Crawford Genealogy

 

The following papers, taken from a book and sent to me in a packet, together with the "The Fortified House," does not have a title page. However, Julia, an avid reader of history with a large library, has informed me that the foregoing was written by Ponti, around 1750-1800. And, while I'm not sure any of the names of my ancestors are mentioned among these papers, I am, nevertheless, grateful to Julia for sending this very valuable collection.

Note: Near the bottom of each page, the copies bled toner from one page to the next, which made reading them very difficult.

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In the alphabetical progress of this work, we now come to the genealogy of the very numerous family of Crawfurd, of which many respectable branches have long inhabited Ayrshire; and first, then, as to their origin or descent.

Origin of the Crawfurds

This surname is known to be local, and assumed from the barony of Craufurd, or Craufuirde, (supposed to be of Celtic etymology, and meaning Cattle-passage,) in the upper ward of Clydesdale. But the origin of the family, instead of being native to Scotland, as was generally thought, is now found to be of Danish extraction, or rather from those Anglo-Danes, who, for a long period previous to the Normans conquest possessed that part of England from the river Humber northwards, known in those early times by the name of Northumberland, - a territory of much greater extent, than the modern county of that name, as it included, also, the shires of Durham and of York.

According to that accurate genealogist, George Crawfurd, author of the Scottish Peerage, and the History of Renfrewshire, and of the House of Stewart, both published more than 100 years ago, the Craufurds are derived from Thor-Longus, an Anglo-Danish chief, who, being expelled from Northumberland by William the Conqueror, found an asylum in Scotland, and in particular had a grant of land in the Merse, from Edgar, King of Scots, whose reign is included betwixt the year 1097 and the 8th Jan. 1106-7.

This appears from Crawfurd's M.S. history of the Craufurds, in the Advocates Library, Edinburgh, and is corroborated by Anderson, in his Diplomata, compiled at the desire of the Scots Parliament, who has this notice of Thor-Longus. "Hic vir nobilis, et Anglus genere, faisse, videtur ac forte idem qui Thor in libro, vulgo dicto, Doomsday Book, saepius memoratius, amplissimis suis praediis in borealibus Angliae partibus sitis a Gullielmo Conquisitore erat exutus."

At what particular time his expulsion took place, does not precisely appear; but it seems probable, that it must have been betwixt the year 1069 and 1074, when, from the unsubmissive spirit of the Northumbrians, they brought down on their own heads the most direful wrath of the conqueror, who was so provoked with them for joining their original countrymen, the Danes, who had at that time invaded England, (and whom, for all his prowess, he was fain to buy off,) that "he swore, by the splendour of God, that he would not leave a soul alive. -And so soon as he found it in his power (the foreigners being now gone,) to be avenged of them, he ravaged their country in so merciless a manner, that for 60 miles together, he did not leave a single house standing." See Rapin, V.i.p.172.

All this took place betwixt the years as above stated; and as they were quite subdued by the last of these dates (1074), and as there appears to have been no more exterminating spoliation of this part of the country afterwards, during William's reign, it seems to be a fair conclusion, that this Anglo-Danish chief had found it necessary to fly, and make his escape to Scotland, during the interim mentioned. The era of the Doomsday Book itself (1079,) in which Thor is mentioned to have been, before that time, deprived of his possessions, should be a concluding evidence of the fact.

That he obtained lands in Scotland during the reign of King Edgar, appears distinctly from the following writs copied from the M. S. of Crawfurd, and which also are to be found in the archives of the cathedral of Durham.

CHARTA THORLONGI

Omnibus sanctae matris Ecclesiae filiis Thor-Longus in Domino salutem. Sciatis quod Edgarus Dominus meus, Rex Scottorum dedit mihi AEdnaham desertam, quam ego, suo auxilio et mea propria pecunia, inhabitavi, et ecclesiam in honorem sancti Cuthberti fabricavi, quam ecclesiam cum una earrucata terrae, Deo et sancto Cuthberto et monachis ejus in perpetuum possidendam dedi; hanc igitur donationem feci pro anima domini mer Regis Edgari et pro animabus patris et matris illius et pro redemptione Lefwini patris mei dilectissimi, et pro meimet ipsius tam corporis quam animae salute, et siquis hanc meam donationem sancto predicto et monachis sibi servientibus aliqua vi vel ingenio auferre presumserit, auferat ab eo Deus omnipotens vitam Rengi celestis, et cum diabolo et angelis ejus poenas sustineat eternas. Amen.

