Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 30

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978


USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II > Part 30


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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George and Anna (Ashmead) Bringhurst were the parents of ten children, six of whom lived to maturity: Sarah, married George Palmer ; John : George ; Esther, died without issue ; Samuel and William. Many of their descendants have had a prominent part in the affairs of Philadelphia, where some of them still


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reside. John, eldest son, was a noted coachmaker of Germantown, and was the first to build the carriages, familiarly known, down to the generation just past, as "Germantown wagons." He built a coach for President Washington in 1790. He became a wealthy and influential citizen of Germantown, and was a member of the Committee of Correspondence for Philadelphia county, 1775.


JAMES BRINGHURST, second son of John and Mary (Claypoole) Bringhurst, born in Philadelphia, December 7, 1730, was in the earlier years of his life a master carpenter and builder, but later became a prominent merchant and acquired a large estate for that period. He seems to have had business or material interests in Rhode Island, early in life, as his brother, Joseph, records in his journal several trips made by James to that Colony, the first, May 6, 1752, and the last, his final removal there, July 17, 1807. It would seem from an entry in the diary of Han- nah Callender, under date of August 26, 1761, that James Bringhurst had some knowledge of carriage building, though the reference may have been intended for his cousin, John Bringhurst, the coachmaker of Germantown; the entry is as fol- lows: "August 26, 1761, Parents consenting, Anna Pole, Betsy Bringhurst, Han- nah Callender, James Bringhurst, and Samuel Sansom, set out for Bethlehem, and the country adjacent, intending a tour of a week or ten days, in a complete light wagon, made by James Bringhurst." The trip seems to have been a success in one sense of the term, as November 19 of the same year he married Anna Pole, one of his companions on this pleasure trip through the romantic highlands along the Lehigh. She was born in Philadelphia, 1733, daughter of John Pole, born in England, December 31, 1705, and evidently came to America just prior to his marriage at Burlington Meeting, New Jersey, January 22, 1733, to Rachel, daugh- ter of Dr. Richard Smith, of the "Burlington Smiths," by his wife, Ann Marshall, as he is named in the marriage certificate as "late of Bustlehay, Wivelscombe, Somersetshire." He settled in Philadelphia and became a prominent merchant, possessed of large estate; died there January 5, 1755. He was possessed of a handsome country seat on Gray's Ferry road, at what is now Thirtieth and Thirty- first streets, the mansion house being surrounded by a large tract of land. This seat was purchased by John Bringhurst soon after his marriage, and was his home for many years, and a portion of the tract remained in the tenure of his descendants until 1860.


James Bringhurst was a member of Carpenter's Company, its Warden in 1769, and one of the Board of Managers, 1772-75. He was also one of the Trustees, to whom was conveyed the land whereon the famous Carpenter's Hall was built. He was a contributor to the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1761, and in 1768 was made a member of the American Philosophical Society, being a member of the building committee who had charge of the erection of the Hall of that Society on Inde- pendence Square. He retired from active business pursuits some years prior to his decease, and July 17, 1807, removed to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where he died February 27, 1810, and was buried in the Friends' Burial Ground at Tiver- ton. Rhode Island.


Anna (Pole) Bringhurst, first wife of James Bringhurst, and mother of his children, died March 5, 1777 ; he married (second) 1778, Hannah Peters, who was buried September 19, 1781, aged thirty-one years. He married (third) Ruth, daughter of Abraham Barker, of Tiverton, Rhode Island, by his wife, Susanna Anthony. She was born January 15, 1746, died December 6, 1815.


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Issue of James and Anne (Pole) Bringhurst:


John, b. April 25, 1764, d. June 16, 1800; m. April 30, 1789, Mary Lawton, a noted Revo- lutionary belle of great beauty and grace of manner, daughter of Robert Lawton, a wealthy and prominent citizen of Newport, R. I .; her married life, though brief, was a very bright and brilliant one socially, and there are many interesting reminiscences of her visits to the Presidential mansion and her part in the social functions elsewhere in Phila., while it was the National Capital; she d. at Phila., Feb. 11, 1793, and her husband survived her but seven years; they had one son, John, who d. at the home of his Grandfather Lawton, in Newport, Jan. 23, 1803;


