Records of the clan and name of Fergusson, Ferguson and Fergus. Supplement

FERGUSSONS IN ATHOLE 9
Robert Bruce's time ' the Fergusons owned every third ridge
in Atholl.' They also directly establish as a fact, what was
stated in the Records (p. 39) as a conclusion drawn from
their situation and circumstances, that the Clan Fergusson
were among the most constant and gallant followers of the
great Marquis of Montrose in his cavalier campaigns. The
statement of Miss Fergusson of Dunfallandy that some of her
ancestors were ' soldiers of the Cross ' — i.e. Crusaders {Records,
p. 28) — receives probability from the position which the
name is shown to have held in Athole in the time of King
Robert the Bruce, who rested in the wood of Coille-Brochan
at the junction of the Turamel and the Garry after his
defeat at Methven ; and it is an interesting fact that both an
Earl of Athole and an Earl of Carrick were leaders of Scot-
tish forces which took part in the Crusades.
' Behold two thousand in Jerusalem,
Brave champions of the Faith, true Scotish men,
Led by great Hugo, Philip's brother bold,
Who then the scepter of faire France did hold,
Behold the holy King Saint Lowis then,
Proud to lead on three thousand Scots againe
To Palestine, whilst that brave Earl of March,
Their captaine, by his side did stoutelie march ;
Of whose assistance finding so much good,
Our third King Alexander's helpe he su'd,
And had two thousand more sent to his neede,
Whom Atholl's Earle and Carrict's Counte did lead.' l
1 ' The Scottish Souldier,' 1629, by Colonel George Lauder. The Earls of
Athole and Carrick both died in this crusade, and it is remarkable that they
were connected, being both descendants of Fergus, Lord of Galloway. Duncan
first Earl of Carrick (1186), was son of Gilbert, eldest son of Fergus. His
granddaughter, Margaret, Countess of Carrick, married, 1st, Adam of Kilcon-
cath, who died at Acre in Palestine in 1270, when with King Louis ix., and,
2nd, Robert Bruce, grandson of Isabel, daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon
and Garioch, brother of King William the Lion.
Isabel, Countess of Athole, married Thomas, son of Roland of Galloway,
son of Uchtred, second son of Fergus. Thomas died in 1231, and their
granddaughter, Fernelith, Countess of Athole, married David Hastings, Earl
of Athole, who died at Tunis in 1269 on the crusade with Louis IX.
In the half century prior to the War of Independence there was thus a
connection between the far distant districts of Athole, the Garioch, and
Carrick, where a little later Ferguson families were established, all fol-
lowers of the Bruce.