Kennedy of Ardmillan

[Maybole1599]

Hi Everyone

I am descended from Kennedys who appeared at the end of the 1600s in
Lichfield and had forenames such as William and Thomas. They became a
distinguished family of scholars which included Benjamin Hall Kennedy
the head of Shrewsbury School in the mid 1800s, author of the Latin
Grammar, reviser of the New Testament, Regius Professor of Greek at
Cambridge and Dean of Ely Cathedral, and Charles Rann Kennedy
barrister of Swinfen Case (1850s) fame. My great great grandfather
Sir William Rann Kennedy was a leading Liberal, Privy Councillor,
Judge of the Court of Appeal and wrote what is still the standard
legal work on Civil Salvage.

Anyway the family have always said that they are related to the
Ayrshire Kennedys but all that we have is family legend, prior to the
register of the marriage of William "Canady" in Lichfield in 1699.

I have read Paterson and other sources and think they may stem from
the Ardmillan Kennedy family which left Ayrshire around the "Killing
Times". The Laird of Ardmillan seems to have been a leading
persecutor of Covenanters so I think he would have left due to the
antipathy of his neighbours. The Ardmillan property went to a Craufurd
by marriage to an Ardmillan Kennedy daughter.

If anyone knows of a source of more information on Kennedy of
Ardmillan I would be grateful.

Thanks

Tim Kennedy

[Barnbarroch]

Dear Tim,

The short answer is 'no', not really.

BUT I have some info which came from someone called Philip Haywood
whose website and contact details and so on I am unable to locate
(which is not very clever of me, I admit). For what it's worth, he
gives a descent which shows the Ardmillan property ending up with a
Crawford and the names in that generation of several other male issue;
he doesn't explain how and why the property was alienated.

He is the only source I've ever found for any such details. If you
want a copy of the huge chart I got from him, I'll pass it on. It's
hard to make sense of because it's a huge tree all set ou ton a word-
processor, rather than a graphic file. Anyway, you're welcome to it;
you can email me at jv...@dsl.pipex.com

I went to Shrewsbury and there, of course, used Kennedy's 'Eating
Primer' as we always made the title read! I loved Latin in those days,
but not much else about Shrewsbury!

Regards,
Jamie.

[KDI...@aol.com]

All,

There is a treasure trove of Kennedy information at Culzean Castle near Turnberry and Maybole.  There is an onsite historian there who has rooms of Kennedy information.  I live in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.  They helped me on several trips over.  I helped them connect into the Kennedys of Eastern North Carolina who descended from William Kennedy, son of Alexander Kennedy and Anna Crawford of Kilhenzie Castle.

That would be your least expensive and probably most productive way to learn about the Kennedys of Ayrshire.  If you can get a copy of "The Peerage of Scotland", and since the Marquis of Ailsa family is a Kennedy, you might find that you have DNA from Robert The Bruce all the way to the present queen of England, Queen Elizabeth.

Have fun with it!

K. D. Kennedy, Jr.