James, b. Phila., March 4, 1766, d. there May 27, 1818; was an iron merchant for many years, and later a clerk in the U. S. Bank; m. (first) Aug. 12, 1789, Rachel Bettle, who d. Aug. 25, 1795, (second) Ann Carroll, who survived him and d. 1829; three children by each wife;


JOSEPH, b. Oct. 6, 1767, d. July 26, 1834; m. Deborah Ferris: of whom presently;


Jonathan, b. May 8 1769, d. Nov. 9, 1818, unm .;


Edward, b. Dec. 16, 1770, d. Sept. 26, 1794, unm .;


Rachel, b. Feb. 15, 1775, d. Feb. 16, 1777.


DR. JOSEPH BRINGHURST, third son of James and Anne (Pole) Bringhurst, born in Philadelphia, October 6, 1767, received a liberal education, and studied medicine. On receiving his medical diploma in 1793, he located in Wilmington, Delaware, and began the practice of his profession, and soon after that date established a drug store at his residence, now 317 Market street, where the same business has since been continuously conducted by his descendants, a period of considerable over a century.


Dr. Bringhurst took an active interest in public affairs. He was Clerk of the Borough of Wilmington, 1799, and in 1802 was appointed Postmaster by Presi- dent Thomas Jefferson and reappointed by Madison and Monroe, but in 1820, on Monroe's election to the second term, he appointed Nicholas Gilpin Williamson to succeed Dr. Bringhurst.


Dr. Bringhurst "was gifted with an intellect of no common order ; he had culti- vated and improved it by extensive reading, and nature had supplied him with an easy elocution, which enabled him to communicate with clearness and facility, and rendered his conversation, a source of instruction and pleasure." He was an easy and graceful writer, and courted the Muse to a considerable extent, his manuscript writings including many volumes.


Under date of March 4, 1796, Dr. Joseph Bringhurst wrote a letter to William Cowper, the English poet, which in 1800 was printed under the title of "Copy of a Letter from a Young Man, a Quaker in Pennsylvania, to the late William Cowper, Poet." The letter was later printed in the British Friend.


Dr. Joseph Bringhurst was intimate with the Hon. John Dickinson, one of the most prominent Revolutionary Patriots of Delaware, author of the "Farmer's Letters," member of Continental Congress, etc., and was at his bedside when he died. He was also intimately associated with Robert Fulton, of steamboat fame, and took a deep interest in the introduction of steam navigation. He was always interested in all that pertained to the advancement and development of the ma- terial interests of Wilmington and vicinity ; was one of the promoters and partici- pated in the establishment of the first cotton factory, erected in the state of Dela- ware, and was connected with other industrial institutions.


Dr. Joseph Bringhurst married at Wilmington, July 11, 1799, Deborah, born in Wilmington, March 2, 1773, died there August 20, 1844, daughter of Ziba Ferris, born at New Milford, Connecticut, October 24, 1743, died at Wilmington, April


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24, 1794, by his wife, Edith, born in East Caln township, Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, December 30, 1742, died at Wilmington, Delaware, February 8, 1815, daughter of Benjamin Sharpless, son of Joseph and Lydia (Lewis) Sharpless (the former a native of Hatherton, Cheshire, England, and the latter of Glamor- ganshire, Wales), by his first wife, Edith, daughter of James Broome and Mary Alexander, his wife, who came to Chester county from Marshfield, Gloucester- shire, England, 1717.


Samuel Ferris, great-grandfather of Ziba Ferris, above mentioned, came from Reading, Berkshire, England, and settled at Groton, near Boston, Massachusetts, removing later to Charlestown, where his son Zacharias was born in 1676. The latter married Sarah Reed, whose father had come from the town of Awley, Dorsetshire, England, and settled in Fairfield, Connecticut, where Sarah was born. Zachariah and Sarah (Reed) Ferris settled at New Milford, Connecticut, being one of the first twelve families to settle that town. They were Presby- terians, but most of their children united with the Society of Friends; David, second son, born at Stratford, Connecticut, May 10, 1707, came to Philadelphia in 1733, became a Friend, married at Philadelphia, Mary Massey, and in 1737 settled in Wilmington, where he died in 1779, having been a prominent minister of the Society of Friends for near a quarter of a century. Another brother. Zachariah, also removed to Wilmington, and united with Friends there and be- came a minister, dying January 6, 1803, at the age of eighty-five years, one month and twenty-four days, after over sixty years spent in the ministry.


