When We Were Greers XXXI

By Glenn N. Holliman

The Parents and Grandparents of James Grierson, our Maryland Ancestor


Below is the parish church at Glencairn, north of Dunscore and Dumfries, Scotland, and located not far from Cape Noch.  Numerous Griersons and Maxwells are buried here. Our interest in the Scottish place of worship results because one of my generation's 10th great grandfathers was the clergy here in the late 1500s and early 1600s.  His name was The Rev. John Browne and  his wife's name was Sara Hope. John Browne held an M.A. and was the first pastor at the parish after the Protestant Reformation, hence he could be married.

Bear in mind, Elizabeth I is on the throne of England, and Mary, Queen of the Scots, had been deposed by her nobles due to her erratic love life and Roman Catholic beliefs.  In 1603, the year before my generation's
9th great grandparents were born, Elizabeth died and James VI of Scotland became James I of England.

 In 1604, John and Sara Browne had a daughter, Mary Browne, who in 1625 had a short marriage to Thomas Greer .  However, Thomas died young, and in 1625, Mary married for a second time, in this case to a cousin of her first husband.

Photos for this series taken June 2011.


This new husband, who is my generation's 9th great grandfather, had the wonderful name of Sir James of the Rock.  James was born 1604 at Cape Noch, one of the family homes.    He married the widow Mary Browne in 1626 and a year later James Grier, who would immigrate to Maryland, entered this life.  Sir James inherited the family estate, including Lag Castle from his brother, John who died without an heir in 1638. 


It remains a puzzle how James of Maryland became an indentured servant when he appears to be the first born of a well-to-do family?  Is our primary source incorrect, and was our James a Covenator, that is one who wished to worship as a radical Presbyterian?  Was he captured and transported to the New World for his transgressions as were other Griersons in the area?

Above the church sign at Glencairn, a village a few miles north of the Maxwell home and a few miles west of Cape Noch, a home of the extensive Grierson family and our great grandfathers.


More in later posts on this fascinating time in history....

When We Were Greers, Part XXX

by Glenn N. Holliman

To Capenoch, the Home of my 8th Great Grandfather

Approximately 20 miles north of Dumfries and five miles west of Thornhill, Scotland is the stately manor home of the Gladstone family.  Prior to their purchase of this hill top home near Pen point, a nearby village, another dwelling, one hundred or so yards further up the property, was the birthplace of James Grierson, born ca 1627 who in 1674 emigrated to Maryland.  The former house, long since destroyed, served as the site of a prominent family in the area, a branch of the Griersons, one of whom served as the Lord of Lag.

   

James Grier(son) married Anne Taylor in 1680 and fathered John Greer, Sr. before dying in 1688 along the Gunpowder River, Baltimore County, Maryland.  According to Donald Whyte, who in 1972 published Emigrants to the USA, James was transported as an indentured servant by Samuell Gibbons of Bristol, and arrived in Maryland in November 1674. 

The same information is carried also in  A History of the Origin of the Above Families (Greer) and Many of Their Descendants, 1954 by Robert M. Torrence, Baltimore, MD.  James was one of a number of children of Sir James of the Rock, born 1604.  Why one of his children ended an indentured servant must be a story into itself, and one we can see only through the fog of centuries.  Sir James of the Rock was my generation's 9th great grandmother and more on  him and others in another post.

 Above a detail of the Gladstone family seal on an exterior wall of the current Capenoch edifice.  Several generations of my Grierson grandfathers called this property their home in the 1600s.  These photographs were taken in June 2011.


We continue to explore Scotland and our family in the next post....

When We Were Greers Part VII

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Lord of Lag

My lords and ladies of the MacGregor Clan, before we begin to move forward in the American colonial period, I wanted to share some pictures I found on line of our Greer ancestry in Scotland. North of Dumfries, Scotland is a small village named Dunscore. Move east a few miles (one can do this on a Google map) and lo and behold standing next to a farm house are the remains of the manor house, a quasi-castle of the Lord of Lag, the Greer family from which James Greer, my generation's 8th GGF, immigrated in the 1670s. His father (9th GGF) was Sir James Grier, a descendant of the MacGregor clan. See October 22, 2010 posting.

The remains of Lag Tower, 1790 print. The remains of the tower and 'castle' look dramatic in this 220 year old print. Remember the facility was constructed no later than the 1400s.

Below is a decidedly unromantic picture of the remains taken from a Google street map in 2007. Note the red farm equipment in front of the castle. A barn and farm house are to the right of this photo. You can locate this yourself. Go to Google Maps and drill down to to Dunscore, Scotland, about 7 miles northeast of Dumfries. Move your little 'yellow man' a few miles east over Holm Road. Look to the right (south), and you will spot this ruin below. This was and is an isolated part of the world. Many long, cold dreary nights; perhaps that is why our ancestors perfected Scotch!

Update, a few years later, this writer visited Lag and wrote further about this ancestor.