Page under construction 26 May 2018 - please excuse some non-functioning links
These Williamsons are not my direct ancestors, but they tell a part of the Williamson story. This page covers a branch that moved from near Keswick in Cumberland to Northamptonshire, selling up the previous family seat. It primarily follows the 1574 pedigree Williamson of Tusmore Visitation of the Heralds to the County of Oxford.
Anthony CROKER and Jane, who had been an ASHTON More
Their daughter Mary, who married Nicholas WILLIAMSON of Mears Ashby in Northamptonshire More
Their daughter and heir Bridget, who married Thomas WILLIAMSON, originally of Crosthwaite, Cumberland More
Their many children More
For research notes, click here.
The earliest generation in this part of the family tree is Anthony CROKER and his wife Jane, nee ASHTON.
Counting back from a datable birth a couple of generations later, they were most likely born late in the 15th century, and lived long enough to have a daughter, Mary, probably early in the 16th. It seems that the family died out in the male line at this point, because the Visitation pedigree shows Croker arms in the quartering of her descendants.
The arms given are: azure, a fess engrailed ermine between three spread eagles or. This suggests no relation to the gentry family called Croker or Crocker of Hook Norton, with their own pedigree and quite different arms elsewhere in the Visitation, but does match a John Croke who was an alderman of London, memorialised there in 1477 (Survey of London: Volume 15, All Hallows, Barking-By-The-Tower, Pt II)
Mary CROKER married Nicholas WILLIAMSON, perhaps around 1530? They were in 1551 described as of Kingsthorpe, though by 1574 (which may have been after Nicholas death) they were described as of Mears Ashby. Speculatively, Nicholas may have been of Kingsthorpe, and Mary of Mears Ashby, with the couple moving when Mary inherited her family property?
Nicholas and Mary owned (on a hundred-year lease from the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield) the rectory and advowson (the right to nominate the rector) of Denford in Oxfordshire (Victoria County History).
Nicholas and Mary had one daughter, Bridget. Judging by her family (see below), she was probably born by the mid 1530s. She was her father's heir so they presumably had no other surviving children.
If Nicholas survived beyond 1574 he had definitely died by 1588, when Mary was the wife of one John WARD.
The arms of Williamson of Mears Ashby (I suspect 'Norloshby' in some sources is a mis-transcription of this in the printed Oxford Visitation, repeated uncritically in other places) are: or, a chevron between three griffins' heads erased azure, on a chief gules a fleur-de-lis between two suns in glory or. As Nicholas' heir, Bridget's descendants quartered these arms as well as the Croker arms.
Bridget married another WILLIAMSON, Thomas. Thomas was from near the town of Keswick in Cumberland (his family has their own page). I do not know whether or not they were cousins, but Burke's General Armory gives the same arms to both Williamson of Mears Ashby and Williamson of Keswick (in the Keswick case unquartered, with a crest of a falcon's head or, between two wings expanded azure, on each wing a sun gold) which does suggest a connection.
Thomas and Bridget had a large family. He had been born in 1536, according to one source, and to have 15 children, 6 of them married, by 1574, I think Bridget must have been no younger than he, and they must have started their family pretty young. Their children were (I have put the sons in order according to the Visitation pedigree, and the girls in a speculative order based on marriage information if any, or just tacked on the end of the list - the Visitation doesn't do birth order for girls):
Bridget, who married Peter POLE, son of George P of Spinkhill in Derbyshire, in about 1563-4 (see extensive POLE tree)
Nicholas, who married Ann MORDAUNT, daughter of William and Agnes M of Ockley in Bedfordshire, in about 1570.
John, who had died without issue by 1574
Edmund, who married Ann TRAFFORD, daughter of Thomas T of Trafford Bridge in Cheshire
Thomas, of Somerton in Oxfordshire, who married Katherine POOS, daughter of Leonard P
Alice, who married William WHELP of Penrith in Cumberland
Ellen, who was married by 1574
William
George
Reginald
Robert
Katherine
Jane
Frances
Jocosa (that's the Latin, I'm not sure of the English equivalent--Joyce? Joy?)
I'm picking up a pattern that some of the Williamsons who left Cumberland may have been Roman Catholic. There are references here https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiCvILSx7jbAhVkIsAKHXPuD_UQFghEMAY&url=https%3A%2F%2Fresearch-information.bristol.ac.uk%2Ffiles%2F34506097%2F533572.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3x5syCPyGUJWx4c0crpSHl to Williamsons, particularly Robert, who had a wife Mary and/or was of Minster Lovell in Oxfordshire, and to Thomas of Somerton, wife Katherine, and a long quote on religious toleration from Nicholas Williamson who was in the service of the Earl of Shrewsbury (check the letters links to ensure this is mine). Also this makes it clear that the Mordaunts were a very Catholic family. As were the Poles of Spinkhill (http://taking-stock.org.uk/Home/Dioceses/Diocese-of-Hallam/Spinkill-Immaculate-Conception). The main Trafford family had a Damascene switch from persecutors to believers of the Catholic faith (http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/trafford-edmund-i-1526-90 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Trafford_baronets) but it isn't clear how if at all Thomas and Anne were related.
If you are interested in this line I'll be very pleased indeed to hear from you. 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. Please do not delete the automatically-generated subject line, so that I know your email is not spam. You can add more to the subject if you like but if you delete what appears I may not read your mail.