New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol 29
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F 116 .N28 Set 2 % rv> V 9 >'>;.' •> V » !. -V o»> ,.0 4 o •<"V <W ^U-CT f ^o A>v <r ^0« >*oK ^6* o > «*°* jy** * ,' o . , 1 * r\Jam ^ *-f> > -^ • % "oV «5 °^ ^ °o. W Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/newyorkgenealog29newy N XXIX THE NEW YORK Genealogical and Biographic Record. RD TO I UK INI I.Kl.s IS OF GENEALOGY AND BIOGRAPHY. ISSUED QUAR1 ER1.V. January, i M-.w VORK VL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY ' — i alogical and Biographical Rec a/ion Committee : PURP THOMAS G \. WRII :l> HENR'i |.V \RV, 1S98.-CONTENTS. FAGS i I Pi ol. V II. I III r sail :n The l.i i FAMll Dunlop . OF M I.. I by Rev. Nathaniel Huntti i-m- iinued XXVIII., page 1 10) ORK. i Vol. XXVIII., page 23-21 vi uv.u half cental , N. J their settlement. 1666- 17 ifi Inscriptio.n f TH >mii 1 4-' (fac-similes) . -45 M ?<> I I IV ...... 51 orham—Van Deu lion)—Sea! of 1! -Tablet to Mrs 52 Qurrii Witt —Ketcham, lloughtaling, I Wheeler and Scott . Obituaries. Herman nry Thayer Drown* II Rev. Thomas Stafford Drowne—Thomcs 1 . 13. Book Notices. By Hiram Calkins, Jr. 1 . 14. I I HI IBRARY ... NOTICE.—Tin- Publication Commi into the Rat" h new Genealogical, Biograpbic.il. 'city, but neither the Society nor II s, whether published under i the name or i ure. RS. President, Ckn. JAS. CKANT WI1 First Vice-Presides i SAMUE1 M D. I Second Vi I US VANDERBILT, A.M. Recording Secretary, . RICHARD H E, A.M., LL.B. Corresponding W LAND MAYNARD, I). I). Treasure* BOWEN Willi INC PIERSON. 11 I Librarian, . IRANI .Ik. (i. II Registrar of i WILLI \M VER PLANCK, . HENRY REED STILES, AM , M.D tkustees. Exfirts 1S0S. Tfm Exfirrs tSgg. Term Expi'ts /goo. RICHARD II. GRI Gi Hr. SAMUEL S. PURI I AMES J. MD ABDY HURRY. G«». JAS. ('.RANT \VII N 0b 5 COLONEL WILLIAM LITHGOW. THE NEW YORK (Serological ant) ^iograpbical Retort. Vol. XXIX. NEW York. JANUARY, iSqS. No. t. I UK LITIICOW FAMILY. By Ellen I iunlop i i Since the gift to Augusta, Mimic, by that public-spirited man Llewel- lyn William Lin iblic Library, the interest in the early men this familj idily increased. Careful search has reve I the original family, ami many heretofore unrecorded facts in connection with the ramificatioi its early memb Robert Lithgow, the original member of this interesting family, came to this country in 1719, sai ing from Londonderry, in the north of Ire- land, in the ship " Olive." With Robert came his wife, whose name was" McCurdy," of Irish birth, an interesting picture of whom is given by Miss Thompson, of Castine, Maine, who remembers "her sitting in the attic of Fort Halifax, and listening to her tell tales of the old country as she spun her tlax on the little wheel."* Several children also came, of whom "Miss Lithj "Mai nl "Janet, "formed the little company. Later William was born, tradition tells us in Boston, where they first landed. This little family came from the parish of Glendermoth, Comity Derry, the old parish church of the Lithgows. Unfortunately all the church records were burned many years ago.f The name Lithgow, or Linlithgow, is of local origin, derived from either the royal burgh of the name, or the I the familj arms I local allusion. Ha- family was widely distributed and filled important offices as 1 as the thirteenth century. M Symon tie Lynlilhcu witnesses an " instrument at the church of Cargil, 1225. " Petrus de Linlithqw is Canon of the Priory ol St, Andrews, 1245. The widow of Stephen de Lilhquow gives in free gift to the Abbot and Convent of Paisley, cer- tain lands in Renfrew, 1280. Peter Linlilhku, son of the deceased John, son of Alice Linlithku, grants a charter on the sale of a tenement in Berwick-on-Tweed, i2Soand 1290, showing possession of three genera- tions prior to the period mentioned. Turning to the locality of origin, John, William and Nicolas de Lithcu are found in garrison in the Peel of Lithcu, 1311-12 — immediately before its surprise by the adherents * The McCurdy's are an old Scotch family. In the early part of the seventeenth century, three brothers sailed across to County Derry and settled on the farm la Liscarn. This was very probably the family from which Robert Lithgow's family came. \ Authority. — Douglas Lithgow Esq., ofSefton Park, Liverpool. f " .»