On Sat, 15 Jun 1996, Stewart Baldwin wrote:
> Jared,
> I have noted with interest your postings on the Blair family, and
> since I have one genealogical problem which _might_ be distantly
> related, I thought I would see if you could add anything. Some of the
> links of interest come from the notoriously unreliable "Ancestral
> File" database, and could easily be false.
> The following four generations come from AF:
> 1. John Blair md. Grizel Semple (your Blair part 3 posting)
> 2. John Blair md. Isobel Boyd
> 3. Brice Blair md. Esther Peden
> 4. Nancy Blair md. Patrick Crawford of Raloo, co. Antrim, Ireland.
Well, this is information on the Blairs which is new to me. Thanks--
it's part of the reason I posted the Blair messages.
As my earlier post said, Douglas' Baronage of Scotland p.195 shows a John
Blair of that Ilk (d.1609) as the son of John Blair and Grisel Semple. I
gave my reasons for doubting Douglas' reconstruction of the Blair pedigree,
and stated that I think the John who died in 1609 was the same as Grisel
Semple's husband. I based this on a document referred to in The Scots
Peerage's treatment of the Cochranes, Earls of Dundonald, which seems
to name a "Bryce Blair of Lochwood" as eldest son of John and Grisel.
But when I looked again, I note that the document in question refers to
Bryce Blair of Lochwood as "ELDER" brother german of Robert Blair
of Auldmure and Alexander Blair--**NOT "ELDEST"** as I erroneously stated
in my earlier post. Therefore it is possible that Bryce was NOT the eldest
son of John and Grisel as I had assumed. Bryce Blair of Lochwood could well
be a younger brother of the John Blair who died in 1609, making Douglas'
reconstruction correct after all.
If this is the case, then the birth order of the sons of John and Grisel
would be: John Blair of that Ilk (d.1609), Bryce Blair of Lochwood, Robert
Blair of Auldmure, Alexander Blair (d.1641), Hugh Blair, and Gavin Blair.
The daughters of John and Grisel would be: Grisel Blair (eldest dau.),
Jean Blair, and Margaret Blair.
And John Blair (d.1609) would be the father of Bryce Blair of that Ilk,
James Blair of Malsmure, and Robert Blair of Bogtoun--Douglas' "Robert
Blair of Bogtoun" would NOT be identical to Robert Blair of Auldmure.
If this reconstruction is correct (and I now have no reason to doubt
Douglas' statement that John and Grisel were the parents of John who died
1609), then that would mean that the John who died in 1609 would be your
John Blair, husband of Isobel Boyd. And your Brice Blair, husband of
Esther Peden, would be the Bryce Blair of that Ilk who died 4 Feb. 1639,
and who was father of Sir Bryce Blair of that Ilk, of John Blair
(eventually of that Ilk), and at least one Margaret Blair (perhaps two
Margarets). But Douglas says nothing of any "Nancy Blair"--not that that
invalidates your information.
> Do you have any clearly documented information on the above Brice
> Blair who married Esther Peden?
If your information is accurate, then he would simply have to be Bryce
Blair of that Ilk (d.1639). But I do not have any information of the
wife (or wives) of Bryce. He would have to be the Bryce whose daughter
Margaret (d.1621) married Sir Archibald Stewart of Blackhall, and I was
hoping someone would be able to help me find out the name of Margaret's
mother. Maybe it was Esther . . . . ?
> Do you have anything concrete on the above Brice Blair and his immediate
> family?
I wish I had something more concrete than what I've given you here. Sorry.
Jared
