Humphrey (born 1602, living around 1643) and first Dorothy (died 1630s) and then Bridget WILLIAMSON of Allonby
New page 16 July 2019
Links:
Immediate ancestors: John and Winifred WILLIAMSON and possibly Thomas and Winifred TICKELL of Thornethwaite
Immediate descendant: possibly Jonathan WILLIAMSON
The Williamson of Crosthwaite story - WILLIAMSON of Crosthwaite research notes
index of surnames
I don't know with any great confidence, to be honest. My ancestors later had a property called New Hall in Crosthwaite, which had belonged to this family, so I conjecture that they were descended from them. My furthest back ancestor in this line otherwise is Jonathan Williamson, of obscure origins, and Humphrey had a son Jonathan of about the right age. There is apparently a document naming Humphrey, his son Jonathan, Jonathan's wife and the wife's father, and their residences or perhaps property holdings, in Carlisle Record Office, but I only have a second-hand copy of a brief note about it. My inherited family tree, printed by James Gorton Brooker, says that Humphrey and a couple more generations back from him were ancestral, but it does have some mistakes in it that I have found. So proving or disproving this link is probably the major challenge of my Williamson genealogy.
Humphrey's parents were John and Winifred WILLIAMSON of New Hall in Crosthwaite.
Dorothy's parents may have been Thomas and Winifred TICKELL of Thornethwaite--that is the most likely-looking baptism in the parish register. But I'd like something confirmatory.
Humphrey was the eldest of four children, all boys, born to John and Winifred WILLIAMSON of New Hall. As the eldest, I assume he inherited or was expecting to inherit New Hall, but I don't have a death record or will for his father so far. Anyway, he married aged only about 18.
The best candidate I've found for Dorothy's baptism is 24 February 1602/03, to Thomas and Winifred TICKELL of Thornethwaite. The only other Dorothy TICKELL baptism in the parish in the right period is of Millbeck in 1594, which looks much less likely. But she may have been born out of parish. Anyway, assuming the Thomas and WInifred one is her, she probably grew up just a
Humphrey and Dorothy married on 31 January 1619/20, in Crosthwaite. I guess they lived at New Hall but haven't yet gone far enough through the registers to find them mentioned with residence at the baptisms of their children. I believe from the Brooker tree (and from database versions of the parish register baptisms) that they had:
John 1623, baptised 20 April
Jonathan 1625, baptised 28 August
Richard 1627, baptised 2 December
Humphrey 1631, baptised 15 April
Joseph 1633, baptised 1 September
Dorothy seems to have died in the mid 1630s--see below for Humphrey's remarriage.
I have an odd note, from an 1853 publication, the History of the Church of Crosthwaite Cumberland, that one Humphrey Williamson of Newhall, Gentleman, made over his interest in two pews in the church to William Brownrigg of Millbeck in 1634. I suppose I ought to check how many people of that name and address there might have been at that date, and whether this Humphrey called himself a gentleman.
On 5 July 1636, Humphrey married again in Crosthwaite, to Bridget SOWERBY of Millbeck. They added three children to the family:
Katherine 1637
Francis 1639
Dorothy 1643
Note that, although modern custom tends to be for Francis to be a boy's name and Frances a girl, the spelling is not so consistent in the 17th century and I will have to note whether the PR entry says son or daughter.
I know little of Humphrey's later life.
I have not found a will of Humphrey's, though it doesn't help that I havent yet even found when or where he died. New Hall passed out of the view of my research to date after Humphrey. I imagine he left it to his eldest son, whereas if we are descended from this family it is via the second son Jonathan. It is not mentioned in wills up to 1712. But New Hall, or at least a property of that name Under Skiddaw, was again in our ancestral branch of the Williamson family by 1779, staying until 1810. I suppose either John's line died out and it came to the heirs of the next brother, or it was sold or otherwise transferred between distant cousins.
I have no clear information on any of these children (unless it is correct that Jonathan is our ancestor Jonathan WILLIAMSON of Tallentire). I should look at the Crosthwaite registers for marriages, families and deaths.
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: John and Winifred WILLIAMSON and unknown
Immediate descendant: possibly Jonathan WILLIAMSON
The Williamson of Crosthwaite story - WILLIAMSON of Crosthwaite research notes
index of surnames