Location: Tilquhillie, Kincardineshire, Scotland

During my research, I have found these variations: Tilquhillie, Tillquhillie, Tilliquhilly, Tilliwhilly', Tilwhilly.

Like much of our history the origins of this branch are lost in the mist of time.

The Scots Peerage, in the 1914 edition edited by Sir James Balfour Paul, reports that Sir Robert Douglas, in his (the original) editions of that great work, inserted an Archibald as son of James, 1st Lord of Dalkeith, who "is said to be the ancestor of the Netherdale, Tilliquhilly and Inchmarlo families, but no evidence of this Archibald has been found on record."

Various web sites show David as a younger son of James, 2nd Lord of Dalkeith, by Elizabeth Gifford, making the suggestion  that David "living 1494, is the ancestor of Douglas, of Tillquhillie"

We take as our starter:

Sir John Douglas, son of James, 2nd Lord of Dalkeith, who was b. 1429, Tilquhillie, Kincardineshire, Scotland (??John Douglas of Tilquhillie fought on Huntly's side at the Battle of ...??)

David, his son,  who m Janet Ogston, we have as 2nd Lord of Tilquhillie

James, his son, b 1476, is 3rd who married Christian Forbes of Tolquhon

Arthur, 1517-1586, is 4th succeeded his grandmother in 1535, and married Janet Auchenleck, daughter of the Laird of Balmanno.

John, 1543 - 1617, is 5th

John, 1569 - 1645, is 6th (or was he killed in battle in 1632?)

James, 1595 - 1672, is 7th (and of Inchmarlo) (?4th son of 5th Laird) m Isabel Ramsay, possibly of Balmain

John, 1645 - 1715, is the 1st Lord of Tilquhillie m. Grizel Forbes (d 1718) dau of Thomas Forbes, 1st Laird of Waterton (d 1652) , himself the son of William Forbes, 8th of Tolquhoun (d by 1641)

John, 1668 - 1740, 2nd Lord, who married Agnes Horn

David, b1710, 3rd Lord, was born in London.  At this point, I lose track.

until

Egidia or Giles Erskine, dau of Robert Erskine, 6th of Dun (d 27.12.1590) married a Douglas of Tilquhillie

Sir Robert Douglas of Tilquhillie married Elizabeth Burnett, daughter of Sir Thomas Burnett of Leys, 1st Bt. (d. 1653) and Jane Moncreiffe.

( Sir Thomas Burnett of Leys, 1st Bt. was the son of Alexander Burnet of Leys and Katherine Gordon. He married, firstly, Margaret Douglas, daughter of Sir Robert Douglas of Glenbervie and Elizabeth Auchinleck.)

George Crichton of Cluny, a cadet of the Frendraught family, married in 1665 the only daughter of Sir Robert Douglas, of Tilquhillie, whose seat, Tilquhillie Castle, is situated four miles south-east of Clounie Crichton.

Extract from  REMINISCENCES OF SCOTTISH LIFE & CHARACTER BY THE LATE E. B. RAMSAY, LL.D., F.R.S.E.:

 Across the river was the somewhat dilapidated fortalice of Tilquhillie, the seat of an ancient and decayed branch of the Douglases. The last laird who dwelt there lived in the traditions of Deeside as own brother to the Laird of Ellangowan in Scott's romance. Ramsay has put him well on canvas. Who does not remember his dying instructions to his son and his grieve?--"Be ye aye stickin' in a tree, Johnny; it will be growin' when ye are sleepin'!" while he cautions the grieve, "Now mind that black park; it never gied me onything, ne'er gie onything to it."

In the days when the Dean knew that Water-side the fortalice was uninhabited, and I think not habitable for gentlefolks; but down on the haugh below, and close to the river in a pretty garden-cottage, dwelt the old Lady Tilquhillie, with her son the sheriff of the county, George Douglas, whom a few Edinburgh men may yet remember as the man of wit and pleasure about town, the beau of the Parliament House--

Mary Douglas, daughter of John Sholto Douglas of Tilquhillie, Kincardineshire, who married Edward Percy Fairbairn on 23 May 1894. She died 3 June 1903.

There is a John Douglas baptised at Miltoun, Hill of Murtle, 2.4.1831 who was son of Francis Douglas and Elizabeth (Smith) . Francis was born ?1792 at 'Cairnwhilly' died ?1833 - Elizabeth born ?1807. They also had a William, baptised 2.10.1824, an Elizabeth, baptised 18.9.1826 and a Francis baptised 6.11.1833. All were baptised by Banchory Devenick Minister.

Francis Douglas was son of William Douglass and C(K)atherine Skene who were married March 1779.

