I am attempting to trace all the descendants of James Howatsone (fl about 1700) who was a farmer in the district surrounding the village of Ochiltree and Parish of the same name, in Ayrshire about 12 miles east of the town of Ayr. His descendants variously remained on the same farms for the next two hundred years or, particularly towards the end of the C19th emmigrated to New Zealand, with one branch also emmigrating to Canada. The most remarkable aspect of this large family is the utter unremarkableness of its members. There was the odd illegitimate offspring soon rectified by the marriage of the parents, the occaisional garnet-armoured spinster autocrat and quite a bit of pious Presbyterian Bible bellowing Patriarchal behaviour but on the whole they were a quiet industrious lot whose main claim to fame (not that they ever did lay claim) was a slight acquaintanceship to Robert Burns which resulted in the Bard's writing "...Winsome Willie."

• Howatson Family Tree (4 KB)
  

Philip John Boyle
whowatson@live.com

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