William (1777-1860) and Ann (1786-1819) WILLIAMSON of Allonby
Page filled out 5 April 2017
Links:
Immediate ancestors: Thomas and Hannah WILLIAMSON and Daniel and Mary BEEBY
Immediate descendant: Thomas WILLIAMSON
The Williamson story - WILLIAMSON 1 research notes
index of surnames
William and Ann are recorded as the parents of my next ancestor Thomas in the Quaker registration of his birth (RG6/225 page 138) and marriage, and in the Memorandums of Mary Beeby, Ann's sister. William is also recorded as father on Thomas's civil marriage certificate (Marriages 1838 June Q WILLIAMSON Thomas ROBINSON Deborah, Cockermouth XXV 89).
William's parents were Thomas and Hannah WILLIAMSON
Ann's parents were Daniel and Mary BEEBY
William was the seventh of eleven children born to Quaker parents in Allonby, though as two of his older sisters died in infancy he would have grown up the middle child of nine, with a brother ten years older, three older sisters, then three younger brothers and one younger sister (Hannah, who herself died aged 14, when William was 19). His childhood is covered more fully at his parents' page.
I don't know anything of his younger adulthood so far but he may have just worked on his father's farm, or that of some neighbour or relative. He was still described as 'of Allonby' when he married aged 37, and was described as a husbandman later the same year, which I think suggests he neither owned or rented (much) land in his own right up to that point.
Ann was the fifth of six children of an Allonby Quaker family. Various details of her family and childhood are described on the BEEBY line page but this is the place to note her and her sisters' early business venture. In 1802 Ann's sister Mary, then 21, got a shop fitted up and went into business, assisted by Ann (then 15) and their other sister Rachel (then 17), as a linen draper. Until 1806 (when Ann would have been 19) they sold the products of a Penrith draper on commission, but then they started trading on their own account, and the business was, by Mary's account, successful as of 1813 (Ann aged 26). Their father had also started more than one business - this entrepreneurialism seems to have run in the family.
So Ann was probably working in the draper's when she started courting William. They married on 23 February 1815 at the Friends' meeting in Allonby, when she was 28 and he 37.
William and Ann lived at Allonby. They had three living children:
Thomas, 17 December 1815
Mary, 28 February 1817
Ann Hannah, March 1819
Ann Hannah had a twin brother, but he was still-born. Perhaps because of this birth, Ann senior died just a few weeks later, on 26 April 1819. Her death was recorded sadly by her sister Mary in her family memorandums.
I know that William had a housekeeper later in life, and I imagine that he had at least one female servant to help look after the house and family as a widower. He never remarried, that I know of.
William was still described as a husbandman in the record of Thomas's birth in 1815, but as a yeoman at Mary's birth in 1817, suggesting that in or around 1816 he bought or otherwise came into ownership of some land. He got more in his father's will in 1820.
Little Ann Hannah died aged just 6, in 1825. Thomas and Mary grew up with William, but married, both in 1838 in their early 20s.
After the marriage of his suriving children, William lived with just his housekeeper, and worked his land. In his old age he would have retired from active agricultural work and rented out his land instead, and his occupation is given as landed proprietor. His will gives the tenants of his various bits of land: the Allonby land is mostly occupied by his son Thomas, plus others not always named; farms and houses in other parishes are occupied by tenants of different surnames. I think he increased his landholding through his mature years: in the 1850s he inherited land belonging to his brothers Jonathan and Thomas, who I think were both lifelong bachelors - I think William may in the end have reassembled more or less what their father split between them. [research note - get the following probate records for likely-looking siblings, all at Carlisle: PROB/1844/A(48) Administration of Frances Williamson, spinster, of Allonby, Bromfield, Cumberland; PROB/1847/W1204 Will of Sarah Williamson, spinster, of Allonby, Bromfield, Cumberland; PROB/1852/W454 Will of Jonathan Williamson, yeoman, of Allonby, Bromfield, Cumberland; PROB/1858/A337 Thomas Williamson, gentleman, of Allonby, Bromfield, Cumberland] He also had by the end of his life property at Thurstonfield, where his mother had been from, so he may have inherited land from his maternal grandfather or other relative.
William made his will in August 1858, aged 80, and died of dropsy on 19 March 1860, aged 82.
William left his property mainly to the sons of his son Thomas - though Thomas was alive, he did not leave property to him. He did make Thomas the guardian of (most of) the property in question, to have the rents and profits for his own use until each boy reached the age of 21 (between three and nine years after the making of the will).
To William junior, Thomas's eldest son, William senior left land at Allonby inherited from William senior's brother Jonathan, along with the house at West End, Allonby and a couple of other fields that William senior had bought. These were currently in the occupation of Thomas (who also had land of his own, as described on his own page). He also left the reversion of his own house.
Joseph Robinson, Thomas's second son, got £150 but no real estate. I infer therefore that he either had taken over by 1858 or was confidently expected to inherit property from his mother's side.
To Jonathan, Thomas's third son, William left property ('messuages and tenements' which I think means houses with some land) at the East End of Allonby, inherited by William from his brother Thomas senior and again in the occupation of Thomas junior.
To John, Thomas junior's fourth son, William left a messuage and tenement at Tallentire in the parish of Bridekirk, which I think may link this Allonby family of WILLIAMSONS to a 17th-century Jonathan WILLIAMSON of Tallentire, making that Jonathan William's great-great-grandfather. This land was rented to one George BUXTON.
William did not entirely omit his daughter Mary and her children.
To Mary herself he left messuages and tenements at Thurstonfield - this is where William's mother had come from so they may have been inheritance from that family. Thomas PEARSON was the tenant.
To Mary's eldest son Joseph HALL he left messuages and tenements at Baraldonholme in the parish of Orton, occupied by a Mrs MURROW.
To each of Mary's other children Ann, Jane, William, Sarah, Rachel, Josiah, Thomas Williamson, John and Hannah, William left £150.
William also left legacies to two family servants, presumably in reward for long service. To his housekeeper Ann REYNOLDS, who had been with him since at least 1851 [research note - check 1841 census] and who was now in her 60s, he left his house (where she too presumably had lived) for her lifetime, and an annuity of £20.
To Sarah WILSON, who had been servant to William's late brothers Jonathan and Thomas (and who I think despite some discrepancies in census details may have been the same Sarah WILSON who in 1861 was housekeeper to William's son Thomas junior), he left an annuity of £5. [research note - check 1841 census to see how long she had been with Jonathan and Thomas)
William's children Thomas and Mary were residuary legatees and executors.
When proved, the estate was valued at 'under £12,000', so I think all these pieces of property must have added up.
Thomas married Deborah ROBINSON of Pardshaw and had four sons as detailed above.
Mary married Richard HALL of Waverton and had ten children, also listed above. The HALLs were close to their WILLIAMSON cousins. [research note - add a bit of detail from the Annie Deborah notes - also look up birth details for Hannah between 1854 and 58 and add them to the database]
If you are interested in this family I'll be pleased to hear from you. Click this link to email me at deletethis.ianwilliamson161@gmail.com but delete everything up to and including the first dot, leaving just my name and number @ service provider.
Links:
Immediate ancestors: Thomas and Hannah WILLIAMSON and Daniel and Mary BEEBY
Immediate descendant: Thomas WILLIAMSON
The Williamson story - WILLIAMSON 1 research notes
index of surnames