Genealogical account of the family of Edmonstone of Duntreath

THE FAMIL Y OF EDMONSTONE. 37
of Alexander Hume of Argaty ; and Christian, married, according to Douglas,
to Edward Reidheugh of Little Dragar, 1 in Perthshire. Second, Mary
married Robert Hamilton of Inchmachar. Third, Margaret married Stewart
of Craigamell. Fourth, Elizabeth married John Logan of Balvie, in Dum-
bartonshire.
The first notice of Sir William Edmonstone, as heir to his father, is in
an instrument of saisine of the barony of Duntreath ' to William, heir to
his father William of Duntreath,' who is stated to have died 'ad fidem
Regis in campo bellico nuper in Northumbria,' dated May 2, 15 16. This
William is declared, moreover, to be of lawful age, in terms of a dispensation
and act made by King James the Fourth at the beginning of the war. In
the same year he and his brother Archibald were appointed to succeed their
father, as joint keepers of Doune Castle, and stewards of Monteith and
Strathgartney. In 1528, however, this charge was taken from the brothers
and given to Sir James Stewart of Beath (ancestor to the present line of
the Earls of Moray), brother to the Lords Ochiltree and Methven, husband
to the Queen Dowager. This grant was renewed to Sir James Stewart
during the minority of Queen Mary, which brought the long-suppressed feud
to a point. ' The resentment of the Edmonstones of the House of Duntreath,'
says Crauford, ' that seemed before to be concealed, broke out now into an
open flame. Some injuries being likewise done, or alleged to be done, by
Sir James Stewart to Duntreath and his friends by the Stewarts' deputes,
all these resentments working together, the Laird of Duntreath himself,
Archibald, and James (of Newton), his brothers, their friends and retainers,
happened to encounter Sir James Stewart in (or near A. E.) 2 the High
Street of the town of Dunblane, upon which a sharp and brisk scuffle en-
sued, in which much blood was shed, and many slain on both sides. The
Stewarts' party were worsted, and he himself slain on the spot. This
accident fell out on Whitsunday 1543, for which this gentleman, the Laird
of Duntreath, found means three years thereafter to procure a remission
from the Duke of Chatelherault, Earl of Arran, the Governor, under the
Great Seal, of the date of September 1 547, ' for art and part,' as the
record bears, ' of the slaughter of umquhile Sir James Stewart of Beath,
committed by him, his two brothers, and their friends, in the town of
1 Note 45, Appendix. 2 At a place called Murdoch's Ford, between Doune and Dunblane.