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| Origin Displayed: Borderlands Spelling variations of this family name include: Nixon, Nicksoun, Nickson, Nicheson, Nickson and others. First found in Cumberland where they were seated from early times and their first records appeared on the early census rolls taken by the early Kings of Britain to determine the rate of taxation of their subjects. Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: John Nickson, who settled in Pennsylvania in 1683 with his wife Marjory and six sons and three daughters; George Nixon, who was on record in New York in 1760. (Above is a small excerpt from our 1800 word history) Copyright © 2000 - 2008 Swyrich Corporation, all rights reserved |
In 1587, an act of Scottish Parliament condemned certain border families and clans for their lawlessness. Later, in 1603, when the crowns of Scotland and England were united under James VI of Scotland, he found it expedient to disperse the unruly border clans to England, northern Scotland and to Ireland. Some were even banished directly to the Colonies. In 1246, six chiefs from the Scottish side of the border met with an equal number of their counterparts from the English side at Carlisle, where they drafted a unique set of laws governing all the border clans.
MoreThe Jacobites were the supporters of the Catholic James II, whose brief reign as king of Britain was marred by religious conflict between the monarch and his largely Protestant subjects. In 1669, James converted to Catholicism while serving as Lord High Admiral. News of his conversion leaked out to the general public in 1673, and he was forced to resign from his post due to the ensuing controversy. Although the outraged aristocracy attempted to exclude him from the succession, they failed to do so and upon the death of James' elder brother Charles II in 1685, their fears of having a Catholic king became a reality.
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