History and traditions of the land of the Lindsays in Angus and Mearns

THE LINDSAYS OF BALINSCHO.
277
circumstance is only recorded in the family muniments of Craw-
ford, there being no mention of it among the criminal trials, or
in any private diary of the period, — a fact, however, which is not
much to be wondered at, since so very few of these cases have
come down to us.
Sir John Lindsay was a son of the tenth Earl of Crawford,
and, befoi'e acquiring Balinscho, was designed synonymously of
Woodwray, in the parish of Aberlemno, and of Woodhead, near
Balinscho. He had, perhaps, been twice married, as, according
to the family genealogy,* his wife was Catherine, eldest daughter
of Lord Menmuir ; and according to a second authority, she was
Margaret Keith, daughter of Lord Altrie,t to whom the sculp-
ture of the Keith arms, and the initial " M" figured in the ac-
companying woodcut of Balinscho Castle, may refer.
Sir John had three sons, all of whom, with their chief, the
Earl of Crawford, Lord Spynie, and other clansmen, left their
native country in the hope of retrieving their decayed fortunes,
and joined the cause of Gustavus Adolphus. The eldest son of
Balinscho was dangerously wounded at the celebrated siege of
Stralsund, ultimately rose to the rank of Colonel, and being with
Tilly at the storming of Brandenburg, was mortally wounded,
and died at the early age of twenty-eight. The second son,
who was also a Colonel, fell in Bavaria soon after. The third,
and youngest, was a youth of great bravery, and while an
ensign, and mere boy. " lost a great part of his shoulder blade
Crivnford Case, p. .124.
Spalding Club Misccll,, vol.ii',, p. lxxvi.