Article 3 [1723]

Return to The Early Angus History by Elsdon Watson

The Early Family Tree of the Angus family at Bywell

Before 1600 the written evidence is entirely from Hodgson. The other evidence I use pre-1600 is obviously not as good as the evidence we normally use in family trees such as dates of birth etc.

I will separate the discussion into four sections.

1) The relationships between the four members of the Angus family who appear in the 1538 muster at Bywell.

These are Archibald, David, William and Anton (Anthony). This is Generation 1.

2) The relationships between Alexander and Richard Angus including an attempt to identify their father. This is Generation 2.

3) The generation after Alexander. Generation 3

4) The generation after George. Generation 4

Generation 1

Here all the written evidence comes from Hodgson. The Hodgson data refers to the Muster of 1538 (11) and (12) and the farm leasing details from 1566 and after (13), (14) and (15).

The data links the four to particular points in time but also gives their first names and where they were located.

a) Their first names. I mentioned in Article 2 that their first names were linked to the first names of the Douglas family. In addition, children tended to be named after their grandparents. The first son would normally be named after his paternal grandfather, the second after their maternal grandfather. These rules were not absolute, but provide a useful guide.

b) The place where they lived at Bywell. This is seen most clearly in the farm leasing data of 1566, where David and William are found at Slaley (13),(14) but Alexander is found at Broomley. (4) I am suggesting that this wasn’t accidental but is related to their status in the military ranking. In the present day army the Sergeants will usually eat and live in a different area to the privates. What was certainly the case was that in 1569 the head of the military, John Swinburne, was based at Slaley.

Hodgson page 368

“The small tower or peel, the remains of which exist at the Shield Hall was probably an outlying fortified homestead of the Earl of Westmorland. At the time of the earl’s rebellion in 1569, John Swinburne of Chopwell … held at the lord’s will a tenement called Shield-hall with gardens, orchards and 28 acres of arable land, meadow and pasture in the common fields of Slaley.”

I am assuming this same rule applied in 1538 and explained why we find Anthony at Slaley (12) but the other three at Unthank. (11) It also explains why David and William are at Unthank in 1538 but at Slaley in 1566.

c) We have accurate information about the birth years of William and David which was dealt with in Article 2. They were born around 1510+/_2 years.

Analysis

The four members of the Angus family who came from Tantallon were Archibald, William, David and Anthony. David and William were presumably brothers who arrived in the North of England with limited military experience because they were very near the minimum age for the Tantallon muster of 1529. They were placed at Unthank because of their limited military experience.

Archibald was older and did not participate in the Rebellion of 1569 because he was over 60 by 1566. If he had not been over 60 he would have been allocated a farm like David and William. He could not have been many years older or he would have had a lot of military experience. If you were in the army of the 6th Earl of Angus you were guaranteed to gain military experience rapidly as the 6th Earl was always fighting someone. If this had been the case Archibald would have been in the 1538 muster at Slaley and not at Unthank. I think that if he had been young enough to fight in 1569 he would have done so with his brothers. If he was 60 in say 1565 then he would have been born in 1505, which would make him the elder brother of David and William.

We have the least information about Anthony. However because he was in the Slaley muster of 1538 he seems to have been the most experienced and older than any of the other three. He could have been the oldest brother or even the father of the other three. If he was born in 1485 this would make him 20 at the birth of Archibald. The earliest he could have been born would have been 1478 so he would not be over 60 for the 1538 Unthank muster.

Conclusion

The four who came from Tantallon were all brothers with Anthony the eldest, then Archibald. David and William were a few years younger than Archibald. We cannot tell which of David or William was the youngest, OR Anthony was the father of the other three.

Generation 2

In generation 2 there were two people, Alexander Angus and Richard Angus. Alexander appears in Hodgson several times, linked to the farm at Broomley where he first appears in 1566 (4),(7),(8). Richard does not appear in Hodgson, but we know that he died in Dilston in 1604 because he left a will (20). We know that their parents must have been one of the four members of the Angus family who were in the 1538 Muster. This means that the father could not have been Alexander Douglas the 6th Earl of Angus.

The evidence that they were brothers is slight but I think convincing. If they had separate fathers then some member of the Angus family must have named their eldest son Richard. Richard was not a common Scottish name but it was a common English name. It is much more likely that they were born to the same father, who chose the name of the first born. The English mother then chose the name of the second born.

We know that Archibald was linked to Dilston and lived there for the latter years of his life (19). We know that Richard also lived at Dilston and died there. This suggests that Richard was the son of Archibald.

We know that the family tradition had Alexander (and Richard) related to a man called Archibald. This suggests that the father of Alexander was also Archibald Angus, not Archibald Douglas.

Conclusion

The father of Alexander Angus and Richard Angus was Archibald Angus, with Alexander being the elder brother. Although their date of birth could have been any time after 1529 it seems probable that Archibald found his wife/partner after he had a permanent home at Bywell. This gives a date of birth for Alexander about 1540-1546 with Richard being later, say 1544-1550. The date 1546 is chosen to make Alexander 20 when he had his first lease at Broomley in 1566 (4). This would make Richard aged 54-60 at his death with Alexander 64-70. We know Alexander was still living at Broomley in 1608 (8).

Generation 3

Tradition has Alexander marrying the daughter of Mr Taylor of Broomley in the late 1500’s and having one child George in about 1590. Alexander had fellow farmers living near him called Taylor for all the years from 1566 to 1608. It seems likely that his wife came from this Taylor family. George married Alice Newton. The Newton family appear many times in Hodgson and were obviously a very established and wealthy family. George then had 6 children according to his will although he did not identify them (21).

Generation 4

This generation appears to have had six members (21) although only four appear currently in most family trees. These are William, Henry, George and Mary. Hodgson provides data for one of the missing members. This is Ralph who is found in Broomhaugh in 1665 (16) and 1675 (17). He is also identified as witness to the will of George (21) and signs the inventory of Alice (22) and finally we have his death certificate (23). A candidate for the sixth child of George and Alice [as indicated by his will] could be Joseph who died in 1683 and is buried at Bywell St Andrew (24).

There is also other evidence in Hodgson which does not refer to new people but confirms details from the existing tree on this website. There is a will of Gilbert Newton the brother of Alice (9). He gave money to George and Henry Angus. Finally there are details of John Angus and Jonathon Angus voting in the eighteenth century (18).