Genealogical collections concerning the sir-name of Baird, and the families of Auchmedden, Newbyth, and Sauchton Hall in particular

vi PREFACE TO THE "ACCOUNT," &c.
I wanted to know of these subjects, which he cheerfully read to me ; and it was as
easy for him to read English from a Greek, Latin, or French book, as from an
English one. He furnished me with pencils and Indian ink, showing me how to
draw with them ; and although he had an indifferent hand at that work, yet he
was a very acute judge, and consequently a very fit person for showing me how to
correct my own work. He was the first who ever sat to me for a picture, 1 and
I found it was much easier to draw from the life than from any picture whatever,
as nature was more striking than any imitation of it."
Mr. Baird married Anne Duff, eldest daughter of "William Duff, of Dipple,
and sister of William, first Earl of Fife, by whom he had a numerous family, none
of whose descendants now remain, with the exception of those of his youngest
daughter, Henrietta, -who married Mr. Francis Fraser, of Findrack, in the County
of Aberdeen.
Mr. Baird, true to the traditions of his family, joined the rebellion in 1745, on
the Stuart side, and was an officer of the Prince's Body Guard at the battle of
Culloden. Pie continued in hiding for several years after that unfortunate affair, 8
but at length found an asylum at Echt House, Aberdeenshire, then the property of
his relative, the late Earl of Fife, till his death, which took place in 1777. His
property appears to have escaped confiscation, but it is said that, in consequence of
the large sums of money he had borrowed to aid the Stuart cause, he was
necessitated to alienate the family estate to Lord Haddo in 1750. At the time of
this occurrence, a somewhat curious circumstance happened in connection with the
family history, which, incredible as it may be thought, seems to be attested by
authentic evidence. This was no less than the fulfilment of a prophecy, attributed
to Thomas the Rhymer, that " There would be an eagle in the crags while there
was a Baird in Auchmedden." When the estate passed out of the family at this
time, the eagles 3 disappeared from the rocks of Pennan, where they had built
for ages.
1 This interesting portrait is in the possession of Mr. Baird's great-grandson, Mr. Francis G.
Fraser, of Findrack, Aberdeenshire.
2 In List of Rebels (British Museum, Add. MSS., No. 19,796) occurs the name of William
Baird of Auchmedden, Deputy- Lieutenant and Governor of Banffshire, under Lord Lewis Gordon :
place of hiding not known. — Ed.
3 At one period there was a pair of eagles that regularly nestled and brought forth their
young in the rocks of Pennan ; but, according to the tradition of the country, when the late Earl of
Aberdeen purchased the estate from the Bairds, the former proprietors, the eagles disappeared, in
fulfilment of a prophecy by Thomas the Rhymer — " That there should be an eagle in the crags
while there was a Baird in Auchmedden." But the most remarkable circumstance, and what
certainly appears incredible, is, that when Lord Haddo, eldest son of the Earl of Aberdeen, married