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Deductions of family relationships taken from the Baillie Court Rolls of Dunrossness
in 1694 and 1700.
The Baillie Court Rolls of Dunrossness for 1694 2 lists the residents that live in Dunrossness. These include
George Burger in Hillwell
Laurence Burger in Hillwell
Robert Burger in Brek
See Residents in Dunrossness in 1694.
Hillwell is a small township (hamlet) and Brek (of Hillwell) is on the hillside next to Hillwell in the Parish of Dunrossness. Hillwell had 11 families and Brake of Hillwell had 3 families listed at this time.
See maps of Shetland, Dunrossness and Hillwell.
The Baillie Court Rolls also contain the minutes of the Court Cases for that year. These show that the Burgar family were well represented. Many of the cases involved brawls or name calling, which seemed to be considered a great offence.
See Laurence Burger in Court Case 1687
See Ballie Court records of Dunrossness in 1694 and 1700 - Court Cases.
From these records it has been possible to build up a family tree for the early Burgars in Dunrossness.
See Burgar family Tree based on the Court records up to 1700.
The deductions on which the above Family Tree was based are as follows.
1. George Burgar was the father of Laurence Burgar (See Court Case 8 )
2. Jean Williamson was the mother of Laurence Burgar (See Court Case 4 )
Conclusion A George Burger was married to Jean (Jeanet) Williamson.
3. Laurence appears in a Court case in 1687, and is in the list of inhabitants above. He is married and has a family in 1694 since his son was bitten by his father's dog. (See Court Case 8 )
Conclusion B. Laurence is probably over 25 years old in 1694, so we are assuming that he was born in about 1660. This would mean that his parents, George Burgar and Jean Williamson were born in about 1630. (It must be emphasized that all these dates are only estimates).
4. Robert Burger and Jean Williamson appear in the same court case accused of allowing their animals to eat another crofter's oats. (See Court Case 9 )
Conclusion C. Robert is most likely to also be the son of George Burgar and Jean Williamson. He is listed as living in Brek.
5. John Burgar appears in several court cases for fighting. (See Court Case 1 and See Court Case 5). He appears in a further Court case in 1700 while living in Gord. (See Court Case 11)
Conclusion D John is not listed in 1694, suggesting that he is younger than Robert and Laurence, and may be living with his parents. By 1700 he is living in Gord, which suggests that he is now in his twenties and living independently. John might be born around 1675, i.e. too young to have his own croft in 1694 but old enough in 1700. Like Robert and Jean Williamson he appears in court for problems with the same neighbour, Marian Garrioch.
6. Jean Burger is attacked in 1694. (See Court Case 3 )
Conclusion E It is likely that Jean is the daughter of George Burger and Jean Williamson, and is named after her mother. If she has been attacked it would be assumed that she was not a young girl, but maybe in her 20s. On this basis she may have been born in about 1670.
Summary of all above conclusions George Burger was married to Jean Williamson, and both were born around 1630-1640. They had a son Laurence who was married with children in 1694. From other evidence Robert was also married and had children by about 1694. It seems likely that Laurence, Robert and John Burger are brothers and that Jean Burger is a sister. However, it must be remembered that a David Burger was present in 1678 when he was accused of plundering the ship Saint Franciso. It is unclear how old he was, but it is most likely that he is as old as George. He does not appear in the Court Rolls of 1694 so is either dead or has moved away. It is possible that he is the father of maybe John and or Jean, but this seems unlikely.
See Burgar family Tree based on the Court records up to 1700.
It is possible that George and Jeanet Williamson had other children ( some are mentioned later) but there is no way of determining how many children they had.