Thanks to Sandie for sending us in this information and also to the Clan Muirhead Society and Clan Elder David Grossett who wrote this history.

 

Over the past nine hundred years, the Muirheads of Bothwell, Cumbernauld, Lauchope and Bredisholm, and their descendants, have served their deity and their fellow man with devotion, courage and humility.  Our surname, Muirhead, like many others, came from the place where our ancestors lived - from the muirs, or moors, of Scotland. More particularly from the head, or edge of the moor.

 

In his highly authoritative book, "The Surnames of Scotland, Their Origin, Meaning, and History", first printed by the New York Public Library in 1946, Dr. Black had this to say about our surname:

 

"MUIRHEAD, Morehead. From one or other of the many localities of the name in the southern counties, perhaps from Muirhead in the barony of Bothwell.  The lands and town of Mureheid in the diocese of Ross are mentioned in 1578 (RPC.), but the surname is not likely to have originated there. The first of the name on record is said to have been Sir William Muirhead of Lachope, end of the fourteenth century. Probably the same person as William de Murehede who witnessed a charter in lands of Cranshaws in 1401. (Swinton, p. xvii). Andrew Morheid was assizer in Lanark in 1432 (RAA., II, 65), David de Murhed, cleric in diocese of Glasgow, is recorded in 1471 (REG., 395), Ricardus Mwreheid, canon of Dunkeld, 1484 (RAA., II, p.211) may be Richard Murhede, dean of Glasgow in 1491 (AAPS., II, p. 270), Wilyame of Murehede is recorded in 1484 (Peebles, 31), and Thomas Murhede was parson of Lyne in 1504 (Trials, I, p*43). Thomas Murehead, quarryman at Dunkeld, 1505-15, appears in record as Moirhed, Moirheid, and Mored (Rent, Dunk.), David Muirheyd was assizer in Gowane (Govan) in 1527 (Pollock, I, p. 268) and David Mourheid was merchant burgess of Dumfries, 1668 (Inquis., 938). In common speech pronounced Murheed, Mooreheid 1624, Morheid 1691, Mureheid 1620, Muirhed 1513, Murehed 1503, Muyrheid 1498, Mwirheid 1577, Mwreheid 1484, Mwrhed 1493, Mwrheid, Mwrhied, and Mwrheyd 1522."

 

The above information was recently corroborated by Lieutenant Colonel Howard C. Paterson, TD, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquities of Scotland, in a letter to our Clan President, Raymond Lee Morehead, Esq.

 

As can be seen from the paragraph above, the pronunciation and spelling of our surname was changed, in some cases, to Muirheid, Morehead, Moorhead. These changes occurred as the descendents of the family moved to other locales, e.g., to the southwest of Scotland, to Ireland, and as in the case of James and John Muirhead-banished, in 1685, to the English colonies in North America because they refused to swear allegiance to King Charles II, an avowed Papist, and had fought against the British crown for their religious freedom as Covenanters at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge [1679].

 

In his book, "A System of Heraldry", Nisbet states, "The first charter I have seen of any note concerning the ancient family is a deed granted by Archibald, Comte de Douglas Galovidiac et Bothwell ,dicto soutiforo, Sieur Willielmo deMuirhead in Baronia de Bothwell in 1393, being a gentleman of mettle and spirit, he had the honour of Knighthood conferred on him by King Robert III."

 

Legend tells us that the king knighted William Muirhead and awarded him the lands of Lauchope as a reward for having brought him the head of one Bertram deShotts, a ferocious killer who had terrorized the region for years.  The king had issued a proclamation which said that whoever rid the area of this killer would be rewarded. Muirhead cut and stacked a large pile of heather near the spot where Bertram used to go to get a drink of water. As time passed, Bertram, initially wary of the heather pile, became accustomed to its presence. William Muirhead, with his big, two handled sword, hid in the pile of heather, and as Bertram lay on the bank of the stream to get a drink of water, Muirhead quickly advanced upon him and with his sword, slashed Bertram's hamstrings - behind his knees, so the mad giant was helpless. Bertram laughed at Muirhead, who is reported to have said to him before he beheaded him with his sword, "Lauch up, for its yer last laugh!" . Thus we get the name of Lauchope.