EJUSDEM

Domino suo charissimo David Comiti, Thor. omnibusque suis salutem, scias domine mi, quod Edgarus Rex frater vester dedit mihi Ednaham desertam quam ego suo auxilio et mea pecunia inhavitavi, et ecclesiam a fundamentis fabric??? quam frater vester Rex in honorem sancti Cuthberti fecit, dedicavit, et uno carrucata terrae cam dotavit. Hanc eandem ecclesiam pro anima ejusdem domini mei Regis Edgari et patris et matris vestri et pro salute vostra et Regis Alexandri et Mathildis Reginae, sancto predicto et monachis ejus dedi, unde vos precor sicut dominum meum charissimum, ut pro animabus parentum vestrorum et pro salute vivorum hanc donationem sancto Cuthberto, et monachi sibi in perpetuam servituris concedatis.

This historiam deduces the Crawfurds from the above Thorlongus in the following order of succession.

1. Thorlongus, who has charters, as above, in the reign of King Edgar, (inter 1097 et 1107), and whose seal in the first is quite entire, (see a fac-simile of it in the annexed genealogical tree,) had two sons; 1. Swame; 2. William, whose name appears in a charter by William de vetere-ponte, in the archives of Durham.
2. Swane, son of Thorlongus, whose name appears in several charters of the same age, as in one by King Edgar, to the monastery of Coldingham, of the land of Swinton, also in one in the reign of David I. as possessing the Fishery at Fiswick near Berwick; and others in the archives.
3. Galfridus, son of Swane, also mentioned in these archives. He is stated by Crawfurd to have had two sons; I. Hugh, the next in this line; and 2. Reginaldus, of whom afterwards.
4. Hugh, the eldest son of Galfridus, from whom came the Crawfords of Crawford proper, as under.
5. Galfridus de Crawford, who is a witness to a charter of Roger, Bishop of St. Andrews, to the monastery of Kelso, in 1179, and died about the year 1202.
6. Reginald de Crawford, probably his son, is witness to a charter of Richard le Bard, to the same monastery, together with William, John, and Adam, his sons, in 1228. Of the first and third no other memorial exists. The second,
7. Sir John Crawfurd, his successor, is designed Dominus de eodem miles, in several donations. He died, without male issue, in 1248, leaving two daughters, of whom the eldest was married to Archibald de Douglas, ancestor of all the Douglasses whose descent can be traced; and the youngest was married to David de Lindsay of Wauchopedale, ancestor of all the Lindsays in Scotland.

