Wednesday, August 15, 2012

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



9 comments:

  1. I did sort of the same thing. Grand Pappy Karlovich is from Croatia. Original spelling is Karloviç. Our name means "The Son of Karl". In eastern Europe the name Karl is interchangeable for Charles. Like James and Jim is around here. OK. King Charles IV was the Holy Roman Emperor during the 14th century and we are supposedly descendants of old Great Great Great Grand Pappy Chuck. JK

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  2. So to say you're an "old goat" is inaccurate....you're really an "old Croat". ;)

    S

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  3. Are you changing the blog from Lowandslow to Highandmighty?

    Very interesting.

    Thank you, M'Lord!

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  4. my sister has done a lot of genealogical research as well. she's got us back to the 900s in Denmark. descended from the king no less, but a second son who got squat and emigrated to England to find his fortune.

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  5. Hmmmm.....I hadn't thought of it, but now that you mention it.... ;)

    S

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  6. Awesome post! I love ancestry, in fact? I inspired my father into it some years ago where he's combined much about out descendants from England. Course, I hadn't known the levels of lord's etc, and such, which made your post most interesting.

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  7. I should do some geneology work - but I'm pretty sure I just come from sturdy peasant stock :) (Although my maiden name is Wallace - maybe I'm kin to Mel Gibson!)

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  8. How interesting to have this information about your ancestors. I've never done this because I suspect I have a hanged horse thief or two in my family tree.

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  9. Interesting stuff, this research into your ancestry. My brother-in-law has done extensive work and has traveled to Sweden to meet distant relatives. His research did go back quite a ways and there is evidence that somewhere along the lines, Hagar the Horrible was mentioned in the family tree.

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