PRESENT HEAD OF HOUSE:

PREDECESSORS AND SHORT HISTORY: The ancestor of the family was a Shergil Jat of Mansurwal, in Firozpur district. This misl took the name of Nishanwalia because they carried the Nishan Sahib, the Sikh flag in the battle and were kept as a reserve force at Amritsar. Their territory was Ambala, Rupar and Anandpur Sahib. Several hill chiefs paid tribute to this misl. Members were....

• Gill, he was a Jat zamindar of Rajput Raghubanshi descent, married two wives, and had issue, as well as further issue by seven concubines, twelve sons in all. He lived around 1365.

  • Shergil, married and had issue, four sons, two died sp.

    • Ranadhar, married and had issue, the Majithia family.

    • Jubal, married and had issue, Sardar Dewa Singh in the 20th generation.

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• Unknown

  • Unknown

    • Unknown

      • Chaudhari Sahib Rai, from the village of Mansur, in Firozpur district of the Punjab, married and had issue.

        • Sardar Dasaundha Singh (qv)

        • Sardar Sangat Singh (qv)

  • Unknown

    • Unknown

      • Unknown

        • Sawan Singh [Saman or Soman Singh], married and had issue.

          • Sapha Singh, he held Sonti bravely against the attack of Raja Jaswant Singh of Nabha, and later in 1806, he held his own fort of Jhangir against Maharaja Ranjit Singh, married and had issue.

            • Fateh Singh, he entered the service of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and under Diwan Mokham Chand, he became a very distinguished soldier, he was granted Jhangir Burj and Brampur in jagir, as well as large cash allowances, later he fell into disgrace and his jagirs north of the Sutlej were resumed, he then retired to his estate of Sonti, married and had issue.

              • Sardar Bahadur Dewa Singh, born 1802, he entered military service under Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1816 at a very young age, then made Commandant of the regiment of his brother, he was transferred to the Gurkha regiment to serve in Hazara in 1842, later he was posted at Dera Isma'il Khan in command of the Surajmukhi regiment, in 1848 he served with distinction under General Van Cortlandt, in 1853, he was selected to raise and command the Seventh Police Battalion at Amritsar, where he preserved order in the city and upheld the civil authority on the eve of the uprising of 1857, for his services, he was granted the Star of the Order of British India with the title of Sardar Bahadur and a personal allowance of 1.200Rs p.a., on his retirement on 1st 1st January 1861, he received a special pension of 3,000Rs p.a., and a grant of six hundred acres of waste land with proprietory rights, married and had issue. He died 1872.

                • Sardar Amar Singh, born 1853/1856, Secretary of the Local Board in Zira, a Provincial Darbari and Zaildar of his ilaka, betrothed to a daughter of Sardar Kahn Singh Nakkai.

                • Bibiji (name unknown) Kaur, born 1860.

                • Sardar Ishwar Singh, born 1862, died 1866.

                • Sardar Kirpal Singh, born 1873.

              • Sewa Singh, born 1824.

              • Panjab Singh, born 1834, married and had issue.

                • Sant Singh, born 1848.

          • Dal Singh, married and had issue.

            • Vir Singh

            • Wazir Singh, married and had issue.

              • Gurdit Singh, born 1834.

              • Hardit Singh, born 1838.

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• Sardar Dasaundha Singh, 1st misldhar of Nishanwalia misl 1748/1757, he received pahul at the hands of Diwan Darbara Singh, a prominent Sikh leader, by 1734, he was a leading figure in the Taruna Dal and was proclaimed the leader of the Nishanawalia misl in 1748, he took possession of Singhariwala in Firozpur district, Sahneval, Sarai Lashkari Khan, Doraha, Amioh, Zira and Ambala in January 1764 after the conquest of Sirhind. He was killed in May 1767 at Meerut in a sudden attack by Jahan Khan and Zabita Khan.

• Sardar Sangat Singh, 2nd misldhar of Nishanwalia misl 1767/1774, chivalrous and brave as his brother, he attacked Sirhind for the second time, he built a brick wall around the town of Ambala, his capital, to provide it protection against robbers, married a sister of Dhian Singh.

OTHER MEMBERS:

• Sardar Jai Singh Nishanwalia, married and had issue.

  • Bibiji Daya Kaur, died 1823, she married Raja Jaswant Singh of Nabha.

• Lal Singh, married and had issue.

  • Anup Singh

  • Mohar Singh, he was a prominent leader of the Nishananwalia misl, he added Ambala and Zira to the territories he had inherited and soon became an influential figure among the cis-Sutlej chiefs, he signed a treaty of friendship with the Marathas on 9th May 1785, married twice (including his brothers widow, by chaddardalna). He died 1785 at Ambala in a feud with Gurbakhsh Singh of Morinda.