3

to record the heirs of property in the City of New York granted long years ago to a
Mrs. Anneke Jans Bogardus. Susannah Hudson was a descendant, and she married George Lothian. The Register carried the records down to Dr. William Lothian, and recorded the birthdate of George Lothian in Edinburgh as February 20, 1810, together with the fact that George was educated at the Royal High School there. A letter from the Scots Ancestry Research Council to Joseph Bayliss (son of Eliza Lothian and John Bayliss), states that Georges brother William (my grandfather) was educated at Central High School, Edinburgh.

The dictionary o fNational Bibliography (londonThe Dictionary of National Bibliography (London, 1897), contains on page 47 the following interesting item:

LOTHIAN, WILLIAM (17401783) divine and historian, born on 5 Nov, 1740, was son of George Lothian, surgeon of Edinburgh. After attending the Edinburgh High School he was licensed to preach in October, 1762, and was ordained minister of the Canongate, Edinburgh, in August, 1764. On October 15, 1779, he received the degree of D.D. from Edinburgh University. He died on 17 Dec. 1783. By his marriage on 1 Oct. 1766, to Elizabeth Lothian (d. 1815) he had four sons and a daughter.

Lothian wrote The History of the United Provinces of the Netherlands?? hnio, London, 1783: and two sermons for The Scotch Preacher, l2mo, Edinburgh, 1776, vol ii.

Whether or not this Lothian could be an ancestor raises a very interesting question. The references to the names William and George, which appear so prominently in our own geneology, are really arresting.

And that sums up most of what I know of my great grandmother Helen Johnstone and her sons George and William Lothian. Perhaps research in Edinburgh or London, tied to the available dates of birth and schools attended, might produce something more definite. The question is, who will do it?


THE WILLIAM LOTHIAN FAMILY

Now, let us have a look at Williams descendants. The two Lothian farms in Bristol Township lay side by side in an area known as Elmside portions of Lots 9 and 10 in Ranges II and III. Through both farms coursed Silver Creek, and the dwellings and other buildings were erected on a low bench which rose above the Creek and a tributary. Presumably both houses originally were of log construction. The original George Lothian house still stands, now clad in an overlay of weathered pine siding.

George

George Lothian, Williams firstborn, died in his 19th year. No details of him are available, although I have in my possession a school reader inscribed with his name, and that of my father.

Harper

Harper, the oldest surviving son, who married Isabella Craig in 1875, took over the