John Ferris, fourth son and seventh child of Zachariah and Sarah (Reed ) Ferris, born at New Milford, Connecticut, 1710, married there, May 15, 1738, Abigail Tryon, of New Fairfield, and they had seven children of whom Ziba, father of Deborah ( Ferris) Bringhurst, was the fifth. His parents removed with their children to Wilmington, 1748, from Oblong, Dutchess county, New York, bringing a certificate from the Friends' Meeting there.


Edith (Sharpless) Ferris, mother of Mrs. Bringhurst, was for eighteen years an Elder of Friends' Meeting, and at her death Wilmington Meeting adopted a lengthy Memorial, commending her many Christian virtues.


Dr. Joseph Bringhurst died at Wilmington, July 26, 1834, in his sixty-seventh year. His widow Deborah survived until August 20, 1844, in her seventy-first year.


Issue of Dr. Joseph and Deborah (Ferris) Bringhurst:


William, b. Sept. 25, 1800, d. June 14, 1818;


Mary Dickinson, b. July 4, 1806, d. Jan. 12, 1886; m. at Cincinnati, O., June 28, 1842, George Vernon Moody, b. in Portland, Me., Feb. 12, 1816; their two children, both b. at Port Gibson, Miss., d. inf .;


Joseph, b. Sept. 26, 1807, d. in Wilmington, March 14, 1880; succeeded his father in the drug business, from which he retired in 1851; was the founder of Wilmington Savings Fund 1832, was president last eight years of his life; became a director of the Bank of Delaware 1843; director of Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad 1860, and one of its most active and trusted officers; became director of Delaware Railroad 1864: later a director of the Chester Creek and of the Delaware & Dorchester rail- roads; of Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Delaware, Wilmington Coal & Gas Company, and other corporations; m. Oct. 6, 1842, Anna, b. Wilmington, Aug. 11. 1816, d. there May 28, 1889, dau. of John and Margaret (Paxson) Richardson; had issue :


Two daughters, Margaret and Anna, never married;


John Richardson Bringhurst, b. Jan. 8, 1745; m. (first) Feb. 1, 1870, Elizabeth, dau. of Joseph and Sarah ( Richardson) Tatnall, of Wilmington, and lived for some years in Delaware co., Pa., removing later to Marshalton, Del .; his first


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wife d. Jan. 19, 1874; m. (second) June 16, 1881, Annie S. Stokes, b. Louisville, Ky., March 1, 1861, d. Marshalton, Del., April 23, 1882; m. (third) Esther Harlan Wilson; had two sons, Joseph and Frederick, by first marriage; daugh- ter, Margaret, by second marriage, and son, John, by third marriage.


EDWARD, b. May 22, 1809, d. Feb. 8, 1884; m. Sarah Shipley; of whom presently; Ziba Ferris, b. Sept. 19, 1812, d. at Wilmington, March 6, 1836; m. 1832, Amy, dau. of Isaac and Margaret (Roberts) Dixon, who d. Nov. 3, 1846; bad issue : Margaret, d. unm., at age of 23 years;


Dr. William Bringhurst, son, b. April 20, 1833, d. Phila., Jan. 27, 1898; studied drug business, and later medicine, graduating at Jefferson Medical College, Phila., 1876, and practiced in Phila., 1505 North Thirteenth street; during Civil War he was in hospital service; he was a man of broad humanitarian views and was highly esteemed; m. Jan. 16, 1869, Amanda Melvina (Veale) James, b. Phila., Dec. 6, 1829, d. there Feb. 21, 1888, widow of Thomas M. James, of Phila., and dan, of George Veale, from Sunderland, co. Durham, England, by his wife, Margaret Frowert, from near Claymont, Del .; their only child, Will- iam Joseph Bringhurst, was b. Phila., Feb. 17, 1870.


