John Williamson of Cromarty

I would like to extend a huge thank you to Tash White and Linda Williamson Podovski for their generous donations. These have allowed me to request an archive search of the Maniototo Early Settlers' Museum, to continue research of Donald Williamson in war archives at the National Archive in London, and pay for Ancestry membership in order to continue contacting distant relatives to search for more information about descendants of John Williamson. 

For the time being, I have all of the donations necessary to complete my research for this book, although this may change in the future. Thank you to everybody who has donated up to this point. Without you, there would still be a lot of question marks and missing information as the book is completed. Please continue to enjoy these blog posts.

It feels unusual bringing John's story to a close after weeks of analysing his life so closely. I have immensely enjoyed learning more about the man who brought us to New Zealand. We could have ended up anywhere else in the world; back in Scotland, across the borders in England, or with the Williamsons that sailed to Canada. However, I am very proud to consider myself a New Zealander and love the country I call home. It also feels fitting ending at the beginning, with Donald and Florentine, at the birth of John. John was not the first born, nor the second, however he was the first of their children to be born in Scotland.

After returning to the parish Cromarty following many years at the Napoleonic Wars (also known as the Peninsular Wars), Donald Williamson and his French wife Florentine Colpin had their third child John Williamson on the 26th of February, 1826.

When John was only 2 years old, his father had passed away at the age of 45, likely due to complications from injuries suffered at war.

By the age of 15, John was working as an agricultural labourer on a farm called Achnagarry in the parish of Cromarty. He later found employment at Blairfoid, also in Cromarty. While working at Blairfoid, John met Kenneth Grigor and his daughter, Janet Grigor. 

John and Janet married on the 29th of June, 1849, in Avoch. John was 23, while Janet was 17. 

That same year, John's mother Florentine passed away.

After two years together, John and Janet had their first son Kenneth Williamson, named for Janet's father, on the 27th of September, 1850. In 1852, the couple had their second son who they named Donald for John’s father, born 1st of July, 1852. Finally, the couple had their first daughter on the 13th of April, 1854, who they named Flora Williamson for John’s late mother, Florentine.

Following the birth of Flora, Janet sadly passed away at the age of 22. It is assumed her death came following complications during childbirth, and has been written as such in other books about our family history, however I have scoured graveyards, newspapers, spoken to Grigors and checked church death registers to confirm any details of her death and have yet to find any record of her passing. 

There are conflicting reports of how the Grigors handled this news, one record saying they blamed John for her death, while her brother is shown to have been in attendance of his second marriage showing there was likely still some goodwill between them. One day in the future, the Grigors get back in contact with John while he is living in New Zealand asking for the return of his and Janet's daughter Flora, which he obliges.

A year to the date of Flora's birth, John married Isabella Morrison on the 13th of April, 1855. Although this does seem like quite a quick turn around, John was a farmer needing to work to support his three children under the age of 5, and had nobody else to help him survive. At the time of marriage, Isabella was a domestic servant. In later years, Flora would recount Isabella as a woman with a "caustic tongue" and would give "occasional whacks".

The couple’s first child was a son who they named Roderick, for Isabella’s father. He was born on the 18th of February, 1856 at Blairfoid. 

At some point during 1856 - 1857, the family moved away from Blairfoid to Muirton, a farmstead also in the parish of Cromarty, where John worked as a ploughman. This is where John and Isabella shared another child, who they called John, on the 6th of January, 1858. 

Following the birth of John, the family packed up their things again and moved to the Orkney Islands, which you can learn more about at a past blog post by clicking here.

For the time being, this brings us to the end of the story of John Williamson. I am still left with many questions and would love to learn more about who he was as a person, however many of those stories have been lost in time. If any come to light, rest assured I will share these with you. The life of John is filled with many stories which you can go back and read throughout this blog, williamsonsofnewzealand.blogspot.com

Although this is the end of the blog posts about John, this is not the end of the blog. The next blog post will begin a focus on John's father Donald, and his time in the Peninsular War.

Thank you again to all of the supporters of the blog who have made this research possible. I would like also to thank Brent Williamson for sourcing this photo of John and Isabella from the Toitu Otago Early Settlers Museum, and Ian MacKenzie for supplying maps showing where John farmed within Cromarty. This shared knowledge has created a clearer picture of the man who brought us to New Zealand.

Until next time . . .