My interesting ancestry

A while back my brother, I suppose out of boredom, went on Ancestry.com and began assembling our family tree.  So far he's traced things back 12 generations to the area around Aberdeen, Scotland.  I'll give you some of the more mundane facts later, but the name that stood out the most as possibly having an interesting story behind it was Alexander of Kingcausie Irvine (1606-1644), also known as "The Sixth Laird of Kingcausie".  This ancestry has been cross referenced and is apparently accurate.

My further research uncovered this about him:  The term Laird is not a title of nobility but is a non-peerage position of gentry.  Laird means "the owner of" a large estate, in this case Kingcausie in Scotland.  A Laird ranks above an Esquire, but below a Baron.  It only applies to very large landholders, so apparently Uncle Alex had quite a spread.  The interesting part is how he died....he was executed by his nephew for a wanted dead-or-alive bounty of 18,000 "merks".

Alexander was the "sheriff-principal of Aberdeen" from 1634, and had been made an Earl by King Charles I, but before he could "accept the Great Seal" a civil war broke out, the family not unsurprisingly supporting the King.  They tried to escape to England but were captured by a committee of rebels where Alexander was executed or murdered, depending on the sentiments of the reviewing historian.

Alexander's son was imprisoned, but not executed, and later "restored to liberty".  With the accession of King Charles II the king renewed to him the offer of peerage his father had been granted, but he denied it unless it bore the date of the one formerly granted to Alexander.  (I don't know why that was such a big deal.)  Some say his refusal was more likely because of the great reduction which his fortune and estates (plural?) had undergone.  Twenty years later the king gave the family a charter (whatever that means), expressing his "appreciation for their service and sufferings in the royal cause".

Here is the current and 

Sixteenth Laird of Kingcausie.  Looks like he could use some landscaping around the old home place.  

I wish I'd known all this a few months ago.  I figure it should have been at least good enough for a VIP pass to the London Olympics.  As usual I'm a day late and a dollar short.  ;)

Sir S