Few have not heard of the legendary prowess
of the Vikings. This fierce seafaring race acquired settlements in the 9th century at the northern tip of Scotland.
It was from this group that the family name Wilson emerges.
Few have not heard of the legendary prowess
of the Vikings. This fierce seafaring race acquired settlements in the 9th century at the northern tip of Scotland.
It was from this group that the family name Wilson emerges.
Professional researchers found the origin of this surname Wilson by referring to such documents as the Viking Sagas, the Orkneyinga Sagas, the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, the Inquisitio and translations of local manuscripts, parish records, baptismals, and tax records.
The first record of the name Wilson was found in Berwickshire where they had been seated from very ancient times.
In ancient times it was not uncommon for a person to be born with one spelling of his name, married with another, and yet another to appear on his headstone. Amongst the spellings recorded were Wilson, Willson, Wilsone, Wulson, Wi1soun, but this does not preclude other spellings, particularly those adopted in North America.
The Vikings landed and settled the Orkneys, Shetlands and parts of mainland Scotland, sometimes penetrating as far south as Caithness, and beyond. They arrived in the Orkneys after 888 when King Harold of Norway routed the rebellious northern Clans in his Norwegian Kingdom, and they abandoned their homeland in Norway forever. Remarkable accounts of the
voyages of this seafaring race can be found in the chronicles called the Ynglinga Saga, Islands
Landnamabok, Landabla Saga, and the Orkeyinga Saga. They are believed to have explored Greenland and the North American coastline, Vinland, Newfoundland and Maine, from that time, about 800 AD onward.
The Sinclairs were the early chiefs of the settlement. Their early successes found them as far south as Northumbria in England, but King Malcolm Cranmore of Scotland gathered the border clans and drove them back northward to Sutherland about the year 1057.
The family name Wilson emerged as a Scottish Clan or family in this northern territory of Berwick. They descended from Will the Crowner Gunn, and in a minor conflict with the Chief, moved the family to the southeast coast of Scotland. By virtue of the family's relationship to Crowner qunn, they were of Viking origin descending from the Earls (or Jarls) of Orkney, who settled in Scotland about 895 A.D. The 'Earls of Orkney were originally from Norway, of the royal Norwegian Vikings who were banished from Norway antd settled in Northern Scotland John Wilson was a merchant in the service of Sir John of Montgomery in 1405. Michael Wilson was Burgess of Irvine in 1418, and John Wilson was Burgess of Berwick in 1467. Thomas Wilson was tenant of Newbotel Abbey in 1563. They moved south into England when the border clans were disbanded from the border in 1603. Major branches of the family were established at Eshton Hall in Yorkshire, Melton, and Bankroll, Penrith in Cumberland, Sneaton
Castle in Yorkshire, Casterton Hall in Westmoreland, Forest Hall in Northumberland and Rivington hall in Lancashire. They were predominantly in northern England. Meanwhile in Scotland they had branches at Fraserburgh, Fingach, Kelton, Glenderston, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Notable amongst the Clan from early times was Will the Crowner gunn, scion of the family. Also of note at this time was George Taylor of Pennslyvania, signer of the American Declaration of Independence.
In Ireland the Plantation of Ulster seeded many Scottish families who were granted lands previously owned by the the Catholic Irish, mostly in the six northern states of Ulster. They became known as the Scotch Irish. In Ireland they settled in county Wexford at Scarr, Roseville and in Donegal and Dublin.
Some, disillusioned; migrated to the New World from Ireland but most migrated from northern Scotland and the Isles. They sailed aboard the tiny, overcrowded sailing ships which plied the stormy Atlantic called the "White Sales". Frequently they lost 30 to 40% of their passenger list to diseases and the elements.
In North, America one of the first migrants which could be consider a kinsman of the family name Wilson, of that same clan or family, was Richard Wilson settled in St. John's harbour, Newfoundland, in 1703; John Wilson from Yorkshire settled in St. John's in 1813; John Wilson settled in Virginia in 1623; Richard Wilson arrived in the Barbados with his wife and two children and servants in 1680. They also settled in Upper Canada, Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton.
From the port of arrival many settlers joined the wagon trains westward; some to the mid west, others to the west coast. During the American War of Independence some remained loyal to the Crown and moved northward into Canada, becoming known as the United Empire Loyalists.
There were many prominent people of the surname, Barons Wilson, of Morn, Nunburnholme, of Wilson of Langside, of Ratcliffe; General Sir Alexander Wilson; Admiral Alan Wilson; Sir Archibald Wilson, Diplomat; Woodrow Wilson (1865-1924) twenty-eighth President of the United States; Henry Wilson (1812-1875), Vice-president of the US; Professor Edward Wilson, Sir Roy Wilson; Harold Wilson ex Prime Minister of England, and finally John Wilson former Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland and a family relative.