EDWARD BRINGHURST, fourth child of Dr. Joseph and Deborah ( Ferris) Bring- hurst, was born in Wilmington, Delaware, May 22, 1809, died there February 8, 1884. He was identified with many of the more prominent institutions of his native city ; director of National Bank of Delaware, New Castle County Insurance Company, and the Wilmington Savings Fund. He was one of the managers of Children's Home and Fountain Society, and president of the latter at his death. He was connected with a number of other philanthropic associations, and held many positions of private trust. He married, May 8, 1832, Sarah, born in Wil- mington, May 28, 1812, died there October 13, 1896, daughter of Samuel Shipley, of Wilmington, by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Capt. James Jefferis, grand- daughter of Joseph and Mary (Levis) Shipley, great-granddaughter of Thomas and Mary ( Marriott) Shipley, and great-great-granddaughter of William Shipley, who came to America from Leicestershire, England, 1725, and was the virtual founder of Wilmington, Delaware, by his first wife, Mary Tatnall.


Issue of Edward and Sarah (Shipley) Bringhurst:


Samuel, b. May 27, 1833, d. Oct. 26, 1834; EDWARD, b. Oct. 10, 1835; m. Anna J. Webb; of whom presently; Ferris, b. Oct. 10, 1837, d. March 16, 1871; m. Dec. 5, 1861, Mary W., dau. of Mahlon and Mary (Seal) Betts, of Wilmington; no issue.


EDWARD BRINGHURST, JR., eldest surviving son of Edward and Sarah (Shipley) Bringhurst, born in Wilmington, October 10, 1835, was trained in the drug busi- ness at the old established stand in Wilmington under his father, and succeeded him in its management, but retired from active business in 1876. He has been for twenty-five years director of National Bank of Delaware; was vice-president of New Castle County Insurance Company ; president of Wilmington & Great Valley Turnpike Company, and an official of the Huntingdon & Broad-Top Railroad Company, the Front & Union Streets Passenger Railway Company, of Wilming- ton, and a number of other corporations. He is a member of the Historical Society of Delaware, and keenly interested in all that pertains to the development of the material interests of his native state. He has resided for a number of years at "Rockwood," near Wilmington, one of the finest country seats in Dela- ware, formerly the estate of his mother's uncle, Joseph Shipley, the eminent London financier, of the firm of Brown, Shipley & Company, of London, Eng- land, consisting of nearly three hundred acres of land.


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Edward Bringhurst, Jr., married, April 12, 1862, Anna J., born April 13, 1843, daughter of Thomas D. Webb, of Wilmington, by his wife, Mary H. James.


Issue of Edward Jr. and Anna J. (Webb) Bringhurst:


Elizabeth Shipley, b. Oct. 8, 1863; m. June 1, 1886, John Galt Smith, of New York City, son of Samuel Smith, of Kilwaughter Castle, Ireland, by his wife, Marianne Bryan; he d. April 25, 1899;


Mary T., b. June 24, 1865;


Edith Ferris, b. March 30, 1874; m. June 2, 1897, Alexander Sellers, son of William Sellers, of firm of William Sellers Company of Phila., by his second wife, Amelia Haasz; issue :


Anne Bringhurst Sellers, b. March 9, 1898;


William Sellers, b. Sept. 19, 1899;


Alexander Sellers, Jr., b. Feb. 22, 1901.


Edward Bringhurst, 5th, b. July 4, 1884.


MOORE FAMILY, of "Moore Hall."


The earliest ancestor of Honorable William Moore, of Moore Hall, for over thirty years President Judge of the Courts of Chester county, Pennsylvania, a prominent member of Provincial Assembly and Colonel of the Provincial forces in the Indian Wars, of whom we have definite record was :


SIR JOHN MOORE, whose family seat was Farley, Berkshire, England. He was knighted by Charles I., May 21, 1627, and the motto on his Coat of Arms was "Nihil Utile, quod non honestum." He was succeeded by his eldest son :


SIR FRANCIS MOORE, whose sons John and James Moore came to the Carolinas about the year 1680. James Moore being governor of South Carolina, 1700-3.


