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The Setons of Meldrum
The senior line of the
Seton family was in East Lothian, at the Palace of
Seton, they were the
Flemish senior cadets of the old French Carolingian
bloodline from the House of Boulogne, and cousins to the
Royal House and Family of Stuart/Stewart of Scotland.
The lands of Seton, east of Edinburgh, took their name
from our family, and it was from
here Sir Alexander Seton (the 2nd son of Sir William
Seton, 1st Lord Seton), left and assumed his
residence in Aberdeenshire when he married the heiress
of the Gordon family, Elizabeth Gordon, in the north of
Scotland.
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ARMS OF SETON OF MELDRUM, Quarterly: 1st
and 4th Or, three crescents within a double tressure flory counter-flory
Gules (Seton) 2nd and 3rd Argent, from the waves of the sea a demi-otter
issuant Sable crowned Or (Meldrum) |
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The marriage to the Gordon
heiress established the long connection between the
Seton and Gordon families, and Sir Alexander Seton was
created 1st Lord Gordon by Royal arrangement, and he
and Elizabeth Gordon had three son's and two daughters.
Lord Gordon's eldest son was also called Sir Alexander
Seton and who succeeded his father to become 2nd Lord
Gordon and 1st Earl of Huntly; Lord Gordon's
second son, Sir William Seton married the Meldrum family
heiress, Elizabeth Meldrum, and established the Seton’s
of Meldrum; and Lord Gordon's his third son was Henry
Seton, who along with his brother William was killed on
the
18th of May 1452, at Battle of Brechin in Angus,
Scotland.
It is from Sir William
Seton’s line that the Seton Laird’s of Meldrum descend
(a Laird was/is a lesser Scottish Feudal Baron). The
Seton's of Meldrum continued for 8 generations, and it
is from the Meldrum line that the
Nova Scotia
family of "Seeton" descends from.
The Seton’s of Meldrum
family flourished and
were highly active throughout Aberdeenshire and Scottish history. They acquired property
throughout the Aberdeen region over the course of several generations, with
lands such as Auquhorthies (Auchquorthies/Achorters), Barra, Belhelvie, Blair, Bourtie, Broomhill
and Cuttlecraigs, Disblair, Lumphard (Lumphart), Menie, Mounie, Pitmedden,
Schethin (Shethin) Udny, etc… The family were
strongly attached to the Gordon faction, and acted as Chamberlains
to the Earls of Huntly on several occasions, as well as to Seton Earl of
Dunfermline’s at Fyvie Castle in the 1620's and 1630's. They
intermarried with the Aberdeenshire
families of Leslie and Fraser, and in a similar capacity, the Abercrombie,
Abernethy, Burnett, Forbes, Innes, Johnstone, Ogilvy, Paterson, Sutherland and Urquhart families.
Eventually as the
Reformation took hold in the north of Scotland during the 17th century, the family's
tradition of Catholicism was abandoned and they adopted the
national Presbyterian religion, although there also seems to have been an
interest in the Quaker faction. With the demise of the
Gordon power in the north, coupled with the ending of the senior Meldrum family
line and the passing of that estate to the Urquhart's, along with the Jacobite
troubles of the Stuart Monarchy, and the subsequent forfeiture and demise of the
Earls of Dunfermline in 1690 in the failed support of the Stuarts, the Seton's
of Aberdeen began to slowly fade from history. However, it is from this time period
that the line of the Seeton's of Ireland and Nova Scotia was established.
The Seeton's of Nova Scotia descend from the Seton's of Meldrum, from John
Seton, of the Meldrum family line:
The Seeton's of Nova Scotia's lineage stems from
William Seton, 5th Baron of Meldrum, who's eldest son from his second marriage
to Janet Leith, was John Seton of Disblair (also called "Blair"),
who died in 1563 qand is buried at St. Meddens in Aberdeenshire. John Seton's eldest son was William Seton of Disblair,
Burgess of Aberdeen in 1595, who was a superior of Licklyhead Castle. William
was succeeded by his eldest son, also called William Seton and who was served
heir of Tulliduff from his mother (c.1612/1616). William was a Scottish
Catholic active in 1629 with the Marquis of Huntly with other nobles of Aberdeenshire, and the Duke of Buckingham in
England, in support of Catholicism and was noted in the Domestic Annals of
Scotland (Reign of King Charles I, part B). His eldest son George
succeeded him, but lost Disblair in bankruptcy to Forbes of Craigievar, his debt
owing to Alexander Seton, Lord Pitmedden noted in the Courts of Session Books in
1673. His daughters surviving him, were eventually served as heiresses
portioners in the dissolution of the estate. William's second son was named John Seton, who was
the first Seton-Chamberlain to the 1st and 2nd Earls of Dunfermline at Fyvie Castle.
John Seton, Chamberlain of Fyvie, leased the estate of Menie from his father-in-law Sir Robert Graham of Morphie and later acquired or leased the estate of Aquhorthies
from the Leslie family
to be nearer to Fyvie Castle and his duties there. Of John Seton we do not
have many details, though that he was Chamberlain to the 1st and 2nd Earls of Dunfermline at
Fyvie Castle between the 1620's and 1630's and was noted in the funeral of
Chancellor Alexander Seton 1st Earl of Dunfermline, and that his portrait hangs in Mounie Castle,
we do know. He was slain by John Wilson of Aberchirder and noted in the
Presbytery Book of Strathbogie, at Botary, 8th February, 1637.
