I am trying to find a John Williamson I know only that he may have been born in the 1780s or 90s possibly not in Armagh. An Upper Canadain document re land petition states that he emigrated from Armagh in 1819 to Kingston, Upper Canada. I am trying to determine if he might have been a brother of Oliver Williamson, County Monaghan, Clones who also emigrated in 1819 to Kingston. I would appreciate any information you might have. Bruce
Bruce,
The name John Williamson is fairly common. In the 1901 Irish census there were 188 of them in Ireland, 24 of whom lived in Co. Armagh. It would have been equally common in the early 1800s. Without some more specific information about your John’s origins, it will be difficult to identify him.
You know that Oliver Williamson came from Clones. You haven’t said what denomination. Do you know? Looking at the 1901 census again, the vast majority of Williamsons in Monaghan were Presbyterian (so Scottish origins) with a few Church of Ireland. The Church of Ireland in Clones has records from 1682 onwards. Some years are on the rootsireland site. For Presbyterians the picture is a bit bleaker. There are 3 churches in the Clones area but the earliest records are for Stonebridge whose which start in 1819. I don’t think they are on-line anywhere but there is a copy in PRONI in Belfast.
According to rootsireland, a John Williamson was born 5 Feb, 1789 in Moy in Parish of Grange/Charlemont, Co. Armagh. Parents Wm., Eliz. Ford. He was a Quaker.
There was no record for Oliver.
Elwyn: I believe that it was you who did some research on Oliver for me some months ago. In Upper Canada Oliver is listed as Church of England. He was married by an Anglican rector in 1822. I have been unsuccessful on several fronts to determine Oliver's parents. Oliver was the 7th son of a 7th son born in his caul which I have. We know that he emigrated with his brother Thomas but occasionlly I see that he also came with a brother John. This is not supported by any primary resource evidence as yet.
Bruce,
Forgive me if I repeat information I maye have given previously, but Church of England (in Ireland) is the Church of Ireland, and so if your ancestor was Anglican those are the records to focus on here. There are 29 parishes in Co Armagh. See map with names attached:
https://www.ancestryireland.com/civil-parish-maps-for-ulster/civil-parishes-of-county-armagh/
You or a researcher would need to go through them all looking for your ancestor. Bear in mind that not all parishes have records (many were lost in the 1922 fire) and of those that do they are not all on-line. Copies of nearly all the surviving records are held in PRONI though. This link explains what records exist, parish by parish:
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/publications/proni-guide-church-records
If you are unable to go yourself, you could employ a researcher. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net
But your basic problem is that with only a possible birth in the 1780s and 1790s, and no parents names, I don’t see how you could be sure of knowing which of the multiple John Williamsons you are likely to find is going to be the right one.
Possibly DNA testing may be a way of matching with others who have additional information about where the family originate. Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. You might want to try them or, if you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee.
The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project in conjunction with FTDNA and can offer testing kits at a reduced price. http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).
Thank you Elwyn for the links.