Bryson and Hamilton of Wishaw

[Rufous Treecreeper]

Hello Lanarkshire Rchatters,

I have been researching the Bryson (and variants) family of Glasgow circa 1600 to 1700.

I bought a will of John Bryssoun elder, merchant burgess of Glasgow dated 1672.  In it he has 'I hereby nominat & entrust[?] the sd Jean Hamiltoun my weell beloved spouse Wm Hamiltoun of Wishaw her brother german and Jon Bryssoun younger merchant burges of Glasgow my cousing only' then some words I haven't been able to decifer, 'to John, Margaret, Jonat, Marie, Elizabeth & Agnes Bryssoun my family[?]' more words I can't read but finishes with, 'my sd children in all [?] affairs & concernments respecting[?] them'.

John Bryssoun elder died when his oldest child was about 14 and his youngest about 1 year old, hence the 'guardians' being appointed by him.  I have worked out how the other John Bryssoun fits in but I'm stuck on William Hamilton of Wishaw now. 

There was a William Hamilton of Wishaw around at that time (circa 1630 to 1724) and he descended from the Hamilton family that goes back to year dot (according to thepeerage.com).  What I haven't been able to find out is if he had a sister called Jean, (one tree listed James, Margaret, John, Quintin and other un-named issue to his parents William Hamilton 1st of Wishaw and Beatrix Douglas).  There is a submitted IGI record for Jean Hamilton, born to William Hamilton and Beatrix Douglas and marrying John Bryson but...

Any advice or help on how to sort this out would be much appreciated, (like if there was a Hamilton tree that listed all children).
Many thanks,
Mo

[h1bby01]

Hi Momamg,

I was delighted to come across your post as I am a direct descendant of John Bryson c1611 - 1672 and Jean Hamilton.

I too have hit a brick wall as to whether Jean is descended to the Hamilton family and just wondered if you got an answer to your question?

Kind regards

Billy

[Rufous Treecreeper]

Hi Billy,

Unfortunately the short answer is no   

But I think that the William Hamilton in the will is most likely the William Hamilton of Wishaw though because if he was just a local person living at Wishaw he probably would've been called 'William Hamilton at Wishaw'.  All the so and so's deemed 'of' somewhere I've come across have been 'owners' of the place they are 'of'.  Clear as mud 

Are you from the John Bryson and Ann Hutton line?

By the way I think I've found who John Bryson, son of John Bryson 1611-1672 married.

Mo 

PS Welcome to Rootschat 

[h1bby01]

Hi Mo,

Thanks for getting back to me.

I only recently came across the Bryson link back to the oldest house in Glasgow (Provandslordship) and due to work at present I have been unable to go to the records office in Edinburgh to do further research - I do have a good few weeks off work after the 19th May, so I then plan to have a few days catching up.

Yes, I am from the John Bryson and Ann Hutton line. I have been in contact with the Hamilton Sheriff Courts to see if they have any information on cases that he may have been involved in. They have again pointed me in the direction of Register House in Edinburgh (20 minute train journey, door to door), so again these are thing's I can catch up on in a few weeks.

From John and Ann, my line goes via their son William, his son William, a further William, my great grandfather Charles Rose Bryson, My grandfather William Bryson, my father William Bryson....My son was born before I started doing any research and amazingly, we called him Charles (Charlie)!

Where does your line run through?

Thanks for the welcome.

Billy

[Rufous Treecreeper]

Hi Billy,

Yes, it was Provands Lordship info that broke through the Bryson brick wall for me too    Good luck with your trip to Edinburgh, (tiny bit jealous!).

I am also from William, son of John and Ann but from William's daughter Ann Hutton Bryson who married Alan Livingston.  She died and Alan and surviving children came to Australia.  I'm from the oldest daughter, Marion. 

You certainly have the family names continuing on well 

I had no idea that the Bryson family had ever been wealthy/upper crust, was it a surprise for you too?

Mo

[h1bby01]

Hi Mo,

A family story I had heard was that a Bryson had divided his wealth between some sons and from there some had moved on. Apparently my line liked the beer and the rest they say is history 

I have taken part in the Bryson DNA project and matched other Bryson's. The markers showed that we shared a distant relative some 800-900 years ago. IIRC, surnames were not very common during this time and it was only the wealthy that had surnames, so this pointed to the Bryson's being a wealthy family, especially when finding a distant ancestor from such a long time ago and to this day we still shared the same surname. I did also have a very close match with the Bruce's which may have led to the Bryson surname coming about in our line (Bruceson - son of Bruce which over the years has become Bryson). I can't say this is accurate but to have such a close DNA match with their line and not other Bryson lines means that it may be a possibility.

It was also pleasant finding out about the Hutton's and who they were, we are lucky to have such an interesting tree and maybe one day we will be able to find out who the Hamilton of Wishaw is.

I work for Hibernian Football Club here in Scotland and we are in the Cup final this saturday against our fiercest rivals. We have not won this competition for 110 years and we go into it as underdogs. I'm hoping and praying that we win and if so, after a few days celebration i will then hopefully take a number of weeks off and from there I am going to get back to research and now armed with the latest Bryson details, I am going to search the records and see if I can trace the line back further and find out what the link is with the Hamilton of Wishaw. I'll keep you posted and hopefully it will be good news.

Best wishes

Billy

[Rufous Treecreeper]

Hi Billy,

800 to 900 years ago - wow!      I don't understand the DNA stuff too well    But if I'm understanding you correctly it means that the mutual ancestor 800-900 years ago was surnamed Bryson (or variant there of)?  And both you and the other man are still Bryson's? 
That is amazing stuff.  It makes me more confident about those ancient trees that the Hamilton of Wishaw stuff connects to that go back to year dot (which I know are not totally reliable).

I mentioned in my first answer to you about the wife of John Bryson (son of John Bryson 1611-1672), I am happy to share that with you and to see if you agree.  I will PM you so we can do that via email if you're interested. 

All the best of luck for the big match on Saturday!  I'm definately barracking for your team and hope you have the success you deserve after 110 years   Go Hibernian!

Mo

[Rufous Treecreeper]

       I've found it     

A history of the Hamilton's of Wishaw that has Jean Hamilton marrying John Bryson!!!

Very happy Mo 

Had trouble linking to the right page, so click on this, then 'read online', then seacrh for Bryson or go straight to page 231.

http://openlibrary.org/books/OL25168428M/Historical_and_genealogical_memoirs_of_the_House_of_Hamilton_with_genealogical_memoirs_of_the_severa

Hope posting this snippet is okay, as the whole book is free online

[h1bby01]

Hi Mo.

How did you ever manage to find the details? What a great piece of detective work! You have just opened up a whole new chapter in the family history that previously had us stumped.

All I can say is "Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!" 

I have sent you a message, so please let me know if there is anything I can do for you next week when I go to Edinburgh.

This has certainly made up for the poor weekend I have just had with my football team, so I thank you for putting a smile back on my face