The last three are extracted from Wood's Peerage, under the title Crawford, and the authorities are stated in the margin. That these ladies, the daughters of Sir John Crawford, were descended from Hugh, No. 4, is distinctly stated by Crawfurd, in the M. S. history of the Crawfurds, as above. To return now to the second son of Galfridus, No. 3.
Crawfurd further states, that Galfridus, No. 3, as above, besides Hugh, had another son,
4. Reginald; with whom another portion of the barony of Craufurd remained; and that from him descended his son,
5. John; and hence the distinction of this part of the barony into Crawfurd-John. This John, he addes, is the first on record that used the surname of Craufurd, from his lands; and he is mentioned as a witness to a charter by Arnold, Abbot of Kelso, in 1140. -In the account of Craufurd of Auchnames, in Renf. p.365, it is stated, that Sir Gregan Craufurd, ancestor of the Dalmagregan branch of Craufurds, was a younger brother of Sir John Craufurd of Craufurd-John; -of course he must also have been a son of Reginald, No. 4. This point may afterwards be more clearly verified. Suffice it here to say, that this branch diverged into several; as those of Torringzean, Drongan, Camlarg, Balquhanny, Liffnoris, &c. all either now extinct, or whose history is very little known. -They were distinguished by the stag's head in their armorial bearings, in allusion to their common ancestor, Sir Gregan's having rescued David I. from the attack of a stag which had unhorsed him. This exploit is said to have taken place near Edinburg in 1127, which date corresponds, not unfitly, with the era of his supposed brother, Sir John of Crawfurd-John, who appears as a witness, as above mentioned, in 1140.
6. Dominus Galfridus de Craufurd is the next stated by Crawfurd, the historian, in the succession in this line. He lived in the reign of Malcom IV. (inter 1153 et 1165,) and in that of his successor William, and is a frequent witness to the donations of that prince of the abbacy of Arbroath, particularly in 1179.
7. Hugh de Craufurd appears to be the next in succession, though it is more from probable conjecture, than from precise evidence, that he is reputed to have been the son of the preceding. But, that this Hugh was father of
8. Sir Reginald de Craufurd, sheriff of Ayrshire, Crawfurd has no hesitation in affirming. This Sir Reginald, about the beginning of the 13th century, married the heiress of Loudoun; and from him all the Crawfurds of that family, and their numerous cadets, are descended. It would appear that he had four sons: 1. Hugh; 2. William; 3. John, from whom is descended the Craufurdland family; and, 4. Adam.(See Craufurdland). -The eldest son,
9. Hugh, carried on the line of Loudoun. -He had two sons: 1. Hugh; 2. Reginald, who was the first of Kerse.
10. Hugh, the eldest sons, was of Loudoun. He had a son, said to be the ancestor of the Baidland Craufurds; and a daughter, *Margaret, who was married to Sir Malcom Wallace. She was mother of the renowned Guardian of Scotland, Sir William Wallace, from whom the Baillies of Lamington are maternally descended.
11. Sir Reginald, the eldest son, succeeded him in Loudoun; and, besides his successor, had a son, Hugh, who was the first of Auchnames.
12. Sir Reginald of Loudoun, the eldest son of the preceding, had no sons, but a daughter,
13. Susanna, who married Sir Duncan Campbell, and whose posterity assumed from their father the name of Campbell. (See Loudoun.)

Such is the general account of the origin of the Crawfurds. As to the first five generatons in the line of Loudon, Crawfurd appears to be confident about the order of succession as here laid down. The 6th and 7th are more from probably conjecture than from precise evidence, as there appear to have been different personages of the same name about the particular times in which these lived, without affording such direct authorities as to indentify them decidely. From the 8th to the 18th, inclusive, the succession seems to be undisputable.
Note. -In that excellent work, the Caledonia of Chalmers, Vol. i. pp. 501, 540, there is a Thor mentioned, whom he states "to be of Danis or Sacon blood, that came from the North of England, and settled in Scotland, in the reign of David I. (inter 1124 et 1153), and was the progenitor of the Ruthvens; and that his son and successor, Swane, lived under William the Lyon (inter1165 et 1214,) and enjoyed the manor of Ruthven, &c. in Perthshire; and that Swane had a son, Allan, who had a son, Walter, which last assumed the name of Ruthven." It must be evident, that this Thor could not be the Thorlongus who was settled in Scotland in the reign of King Edgar; and it is quite improbable, that the Swane, living in the reign of William the Lyon, could be the same personage who was, in Edgar's reign also, witness to a charter.

We shall now proceed to an account of the particular branches of the Crawfurds of Cunninghame; and first then, in the order of the alphabet, of

Craufurd of Auchnames

Though this place, the more ancient inheritance of the famiy, and still the title, be in Renfrewshire, yet the remaining property, Crosby and Arnele, as well as place of residence, are in this division of Ayrshire; of course an account of it comes within the plan of the present work.

