Wilson

by

Christopher Wilson – Irish Freeholder Records

I searched the  PRONI Freeholder Records, and was surprised to find a likely match for Christopher Wilson:

Christopher Wilson was listed as the leaser of some land in the town of Derryenver, County of Armagh.

How do I know he is the likely ancestor of Christopher Wilson (father of Abraham Wilson)?

I have previously searched the marriage records held on PRONI, and found Christopher and Catherine’s marriage certificate.  On the Certificate, Christopher’s place of residence at the time of marriage is ‘Derryinver’.  This is not a big town, in fact it is a very small village, so there is unlikely to be another Christopher Wilson living there.

The Freeholder record lists the landlord as being William Brownlowe, and date of registry is 1712.  The lease was listed as being held for Christopher’s life and also the lives of his sons Christopher and Robert:

Christopher Wilson land lease1712

The above is the extract of the lease agreement (paid yearly)

It reads:

Christopher Wilson 

In part of town land of Derryenver

dated July 21 1712 for (the) lives of ye (?)

Christopher, Christopher, Robert, his sons

at (?) yearly rent of –  (Pounds) 8-10-0

William Brownlowe was a prominent figure in Lurgan (Armagh) history.  He was landlord over much of the land in the Lurgan area, including the towns Derryadd (where Abraham was born) and Derryinver (likely where Christopher was born).  More information about Lurgan freeholder  land history can  be found here.

by

Armistice Day 11 November 1918 – Townsville celebrations

Below is a photograph I found in the Townsville Bulletin 11 Nov 2000, when a news story appeared recalling the end of World War I.  Abraham Wilson was involved in the celebrations, dressing up as the Kaiser in the photograph below.

Armistace Day 1918 - Tvl

Contrary to popular belief in the family, Abraham’s son Henry is not in the photograph above (confirmed by Henry himself).

 

Note:   The above photograph is now kept in Archives held at James Cook University, and copies can be purchased from the University.  I cannot provide copies of this photo, I don’t own the copyright, and I include it on this website purely as part of documenting family history research.

by

PRONI records – missing deceased records for the Wilson family

I’ve searched and searched and tried every option I can think of, but I cannot located the deceased records for Christopher Wilson and three of his children – Edward, Mary and Emily.

Christopher died in a shipyard accident (probably in Belfast) sometime in the late 1880s-1891 (when Catherine emigrated).  I’ve searched on every name variation I can think of, but he is not coming up.

I thought perhaps he used a different surname or first name.  So I did a search for the children’s deaths – I’m almost certain the three were deceased at the time Catherine left Ireland, otherwise she would have taken them with her too?

None of the children’s death records are on PRONI either.

So I give up – for the time being.

 

by

The Wilson family were Scottish in origin

While researching my family’s history, I realised the Wilsons were not Catholic and did not have typical Irish names (eg. Patrick, Michael, Bridget etc).  When analysing further, I noted the Wilsons’ religion was  Methodist, a Scottish Christian religion (or possibly Presbyterian?).  Also, some of the male family names are of Scottish origin – Christopher, Thomas Andrew, Robert.  Initially I thought this was unusual, to have a Scottish family living in Ireland, but some historical research provided the answer.

The first King of England and Scotland was James I.  Elizabeth I Queen of England did not marry or have kids, so her half-sister’s son, James I, got the inheritance – England.  Her half-sister Queen Mary (mother of James) was Queen of Scotland.   So James I, got England and Scotland together.  While having all the mainland real estate, James also wanted the nearby Island – Ireland.  His plan was to send Scottish ‘low landers’ to Ireland and settle them there.  He thought this would help keep the Irish under control.  The plan worked, but in many ways it didn’t work.

So the Wilson family were probably  lowlander Scots in origin.

Some history is below:

Scottish emigration to Ulster

Ulster ancestry

by

Christopher Wilson – home address at the time of his marriage

Christopher Wilson (married to Catherine) , father of Abraham, lived in Derryinver on marriage to Catherine.  This was within the Montiaghs district within the county of Armagh.

Catherine was listed as living  at Derrytrasma, Montiaghs.  Catherine’s stepfather, Thomas Bunton, was listed as living at Ardmore Montiaghs, also within the county of Armagh.   All of these locations were within a few miles of each other.

Both locations are also near Derryadd (also within Montiaghs), where Abraham was born.

