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Guild of One-Name Studies

One-name studies, Genealogy

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    • 2,234 members
    • 2,132 studies
    • 7,551 surnames

Christison One-Name Study

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Study details

Study: Christison   

Variants: Chrystison

Category:  3 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is well under way on a global basis.

DNA website: www.familytreedna.com/groups/christison/about

Contact: Mr Alexander Christison


About the study

The interest started in 1970 when my son was born and was the last male of our line to carry the name. Over the years this became a One Name study, with collaboration with Christison's around the world, amassing a lot of data and family trees. Our branch has been in Berwick upon Tweed since 1760, with many family members going overseas. 
 

Variant names

The registered variant is Chrystison, which appears in early records also Christisone, C(h)ristysoun and Crysteson. There are other variants mainly due to phonetic spellings, but at present no research being done into these as no firm links to main study.

Name origin

The name appears on page 151 of George Black's 'The Surnames of Scotland' '' 'the son of Christopher' from the diminutive CHRISTIE. Also possible to be from Christini ( latin gen) as in 1436 in Brechin an Alexander Christini is listed also as Christysoun.'

Historical occurrences of the name

Sir Robert Christison Bt. 1797- 1882 Chair of Medical Jurisprudence Edinburgh University Physician to Queen Victoria

Sir Alexander Christison Bt. 1828-1918 Surgeon General 1877, President of Royal Victoria Hospital Edinburgh. Championed medical education for women.

General Sir Alexander Frank Philip Christison Bt. 1893-1993. Commanded 14th Army in Burma during World War Two C-in-C Allied Land Forces South-East Asia.

Robert Christison 1837-1915 Pastoralist. Introduced Hereford cattle to Australia and was a founder of shipping frozen meat to UK.

Henry Lindsay Christison 1830-1913 of Berwick upon Tweed, was a Grocer and wine merchant. Councillor from 1871 and sworn in as a magistrate in 1901, elected mayor of  in 1879 on town council until his retirement in 1912. 

Henry David Alexander Christison 1870-1943 Elected Mayor of Vaucluse, Sydney in 1910. Gave land for a Christison Park in 1918 now part of Maquire Lighthouse Reserve.

Alexander William Crow Christison 1822-1890. Was Superintendent of North East Railway Company at York , was responsible for installing the block system for railway safety.

 

Name frequency

Surname is most frequent in Scotland the 1891 Census lists 345 with 131 in England.

Many emigrated to USA, Australia and New Zealand.

Distribution of the name

The name is most prevalent in Angus/Forfarshire from earliest records. 160 of the 345 Christison's in 1891 census are to be found in Angus/Forfarshire. In England the highest concentration is County Durham 47 in 1891 census, followed by London with 31. The name is to be found in some numbers in USA, New Zealand, Australia. With a few in Canada and South Africa.

Data

Births, Deaths & Marriages for England and Wales 1837-2004 (in Guild online archive)

Outbound Shipping Lists 1890-1960

Inbound shipping lists 1870-1960

Australia Arrivals 1901-1972 , Electoral roll 1903 to 1954 

 

1841,1851,1861,1871,1881,1891, 1901  Census for England Wales & Scotland

1911 census England & Wales

1939 Register

Old Parish Registers, mainly Scotland /England border area.

Scottish Births 1561-1910 (Ancestry)

Scottish Marriages 1561-1910 (Ancestry) 

Probate & Wills 1858-1995

Various newspapers from UK and Canada and Australia 

DNA

February 2020 Registered as Administrator of Christison with FamilyTreeDNA.

I hope this will allow me to tie together trees that have Christisons living in the same villages and area but as yet cannot be linked.

So far worldwide there seems to only a few Christison that have done a DNA test.

https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/christison/about 

Contact Details

Mr Alexander Christison

General Search Results

Occurrences of the surname Christison in the Guild Indexes
(Click on the number to view the search results in each index. Indexes marked by * are only accessible by logged in Guild members.)
  • Global Marriages (public)  279
  • Global Marriages (members)* 428
  • Inscriptions Index  1
  • Datastores  1519
  • References to the name Christison in the Guild Journal  2

Other Guild Websites

You may find our other Guild websites of interest:

  • Members’ Websites Program
  • Surname Cloud
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