McWilliam history: 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.