William Douglas's Blog (639)

The epitaph below throws up some interesting issues.

It is normally thought that the Baillie was born in 1612, the year of the death of his presumed father, Sir James Douglas, 8th of Cavers. Here, it appears that he was born c1616.

The second matter is that there is no reference to a family - no wife and children mentioned. Yet is thought to be the ancestor of the Douglas family of Yarm.

I have not been able to trace his cousin, Richard Douglas, one of his heirs…

Found on Facebook: Anyone from Cocke County, Tennessee? If so have you done any yDNA testing? I was doing some research on William Douglas the gunsmith. Born 1785 in NC. Believed to be one of the sons of John Douglas from Surry County NC. It turns out there are some rifles attributed to William Douglas in the hands of collectors. One message board mentioned there being 3 different gunsmiths by the name of William Douglas during the same period. Two from Cocke…

burningbrichtis a home-based business sited not far from where I live in Scotland where Brenda Bleackley is a crafter who makes different items from tartan.

She showed me some of her…

Congratulations go to Henry Scott Douglas who was awarded the British Empire Medal For services to the community in Bonchester in the Scottish Borders in the 2015 New Years Honours List. 

Henry Douglas was born in the Yarrow Valley and has farmed all his life, mainly at Howahill near Bonchester Bridge. He is an…

Leo Douglas was nearly 30 minutes old before anyone noticed the significance of his birthdate. As his parents, Petty Officer Kelly Douglas of Emporia and Petty Officer Megan Douglas of Worth, Illinois, watched the nurse place Leo’s tiny footprints on his birth certificate and enter the details of his birth, they realized that he was born at 10:11 on…

Cavers Castle is steeped in history and was most recently the seat of the Douglas family for over 300 years. In its day, the castle was a grand 64 room family residence sitting in grounds in excess of 100,000 acres.

Today, the castle sits in the centre of the approx 10 acre grounds. The grounds contain a large pond to the western extremity, and amongst the woodland to…

This GradeA listed doocot forms part of the former  Pittendreich estate, once the property of the Douglases of Pittendreich, located at Easter Pittendreich Farm, Elgin, in Scotland. 

Probably written circa 1900: No trace of these Douglases now exists. The old trees probably define the spot where the mansion of the…

John Dagless was a blacksmith living in Norfolk. He married Elizabeth Pearson and they has eight children:

Susannah, baptised 14 Apr 1816

William, bap 6 Dec 1819

Richard, bap 28 Dec 1834, born 29/11/1829

Thomas, bap 24…

The Monteath Douglas Mausoleum is a grand Victorian monument, standing starkly on the skyline in the Scottish Borders near the village of Ancrum It is semi-derelict, and on the Buildings at Risk Scotland Register.

This magnificent, largely forgotten building is the last resting place of General Sir Thomas Monteath Douglas (1788 - 1868). The entrance is guarded…

I received the following message with the request to share it:

I just wanted to share with as many of you as I could that T George Douglas passed away this morning (Tuesday, November 4) at his home in Altamonte Springs Fl.  His wife, Pat , called my husband George this afternoon to let him know the sad news. 

Some of you receiving this email may not have known T George well.  However he was one of the great ones within Clan Douglas.  I can still remember all the…

Can you tell me if you kept witches in your dungeon as I have a sister who believes she was a witch in a past life..?

I was asked this a couple of years ago, and it came to mind again as I considered the fact that Hallowe'en is upon us again.

Do we have witches in the Douglas family, I wondered?

Archibald, 6th Earl of Angus's sister, Lady Janet Douglas of Glamis, was accused of witchcraft and treason and was burned at the stake in…

The following leave unclaimed estates:

Congratulations to Terri Douglas Ventress, a senior design engineer at Oklahoma State University, captured her third consecutive Masters World Championships at the 2014 Highland Games in Inverness, Scotland. Ventress is the only one in the world to simultaneously hold all the Highland Games World Records in her age group.

Above Terri, and Larry…

Douglas, C S $937.97
Douglas, Dorothy Angela $349.45
Douglas, Ian $116.00
Douglas, J F Mr $506.51
Douglas, J G $1,350.00
Douglas, Joyce Alice $102.35
Douglas, Maureen Anne $984.64
Douglas, N L $1,589.48
Douglas, Stephanie Diane $155.95

Further details from: http://www.ird.govt.nz/unclaimed-money/monies-d.html

  I am considering how best to commemorate the fallen from the First World War, and was looking at the scale of the project. The first name that I came across was Rifleman John Sholto Douglas Douglas, who was listed as Alias Watts.  Intrigued, I tried to find out more about him.

15881 Rifleman John Sholto Douglas Douglas died in France on 6th October 1918 and is 'Remembered with Honour' in the Grevillers British Cemetery.

Born John Sholto Douglas Watts, in France,…

Orchardton House was built in about 1761 by Robert Maxwell. He married a McLellan of Kirkcudbright Castle and it is alleged that the roof timbers from the castle were used in the construction of the new mansion at Orchardton. In 1785, the estate came into the possession of James Douglas, brother of William, founder of Castle Douglas. The house was substantially embellished…

The Trials of Lady Jane Douglas

The scandal that divided 18th century Britain

by Karl Sabbagh

The truth about what happened to the beautiful Lady Jane Douglas in Paris in 1748 has never been established. Did she give birth to twin boys in a bug-infested boarding house, or did she buy her two sons from poor French peasants to ensure that the distinguished line…

1864 - 1870 Photograph Album of Ella and Archibald Douglas Pennant

330 albumen photographs

A list of 'Rival clans' has recently been added to Wikipedia.

How much to we agree that this was the case? Rivalary with the Royal Stewarts, is fairly obvious, but what about the rest?

Clan Stewart
Clan Crichton
Clan Gordon
Clan Sandilands
Clan Charteris
Clan Johnstone
Clan Colville
Clan Scott
Clan MacLellan
Clan Ramsay
Clan Maxwell (17th century)

I came across this interesting version of the origins of the Douglas family...…