Who Really Was Thomas' and Hugh's Father?

It has been assumed and accepted for many, many years, that Thomas and Hugh Jameson were sons of a William Jameson. And, it is often inferred and sometimes referenced, that this was the William Jameson, of Londonderry, Ulster, Ireland, who fought in 1690 at the Battle of Boyne. This however, turns out to be most likely not true.

Most genealogies and/or references to either Thomas or Hugh Jameson list his father as "probably" William Jameson. E.O.Jameson himself makes this observation in his 1901 book "The Jamesons in America."[1] There does not seem to be any basis for this, apart from the recorded existence of a William Jameson in Londonderry, Ulster, at about the right time to have been their father. The many other references to this connection seem to have their basis (echoed) from this book. Noted Jameson genealogist, Scott Jameson,[2] went further and identified this William Jameson as having been born about 1675 in Templemore, Londonderry, Ulster, Ireland.[3] Scott Jameson also believed his immigrant ancestor (also named William), to be a son of this William and a brother to our Hugh.[4] These were reasonable assumptions considering the coincidence of his William Jameson living in county Londonderry, Ulster, with the same name, at the appropriate time and of the appropriate age and then later in Londonderry, New Hampshire, at the same time as Thomas and his brother Hugh Jameson.

However, Scott's own recent YDNA tests results show that he does not match the YDNA family profile of those tested descendants of Thomas or Hugh Jameson. As such, Scott's ancestors, including William, can be said not to be related with either Thomas or Hugh Jameson, their ancestors and/or descendants. YDNA results from descendants of both families conclusively show (prove) they genetically are totally different families.

So, if our Thomas or Hugh Jameson was not a brother to William Jameson and therefore also not the son of his father (William), are there any clues as to who might have been their father?

Scots and Irish of that time, and for many more decades, often used a traditional method in naming their children.[5] According to the way our Hugh and his wife Christine named their children, Hugh's father would have been named Alexander, not William. This is also true of Thomas Jameson (1709-1764) and his wife Margaret, who also named his oldest son Alexander. Furthermore, so far as we know, neither Hugh nor Thomas named any of their sons William, as would have only been natural had a William been their father. It should however be noted that Hugh Jameson had been previously married (in Ulster) and apparently had two (names unknown) sons from that marriage who (apparently) died in passage, which might throw into doubt the naming traditions of his second marriage children. Nevertheless, both Hugh and Thomas' children otherwise follow, to-the-letter, the naming traditions of the Ulster Scots of that time.

Although we have no hard proof for this (yet), the argument that Thomas and Hugh Jameson's father would have been named Alexander Jameson is persuasive. There is even physical evidence that, although circumstantial, seems to support this theory. We find our Hugh Jameson living in Ballymoney, County Antrim, in the Bann River Valley, not far from Coleraine, in 1740.[6] some six years prior to emigrating to America. We can also find an Alexander Jamesone living in that same area in 1669.[7] It should be noted that the names Hugh and Alexander were not common in this area at this time. In fact, it is the only documented example we have, in Ulster, of a Jameson with the name Hugh prior to 1750. This Alexander Jamesone in Ballymoney in 1669 is probably not our Hugh's father, the dates seem too far apart. But it does suggest "Alexander" as a Jameson family name in the area we believe was probably our family homelands of that time. It might also be interesting to note that the spelling of the surname given on the original 1669 document was Jamesone. This was unusual and the same spelling used by others from the Aberdeen, Alloa, Dundee and Edinburgh area of Scotland, mostly prior to the seventeenth century. Some of whom with which our Jamesons seen to share a similar YDNA profile.[8]

No assumptions as to parents or ancestors, beyond either Hugh or Thomas, can yet be given as absolute fact and any statements about this should be done so with caution and a noted caveat.