Susan Griffiths is one of my Ramsay cousins. We share common Ramsay and Hamilton ancestors. Basically, William Ramsay of Barnton the Edinburgh Banker is my ancestor. Peter Ramsay the Inn Keeper and Stabler is Susan’s ancestor. I think they are the sons of George Ramsay, Merchant and Stabler in Edinburgh who married Agnes Thom, but there is a family tree that shows that Peter and William were the sons of a Peter Ramsay (see more here). Peter the stabler was William the banker’s older brother and I’m not sure, but I think he also ran the family coaching business.
William the banker’s son George married the Hon. Jean Hamilton. Peter the stabler’s son William married Jean’s sister Bethia. They were the daughter’s of Robert Hamilton, 6th of Wishaw and Susan Balfour. I’m descended from George and Jean, and Susan is descended from William and Bethia along with many of her cousins that follow this blog.
My Ramsay cousin Susan is also the descendent of Jean and Bethia’s brother William (7th Lord Belhaven and Stenton). His daughter Hon. Susan Mary Hamilton married her cousin Peter Ramsay, son of William Ramsay and Bethia Hamilton.
Susan has sent me the photo above of Garion. She has as letter from her father, Peter Belhaven Hamilton Ramsay (youngest son of Peter Belhaven Hamilton Ramsay and Sophia Probert), which explains how he inherited Garion from Lady Susan Hamilton (his grandmother). She explained that he then rented it out and during the first war, he sold it, possibly to the renters. He also inherited a farm known as Wishaw. You can read more about the ‘Descendants of Peter Ramsay and the Hon Susan Mary Belhaven Hamilton’ here.
The picture was sent to Susan by her cousin, who is the daughter of Susan Hilda Hamilton Ramsay (daughter of Peter Belhaven Hamilton Ramsay and Sophia Probert).
Susan’s father mentioned that Garion was never a family seat, but had the following to say:
It is quite beautiful if you like old towers and large tree shaded gardens. It is near the young river Clyde and a highway bridge over the river has always been known as Garion Bridge.
According to the A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, the now demolished Wishaw House below was once the residence of the Hamiltons of Belhaven. But I am not sure if our Hamilton ancestors lived there because according to Scottish Places it was built in 1825 and Susan’s ancestor William (7th Lord Belhaven and Stenton) died in 1814. That said the central portion of Wishaw House is said to date from 1665, with some parts being considerably older. So it’s possible that this is where our Hamilton ancestors hailed from.
I’m pretty sure that Susan’s ancestor Peter Ramsey the stabler is buried at Castle Gogar below that is currently on the market for £2.5 million (see note here).
Her ancestor Peter Ramsay who married Hon. Susan Mary Hamilton was also given Gogar Bank House below by his father William in 1821, which he sold a few years later (more here).
a tale of downward social mobility 