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As noted in a previous
issue of Canadian Explorer, one discovery can show how someone’s
ancestry can change if you take into account the wrong female link in the
genealogy of any family, based on the lack of conclusive evidence as a
common feature of Fraser genealogy and, in fact, most family history.
According to the accepted genealogy of the Viscounts of Arbuthnott, Sir
Robert Arbuthnot of Arrat, who succeeded his uncle, married twice, and his
second wife, Margaret Fraser of Lovat, was the mother of his eldest son
and heir, Sir Robert, 1st Viscount of Arbuthnott. However, Mrs
P.S-M. Arbuthnot, in Memories of the Arbuthnots of Kincardineshire and
Aberdeenshire (1920), writes that information sent to her by Mr Alfred
Arbuthnot-Murray, late owner of Fiddes Castle, suggests that Robert, first
Viscount of Arbuthnott, was the son of Sir Robert of that Ilk by his first
wife, and not his second wife.
In order to
understand Margaret Fraser, it may be helpful to recap the story of her
father, Simon, 6th Lord Lovat (1570-1633). The boyhood of
young Simon was passed under the eye of his uncle and Tutor, who by that
time had married Isobel Forbes, widow of Thomas Fraser of Strichen [of the
Philorth family] in the Buchan district of Aberdeenshire. In 1586 Simon
was placed under the care of [David Rait] the Sub-Principal of King’s
College, where he proved to be stubborn and unruly, and ran away to
Ireland for two years. By 1589 it was the opinion of his mother and his
other curators that young Lovat should take himself a wife, and he
eventually settled on Margaret, daughter of Colin Cam Mackenzie of Kintail.
In April 1590, he was served heir to his father and grandfather. At the
same time, his Tutor, Thomas Fraser of Knockie and Strichen (1548-1612),
rendered an account of his stewardship during the minority, showing the
extensive land interests of Lovat to be in a highly satisfactory financial
condition. However, Lady Lovat passed away in 1593, having produced an
heir, Hugh, 7th Lord Lovat (1591-1645).
On a visit by Lord
Lovat to Court in 1595, the King announced that he was proposing to
arrange a match for him, and suggested that he should frankly “pick and
chuse without ceremony or delay which of the ladies at Court he fancied.”
His lordship, after thanking his Majesty, fixed upon Jean Stewart,
daughter of James 1st Lord Doune, a maid of honour to the
Queen. The lady, when approached by the King, admitted that to wed a Lord
of Lovat was an honour, but that he was not “bonny”. Her scruples may
have been overcome when it was represented to her that if his lordship was
not gifted with beauty, the Lovat acres were fair as well as broad. In
April 1596 Lovat married his second wife, Jean Stewart, by whom he had Sir
Simon Fraser of Inverallochy and Sir James Fraser of Brae. Lord Lovat
married, as his third wife, Dame Katherine Rose of the Kilravock family, a
match disapproved of by his friends as it placed a large burden upon the
estate for a period of 30 years.
Now, back to
Margaret Fraser, and the account of her life, as described in The
Haldanes of Gleneagles.
Sir John Haldane
first married Catherine Wemyss, daughter of Sir John Wemyss of Wemyss,
whose wife was Mary, daughter of Sir James Stewart, afterwards created
Lord Doune. Sir John then married Margaret Fraser, widow of Sir Robert
Arbuthnot, and daughter of Simon, 6th Lord Fraser of Lovat by
Jean Stewart, youngest daughter of Sir James Stewart and sister of Mary
Stewart, the mother of Sir John’s first wife. Both wives were thus nieces
of James Stewart, Master of Doune, who is described as being tall and of
handsome appearance, which procured for him the epithet of ‘bonnie Earl,’
for he became Earl of Moray in virtue of his marriage with the Regent
Moray’s eldest daughter. His end was tragic, for he was slaughtered on the
night of 7 Feb 1591-2 in circumstances of great barbarity.
There is an account
of Margaret Fraser’s first courtship and marriage which states that “in
the summer 1617 the Lord Arbuthnot coming here designedly carried his
design and married Miss Margaret, Lord Simon of Lovat’s only daughter of
the first marriage; the wedding was held at Lovat. The good woman lived
most comfortably with this nobleman, and heired his family; and after his
death was married to Gleneggis Haldane, and heired his house; and after
his death lived most comfortably, a happy, fortunate woman. I had
occasion to see her in her hospitable house at Arrats mill in the Mearns.”
[Scot. Hist. Soc., Wardlaw MSS, 24]
[Ed: Simon,
Lord Lovat married 1st Margaret Mackenzie, 2nd Jean
Stewart and 3rd Katherine Rose, widow of James Grant of
Ardneidlie.]
At the time of her
marriage to Sir John Haldane she was about thirty-three years old, and she
was alive in 1666 [note on her portrait].
Margaret Fraser
There is at
Gleneagles a portrait of this lady which represents her at the age of
sixty-six. It might be supposed that she would have inherited a share of
the good looks for which her uncle, the ‘bonnie Earl,’ was famed. But
Margaret Fraser’s appearance is distinctly plain. The painter has
depicted her as a sagacious-looking, dark-eyed, strong-featured dame, with
a rather large and slightly bulbous nose. She is attired in mourning with
a wimple of sombre hue upon her head, and from her shoulders hangs a short
cape with a broad white edging. Round her throat and over her high white
collar is a necklace of beads, and on her breast a large brooch resembling
a Holbein jewel, which is partly formed of three large pear-shaped
pearls. Altogether she presents a somewhat grim aspect, and one might
picture her as the abbess of a religious house calmly viewing preparations
being made to immure within the wall of a dark dungeon some frail sister
of her flock.
Sir John Haldane
Although the
representation of Sir John Haldane’s second wife may show no trace of
beauty in her old age, she possessed charms enough to win the admiration
of the two men whom she married. But what is more interesting is that her
features have been transmitted to some of her male and female
descendants.
On her behalf Sir
John engaged in legal proceedings against her eldest son by her first
marriage. He obtained letters of Chancery for serving her to a terce of
certain subjects pertaining to her first husband. The Lords of Session,
after a lengthy debate, held on 22nd March 1636, decided that
she was only entitled to the conjunt fee lands in the contract of
marriage.
By Catherine Wemyss,
Sir John Haldane had issue:
1. John, his heir who
succeeded as 12th of Haldane
2. Jean
3. Marie
4. Isabel
By Margaret Fraser,
Sir John Haldane had issue:
5. Munro, who
succeeded his half-brother as 13th of Haldane
6. Patrick of Lanrick
According to The Haldanes of Gleneagles (p. 91), Margaret Fraser is
shown as a daughter of Simon Fraser 6th Lord Lovat by his 2nd
wife Jean Stewart, sister of James, Lord Doune, ‘Bonnie’ Earl of Moray.
Obviously, Margaret and other daughters of Simon, Lord Lovat [by his
various wives], deserves further research, since half of Margaret’s
ancestry is derived from her mother, her maternal and paternal
grandmother, et al…
Chart of the descendants of Margaret Fraser
©
Article by Marie Fraser, Clan Fraser Society of Canada |