He was originally referred to as John Seaton of Disblair.
John's younger brother, William Seaton (third son of William
Seton of Disblair), succeeded to the office of his brother as
Chamberlain of Fyvie. William was noted in
various events of the troubled times in Aberdeenshire, as a
result of his position at Fyvie Castle:
Lieutenant
Fotheringhame, with about forty musketeers of the master
of Forbes' regiment, went out of Aberdeen, having order to go
out and plunder such persons as had not paid their tenths, and
given up their men. He happened to be at Fyvie with his company,
drinking at an alehouse, where John Gordon, second son to
Ardloggie, William Seaton, Chamberlain of Fyvie, and some
others, happened to be also : and, upon some slight occasion,
serjeant Forsyth, in this company, was suddenly shot by the said
John Gordon, who wan freely away, without revenge, from the
midst of Fotheringbame's musketeers ; for the whilk this
lieutenant was pitifully disgraced thereafter.
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Meldrum
House, Aberdeenshire |
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William
Seaton, Chamberlain of Fyvie, had a son John Seton (Seaton), who in turn had a son Alexander Seaton.
Alexander Seaton (also spelt "Seton") was born
circa 1652
in Cuttlecraggs (Cuttlecraigs),
near Lethenty in Daviot Parish, Aberdeenshire
(approx. ¼ mile from Lumphard/Lumphart and not far from the Seton estates of Meldrum, Mounie and Barra),
and was a scholar
who attended the College or University of Marischal in Aberdeen. While at the University
he became convinced of the Quaker ideals, and around 1675 converted to that
religion
and became an active Quaker minister. He was involved in
the promoting of the Quaker faith into
Ulster, Ireland,
traveling there frequently and is recorded as being jailed along with Anthony Sharp for continuing Quaker
activities in Dublin despite a Government order to the contrary. In Aberdeenshire, Alexander married Margaret Joass of
the Colleonard family in Banffshire
(also spelt "Joasse", brother of John Joass, younger of Colleonard
who d.c.1718), and they had five children:
1st Thomas; 2nd John; 3rd James; 4th Andrew; and a daughter Ruth.
Alexander Seaton and
his wife Margaret Joass formally immigrated with their family to Hillsborough,
Co. Down, Ulster in 1699, leaving from Glasgow, Scotland. Records
regarding Alexander can be found occasionally in the records regarding the
Quakers in Hillsborough, Co. Down, Ireland prior to 1723, when he died.
(see link for
Seton/Leslie/Abercrombie tie information:
http://www.scotcassurvey.f9.co.uk/Fetternear/BASIC.htm
) Also: http://www.ayrshireroots.com/Genealogy/Historical/historic%20Stewart%202.htm
"About the middle of the summer of 1683,"
says the Quaker chronicler, "the Government gave orders to the several sorts of
Dissenters in Dublin, that they should forbear meeting publicly together in
their worship-houses as formerly; the Archbishop of Dublin (Francis Marsh) also
sent for Anthony Sharp, and told him it was the mind and desire of the
Government that Friends should also forbear meeting in their public
meeting-houses; but Friends returned answer, that they believed it was their
indispensable duty to meet together to worship the great God of heaven and
earth, from whom we receive all our mercies, and not to forbear assembling
ourselves together for fear of punishment from men, for that we met purely to
worship the Lord, and not upon any other account. So, according to the desire of
the Government, other professors generally left their meeting-houses, but
Friends met together to worship the Lord as formerly, as they were persuaded it
was their duty to do. So upon a first day in the sixth month this year came the
Marshal and several of the Mayor's officers to the meeting at Wormwood Gate,
where John Burnyeat being speaking, the Marshal commanded him to go with him,
which after some discourse he did. He commanded the meeting to disperse, but
Friends kept quiet in their places. John was carried before the Mayor, with whom
he had some discourse to this effect: he asked him, 'Why they did act contrary
to the Government, having been commanded not to meet?' John answered, 'We do
nothing in contempt of the Government.' But, said he, 'Why do you not obey
them?' John replied, 'Because it is matter of conscience to us, and that which
we believe to be our indispensable duty, to meet together to worship God.' To
which he answered, 'You may be misled.' John told him, 'If we are misled, we are
willing to be informed, if any can do it.' Then it was urged, 'other Dissenters
had submitted, and why would not we?' John said, 'What they do will be no plea
for us before the Judgement-seat of the great God. So after some other discourse
the Marshal committed John to the Marshalsea Prison, to which also were taken
afterwards
Alexander Seaton, Anthony Sharp, and others. Now," adds
the Quaker historian, "several sober persons observing other professors to
shrink in this time of persecution, whilst Friends kept their meetings as usual,
came to our meetings and became faithful Friends." In 1686 the Quakers
relinquished the house at Wormwood Gate, which was found to be too small and not
sufficiently commodious. In the last century Elizabeth Salmon held from the
Corporation, at an annual rent of five pounds, a part of the old town ditch near
"Gorman's Gate;" and although no vestiges of the portal now exist, the name of"
Wormwood Gate" is still applied to 11 houses erected on portion of its site.
Reference the website posting at:
http://indigo.ie/~kfinlay/Gilbert/gilbert9.htm
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