The marriage location was listed as ‘Ardmore’ Montiaghs, Armargh.  I believe this is because the marriage took place in the ‘Ardmore’ parish Church of Ireland, which is located in Derryadd (where Abraham was born).

Christopher, his father, Catherine and Thomas all had ‘weaver’ listed as occupation  – so they probably worked together?

Did Christopher’s father own the land at Derryinver, or was he renting?

 

Links below:

Family places in Montiaghs, Armagh

by

Christopher Wilson – PRONI record of date of death?

I’ve been searching for Christopher Wilson’s death certificate.  It is not easy.  Ireland have civil records dating back to 1864, and also have non-Catholic marriages recorded from 1845 onwards.   Records are stored by the Public Records Office Northern Ireland (PRONI). So I should be able to type in Christopher’s name with a range of years for his death (I don’t know what date or year he died), and his name should pop up with a year of death and age.  I understand 1800s records are not completely accurate, but a record of Christopher’s death should be stored somewhere?

Well, I’ve tried typing in ‘Wilson’ ‘Christopher’ and various date ranges up until 1891 (When Catherine, Abraham and Robert left Ireland to emigrate to Australia).  Nothing has turned up so far.  I’ve found just three ‘Christopher Wilsons’ who died between 1880 and 1891.  I’ve also searched on ‘Chris’, ‘Christy’, ‘Christie’, ‘Kris’ and I’ve left the forename blank altogether.  I’ve also looked at various entries for other names which might be his middle name eg. ‘Robert’, ‘James’, ‘William’. And some odd looking names like ‘Reid’ (just in case the transcriber read the name wrong) and ‘Charles’ (just in case the transcriber thought the name read ‘Chas’).  No luck.

Curious, I thought I’d also look up the dates of death for three of his children who probably died in childhood, and before Catherine emigrated (as I couldn’t imagine she would leave children behind in Ireland).  None of the children came up in the search for date of death.  The three children are:  Edward (b. 1869), Emily (b. 1871) and Mary (b. 1875).  I also checked if perhaps Emily and Mary might have got married before Catherine left Ireland (as I don’t think she would leave them behind as young single women).  No marriages.  So why are there no records of death for Christopher, Emily, Mary and Edward?  No idea.

Perhaps Catherine left the reporting of death to her local Church – all the births were recorded, but none of the deaths.  Why?

by

Christopher Wilson (father of Abraham) – why did he switch from Weaver to Shipyard worker?

On Abraham’s birth certificate, Christopher is listed as being a weaver.   However, Christopher died in an accident while working in a shipyard in Belfast, which prompted his widow Catherine, and their sons Abraham and Robert, to emigrate to Australia.  Why did Christopher switch jobs from weaver to Shipyard worker?

Irish Linen, up until the late 1800s, was handmade, and highly sought after.  There was plenty of employment as a weaver in Ireland (and in England too, in places such as Manchester).  The Industrial Revolution eventually introduced machinery to replace the weavers.  Initially Irish weavers working in Ireland (as opposed to working in England) were unaffected by such machinery, because their wages were so low – Irish weavers working in Ireland remained cheaper to use than the new-fangled weaving machines.  Eventually though, this changed, with weaving machinery and factories set up, which replaced most of the weavers.   The Linen industry  in the  town of Lurgan, where Christopher most likely was employed as a weaver, was also affected.   Christopher was obviously affected, and needed to seek employment elsewhere.

In nearby Belfast, the Ship building industry was booming.   Railway now linked Lurgan to Belfast, meaning it was possible to commute each day to a Shipyard from Lurgan.

It is likely Christopher made the decision to get a job in the shipyard  as it was probably his only chance of employment, once he knew he could no longer work as a weaver.    Christopher was still a weaver when Abraham was born (1876), and he was then about 41-45 years old, a relatively late age to be making a career change.  But Christopher did change careers (no choice though), and eventually died in the accident at the Shipyard, an occurrence which was not uncommon.   I suspect as a newcomer to the shipyard, Christopher was given the menial jobs,  as well as the high risk jobs the more experienced workers would avoid at every opportunity.  Its a shame Christopher didn’t consider emigration to Australia, or the USA, as his sons eventually did.

Further information about the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the Irish linen and Ship building industries, via the following links:

A brief history of Irish Linen

Belfast History of Ship Building

by

Christopher and Catherine Wilson (nee McFall or Bunton/Bunten/Bunting) – their missing children from the family tree

Christopher Wilson married Catherine Bunting (or McFall) on 14 March 1853 at Moyntaghs-Armagh.   So far I know the rough history of the younger three of the Wilson children – Thomas, Robert and Abraham, but nothing of the older ones.  More information on the other children, especially the older ones, might assist in further tracing both Christopher’s and Catherine’s family trees.