Sir Reginald Crawfurd of Loudoun, (No. 10. in the genealogy,) who was murdered by the English, at Ayr, in 1297, left two sons; the eldest was Sir Reginald, who succeeded him in Loudoun, and was killed in 1303. The second son was

I. Hugh Crawfurd, whom the historian suppose either to have been the first of Auchnames, or that it was a nephew, by a younger brother of Sir Reginald, who was killed in 1303, that was the author of this branch. As no other younger brother is mentioned, but this Hugh himself, it follows that it must have been his son,

II. Reginald Crawfurd, that was first of Auchnames. It was probably the same Reginald who, in 1320, got a grant of lands from Robert Bruce, and who again, under the name of Reginald Crawfurd of Renfrewshire, appears in 1358, as witness to a charter, by Robert, the High Steward, Lord of Strathearn. Betwixt this Reginald and Thomas, aforementioned, there must have been another laird of Auchnames, viz. No. 3.

III. whose name be supposed to have been Hugh, after the grandfather, as was the usual custom in those times. But it is of little importance what his name was. His son,

IV. Thomas Crawfurd of Auchnames, is particularly taken notice of by Crawfurd, in his Hist. of Renf. n.e. p. 81; where he says, -"that there are many ancient families in the shires of Ayr and Renfrew descended from the family of Loudoun; and among the first of these the Craufurds of Aucnames," -and goes on to relate the substance of a mortification, dated in 1401, by Thomas Crawfurd of Auchnames -"for the health of his soul, and of his wife, and for the soul of Sir Reginald Crawfurd his grandfather," &c. These circumstances combined, make it next to a demonstration, that the deduction of this family as above, from the house of Loudoun, is mainly correct. -Thomas was succeeded by his son,

V. Archibald Crawfurd of Auchnames, who had a grant from his father of certain lands in 1497, and afterwards succeeded him in Auchnames. He married Margaret, daughter and a co-heiress of Sir William Douglas of Peirston, by whom he had two sons; 1. Robert; and 2. Thomas, ancestor of the Craufurds of Third-part. (See under that title.) The eldest son,

VI. Robert Crawford, succeeded him in Auchnames. He was twice married, 1st to Margaret Douglas, daughter of George, Master of Angus, (and sister to Archibald, the Great Earl, who married the widow of James IV. daughter of Henry VII. of England,) by whom he had a daughter, married to Semple of Noblestoun. -He next married Marion Houston, daughter of Houston of that Ilk, by whom he had three sons; James, Henry, and Robert, -in whose favour he granted a charter, in 1483, and in 1484, gave seisin of his whole lands to his eldest son, James, reserving his own life-rent, and was killed in 1513, along with James IV. at the battle of Flouden, and was succeeded by his son*

VII. James Craufurd of Auchnames, who had a charter of lands of Corsbie and Munnock in 1498, and he appears in other charters

* This is taken from N??b? , Vol II. p. 95, App I suspect its accuracy. Instead of the father, it must have been Robert the son, that married Lady Margaret Douglas. The father must have been dead long before the year 1513. In 1484, nearly 30 years before, he was so feeble, from age, (we may presume,) as to resign all his lands to his son James. Further, in 1515, Sempill of Falwood gave the lands of Nobleston to his son Robert, and Margaret Crawfurd his spouse, apparently on their marriage; and Crawfurd calls the lady, "a daughter of the house of Auchnames," a phrase he would not have used, had she been the daughter of the chief of that house. Had she been the daughter by a first wife too, of Robert the father, she must have been upwards of 50 years of age by that time. It is, after all, more to the credit of the Auchnames family, that a younger son, rather than the father, should have accounted worthy of such a noble alliance as that with a daughter of the Master of Angus.

dated in 1526, and 1533. He was succeeded by his son,

VIII. Thomas Craufurd of Auchnames, who in 1535 obtained a gift of the non-entries of the lands of Auldmuir, said to have been 100 years in arrear. He married Marion, daughter of Montgomery of Hazelhead, by whom he had three sons, all in succession lairds of Auchnames. He died in 1541, and was succeeded by the eldest son,