COLONEL JOHN MOORE, son of Sir Francis Moore, of Farley, Berkshire, was born at Farley in the year 1658, and came to South Carolina about the year 1680. He was Secretary of that Province, June 21, 1683; and, September 3, 1683, was made Escheator General and Receiver General of the Province. On June 3, 1684, he was commissioned a Deputy to the Provincial Council of State, by Sir Peter Collaton, Baronet, Lord Proprietor.


In 1692, Colonel John Moore followed his distinguished relative Colonel Robert Quarry, sometime Governor of South Carolina, to Philadelphia, and on January 1, 1693, was commissioned Register General of Pennsylvania.


Quarry was appointed "Judge of His Majesty's Court of Admiralty for ye Provinces of Pennsylvania and West Jersey" in 1695, and John Moore was named as an Advocate of the same tribunal, and as such appears before the Governor's Council, May 14, 1700, to press the charge against David Lloyd, then a member of the Council, for contempt of the authority of the Admiralty Court.


John Moore was commissioned Attorney General of the Province of Pennsyl- vania, May 19, 1698, by authority of the Crown and re-commissioned by William Penn, Proprietor and Governor, in 1701. He was also Deputy Judge of the Admiralty Court 1700-03; relinquishing that office and that of Register General to accept the appointment of Collector of His Majesty's Customs at the port of Philadelphia to which position he was appointed July 24, 1703, and filled it until his death, November 30, 1732.


John Moore married in South Carolina, prior to 1685, Rebecca, daughter of Daniel Axtell, a Landgrave or Proprietor of the Province of South Carolina, who came over about 1680 and died in 1690-1.


Landgrave Daniel Axtell was probably a son and certainly a descendant of Col- onel David Axtell, a member of English Parliament at the time of the civil war, and was executed for espousing the cause of Cromwell, and the Parliament, against Charles I. The will of Landgrave Daniel Axtell, father of Rebecca (Ax- tell) Moore, was executed at London, August 3, 1678, probably just prior to his coming out to South Carolina as a Landgrave, and was proven in South Carolina. prior to December 17, 1691, the date of the will of his son, Holland Axtell. By his wife, Rebecca, Daniel Axtell had, besides the son, Holland, who succeeded him as Landgrave, three daughters, Ann, Elizabeth, and Mary. Ann Axtell mar- ried (first) John Alexander, and (second) Joseph Boone, of Virginia, and was


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ancestress of the Bishops Boone, father and son, who went to China as Bishops of the Episcopal Church. Her will dated 1749, proved October 25, 1751, men- tions her sister, "Mrs. Rebeka Moore, of Philadelphia." Elizabeth Axtell mar- ried (first) Francis Turgis, and (second) Governor and Landgrave Joseph Blake, and died 1736, leaving two daughters by Turgis and a son, Joseph Blake.


Mary Axtell, the other daughter, married a Cuthbert, probably the Thomas Cuthbert, who later came to Philadelphia, and was grandfather of Captain An- thony Cuthbert of the Revolution. She is mentioned in the will of her brother, Holland Axtell in 1749, but nothing further is known of her. "Lady Rebekah Axtell" is mentioned in the will of Governor Joseph Blake, of South Carolina, as the mother of his wife, Elizabeth, and of Ann Boone, wife of Joseph Boone, of Virginia.


Rebecca Axtell Moore survived her husband, Col. John Moore, and died at Moore Hall, the home of her son, Hon. William Moore, in 1749. She was buried at St. Peter's Church, Great Valley, Chester county, where William Moore was then a vestryman. Her husband Col. John Moore was buried at Christ Church, Philadelphia, of which he had been an active and prominent vestryman. Col. Moore lived on Second street, at the corner of Garden Alley, later known as Coomb's Alley. He owned beside the tract of land in Chester county, which he conveyed to his son, William, in 1729, a plantation in Moyamensing township. William Moore had erected "Moore Hall" and lived there some years prior to the convey- ance of the land in 1729.


