Notes |
- Below from "Old Kirkcudbright" web site
http://www.old-kirkcudbright.net/index.html
"AN INTERNET BROWSE THROUGH THE HISTORY TOPOGRAPHY AND GENEALOGY OF THEANCIENT PARISH AND BURGH OF KIRKCUDBRIGHT"
at http://www.old-kirkcudbright.net/owners/mckerlie.htm
This shows the "The Kirkcudbright Parish entry," from "History of theLands and their Owners in Galloway." by P.H. McKerlie.1878.
"He (John (3rd Earl of Selkirk) Douglas-Hamilton) died in 1744, when theearldom of Selkirk and baron Daer and Shortcleuch devolved on hisgrand-nephew, Dunbar-Hamilton of Baldoon, parish of Kirkinner, grandsonof his brother, Lord Basil Hamilton, and his wife Mary Dunbar, daughterof David Dunbar, younger, and heiress of Baldoon.
It will thus be seen that the settlement of this branch of the Hamiltonsin Galloway is recent, and was through the marriage of Lord BasilHamilton with Mary, grand-daughter and heir of Sir David Dunbar, bart. ofBaldoon. Sir David was a good man of business, and obtained a largeextent of land in the Stewartry, to which with Baldoon, his granddaughtersucceeded at his death. Her descendant, Dunbar Hamilton, alreadymentioned, had succeeded to all the lands, and now to the earldom ofSelkirk, as fourth Earl, with the other titles. He assumed the additionalsurname of Douglas. He married, in 1758, Helen, fifth daughter of theHon. John Hamilton, son of Thomas, sixth Earl of Haddington, and hadissue -
John (Basil William ?), Lord Daer, unmarried.
Dunbar, Captain Royal Navy, unmarried.
Alexander, Captain in the Army, unmarried.
Thomas.
Isabella Margaret, unmarried.
Helen, who married Sir James Hall, bart.
Mary, unmarried.
Elizabeth, who married Sir James Montgomery, bart.
Katherine, who married John Halkett.
In 1778, Lord Selkirk had a narrow escape of a free passage across theAtlantic in an American man-of-war. In that year the celebrated Americannaval officer Paul Jones, or properly, it is believed, Jones Paul (whosefather was the gardener at Arbigland, parish of Kirkbean), when cruisingoff the coast with a squadron, made a descent on St Mary's Isle,expecting to find and seize the Earl, and keep him as a hostage duringthe war. This far from agreeable honour was prevented by accidentalabsence from home. The officer, however, in charge of the boat's crew,with an eye to prize-money, seized the plate-chest as the Earl'ssubstitute, with which Paul Jones, possessed of a chivalrous mind, wasmuch displeased. There was some difficulty, but he secured the chest withits contents untouched, and after an absence of seven years, when theowners had no doubt replenished their stock, and the raid had been nearlyforgotten, the chest was returned uninjured...."
|