Stuart Wilson

Ancestors

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See One Place Study for Ayr, and Alloway : re: Ayr, Ayrshire One Place Study

Biography

^[1]

Stuart is a (very) distance descendant of William Murdoch (1754) who invented lighting by coal gas. William is famous and further info can be found on the internet, or his WikiTree profile. Even more distant through marriage is the connection to Robert I, King of Scotland (aka Robert the Bruce).

When I was 5 years old living in the town of Ayr, my father came home one day and said 'pack your bags - we're going to America, the streets are paved with gold', as told to him by my aunt and uncle in the U.S. I turned 6 years old in mid December and later in the month we made our way to Southampton England and boarded the Queen Mary (1). Our cabin was way down below with a porthole just above the waterline. We set out on December 29th 1952 in the dead of winter. The ship went up and down, side to side which of course made the entire family sick (The QM 1 was not stabilized until 1956). As we sailed up the Hudson River (FYI - The separation between New York and New Jersey is down the middle of the river) on January 3, 1953 we were on the Starboard (right) side of the ship gazing at the New York skyline, but there was no one else around us. They were all on the Port (left) side of the ship looking at the Statue of Liberty which is actually in New Jersey waters. So I had never seen the Statue until my wife took me back to New York/New Jersey ^[2]50 some years later. FYI - I took 300 pictures of it!.

Sources

1. ↑ Personal story
2. ↑ I.ve been there