John Douglas who married Christine Drummond 24.11.1848 and had children baptised James, William, Mary and Elizabeth between 1849 and 1853 at Banchory Ternan

Robert Douglas of Bridgford, whose father Gavin Douglas was son of William, Earl of Angus married in 1688 Isabel Horn...   Robert Douglas and Isabel Horn had sasine on those (?) lands in 1702, and the other daughter, Agnes, married, after 1696, John Douglas of Tilquhillie.  (Isabel Horn had a sister Agnes, and two brothers, John and James)

John Douglas  D.D., Bishop of Salisbury, the son of Archibald Douglas, a respectable merchant, was born in Pittenweem, Fifeshire, July 14, 1721. His father was the son of the youngest brother of John Douglas, Esq. of Tilwhilly in Kincardineshire.

Lady Douglas had a son, George, Sheriff of the county

...Factor for John William Edward James Douglass of Tilquhillie (c1888)

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The burial aisle of the Douglasses of Tilwhilly, a plain building with slated roof, stands near the middle of the kirkyard. The initials and date of

J. D : M. A : 1775,
upon the door lintel, refer to John Douglass and his wife Mary, sister to the sixth Viscount Arbuthnott. To their only son, a marble monument (inside) bears this inscription : —

Here lies Interr'd among his Ancestors, John Douglass of Tilliwhilly, Advocate, who died at Edini'. March Gth 1773, in the 36th year of his Age, and in his Fathei-'s lifetime. He was only son of John Douglass and Mary Arbuthnott, was early educate in principles of true religion, which appear'd well in him all his Life. O ! Eeader, here drop a Tear for a young man so soon cutt off. But let this comfort thee, that he has gain'd infinitely by dying, for Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord ; and we have reason to believe that his righteous soul is now in a happy state, waiting for the resurrection of his body to eternal life. — The above is built in the south-east corner of the vault : The next is near it : —

In memory of Mrs Hannah Douglass, widow of the late John Douglass of Tilwhilly, advocate, and daughter of the late Sir G. L. A. Colquhoun of Tillj'quhoun, Bart., who departed this life 10th Api'il 1835, aged S3 years, and lies interred here, in the same grave with her husband. This tablet is placed as a small testimony of respect and affection by her only surviving son, G. L. A. Douglass, advocate. She lived beloved, and died lamented. Blessed are the dead that died in the Lord.

Upon a marble slab in the south-west corner : —

Here lies the body of John Douglass of Tilwhilly, who died on the 6th of July 1812, in the 40th year uf his iige. Here lies also the body of his only brother, George-Lewis-Augustus Douglass, Sheriff- Depute of Kincardineshire, who died on the 30th of October 1847, in the 76th year of his age. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life. John xi. 25.

— From a dark grey granite slab, built into the wall above the last-noticed : —

In memory of John Douglass of Tilquhillie, and of Falkenhorst (Thueringen Vorarlberg, Austria.) Born at Inchmarlo, March 28, 1804 ; died at Tilquhillie, October 11, 1870.

— Quotations from John xiv. 12 ; v. 28 ; and ix. 25 (slightly destroyed by damp), are painted upon the plaster on the north wall.

The Douglasses had a pretty early settlement on Deeside, it having been about 1479 that David Douglass, a cadet of Douglass of Dalkeith, married the heiress of Ogston of that Ilk and Tilwhilly. The Douglasses have possessed Tilwhilly from that time, with the exception of from about 1812 to 1857, when it belonged to Henry Lumsden, Esq., advocate, Aberdeen, from whom, or his heirs, it was reacquired by the Douglasses during the last-mentioned year. The castle of Tilwhilly, dated 1576, and now occupied by the tenant of the farm, is in a tolerable state of repair. Bishop Douglass of Salisbury, born at Pittenweem, in Fife, was descended of this family.

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I have included a lineage in the genealogy database, using material from The family record of Dingwall fordyce, Volume 2, dated 1888.

It closes with these words:

The recovery of the estate of Tilwhilly by the Douglass family after a short interval of alienation, was exceedingly pleasing to those who knew what a bond of affection united for many generations the proprietors and the tenants. There is reference to this in the following lines taken from verses on " The Feugh and the Dee," bv the late Mr. William Brown, F.R.C.S.E., the husband of Ann Douglass (Tillwhilly), whose friendly occasional intercourse with the tenants tended to perpetuate and deepen feelings of attachment :
—
" On every road we find the abode
Of a friend, be he young or old
—
And Douglass still has the leal good will
That belongs to the good and the bold
Tilf]nhillie stands on the old, old lands.
And the name of a Douglass is there,
And the weak and the poor may ever be

At which time it was in the hands of John, of Tilwhilly and Invery, who succeeded to the property on coming of age in 1886, and is the 14th in lineal descent from David Douglass and Janet Ogston of Tilwhilly.

Note:  We always urge Douglas Archives users to check their own sources as we do not guarantee accuracy.  In particular, we note that Stirnet offers a very different family tree, and we urge you to check there too.