| Notes |
- John is the son of Jane Ramsay (1701 Hexham, Northumberland, England - c1776
& Hugh Willson, (1700 Carrickfergus, Ireland - 1750 North Carolina?) Jane & Hugh Willson married in North Carolina.
* NOTE: This first, John Willson, husband of Catharine Kuhn is unrelated to the John Willson, Esq., 2nd husband of Catherine B Kuhn. - PJA
* John Willson, b. 1745, d. before 1791 Feb 12 Clinton.
Note: date wife was appointed administratrix. - PJA]
. He fled Ireland ahead of the authorities as he was outspoken against injustices & rigged trials, leaving his pregnant wife in his parents' care. The newspapers carried account of their flight.
. Hugh L. Willson was born in County Down while the family had been living in Carrickfergus County Antrim leads me to think that John's [first] wife was living on her brother-in-law's farm at the time of Hugh L Willson's birth.
He met & married Catherine in New York & they had a rented farm 12 miles east of Poughkeepsie near the Connecticut border.
John had little sympathy for the rebels & that before & after the actual declaration of war, he had been arrested several times, bound over to keep the peace, fined & even served a term of imprisonment for defending sometimes with his fists, his right to reject the excesses of the most militant of the colonists.
. Clinton, Dutchess Co., NY
Clinton was first settled around 1755. The town was part of the Great Nine Partners Patent of 1697. The town was established in 1786 from territory from the Towns of "Charlotte" & Rhinebeck.
Prior to the War of the Revolution Presbyterians at Poughkeepsie held services with more or less regularity. They shared the ministrations of a pastor now with the Rombout Church at Brinckerhoff & now with the Pleasant Valley Church. During the war the congregation at Poughkeepsie lapsed out of existence. In 1817 the congregation was revived & in 1826 it was formally organized. This lot of land was given to the church in 1821 for burial purposes. Since 1911 the lot has been sold by the church & a garage built upon it but legal difficulties have been encountered, in connection with passing the title, affording a specific instance of the fact that ground originally set aside for burial purposes can rarely be transferred with clear title.
Ref: Old Gravestones of Dutchess Co. NY, JW Poucher, 1924.
. The GREAT Nine Partners:
Located in the present Poughkeepsie Precinct (i.e. similar to a county).
Dutchess then comprised the following towns: Amenia, Beekman, Clinton (formed March 13, 1786, from portions of Charlotte & Rhinebeck Precincts), Fishkill, North East, Pawling, Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck & Washington.A Presbyterian church was organized in Poughkeepsie as early as 1749, but failed to maintain itself or erect a building. - - -
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1739 - Bef 1791 (< 52 years)