Ann Wilson

1787 - 21st Aug 1845


Biography

Free woman of colour who had at least 7 children with planter and attorney James Colquhoun Grant (q.v.). Grant died in 1822 on the voyage from Jamaica to Greenock and had very likely planned for his return to Britain to be permanent and for his children to be raised there. In his will he left Ann Wilson an annuity of £150 ("liable all my estate real and personal whatoever and wheresoever... the principal sum from which the annuity for Ann Wilson is to arise be placed out on the very best and safest British Security but on no account in Jamaica"), a further £100 and a life interest in his house in Banffshire, Scotland.

Ann Wilson born 1787, "relict of James Colquhoun Grant", died in Glasgow 21/08/1845.

Five "quadroon" children were baptised in Westmoreland 18/12/1813 were presumably the children of James Colquhoun Grant and Ann Wilson: Mary age 8, John age 5 1/2, Lachlan age 4 1/2, Elizabeth age 3 and Ann age 8 months. Only one of his children has so far been identified in Britain - his second son Lachlan who died in Glasgow in 1856.


Sources

PROB 11/1662/208; Blackwood's Magazine, Vol. 12 p. 519 (October 1822).

Familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880 [database online].

David Dobson, Scots in the West Indies vol. 1.

See also separate entry for Lachlan Grant.


Further Information

Absentee?
Transatlantic
Children
[with James Colquhoun Grant] John, Lachlan, Alexander, David, James Jackson, Mary, Elizabeth

Associated Estates (1)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1822 [SY] - → Legatee

Relationships (2)

Extra-marital relationships
Mother → Natural Son

Addresses (1)

Keith, Moray, North-east Scotland, Scotland
Notes →

Ann Wilson was bequeathed a life interest in trust in James Colquhoun Grant's house in New Keith in 1822 although it's not clear if she actually lived there.