$ I 2 77/e Lithgow Family. [January, of King Robert the Bruce. In 1329 John de Lithcu is one of King Robert's household, rendering an account of his disbursements in con- nection with the King's obsequies. In 1335, Robert, High Steward of Scotland, afterwards Robert II, grants to Richard de Lynlithcu, whom he styles " our beloved clergyman, " an annual rent out of lands in the burgh of Lynlithcu. Prior to 1364, Alexander, son of the before-mentioned John de Lithcu, was in King David II's household. —The following year William Lythcu, Burgess of Lythcu, gets a safe conduct from King Edward III to visit Eng- land. In 1384 and 1388 appear for the first time respectively in the Chartulary of Paisley the names of Sir John Lithqw, its Abbot for half a century, and Sir Thomas de Lithqw, his chaplain, who from the favors shown to the former by King Robert II were most probably descendants of that John who had been in his grandfather's household. (Nisbet's " Heraldic Plates.") The name of John de. Lithgow, Abbot of Paisley Abbey from 1384 to 1433, appears on the tomb of Margery Bruce, in Paisley Abbey, King Robert's daughter, and the mother of the first of the Royal House of Stewart, so that the relationship existing between the two families must have been very close. The ancestors of Robert Lithgow, therefore, were distinguished in many lines, serving the King in Scotland, in the fifteenth century, and receiving many expressions of favor and confidence. The estate of " Dry Grange," close to Melrose Abbey, early became a part of the family possessions, and with many important gifts from the King others were also added. For four hundred years " Dry Grange," with its magnificent old buildings bordering on the Tweed, and situated in Roxburgh and Berwick counties, remained in the Lithgow family, until in 1886 it passed into other hands. It covered over one thousand two hundred and sixty acres, and is sit- uated on rising ground overlooking the river Leader, within three miles of Melrose and Newton St. Boswells, and four miles from Drvburgh Abbey and Abbotsford, four from Edinburgh, and is ten hours from London. Both salmon and trout fishing abounds and the shooting is excellent. The Duke of Buccleuch's foxhounds hunt the district, the kennels being at St. Boswells. " Dry Grange," in Teviotdale, formed part of the lands granted by King David I, in 1 143, to the Abbot and Convent of Melrose. It is not known when the Littigows first became vassals of the Abbey. That many generations preceded David Lithcu in ''Dry Grange" appears, however, from a ratification in 1544, by James Stewart, commendator ot Kelso and Melrose, whereby, " in consideration of the good services done to his 'derrest Father' the late King James the Fifth, by his servitors William Lvnlvthgow (son of that David), and John Lynlythgow, his son, he ratifies all previous titles to them of the lands of Dry Grange, which they and their ancestors have possessed for a long time." "In the filteenth century David Lynlythqw, of Dry Grange, paid ten merks yearly ' fu ' for the lands of Dry Grange when these ' consisted of trees and thickets and were almost barren,' and by whose industry they were rendered fertile. His valiant services 'for the defending and saving of the goods and lives of us and our tenants ' were fitly acknowl- edged by the Abbot and Convent of Melrose, in a subsequent charter to 1898.] The Lithgow Family. % his son, — Wn.i iam I.yni . Dry Grange and Weltoun, in Lynlyth- gowshire, v n pan ied Sir Walter Scott ol Buccleuch, Lord George Home and others, in January. 1525 6, to Stirling against the Karl of Arran, then in attendance on King James V. In 1527 he pets from the Abbot and Convent of Melrose a nineteen years' tack of the lands of Dry Grange; in 15311-40, he anil his son John received a charter from the same of the above lands nt of distinguished services rendered to the Abbey by him and his father David. In 1540 he had from King James V, who styles him 'our kv house!; tor,' a charter of the lands of Weltoun, an ancient pos- session of the Lilhgows. On 25th July, 1560, the whole charti Melrose were placed in his keeping by the Prior and M< nks of M He died 1571. His son, John I [nlythgow, of Dry Grange, like his lather, was in the household of King James V, and had from him, in 1537, a gift 1 fthe Parish clerkship of Melrose and, in 1538, a gift of the s of the Rectory of Glasgow. ' In 1-44 he had confirmation of previous charters of Brumebank and Prumenott in Kelso. He died in [591-2." (From Ni bet's 'Heraldic Plates.") About 1609, three brothers, James r, and David, sons of :w of Lanark, cousins of the Dry Gt ranch, left Scotland during the Rebellion and became early " planters" in the north of Ireland, in County Derry, purchasing the townlands ol Carn, lincarn, Lithgow, Ardnabrocky, anil Lisnagelvin from the Bishops who were the original owners of all the lands in County Deny.