 

Lauchope House, a tower house noted for its extremely thick walls, gave refuge to Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, brother of Janet Hamilton, wife of James Muirhead, of Lauchope[1510- ?], as Hamilton fled after slaying the Regent of Scotland, the Earl of Moray, half-brother of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1570 at Linlithgow. The House was set ablaze by those who sought to revenge the killing of the Regent and many important papers were lost in the blaze. In 1799, part of the house fell, and in 1956, the present owners, the Roberton family, one of the oldest, untitled families in Lanarkshire, had the property demolished.

A photograph of the stately and historic Lauchope House, seen in its sylvan setting during the early 1900's, as well as an old photograph of Bredisholm House, which was located on what is now the Glasgow Zoo, have come to hand.  [Bredisholm, or Breadiesholme, was located east of the junction of motorways M2 and M8 and on the north bank of Calder Water; the house, which in its later days served as a golf clubhouse, was also demolished at about the same time as Lauchope House]

 

Again, according to Nisbet, "The family of Muirhead of Lauchope has always been reputed one of the most ancient families in all the shire of Lanark.."

 

Walter Grosset, of Logie, a large estate, owned by the Grosset family from 1711 to 1760, in the village of Crossford, near Dunfermline, in his volume, 'An Account of the Family of the Muirheads of Lachop.." n/d., circa 1740, in similar fashion, outlined the Muirhead family history and the inter-familial connections with the Grosset family of Logie.

 

Walter's mother, Euphemia Muirhead,also known as Lady Logie, the eldest of the six children born to James Muirhead and Helen Stewart, of Bredisholm, married Archibald Grosset, of Logie, circa 1707. When her four brothers failed to produce any heirs, the Muirhead line of descent then followed the female line, and one of her sons, James Grosset, a merchant prince of Lisbon, Portugal, in 1754 purchased the Bredisholm estate from his uncle, John Muirhead of Bredisholm [1676-1762] , and assumed the Muirhead surname and its coat of arms, for himself 'and his posterity'. Among the descendants of John Grosset Muirhead is Dr. James Steuart Muirhead-Gould, one of the current elders of the clan. [Logie has been in the possession of the Hunt family since 1788].  Below is a picture of Logie.

James Grosset Muirhead [1706-1776] is also credited with the recovery of the ballad of the "Laird of Muirhead" which recounts the story of the defeat of the Scottish army by the English at the Battle of Flodden, in 1513.  The Muirhead clan had the signal honour of serving as King James IV of Scotland's royal bodyguards during the battle. King James, and his son, Alexander, were both slain, along with the flower of Scottish chivalry, including the Laird of Muirhead, John Muirhead [ca. 1443-1513], and over two hundred of his clansmen also perished in the battle.

This ballad is on display at the oldest house in Glasgow, seen above, built in 1471 by Bishop Andrew Muirhead, the First Provands Lordship of Glasgow, as a church manse near Glasgow Cathedral.  [The house is presently undergoing renovation. Mary, Queen of Scots, is reported to have spent a few days at the manse.]

If you would like a copy of the MP3 of "Laird of Muirhead", kindly done by Randall Dighton, of the Celtic Troubadors/Amaryllis, please email me.  At this time, the MP3 is too large of a file to include on the website, but it is possible to email you a copy.  Mr. Dighton made mention of a possible fully harmonized version on their next CD.  You will need an MP3 player to listen to the ballad, such as:

Afore the King in order stude Before, stood 

Wi' that same twa-hand muckle sword two-handed great

That Bartram fell'd stark dead. relates to the legendary story of the capture and decapitation of a ferocious killer, Bertram DeSchotts, by an earlier Laird of Muirhead.

He sware he wadna lose his right swore. wouldn't

To fight in ilka field; each/every

Nor budge him from his liege's sight, lord's

Twa hunder mair of his ain name, two, more, own

Frae Torwood and the Clyde, From

Sware they would never gang to hame, swore, going, home

But a' die by his syde. side

And wondrous weel they kept their troth; well

Rush'd down the brae wi' sic a pith, down the hill with such force

That nane could them withstand. none

And, hadna that braw leader fall'n, had not, brave

They ne'er had slain the king.

