The youngest child of Willielmo and Jean de Muirhead, born circa 1422, was a daughter they named Janet.(1.87) This daughter was variously known by the name, Jean, and was called The Fair Maid and The Bonny Lass Of Loch Brunnoch. Janet Muirhead married Gavin Hamilton circa 1446. Nisbet noted that the marriage was celebrated privately, ƒed non de jure,ƒecundum canones. The marriage was not sanctioned according to Nisbet:
| “The marriage, they ƒay, was private, and the parties ‘inter grados a jure prohibitos’, within the degrees of conƒanguinity prohibited by the canons or laws of the church, and a previous diƒpenƒation had not been obtained from the pope before the marriage, and the children ƒo procreate, ‘ex occulto et candeƒtino matrimonio,’ were looked upon as ƒpurious. However this lady bore him four or five ƒons; and after that he left off cohabitation with the gentlewoman, and went into orders, and came to be provoƒt of the collegiate church of Bothwel...” |
Gavin Hamilton was born circa 1418, a son of Sir James Hamilton of Cadzow, in Lanarkshire, and a brother-german to James Lord Hamilton. His mother was Janet Livingston.
According to a record in the Register of the Great Seal RMS, William de Murehede served as a witness to a charter of confirmation to Gavin of Hamilton, provost of the Collegiate Church of Bothwell dated 23 August 1468.(1.88) This William de Murehede would have been either Gavin’s father-in-law, or his brother-in-law.
Gavin and Janet (Muirhead) Hamilton raised a family of five sons, including: Robert ‘of Orbistoun’ (born circa 1447), Thomas (born circa 1448), John ‘of Orbistoun’ (born circa 1449), Archibald (born circa 1450) and Gavin (born circa 1451).
1654 Map Of Lanarkshire Showing The Estate Of Orbistoun
~ Reproduced by permission of the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland.
For whatever reason, Gavin did not acknowledge the five boys as his ‘sons’ when, in 1468, he disponed of (i.e. gave rights to) his property of Orbistoun (variously, Orbiston) to them. According to the Account Of The Family Of The Muirheads Of Lachop, Gavin referred to his sons by various titles. He referred to his eldest son as the Chancellario Glasuen, or rather, rector of Campsie. He referred to Thomas as the canon of Dunkeld. The others were listed as the first two’s carnal brothers.
Gavin Hamilton is believed to have died at some time prior to May, 1493. Janet’s death date is unknown.
The third son, John Hamilton married Jean -----, and “from their union descended the Hamiltons of Orbistoun, Hagg, Bothwelhaugh, Innermadden, Aikenhead in Monkland, Fergusly, Kilbrachmont, Monkland, Dalziel and Neilsland” according to Nisbet. According to research performed by John R Hamilton of Fredericksburg, Virginia, John and Jean Hamilton had the following children:(1.89) Gavin, Archibald, John, Patrick and David. According to the genealogy of the family of Rose-Cleland of Rath-Geal, there was also a son by the name of Alexander. This son was known as Alexander Hamilton of Haggs. John Hamilton is believed to have died at some time after 1468.
Orbistoun Estate
~ Used with kind permission by Alan Dawson, Senior Researcher/Programmer
for the Centre for Digital Library Research, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.
Gavin Hamilton, son of John and Jean Hamilton, married Helen Cairnhill. (The Muirhead Clan database gives Helen’s maiden surname as Wallace. The name of Cairnhill comes from the research performed by John R. Hamilton.) According to John R. Hamilton, the couple gave birth to at least one son, Arthur. According to the Muirhead Clan database, the couple had one son, named John. In the absence of any definitive source for either claim, I will include both individuals here.
Arthur Hamilton, son of Gavin and Helen (Cairnhill?) Hamilton, married and had a son, James. James, in turn, married and had two sons: James and Arthur.
The last named Arthur Hamilton, son of James, grandson of Arthur, and great-grandson of Gavin and Helen Hamilton, married and gave birth to John Hamilton, ‘of the East Quarter’. John Hamilton married Janet Arbuckle in 1709. They bore a son, John, who married Isabella Allison.
John and Isabella Hamilton bore two sons: William and John. William Hamilton married, in 1766, Euphema Alston, and they raised a family of ten children: Isabella, John, George, William, James, Robert, Alexander, Patrick, Jean and Euphemia. A number of these children emigrated to America and became the progenitors of lines in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Jersey and Texas.
John Hamilton, son of Gavin and Helen (Wallace?) Hamilton, married Margaret -----. They gave birth to a daughter: Marjorie.
Marjorie Hamilton, daughter of John and Margaret Hamilton, married David Dundas, a son of William Dundas and Marjorie Lindsay, of Duddingsston. They gave birth to a son, James.
James Dundas, son of David and Marjorie Dundas, married Isabella Maule, a daughter of William Maule and Bethis Guthrie. They gave birth to a daughter, Bethia.
Bethia Dundas, daughter of James and Isabella Dundas, married James Hume. They had a single daughter, whom they named Isabel.
Isabel Hume, daughter of James and Bethia Hume, married Patrick Logan . Patrick was born in the year 1630 in East Lothian. The family resided in Ireland and at Bristol, England in later years. They gave birth to a son: David while they resided in Ireland.
David Logan, son of Patrick and Isabel Logan, married Jane -----. They emigrated to the New World prior to the birth of their son, Hugh, in 1744. (See David Logan Of Kentucky)
Alexander Hamilton (of Haggs), son of John and Jean Hamilton, married ----- -----. They had at least one child – a daughter named Margaret. Margaret married Alexander Cleland ‘of that Ilk’, who was noted for his eminent loyalty to Queen Mary.
