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