Frasers of Philorth > Volume 2

130 APPENDIX OF CADET FAMILIES.
Mr. Anderson, following other genealogists, has stated that Sir Simon
Fraser left two sons — Simon and Hugh. In Douglas' Peerage, edited by
Mr. Wood, Simon is ignored, and Hugh is named as the only son of Sir
Simon Fraser.
It will be seen, however, in the following pages, that while Mr. Anderson
was probably right in terming the elder son of Sir Simon Fraser, Simon,
there is reason for believing that his younger son was named Alexander.
SIMON FRASER, elder son of Sir Simon Fraser.
1345.
The existence of a person of this name, who cannot well be considered
the son of any other member of the race than the Sir Simon killed at
Halidon, and who is positively asserted to have been so by some genealo-
gists, is proved by his name being found, in 1345, as that of a witness to a
charter of some lands in the barony of Urquhart, granted to Sir Robert de
Cheshelme, Constable of that castle, by John, Earl of Moray j 1 and when it
is remembered that his father was killed while associated in command with
the then youug Earl, it is not improbable that the latter befriended the son
of his old comrade, and brought him up in his household.
Mr. Anderson describes Simon Fraser as having taken an active part in
the stirring events of the day, and says, on the authority of Froissart, that he
was the Fraser who accompanied Sir William de Douglas in the surprise and
capture of Edinburgh Castle in 1341 (though Fordun, a better authority in
Scottish affairs than Froissart, calls that Fraser " William"), that he was one
of those sent in the same year to bring back King David II. from France to
Scotland, and that he fought and was wounded at the battle of Durham
in 1346.
It is probable that he accompanied the Earl of Moray, who became a
distinguished leader, in his various expeditions, as soon as he was old enough
to bear arms, and followed his banner to the field of Durham, where the
1 Family of limes, edited by Mr. Cosmo Innes, p. 60.