Historical and genealogical essay upon the family and surname of Buchanan

186 ACCOUNT OF THE
thirteen merk land of Straithyre, with real warran-
dice for the same in the Easter Mains of Buch-
anan, being the best portion any second son of
that family had got of a long time, or rather at
any time before that. After what manner this
family lost possession of the lands of Straithyre is
not very evident; the most common account, how-
ever, of that event is this, that in the time of the
civil wars in the reign of king Charles I., particu-
larly in the year 1645, the lands of Buchanan be-
ing at that time very sadly harrassed, and most of
the houses burnt, George Buchanan of Auchmar
lost upon that occasion the evidents of Straithyre,
and, as is also apprehended, the double, lodged in
that family's hands, of the mutual tailzie betwixt
them and the family of Buchanan. After which,
Sir John, laird of Buchanan, did, in an unjust and
oppressive manner, dispossess the said George of
those lands, and would have done the same to him
in relation to the lands of Auchmar also, had not
the evidence thereof been at that time providen-
tially in the laird of Craigen's custody, which was
the only means of their preservation. This, with
some other hard usage given by Sir John, created
such animosity betwixt these two families as could
scarcely be fully extinguished : the said Sir John
being accounted the worst, if not the only bad one,
of all the lairds of Buchanan, and the greatest op-
pressor of his name and neighbours ; whereas, the
other lairds, generally taken, are reported to have
been the most discreet neighbourly gentlemen of
any in these parts of this kingdom.
William, the first of Auchmar, was married