As I’ve said in a previous post, Catherine appears to have used her step-father’s surname earlier in life, so her history is not easy to trace, without knowing about her mother’s marriage to Thomas Bunting.

According to Catherine’s death certificate, Christopher and Catherine had 8 children in total.  Who were they, and did they also emigrate?

A search for the earlier born children were not easy to find, as Ireland did not have civil records of births, deaths and marriages until 1864 (however there are records of non-Catholic marriages from 1845 onwards).  So children born earlier than this only have christening dates (as I understand).

The Children are:

William John Wilson, born approximately 1854-55; died after 1922 (still living at the time of Catherine’s death)

Christopher Wilson – born  1858-59;  died after 1922 (still living at the time of Catherine’s death)

Thomas Andrew Wilson – born 1865; died 1945

Robert Wilson – born 6 June 1866; died 1915

Edward Wilson – born 2 June 1869; Christened: 803 Lurgan No2, Armagh,  died before 1922 (deceased at the time of Catherine’s death)

Emily Wilson – born 4 November 1871; Christened: 803 Lurgan No2, Armagh, died before 1922 (deceased at the time of Catherine’s death)

Mary Wilson – born 15 Feb 1875, died before 1922,

Abraham Wilson – born 27 June 1876, in Derry-Add; died 1969.

The Children’s birth records all list Catherine’s maiden name as Bunting, except Abraham’s where the name ‘McFall’ is listed (another mystery – why the name change then?).

What happened to the Children?

We know that Thomas, Robert and Abraham moved to Australia.

There are no death records for Edward, Emily, or Mary Wilson (on the PRONI database that I could search), but it is likely they died prior to Catherine and sons departing Ireland for Australia in 1891.

According to one of Abraham’s sons, the older two brothers (William and Christopher) possibly emigrated to the United States of America.

Given William and Christopher were listed as still living at the time of Catherine’s death, possibly there was still communication between the brothers in Australia, and the brothers in the USA (if they did emigrate there).  Should the descendants of William and Christopher be looking for family history on their mother, then hopefully they know about both of Catherine’s maiden names i.e. McFall, and Bunting.

by

Robert Wilson (1866 -1915)

Robert Wilson was the brother of Abraham Wilson.  He was born 6 June 1866 in Armagh, Ireland.

He emigrated to Australia with his mother Catherine and Abraham in December 1891.

He appears to have had a troubled life, but I don’t have too much information on him, other than that he lived in Rockhampton (with Abraham) for a period of time, and possibly moved to Townsville.  There is also the possibility that he might have been in the Stewart Creek Gaol for a while (as my check of electoral rolls for the period shows a Robert Wilson as living there – but it may not be the same Robert).

My hunch is he had trouble adapting to life in Australia, got into trouble with the law and ended up in gaol for a brief time.  However his family (especially his mother Catherine and brother Abraham) were supportive of him, however  their support was not enough to help him – given he died at a comparatively younger age.

Robert eventually died 5 November 1915 of  ‘Melancholia’ (severe depression) and ‘general debility’.  At the time he was living in Mackay Queensland.  He did not marry or have children.

by

Back online

I’ve not done any posts for the last 12 months, as I temporarily stopped research on the family history.  I’m now finally able to get back into it.

At the time I stopped posting, I was researching three  issues:

(1)  Joseph Raynor – looking for clues on what Joseph might have been living and doing prior to getting his job on the SS Bobby Towns.  So I’ve been looking at the history of the SS Bobby Towns, the Seaman Union.

(2)  Joseph Raynor’s brother – there is a photo of Joseph Raynor and his brother – who was the brother?  Where was the photo taken?  It appears to be a professional photo, taken in a studio?  If so, it might be stored in Archives somewhere, and perhaps show the name of the brother?  So I’ve been looking on the internet on any information relating to Townsville photograph studios that operated in the early 1900s.

(3) Christopher Wilson – father of Abraham Wilson – when and where exactly did he die in Ireland?  It is known he died in a shipyard accident somewhere around Belfast.  If I can find the date of death, I might be able to get a copy of his death certificate.  Then we might have some information on Christopher’s birth, parents and further family ancestors.

I don’t have any answers on the above yet.