Charles Alexander Williamson (1794-1849)
Charles A. Williamson, of New York City & Lawers, Perthshire
He was born at his father's house in Geneva, Ontario County, New York, where he'd settled as land agent for the Pulteney Associates. In 1828, he married Catherine, daughter of Thomas Bayard Clarke whose father grew up at Chelsea House in Manhattan where his first cousin, Clement Clarke Moore, was credited with writing "Twas the Night Before Christmas". His uncle, Lord Balgray, died in 1837 and left him heir to the Lawers estate in Scotland. He moved in with his wife and six children but similarly to his father before him when he returned from America to Scotland, Charles began to get restless. In 1848, he and Catherine joined the California Gold Rush but only got as far as Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. They both contracted cholera there and died within four days of one another, leaving their 19-year old son as heir to Lawers.
