The History of the Tweedie, Or Tweedy, Family
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Gc M.L 929.2 T9161t 1290025 aCNEALOGY COLLECTION ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBR 3 1833 01436 8812 Sec r-i'i'- -' C^e ^jpmt of <tvott^. : THE History OF THE TwEEDiE. OR Tweedy, Family ; A Record of Scottish Lowland Life & Character. BY MICHAEL FORBES TWEEDIE. A.D. IQ02. ILLUSTRATED. London W. P. GRIFFITH & SONS Ltd., Prujean Square, Old Bailey, E.G. [Entered at Stationers' Hall.] ia90025 INDEX OF CHAPTERS. Preface. Chapter I. Ten Centuries Ago Chapter II. The Dawn of Record . Chapter III. A.D. 1500 25 Chapter IV. A.D. 1600 58 Chapter V. A.D. 1700 94 Chapter VI. A.D. 1800— 1850 115 Chapter VII. Armorial Bearings, Tombstones and Memorials 129 Chapter VIII. The Towers and Homes of the Family 140 Appendix. Pedigrees, Abstracts from Parish Records, &c. '51 The nature of tJie zuork does not lend itself to a detail index, which would consist largely of lists of Christian names, and therefore no such index is given. ....... ...... ...... ILLUSTRATIONS. The Spirit of Tweed . Frontispiece. The River Tweed above Drummelzier . 2 The Ruins of Drummelzier Castle.. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2 Drummelzier Castle in 1791 (from an old engraving) .. .. .. .. 6 Widmore Lodge, VVidmorc, Kent . 6 Facsimile of Grant by Robert (Bruce) King of Scots .. .. ., 8 Facsimile of Charter by William Fraser .. .. .. .. .. 10 Confirmation by Robert (Bruce) King of Scots .. .. 12 Confirmation by David (Brucej King of Scots . 14 Letter of Maintenance and Defence by James King of Scots 16 Gift by Mary Queen of Scots . 38 Dispensation by King James VL .. .. .. .. 42 Precept by King James VL . 44 The Ancient Coat of Arms at Oliver . 66 Neidpath Castle . 66 The Site of Fruid Castle . 80 Dreva . 80 Kingledoors . 84 The Ruins of Wrae Castle . 84 Tweedsmuir Church . 88 Drummelzier Church.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 88 Hall Manor . 94 The Valley of Manor . 94 The House of Quarter . 98 The Old Farmhouse at Rawiinson . 100 The Snuff Box of Prince Charles Edward . lOO Armorial Bearings .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 128 Facsimile of Arms of Tweedie from the Lindsay Register, A.D. 1542 .. 130 „ „ Arms of Forbes „ „ „ ..130 The Ancient Coat of Arms at the Church of Drummelzier .. .. .. 132 The Ancient Coat of Arms at Quarter .. .. .. .. .. .. 132 The Oliver Stones at Tweedsmuir Church .. .. .. .. .. 134 The Tweedie Stone in the Yard of St. Andrew's Church, Peebles .. .. 134 The Brasses in the Church of Stock Harvard -cum-Ramsden Bellhouse in Essex 136 [over . IIlust rations—continue d. PAGE. The Monument in Sampford Parva Church, Essex 138 Tablet in Church of St. Mary Castlegate, York 138 The Ruins of Tinnies Castle 140 The Site of Tinnies Castle . 140 The Site of Oliver Castle 142 Tvveedsmuir with Oliver House in the distance 142 Oliver House . 144 Rachan . 144 Rawlinson House 146 The Hoo, Kempston, Bedfordshire 146 Elmshurst, Chatham, Northumberland County, New Brunswick 148 Cloonamahon, co. Sligo, Ireland 148 PREFACE. " Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me. Oh . that mine adversary had written a book." THIS history, which has been nearl) twenty years in making, was originally intended solely for the members of the family, but as time went on the hope grew that it might also be of interest to others as a picture of the inhabitants of the Scottish Lowlands, whose manners and customs formed so distinctive a feature of the country and who played such a prominent part in its story. As it is actually written, however, for the family only, I have not hesitated to make frequent extracts from other authors, notably from the late Professor John Veitch, with whom I had a pleasant correspondence concerning this work. I feel that the highest tribute I can pay to him, the greatest authority on Scottish Border history, is to quote from him. He, himself, kindly said that my name and the ancient relations between our two families were more than sufficient apology, and I have, as well, since received kind permission to the same effect from his publishers, Messrs. Blackwood & Sons, of Edinburgh. I also gratefully acknowledge the kindness of Mr. R. M. Hay and Mr. F. S. Hay in allowing access to the ancient documents in the Charter room at Duns Castle, and for enabling photographs to be made of them ; and I have as well to express my thanks to the many other persons who have assisted me at the cost of much time and trouble to themselves. For the sake of convenience I have adopted the general spelling of the name as Tweedie, as being the more usual, at all events in Scotland ; it is, however, found in the ancient documents in every conceivable