Cunningham of Barns, Scotland
Per Reppen
Scotland, 1575 or erlier, died on the estate Gjerdrup, Danmark, 1651.
Parents may be:
Father: Alexander Cunningham of Barns and Gallowside.
Mother: Christian Wood.
Sir John Cunningham lived his life in Norway. He was married twice.
The name of his first wife is unknown. He had one dougther with her,
Christine.
His second wife, married 1625 in Bodoe, Norway, was Ellen Hundermark of
Gjerdrup, Danmark. No children.
Are there anyone who can give me information about sir John's family and
ancestors,
and where in Scotland the estate Barns are situated?
Per.
The...@aol.com
Hello Per,
I have scanned through my database and other sources (including the
Topographical and Historical Gazetteer of Scotland (1856) ) to see if there
was any notation of a Cunningham family related to a village, parish or other
property called Gallowside or Barns - unfortunately, I see no record among
those sources.
However, in doing some browsing on the Net I found the following:
A. Gallowside and Barns are listed as being associated with (or part
of) the
parish of Crail, co. Fife [well outside the traditional Cunningham
'homeland'
in Ayrshire]. This is located just south-west of Fifeness, the far
eastern point
of Fife.
B. A site concerning the Spens family of Wormiston, co. Fife includes
information about one Sir James Spens of Wormiston, who in October
1612
entered the service of King Gustav [Gustavus Adolphus] of Sweden, and
who dying there left a family, one son, Axel Spens, allegedly being
the
ancestors of the noble family of Count Spens.
The information in this site indicates that Sir James Spens was
active
in recruiting other Scots for Scandinavian service. As Wormiston is
close
to Crail, this may be a connection [although not evidently
genealogical]
with your ancestor Cunningham. The address is:
http://twigs-of-inman-spence.rootsweb.com/Ch2.html
I also noted a website [Norwegian ?] which has information on John
Cunningham's descendants by a son, Jakob Hansen Cunningham (1619-1686) - if
this is not your branch, there may be another descendant with helpful
information. The address for this site is:
http://home.no.net/camu/GedWeb/114820.html
Hope this is helpful. If I come across some other 'connective'
information [my Cunninghams are of the Ayrshire variety], I will pass it on.
Good luck, and good hunting.
John
Ulf H Larsson
(1700) dated January 26 1565/66 (under the great seal of Scotland) given
land in West-Barnis and Gallowsyde " in constabularia de Craill, vic, Fyffe"
. Signed by Mary Stuart and Henry her husband "Rex et Regina".
Part of same land it is given to John Cunningham "filio legitimo Willelmi C.
de Barnis in another letter (2038) dated April 10 1572. We can also learn
here that Williams wife was Beatrix Lawmont.
Source: "The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland" Volume IV A.D.
1546-1580.
Regards
Ulf
"Per Reppen" <pere...@online.no> skrev i meddelandet
news:gs_17.3970$Jp5....@news1.oke.nextra.no...
Randi Broli
Per Reppen wrote:
It is correct that John Cunningham (c 1575-1651) was twice married:
1. May 6 1607 King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway wrote in his diary
that he had travelled from Frederiksborg to Kronborg, and on that same day
he had attended Hans Koening's (John Cunningham's) wedding. Thus it seems
that the wedding took place either at the Castle Kronborg, or in the nearby
town of Elsinore (Helsingoer), Denmark, where JC, at least later, owned a
house. This house was 1648 let out to David Melville, who had become
councillor, burgess and postmaster of Elsinore (SSNE Database).
This first wife seems to have died very soon, possibly in 1608.
2. September 4 1625 at Bodoegaard, Norway, to Ellen Hundermark, daughter of
a danish nobleman. The place where this wedding took place was the residence
of the regional governor in Nordland, a brother-in- law of John.
Ellen died abt 1632-33.
There were no (surviving) children of the two marriages.
However, John Cunningham had two natural children, both probably born in
Bergen, Norway:
1. Jacob Cunningham (1619-1680). Rector of Horslunde, Lolland,Denmark.
Married twice, but supposedly no issue. In March 1674 he got permission to
travel to Bergen, Norway, to collect his maternal inheritance.
2. Christine Cunningham (Kirsten Hansdatter etc). She may have been born a
couple of years before Jacob, her youngest child beeing born abt 1659.
She was still alive in 1692, and it is probably she who was buried in Bergen
on October 28 1699 (Kirsten Hansdatter). It is stated that she was born in
Bergen.
