Harbour of Wick

Grinigoe Castle, Wick

Bridge Street, Wick

View of the river at Wick

Ackergill Tower, Wick

My Heart's In The Highlands....Robert Burns

My heart's in the Highlands, farewell to the North.
The birth-place of Valor, the country of worth.
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer.
A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.

Farewell to the mountains, high covered with snow;
Farewell to the straths and green vallleys below.
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods;
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pounding floods.

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer.
A-chasing the wild deer and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.

The Castle of Wick

The castle of Wick is also known as the "Old Man of Wick".  Built in the 12th century by Norwegians and thought to be the stronghold of Harold Maddadsson.  All that remains today is a tall tower sitting on the edge of steep cliffs, on a spine of rock, projecting into the sea between two deep, narrow gullies.  Abandoned in the 15th century, all that remains is a tall tower.

see caithness.org and caithness and sutherland.com for photos

Wick, Caithness County, Scotland

Wick is on an estuary, partly enclosed straddling the river Wick and extends along both sides of Wick Bay.  Estuaries form a transition between the ocean and the river and are subject to the influences of tidal waves, the influx of saline water, and storms.  Estuaries are among the most productive natural habitat and are usually heavily populated.  There are three harbours in Wick; the outer, the inner and the river, all of which are formed and protected by breakwaters.  Because Wick is so close to the seas, when the elements chose to rage it is a very dangerous place to be.  They have been known to have an occasional hurricane.

The Wick coast has some of the most spectacular formations, with the wave action producing caves, bridges, boring's and pyramids of rock upstanding in the sea, cut off from the main land.  It also has some of the best cultivated land in Caithness.

'Weik ' or Wick is an old Viking settlement, sheltering their boats from the wild seas.  Wick is frequently mentioned in the "Sagas" - many prominent Norsemen spent the winter months there.  Not much is known of the previous settlers, the Picts.  Chambered tombs, cairns and standing stones have been found  but not a lot  of earlier artifacts to tell us who resided there.  Wick did not become very important until later when it was created as a royal burgh by James VI in 1589.  Because it was considered to be on royal lands they were granted a charter and acquired a monopoly of foreign trade.  Each royal burgh was represented in Parliament and could appoint Baillie's (civil officers or magistrates with wide powers in civil and criminal justice.)

The de Cheyne family, with grants of land from the king, Robert the Bruce, owned immense estates which included Wick.  The Vikings and Sinclairs used the less accessible lands, cut out by the sea to build their impregnable castles, such as 'Lambaborg of Svein Asleifarson, Girnigoe and the Castle of Wick.

William Dawson and Elisabeth Harper, marriage

There isn't a lot of information on Alex's early years.  His mother, Elisabeth Harper was born in Wick and it is presumed that is where  his father, William Dawson met Elisabeth.  It would be more fun if we had more information on their courtship and how they met.

Their marriage is recorded as:
"Dawson, William, clerk in Lower Pultney was maty; to Elisabeth Harper.  Persons there: James Cooper Carpenter in Lower Pultney count for this man and Henry Flett, cabinet maker, there for this woman."    Source: Scott Russell - Scotlandspeople.com - (O.P.R. Marriages 043/0050 0176 W#ick)

                   For the history of the DAVIDSON/DAWSON CLAN this is an excellant site.  There are many other sites online for additional information about the our clan and the other clans. http://www.clandavidsonusa.com/about-clan-davidson/

EARLY YEARS

In June of 1837 an 18 year old princess, Victoria Regina became the Queen of England.  Her reign was to become known as the Victorian age.Two weeks later on July 13 1837 Alexander Dawson was the first born son of William Dawson and Elizabeth Harper, in Wick, Caithness County, Scotland. 

During the Victorian age great changes were occurring, not only in science but socially as well.  In the previous century there were great uproars over the living conditions of the general populace and the strict religious controls of the churches.  People were tried of being serfs and having someone else control their lives. The royals were despised and rightly so.  Living conditions were terrible and most people were not given human rights.  Thus there were revolutions in the Americas, France, India and other places taking place.  People  were developing a more independent spirit.  The Dawson family were part of this notion that an individual could take control of their life and not be dependent on someone else.

The Scottish people had been fighting the English for centuries over the rule of their country.  Especially in the highlands in Northern Scotland the people were known for their fierce independent spirit.  After the terrible massacre at Culloden, the Highlanders suffered terrible abuse from their own clan chiefs, who were suppose to protect them.  They had been bought by greed with promises of land by the English crown.  Many of the landholders were Normans or English, who never even saw these lands.  They had overseers who looked after their interests.

In the early 1800's they decided sheep were more profitable then the people who had been living on this land for centuries.  The people were run off their land by burning them out and many were killed.  There was a great genocide and about two million people were starved to death.  Many of Scotland's people started the migrations to Canada and America at this time.

Alexander Dawson

I have been collecting stories and information on the Dawson family for several years and intend to put them in a book, but there is still a lot to be discovered.  I wanted to share everything and thought it would be fun to blog some of this information with our family.  I would love to have comments and if any one has additional histories, stories or other information I would like to add them also.

The more we have the better we will get to know our Eternal Family.