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The Motion Family There is a family legend but no evidence to support it that the Motions came to St. Andrews from France. However their presence in St. Andrews is well documented for about 250 years and several gravestones in the Cathedral burial ground are evidence of this. One of these, commemorating George Motion (1761-1801), shows him to have been Deacon of the Shoemakers; this means he was elected as the leader of this trade to uphold the interests of his colleagues in local affairs. It is well worth visiting what we call Motion corner in the burial ground and to speculate on what kind of people our Morton ancestors were. There were two branches of Motions stemming from the two sons of George Motion mentioned above - these were James Motion (1786-1850) and George Motion (1796-1836). It is from the latter that our Motions are descended and it is worth noting that George's son - also George - was Inspector of Poor in St. Andrews. This title was given to the only Social Service of the time and I think that the only funds which the Inspector had to disburse were contributions collected at Church attendances. George's son, James Russell Motion (my Grandfather) followed in his Father's occupation, eventually rising to become Inspector of Poor for Glasgow and the only member of the family to attain some prominence in public affairs. An interesting co-incidence occurred in that Moira's [Dad's wife, Katherine Moira Davie] Grandfather [Robert Davie] became Inspector of Poor for Kirkintilloch and it is more than possible that the two men may have met in their official capacity. |
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© 2000 William Motion Goodall & Ian William Goodall |
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