She was married to Hans Jensen Oerbech (1616-86) and had 3 sons and
4 daughters, all of whom were married into well known families in Norway.
Two of the sons became rectors (sogneprest), and the third a District
Stipendiary Magistrate [?] (sorenskriver).
Christine was legitimated by her father November 28 1649.
John Cunningham was born, "possibly at the Estate Barons in Scotland" ca
1575, or perhaps a little earlier?
He was recommended by James VI and I to Christian IV for Danish service as a
naval captain in 1603. He became admiral, explorer of Greenland, took part
in the Kalmar War, and was from 1619 to 1651 regional governor in Finnmark,
the northernmost county of Norway, later with a permission to spend the
winter months in Bergen.
Although his adventurous life in Denmark and Norway has been fairly well
documented, very little has been known about his ancestry, as far as I know.
There seems to be an agreement on that he was a member of the family of
Cunningham of Barns, Crail, Fife, based upon a study of his coats-of- arms.
Further, experts seem to agree that his parents most likely were Alexander
Cunningham of West Barns and Gallowside and Christian Wood [Wood of Grange,
Elie, Fife?], based on an inheritance dispute in 1652.
Rev. W. Wood in his book "The East Neuk of Fife" (1. ed. 1862), among many
other families, also mentions the Cunninghams of Barns. He sets up an
incomplete pedigree. As this book (of which I only have photocopies of some
of the pages) seems to be hard to obtain here in Norway, I would like to
quote:
* Sir James Cunningham of Hassingden, second son of Gilbert Cunningham of
Kilmaurs, gave ch. of Barns, in 1377, to Nigel his son. [If this Sir James
is the same as the Jacobo de Cunyngham who in 1315 was granted the lands of
Hassingden for his services to Robert 1 Bruce, he must have become a very
old man
(...Jacobo de Cunyngham militi dilecto et fideli nostro, pro homagio et
servicio suo, totam terram de Hassingden cum pertinenciis, in vicecomitatu
de Roxburghe...)
The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland].
* Archibald Cunningham of West Barns, c 1390.
* John Cunningham of West Barns, in 1505.
* John Cunningham of W.B. md., 1st, Helen Meldrum; 2d, Ewffame Leslie, dau.
of the Earl of Rothes, and widow of Learmonth of Balcombie, who + before
1590.
* William Cunningham of W:B: and Gallowside, mentioned in1565.
* Alexander Cunningham of W.B. and G., son of the last, md., before 1561
Christian Wood [supposed to be John's parents].
* Alexander Cunningham of B., in 1605, 1606.
* Alexander Cunningham of B., ch. in 1616 of West Barns, which formerly
belonged to Alexander C., his cousin (patruelem). His dau. probably was the
intended bride of Drummond of Hawthornden. The father of this Alexander, and
uncle of the former Alexander, purchased the May from Allan Lawmonth, c.
1570. Probably he was the Laird of Barns (so called), who about the same
time md. Lawmonth's eldest dau., and whose second son, Allan, md. his
cousin, Helen, dau. of Henry Lawmonth.
* John Cunningham of B., son of the last, md. before 1627.
* Alexander Cunningham of B. had a bro. John, who + before 1650.
Md. Helen, dau. of Thomas Myrton of Cambo, before 1630, by whom he had John,
his heir. Alexander C. + c 1640.
* John Cunningham of B., in 1643 and 1645. He married Margaret Mercer (who
survived him), by whom he had Lawrence, his heir.
* Lawrence Cunningham of B. serveded heir in 1648. He + in 1658, a young
man. [This must be the same Lawrence who was one of "our" John Cunningham's
scottish heirs.]
* John Cunningham, perhaps son of the last, md. a dau. of Archbp. Sharp.
Mentioned in 1686.
* James Cunningham of B., in 1704.
* Lands adjudged to Scotstarvit in 1743.
I don't quite know what to make of this, all the Alexanders confuse me, and
one seems to distinguish between Barns and West Barns. Wood's book came in a
second edition, perhaps that has got a more complete pedigree.
After John Cunningham had died, his house in Elsinore was inherited by his
daughter, but his estate Gerdrup in Denmark went to his Scottish heirs,
they were:
1) his nephew (sister's son) David Wellwood, who lived in Denmark, and was
buried inside the local church, as was JC himself.
2) Lawrence Cunningham of Barens in Scotland, whose father was the son of
John's brother. That would make him grand nephew of John, and the Alexander
who died
c. 1640 was then probably John's brother.
