Faulder Family Genealogy Faulder Family Genealogy

The 1861 Census for England and Wales shows a Thomas Williamson born 1845 in New Jersey, United States.  He is listed as a Tinplate Worker staying in Worcester (England) with his uncle William Blizard Williamson. This would imply that Thomas (and his mother and possibly his father) would have been in New Jersey around 1845.

The purpose of this post is to identify this Thomas Williamson and his family.

Context

William Blizzard Williamson (the uncle above) was born in Cork, Ireland in about 1812 (data from England and Wales Census).  The England and Wales census also names his wife as Elizabeth Williamson also born in Cork but in about 1818.  I do not yet know who were his parents – or who was his brother, the presumed father of Thomas Williamson.

If Thomas’s father can be named we then have WBW’s brother, and we can then try to look for baptismal records for them with the same parents (assuming we don’t have half brothers!). Williamson is not however an uncommon name, so trying to find records of Thomas Williamson in the US, even with an Irish-born father, is problematic. But restricting the search to New Jersey around 1845 considerably narrows the field.

Thomas Williamson, b ~1845

The 1850 and 1860 US Censuses unfortunately do not detail family relationships.

Looking for possible records, the US Census of 1850 is the one most likely to show him with his parents. An Ancestry search for Thomas Williamson with some tolerance of non-exact matches produces:

Of the above, one stands out due to birthplace and approximate birth year and the probable father being a Tinsmith from Ireland. We are however, assuming at this stage that “George T”, is “George Thomas”.

Similar searches on Find My Past and Family Search do not highlight any other options.

The Family of George and Eliza Williamson in Rensselaer County

1850 Federal Census

Looking for the above identified individual in the 1850 Federal Census, we see him with his presumed family.

Is “George T” “George Thomas”? George is also a name found in the family that we are looking at in Europe (George Henry Williamson, discussed above, and his son George Evans Williamson). If he is the “nephew” in the 1861 Worcester, England census, it is possible he was known as (and recorded as) “Thomas” to distinguish him from WBW’s son George Henry. If it is this family he may well also have been known by his second name to distinguish him from his father. It is also worth noting that Samuel is a name that is shared with George T’s uncle – if this is the right family.

This might be thought to be a bit tenuous – but looking for a Thomas Williamson born in New Jersey around 1845 does not return many possible results let alone certain results. There is a danger of building on speculation, but we may find it useful – particularly if we later find more corroborating evidence.

1855 State Census

In the United States there are state censuses as well as federal censuses. The 1855 State Census for New York (found on Family Search), we find for the same locality (Troy City, Ward 5) what looks like the same couple:

The birthplaces are what we are looking for and the father’s occupation of Tinsmith is very convenient and might indicate that his son may become a tin-plate worker as well – he may even have been sent to England to see how his uncle managed his business. The father would have been born in about 1817 making him 5 or 6 years younger than WBW. The gap may indicate that we might find further siblings born in Ireland.

Conclusion

For the purposes of moving forward, we will conclude at this stage that William Blizard Williamson’s nephew in the 1861 England and Wales census is (George) Thomas Williamson, born about 1845 in New Jersey, and that his father was George Williamson, born about 1817 in Ireland. His mother looks to be Eliza A Williamson, born about 1826 in Green County, New York. His siblings look to include: Samuel H Williamson born about 1847 in New Jersey, and Christina Williamson born about 1851 in New York State.

Further work on this family is in a separate post Williamson descendants in the United States, with the hope of finding living cousins, who may be able to confirm the above.

Transatlantic voyages are considered in a separate post, Williamson: Migration between Ireland and England or America,