a lot that we don’t know about him, and that includes his own parents....but see below for my thinking on this! 

We know that Lewis was born around the year 1763 and that he lived to over 80. He is recorded in the census of 1841 and also as a witness at the baptism of his grandson Robert (my great-grandfather) in June 1844. He served in a military unit called the Duke of Gordon’s North Fencibles from 1780 until April 1783 when the unit was disbanded. The Fencibles were army regiments which were raised for defence against the threat of invasion during the American War of Independence (1775 - 1783) and the later French Revolutionary Wars. They were usually temporary units, composed of local volunteers, and commanded by Regular Army officers. Their role was normally confined to garrison and patrol duties, freeing the Regular Army units to perform offensive operations. They had no liability for overseas service.

I have a copy of the certificate of service given to Lewis McW when the unit was disbanded, signed by Lieut. John Gordon – maybe a son or nephew of the then Duke of Gordon. The Duke of Gordon was a major landowner in the north-east of Scotland – based at Gordon Castle in Fochabers but also owning Glenfiddich Lodge in Cabrach and several farms in that area. One of these was Laggan farm, and the demob certificate has a handwritten footnote which says that prior to enlisting with the North Fencibles, Lewis McWilliam was herding John Gordon’s cattle at Laggan (a farm at Auchindoun in Mortlach parish).

Lewis married Anne Munro and settled down to a life of farming, apparently first at Laggan, then Brigford (or Brighaugh) and then finally (from about 1803) at Smithstown – all in Mortlach parish. They had 7 children, whose births are all recorded: William (b.1789), Anne (b. 1792), Janet (b.1794), William (b. 1796), Robert (b. 1799), William (b. 1801) and James (b. 1804). We can take it from the 3 Williams that some of these children sadly died in infancy. James was my great great grandfather. He married Margaret Shearer and they had apparently just 4 children – and this family will be my subject for the next blog entry.

Smithstown (or often written as Smithston) was a “fairm toon” with other families living there too, and one of these was John Garden and his wife Margaret McWilliam.  Lewis was a witness at the baptism of several of this couple’s 10 children, and so it seems there was a close family connection. I now (in 2020) understand that Margaret was in fact a daughter of Lewis and unknown mother - probably raised in Aberdeen. This comes from the registration of Margaret's marriage to John Garden.  Similarly, Lewis was a witness at the baptism of 3 of the children of John McWilliam and Helen Black (one of them also named Lewis), and I believe that John and Lewis were brothers. John and Helen seem to have moved from Mortlach parish to Cabrach parish.

There is no hard evidence for Lewis’s ancestry, unless I am right in my speculation that he and John  were brothers. I have acquired a descendant chart for John McWilliam and Helen Black, and this shows that this John McWilliam was baptised at Dellagarrowan (sometimes Dalgarvan or similar), in Inveravon parish in December 1765 and that his parents were William McWilliam and Anne Cruickshank. Inveravon Parish records also show that a Lewis McWilliam and Margaret McAdam were married in Inveravon parish church in 1738 – although no records seem to exist for any children of this marriage. The more I think about it, it seems highly likely that this takes us back another 2 generations! And I have some more on possible Inveravon connections – which will have to wait till later!

And it is a separate leg of the tree which I don’t plan to explore here – but John and Helen McWilliam seem to have settled first at Brighaugh in Mortlach parish and then moved to Largue in Cabrach parish. They had a large family of their own (11 children) and no doubt began another complex network of distant cousins.

In a small 2020 edit here I have corrected some small pieces of the above, and I now have an ancestry tree (called McWhistory) at ancestry.com, which is available for public viewing.

Of course there is no photographic record of these people, but I do have a fairly poor photocopy of Lewis’s discharge certificate, with a separate footnote and Lewis’s statement of receipt. I attach these copies here – as well as the following transcription.

Attachment 1, with transcription:

His Majesty’s North Fencibles, wherof His Grace the Duke of Gordon is Colonel.

These are to certify that the bearer hereof, Lewis McWilliam soldier has served in the above Regiment and in The Dukes Company, for the Space of five years, and is for the reason below mentioned discharged from the said Regiment, he having received his pay, arrears of pay, cloathing of all sorts, and all other just demands from the time of his enlisting into the said Regiment to the day of his discharge as appears by his receipt on the back of his discharge. He is discharged, the Regiment being disbanded.

Given under my hand and regimental seal at Aberdeen this ? April 1783

Gordon Col.l.

Attachment 2, with transcription:

I, Lewis McWilliam Do acknowledge to have received my pay, arrears of pay, cloathing of all sorts, and all other just demands from the time of my enlisting into the said Regiment to the day of my discharge.

Lewis McWilliam

Witness present.

NB If the person discharged is entitled to any of His Majesty’s Royal  Bounty, it is to be mentioned in the discharge.

Attachment 3, with transcription: 

Lewis McWilliam being mentioned to have served five years is a mistake i.?. to the discharge. He was enlisted in July 1780 by Lieut John Gordon then recruiting for the North Fencibles. McWilliam at the time was herding my cattle at Laggan.

John Gordon, late N.Fencibles Regiment

I John Gordon late Lieut in the N. Fencibles Regiment do attest that I enlisted Lewis McWilliam for the said Regiment in July or August 1780.   John Gordon