History of the Fife Pitcairns

INTRODUCTION.
There is, I believe, a desire in the minds of many to know-
something, however fragmentary, of the lives of their fore-
fathers. My original idea in writing a history of the Pit-
cairns who lived in the old Kingdom of Fife from 1250 to
1809 was the hope that it might interest various members
of our family ; but inasmuch as the Pitcairns were mixed
up with the social and political life of the times in which
they lived, and as Fife in the olden days saw many stirring
scenes and events of national importance (Falkland Palace
and Dunfermline Palace in Fife being for long the favourite
abodes of the kings of Scotland, and St Andrews the centre
of religious life and learning), it is possible others may care
to read the history of an old Fife family, and the doings of
a bygone time.
The Pitcairns being a family of some distinction in Fife,
and for six hundred years having lived on their estates at
Innernethy, Pitlour, Pitcairn, and Forthar, they naturally
intermarried with many of the well-known county families.
The Ramsays, the Balfours, the Beatouns of Balfour,
the Lindsays of the Byres, and the Lindsays of Kirkforthar ;
the Murrays of Balvaird, the Seatons, the Murrays of
Ochtertyre, the Ruthvens of Red Castle, the Douglases
of Glenbervie, the Erskines, the Melvilles, the Anstruthers,