Following the union of the crowns of Scotland and England in 1603, when James VI of Scotland ascended the English throne, and became James I of England, and following the subsequent political union which followed in 1707, when the Scottish Parliament dissolved in Edinburgh, and merged into the first British Parliament in London, the fortunes of the Muirhead family tended to follow that of the expanding British Empire. They acquired a home in Hanover Square, in London. Other family members emigrated to the now British colonies around the world. Some, like John Muirheid, mentioned earlier, who gained prominence in Mercer County, New Jersey and was the first sheriff of Pennington, New Jersey; others, the Moreheads of Galloway, for example, settled in the colonies of Virginia and the Carolinas; a contingent of Muirheads settled in Nova Scotia, and other Muirheads settled in other provinces of Canada. In the passage of time, Muirheads and Moreheads moved westwards into Kentucky, Tennessee and to the other states and provinces, as opportunities presented themselves. One family, that of James Muirhead [1740-1804] and his wife, Elphinstone MacKinnon, settled in Adelaide, in South Australia, and made a considerable mark in that part of the world.

Muirheads have served their old and new homelands well; among the numerous attainments of this distinguished family have been, before the Reformation, Bishops of the Roman Catholic church, Deans of Glasgow University, Provosts [Mayors] of Hamilton and Glasgow, three Governors of the state of Kentucky, the discovery of the power of steam by James Watt, the great Scottish inventor, whose mother was Agnes Muirhead of Lachop, to the 1998 Engineer of the Year, Brian K. Muirhead, of the Mars Rover vehicle fame. Another, Major John Motley Morehead, a scientist and engineer for the Union Carbide and Carbon Company, of New York, was a discoverer of acetylene gas. He also wrote, "The Morehead Family of VA and NC", in 1921. More recently, Ray Jerome Morehead, who spent forty years researching the Muirhead history , wrote a book, "The Henry Muirheid/Muirhead Family of Virginia and Mississippi", in 1989. [The book is available for purchase through his son, Raymond Lloyd Muirhead] . Another Muirhead of note, Roland Eugene Muirhead, founded, and served as the first president of, the Scottish Nationalist Party [SNP]. The SNP is presently a major political force in the new Scottish Parliament which opened its first session in Edinburgh in 1999, after an absence of 292 years.

Captain Charles Morehead [1609-1705], the eldest child of David Muirhead, a wealthy merchant with business offices in both Edinburgh and London, emigrated to Kent Island on the Chesapeake River in 1630 to oversee his father's enterprises in the English colony of Virginia. It is located just east of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD.  He subsequently moved, in 1645, to Great Wicomico, in Northumberland County, Virginia.

Two nieces of the aformentioned James Grosset Muirhead married into the English aristocracy; in 1780, Diana Grosset , daughter Walter Grosset of Logie, married the Hon. Robert Walpole, the youngest son of Baron Walpole of Wolterton, and nephew of Sir Robert Walpole, the first British Minister. Her descendants may properly claim a distant kinship with Princes William and Harry of the British royal family. Her cousin, Elizabeth, a daughter of Major Alexander Grosset, of Bredisholm, married Robert Wright, of Eyam, Derbyshire. [Eyam is the village noted for stopping the Plague of 1666]. Her son, John Thomas, married Catherine Jane Northcote, a daughter of Sir Stafford Northcote. Both Alexander and his younger brother, Walter, are mentioned in British history books in connection with the events surrounding Prince Charles Edward Stuart - 'Bonnie Prince Charlie's - attempt to return the British crown to its rightful owner, his father, King James VII of Scotland, in 1745. Captain Alexander Grosset was killed, a shot to the chest, while serving as aide-de-camp to Lieutenant Colonel Lord Ancram at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.  Lord Ancram commanded the right wing of the government forces of the Duke of Cumberland.    Lord George Murray, Prince Charles Stuart's military commander,  with his own force of Atholl Highlanders, commanded the right wing of the Jacobite forces.

Forty years later, Captain Grosset's nephew, John Grosset Muirhead, married Lady Jane Murray, the youngest child of the Duke of Atholl, and grand-daughter of Lord George Murray. Truly, love does conquer all!

Jonathon Muirheid, of Hunterdown County, New Jersey, personally led General George Washington to the most suitable site on the Delaware River from which spot the general launched his first successful attack on the British forces in Trenton during the Revolutionary War. Many members of the Muirheid family served with great distinction in the American Revolution, including one who rose to the rank of Brigadier General. In the Civil War, a Morehead was Chief of Staff to General Sherman of the Union Army.

There is much more to the history of this ancient Scottish family than is contained herein. Let us do our best to follow in the footsteps of our ancestors in piety, honor and comradeship.

As our President, Raymond Lee Morehead, urges us, "Remember the men and women from whence you came, for, in remembering them, they live once again for all those who follow".