Humphrey (born 1602, living around 1643) and first Dorothy (died 1630s) and then Bridget WILLIAMSON of New Hall
Page created 2019, revised 19 October 2024
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
My best evidence is that my later, proven ancestors in the 18th century had a property called New Hall in Crosthwaite, which under the terms of Humphrey's grandfather's will descended to the male-line heirs of that Williamson family. Humphrey had it in his lifetime. I assume it descended to his eldest son and then spent some time in that branch of the family, but then it turns up in my ancestry, which is plausibly descended from Humphrey's second son, so I guess the male line of his eldest failed and the 18th-century heir hunters found my branch.
Humphrey's second son was Jonathan, and my furthest back ancestor other than this is also a Jonathan Williamson of about the same age, with no traceable baptism in the parish where he lived as an adult. I'm not the kind of tree builder who takes that as an excuse to identify two people, but 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. I really need to get hold of that. 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 current 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 son of John and Winifred WILLIAMSON of New Hall. He had older sisters but was the first boy in the family, so 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.
Candidates for Dorothy's baptism include 12 October 1594, to John and Alice of Millbeck, or 24 February 1602/03, to Thomas and Winifred TICKELL of Thornethwaite. Or she may have been born out of parish. The Thornethwaite baptism is indicated by the Brooker tree. If it is that one or the Millbeck one, she would have grown up just a walk away from Humphrey.
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 my ancestral branch's wills up to 1712. But New Hall, or at least a property of that name Under Skiddaw, was in a will of 1779, staying until 1810. I guess John's line must have died out and under the "heirs male" clause of John Williamson's will way back in 1578 it came to the heirs of the next brother. I can't think why my branch of the Williamsons, by then yeomen working land in and around the coastal village of Allonby, would have invested in property up in the Lakeland country near Keswick otherwise.
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