I can mention that a scottish relative of Admiral John Cunningham also lived
in Finnmark, Norway. This man was a contemporary of him, and must have spent
most of his adult life in Norway. His name was Tamis (Thomas) Cunningham,
and John himself calls him "my cousin". As far as I know, nothing is known
of Thomas' family.
Yours,
Randi Broli
The...@aol.com
Hello Per and Randi,
Not sure this helps other than to stir the waters a bit, but my review
of the Scots Peerage re: Cunningham of Glencairn found the following
attribution of the connection of the Barns/West Barns family:
Vol VIII, p. 226 [re: the issue of Hugh de Cunningham - see my earlier posts
re: Drumquhassle and Ballindalloch] :
' Nothing more has been found regarding [Hugh], but he was probably the
father of the following: -
1. SIR WILLIAM [ancestor of Glencairn & c.]
2. Andrew [ancestor of Drumquhassle, Ballindalloch & c.]
3. Sir Nigel Cunningham, Knight, who appears in a charter of David II. on 7
September 1362, as a witness to a grant by Thomas, Earl of Wigtoun on 8
February 1371-72, and had a charter from King Robert II. of the lands of West
Barns in Fife, 8 December 1376, may have been another brother. He had a son
Archibald, called in the entail of 1399 cited below,
who had a son
William, called in the entail of 7 August 1413
cited below. '
This linkage obviously is at odds with the Hessendane connection claimed
by Rev. Wood. The two reasons why I think the above connection is more
probable:
1. The article in SP states (p. 225, note 5) concerning Hessendane, called
therein Hassendean, co. Roxburgh:
' Before 1409 Hassendean was in possession of James Cunningham, apparently
a grandson of Sir James [charter of 1322], from whom it passed to the then
Laird of Kilmaurs. '
In fact [as noted below re: the 1399 entail] Hassendean was acquired by
the laird of Kilmaurs before 1399. If the laird of Barns/West Barns was as
close a relation as Rev. Wood would have it, it would seem more likely that
Hassendean would have been acquired by that family as opposed to passing to
the main (Kilmaurs, later Glencairn) branch.
2. More significantly, in 1399 Sir William Cunningham (son of Sir William
above and Helen Bruce, and nephew of Andrew of Ballindalloch and allegedly
Nigel of West Barns) had acquired a new charter of his lands entailing them
as follows:
Vol VIII, p. 229 [concerning Sir William, who d. aft 7 Aug 1413] :
' He succeeded his father some time before 8 July 1399, when he had a
charter from King Robert III. of the Ayrshire and Renfrew lands, with the
additions of Redhall, Midlothian, Neve, in Forfarshire, and Hassendean in
Roxburghshire, all of which he resigned in the King's hands at Rothesay.
They were regranted to be held to himself and the lawful heirs-male of his
body; whom failing, to Thomas, Alexander and John his brothers in succession
and the heirs-male of their bodies; whom failing, to Humphrey Conynghame,
Knight, his (Sir William's) cousin, then to Archibald, brother of Humphrey,
and the heirs-male of their bodies; whom failing, to Archibald Conynghame,
Knight, son and heir of the late Nigel Conynghame, Knight, and the heirs-male
of his body; whom failing, to the lawful and nearest heirs of Sir William
himself. '
This appears to place Archibald Cunningham of West Barns next in line, and
next in kinship, to Sir William's first cousins, Sir Humphrey Cunningham of
Ballindalloch and his brother Archibald.
I hope this helps in arriving at the 'correct' (or at least, 'most
correct') line of descent for your branch of the family. Should I find other
information, I will certainly pass it on.
Good luck, and good continued hunting.
John
chrisc...@gmail.com
A John Cunningham of Barns won an archery competition at St Andrews, Scotland in 1612. https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/adlib/Details/collect/3191
Kelsey Jackson Williams
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_028/28_343_469.pdf
Bear in mind, though, that you've responded to a sixteen year-old thread here, so it's rather doubtful that you'll reach the original posters.
All the best,
Kelsey
chrisc...@gmail.com
Thanks for highlighting this article. I found it a well-researched and informative article and it touched on a few people that I am researching. Can you provide me with the book title?
My main interest is with a ‘Donald Bayne’, bowar burgess of Edinburgh, [c. 1580-1648] who was apprenticed to William Mayne, master bowmaker to James VI.
All the best,
Chris