form, Tuedy, viii. Preface. Twyddie, Tweedy, Tweedie, Twedy, Twedie, Tweidie, and many other ways, and except by reason of custom and usage in any particular branch, no one form is more correct or authentic than another. Whenever, however, this custom and usage exists, I have adhered to it. In spite of the care I have spent on the work, I am only too well aware of its many imperfections, for which I ask the indulgence of the reader. Perhaps, some day, when the index and printing of the Public Records of .Scotland are completed, some one may be found to complete this story. I would add that the pedigrees in the Appendix are not given in any pride of descent, but to place on record the information that has developed itself in the course of the work. Genealogical details are, perhaps, of more than ordinary interest in this case, because not only is the surname borne by a very limited number of people, but it is of such a purely local character that it always denotes, if not actual kinship, at least a definite connection with the district of Tweeddale, which is, beyond all doubt, the source whence all Tweedies come. MICHAEL FORBES TWEEDIE. Rawlinson, 1902. — THE HISTORY OF THE TWEEDIE, OR TWEEDY, FAMILY. CHAPTER I. TEN CENTURIES AGO. WHENCE they came, who they were, and what manner of men they may have been, is the natural thought of every man about his Ancestors ; it is but a matter of sentiment, and of less importance than what manner of men we are, and whither we are going, yet it is doubtful which question has received, and does receive, the more consideration. We venture to think that pride of race and family is not altogether undesirable, for, as Tennyson tells us, " Ev'n the homely farm can teach " us, there is something in descent." Ever since the Creation, the " family has been the unit of all good government, of all order, and all organization, and its prosperity the keynote of all success ; the knowledge that he has a good family record to maintain, and a name to uphold, has often done to sustain a in it much man the hour of need ; and is indeed in this knowledge that the practical value of a recorded history of a family lies, quite apart from its antiquarian interest. It was a feeling of this kind that first suggested the idea of collecting the records of the Tweedies. The search for the earliest traces of the family takes one back into the dark distance of the ages where all beginnings would be lost for ever but for the indistinct glimmerings of tradition which have reached us ; but more fortunate than many families, the Tweedies can quote from the Master of all Scottish tradition the legend of their origin, which is related in the preface to "The Betrothed," as follows:— "Scottish tradition tibc :ectrotbcO ascribes to the of a Clan Tweedie, family once stout and warlike, a descent gj-^^t (meface). which would not have misbecome a hero of antiquity. A baron, somewhat elderly, we may suppose, had wedded a buxom j'oung lady, and some months [^gt /fcinstrcL after their union he went to the Crusades and left her to ply the distaff ^PP^"^'f;*-""^'"' Stansa jif. , , , alone in his old tower, among the mountains of the County of Peebles, mote flc. near the source of the Tweed. He returned after seven or eight years no uncommon time for a pilgrimage to Palestine—and found his family had not been lonely in his absence ; the lady having been cheered by the — " ; The History of the Tweedie, or Tweedy^ Family. arrival of a stranger (of whose approach she could give the best account of any one) who hung on her skirts and called her mammy, and who was just such as the baron would have longed to call his son, could he have made his age correspond, according to the doctrine of civilians, with his own departure for Palestine. He applied to his wife, therefore, for the solution of this dilemma. The lady, after many floods of tears which she had reserved for the occasion, informed the honest gentleman, that walking one day alone by the banks of the infant river, a human form arose from a deep eddy still known and termed Tweed pool, who deigned to inform her that he was the tutelar genius of the stream, and, bongrc, malgre., became the father of the sturdy fellow, whose appearance had so much surprised her husband. This story, however suitable to Pagan times, would have met with full credence from few of the baron's contemporaries, had not the wife been young and beautiful, the husband old and in his dotage. Her family (the Frasers, it is believed) were powerful and warlike, and the baron had had fighting enough in the holy wars. The result was, that he believed or seemed to believe the tale, and remained contented with the child with whom his wife and the Tweed had generously presented him.