IX. John Craufurd of Auchnames, who was killed at the battle of Pinkie, 10th Sept. 1547, and was succeeded by his brother,

IX. William Craufurd of Auchnames. He married Annabella, daughter of Chalmers of Gadgirth, by whom he had a son, James, who died before himself, but who had previously married Elizabeth, daughter of William, sixth Earl of Glencairn, by whom he had a daughter, Jane, on whom was settled the lands of Corsbie, and of whom afterwards. On the death of William Craufurd, he was succeeded in the barony of Auchnames, by his brother,

IX. Patrick Craufurd, who succeeded also his nephew, James, in the land of Auldmuir and Whiteside; both in 1585. He married __ Frazer, daughter of the Laird of Knock, by whom he had his successor,

X. William Craufurd of Auchnames, who about the year 1600 married Margaret, daughter of Sir Patrick Houston of that Ilk, by whom he had a son,

XI. Patrick Craufurd of Auchnames, who, about 1626, married his cousin, Jane Craufurd, heiress of Corsbie, she then being 28 years of age, and he 18; by which marriage the ancient estates of Auchnames and Corsbie were reunited. They had a numerous issue; of whom one of the daughters was married to Frazer of Knock.

XII. William, the eldest son, succeeded his father, and was infeft in 1649 in the £12 land of Auchnames. He married Anna, the daughter of Col. Sir __ Lamont of Ineryne, in Argyleshire, by whom he had a son and four daughters, married respectively to Houston of Houston; Hunter of Hunterston; Kennedy of Killichangie; and Boyd of Trochridge. He was succeeded by,

XIII. Archibald Craufurd, his only son, the fifteenth baron or laird of Auchnames, of whom the genealogy has been ascertained. He retour is dated 20th April 1676. He married, first, Margaret, second daughter of Porterfield of Duchall, or of that Ilk, by whom he had a son, of whom afterwards; and three daughters, the eldest and the youngest of whom, though married, died without issue -the second daughter, Jane, married Patrick Craufurd of Drumsoy, of whom afterwards. He married, secondly, a lady connected with the Shaw Stewart family of Greenock; but of this marriage there was no issue. His only son,

XIV. William, married Helen, daughter of Sir Thomas Burnet of Crimond, Physician to King William, and brother to Bishop Burnet, by whom he had only one daughter, Helen, who married Patrick Edmonston of Newton: (and had issue, Colonel James Edmonston; a daughter married to Kennedy of Dunure; another married to Buchanan of Arnprior; and several sons and daughters, who died unmarried.) He died in 1695, before his father; and as the direct male line of this family ended, an arrangement was made, by which the estates of Auchnames and Corsbie were retained to Jane, the second daughter of his father, Archibald, and to her husband, Patrick, the male representative of the Craufurds of Drumsoy.

XIV. I return now to Jane, 2d daughter of Archibald, (No. XIII.) of Auchnames. She married, as already stated, Patrick Craufurd of Dromsoy, the repsentative of a long line of ancestors, as I trust to make appear in the second volume of this work. In the mean time suffice it to say, that he was the third son of David Crawfurd of Drumsoy, by a daughter of Gordon of Craighlaw, and succeeded to the representation of the family on the death, without productive issue, of his nephew, David Crawfurd, historiographer of Scotland to Queen Anne, about the beginning of the last century. He married, first a daughter of Gordon of Turnberry (and niece of David Craufurd heir male of the family of Liffnorris), by whom he had a son, Thomas, who died at Paris in 1724, being at that time Envoy Extraordinary from the British Court to that of France. Also a son, Robert, who died unmarried. He had also two daughters, married respectively to Mr. Hogg, merchant, Edinburgh, and to John Cochrane, Esq. of Ravelrig. -Secondly, he married Jane, the second daughter of Archibald Crawfurd of Auchnames, and through her became possessed of the lands of Auchnames, &c. By this lady he had issue: 1. Patrick; 2. George, of whom afterwards; 3. Ronald Craufurd of Resfalrig, W.S.*; 4. James, a considerable merchant in

*He married, in 1743, Catherine, daughter of Forbes of Newhall. He died in 1762, leaving a son, who died unmarried; and four daughters: 1. Margaret, who married Patrick, Earl of Dumfries, to whom she had a daughter; Elizabeth, married to the Viscount Mount?t?wart, and was mother of the present Marquis of Bute, Earl of Dumfries,, &c, 2. Jane, married to William Berry, Esq. and who has issue; 3. Annabella, married to William Fullerton, Esq. of Rosemount; and 4. Catherine Forbes, who died unmarried.