Issue of John and Rebecca (Axtell) Moore:


John, b. in Carolinas, 1686, was sent to England to be educated, and on return, located in New York City, where he became prominent merchant; was Alderman of city; member of Colonial Assembly; Colonel of New York Regiment, during Indian troubles; member of Provincial Council, etc .; d. 1749, aged 63 years; m. Francis Lam- bert and had eighteen children. His youngest son, Stephen, was owner of site of West Point Military Academy and sold it to the U. S. Government in 1790. Another son, Lambert Moore, m. Elizabeth Channing, and was father of Richard Channing Moore, Bishop of Va .;


Thomas, b. in Carolinas, 1689; sent to England to be educated, and graduated at Oxford, took holy orders, and was chaplain to the Bishop of Rochester, Dr. Atterbury; d. at Little Britain, London;


Rebecca, m. Oct. 28, 1708, John Evans, Lieutenant Governor of Pa. 1704-08; they re- turned to England soon after marriage, and were residing in London in 1711-16; in 1736, when they joined in a conveyance of real estate in Pa., they were residents of Denbigh, co. Denbigh, Wales;


Mary, bur. at Christ Church, Nov. 6, 1733; m. 1715, Peter Evans, who in his will styles himself "of the Inner Temple, London." He was Deputy Register General for Phila. 1705-13. and Register General 1713-15; Sheriff of Phila. co. 1707-14; and succeeded father-in-law, John Moore, as Deputy Collector of the Port of Phila. in 1732, and served until his death; was vestryman of Christ Church 1719-37; d. at residence of son-in-law, David Franks, June 14, 1745; issue :


Rebecca, bapt. at Christ Church, June 13, 1716 (aged I mo.); m. (first) Dec. 8. 1741, Peter Robertson, (second) Feb. 8, 1759, Alexander Barclay, who succeeded Peter Evans as Deputy Collector of the Port. He was son of David Barclay, and grandson of Robert Barclay, of Ury, Scotland, the "Apologist," sometime Governor of East Jersey ;


John Evans, went on a privateering cruise in 1747;


Mary Evans, bur. at Christ Church, Jan. 29, 1719-20;


Margaret Evans, b. Aug. 2, 1720, d. Sept. 28, 1780; m. Dec. 17, 1743, David Franks, and had issue :


Abigail Franks, b. Jan. 6, 1744-5; m. Andrew Hamilton, of "Woodlands;" Jacob Franks, b. Jan. 7, 1746-7, living in England 1781;


Mary Franks, b. Jan. 25, 1747-8, d. 1774;


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Rebecca Franks, b. 1760; m. Lieut. Henry Johnson, in command at Stony Point, when surprised by Gen. Wayne; went to England at close of war; inherited Baronetcy of father and attained rank of General in English Army.


Frances Moore;


Daniel Moore, sent to England to be educated, graduated at Oxford and became dis- tinguished advocate, and member of Parliament; daughter, Frances, m. Hon. Thomas Erskine, Lord Chancellor of England;


WILLIAM MOORE, of Moore Hall, b. Phila., May 6, 1699; of whom presently;


Charles Moore, bur. at Christ Church, Phila., Aug. 17, 1712;


Somerset Moore, bur. at Christ Church, Phila., Oct. 4, 1712;


Richard Moore.


WILLIAM MOORE, son of John and Rebecca Moore, known as "William Moore of Moore Hall," was born in the city of Philadelphia, May 6, 1699, and at the age of fourteen years was sent to England to be educated. He graduated at the University of Oxford in 1719, and returned to Philadelphia, where he married in 1722, Williamina, daughter of David, fourth Earl of Wemyss, who with her brother, James, later fifth Earl of Wemyss, had been driven from Scotland in 1716 on account of her father having espoused the cause of the Pretender.


According to Burke, the Earls of Wemyss trace their origin to John, the baronial Lord of Weems, whence the surname is probably derived, who was a younger son of the celebrated MacDuff, Thane of Fife, vanquisher of the tyrant Macbeth, immortalized by Shakespeare. According to Fordun, Sir Michael Wemyss, with Sir Michael Scot, was, in 1290, sent by the Lords Regent of Scot- land to Norway to conduct the young Queen Margaret to her new dominions, but she died on the journey at the Orkneys.


This Sir Michael Wemyss swore fealty to Edward I., of England, in 1206, with most of the other powerful barons of Scotland. He witnessed the settlement of the Crown of Scotland on Robert the Bruce, and his heirs as Robert I. at Ayr, April 25, 1315. From Sir Michael descended,




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