Old family; or, The Setons of Scotland and America

CHAPTER XVIII.
SETONS OF NEW YORK.
I now go back to the Parbroath line, which is continued
bv us.
I. James Seton, Esq^ He succeeded his father Robert in
the Representation of the Parbroath branch of the family, and
settled in London, where he married Margaret Newton.
There had been a baronetcy in the family given to Sir Robert
Newton, citizen of London in 1660, which became extinct
ten years later for want of male issue. He had one son and
three daughters.
1. John, of whom hereafter.
2. Mary, married to " Dr. William Robertson, co. Surrey,
of an ancient Scotch family." Their eldest son was Cap-
tain George Robertson, R.N., who created a sensation during
the American Revolution by marrying Ann Lewis, a Philadel-
* Robertson — the son of Robert — is a very old and distinguished Scotch
name. It is one of the rare exceptions to the rule that patronymics formed
from a Christian name followed by the filiation are of plebeian origin. They
derive remotely from the Macdonalds, Lords of the Isles, through the mar-
riage of Malcolm de Insults with Lora, " Comitissa de Atholia," in the
middle of the 13th century, and first appear as a clan in 1391. They are
called by the Highlanders Clan Donnachie, i.e. , descendants of Duncan de
Atholia (Earl of Atholl), who married a daughter of the Earl of Lennox and
had a son Robert, whence the family name. The chief of this noble clan is
Robertson of Struan, County Perth, one of whose ancestors arrested the
desperate murderers of King James I., and received for his brave services a
crown charter erecting his lands into a free barony in 1451, and an honor-
able augmentation to his arms. — The Scottish Clans and Their Tartans,
p. S3, Edinburgh and New York. 1892.