Holland, who married there, and left a numerous issue; 5. Hugh, who died,unmarried, in the East Indies; 6. Alexander, bred to arms, and who died, unmarried, in Lord Cathcart's expedition to Carthagena, in 1741; 7. John was a Lieut.-General in the army. He died in Minorca, at the time being Governor of the island.

Patrick Craufurd of Drumsoy died in 1733, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

XV. Patrick Craufurd of Auchnames, Drumsoy, &c. He was twice chosen Member of Parliament of the county of Ayr, and in 1761 for that of Renfrew. He married, first, Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of George Middleton, Esq. Banker in London, by whom he had two sons: 1. John; 2. James, Lieut.-Col. of the third Regiment of Foot Guards, and Governor of Bermuda, who died without issue, in 1811. Secondly, he married Sarah, daughter of Hugh Lord Sempil, by whom he had a daughter, Sarah, who died unmarried, in 1796. He died in January 1778, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

XVI. John Craufurd of Auchnames, &c. who was Member of Parliament for Old Sarum in 1768, and afterwards for Renfrewshire in 1774. He was an intimate associate of Charles Fox. He died, unmarried, in 1814, and was succeeded by his cousin, descended from

XV. George Craufurd, second son of Jane and Patrick of Auchnames, (see No. XIV.) Lieut.-Col. of the 53d Regiment, who married Anne, daughter of ___Randal, Esq. of Salisbury, by whom he had a son, Patrick George, and a daughter, Mary, married to Thomas Gilbert, Esq. a Member of Parliament, of distinguished abilities. He died in 1758, and was succeeded by his son,

XVI. Patrick George, who married Jane, daughter of Lieut.-Col. Donald Macdonald of the 84th Regiment, Brigadier-General in America ca; by which lady, who died in July 1811, he had issue: George, who died unmarried in 1804; 2. John; 3. William-Petrie; 4. Donald; and two daughters, Margaret and Catherine. -He died in 1804, and on the death of John Craufurd of Auchnames as above, in 1814, the second son of Patrick George,

XVII. John Craufurd, succeeded to the estates. That of Auchnames in Renfrewshire was feued out, in 1761, by Patrick, No. XV, who retained only the superiority of it; but the lands of Corsbie, Arneil, &c. in Ayrshire, are still possess by the family. John, the present proprietor, in 1814 married Sophia Marianna, daughter of Major-General Horace Churchill, and has issue,

XI. Edward Henry John; Katherina Horatio; and Ronald, born on the 19th June 1819.

Arms.-Quarterly, 1st and 4th Argent; a Stag's head, Gules; for Kerse and Drumsoy: -2d, Argent, two spears - in Saltier, betwixt four spots of Ermine, for Auchnames: -and 3d Gules, a fesse, Ermine. -Supporters, two Bulls, Sable, armed and enguelled, Or. -Crest of Kerse, a stag's head erazed, Gules, with a cross-croslet fitchee between the attires. Motto, -Tutum te Robore Reddam. -And of Auchnames, a phoenix rising from the flames. Motto, -God-Shaw the Right.

Residence. -While in this part of the country, Mr. Craufurd resides in an elegant small villa, on his estate of Arniel, near to the Old Castle of Portincross, about five miles north-west of Ardrossan; in a peculiarly picturesque situation.

*Note: Margaret, who married Sir Malcolm Wallace, was the dau. of Sir Reginald, sheriff of Ayrshire, not
Hugh, as indicated above.