THE seat of George Alston, Esq., is situated in the parish of Blantyre and county of Lanark. The house is placed on the left bank of the river Clyde, and in a position commanding the most beautiful views of the surrounding scenery, that of the historic bridge of Bothwell being particularly fine. The lands in the parish of Blantyre formerly belonged to the Priory of Blantyre, and continued so till the Reformation. The ruin of the Priory on the left bank of the Clyde, opposite Bothwell Castle, is still to be seen, and is one of the most beautiful objects in the neighbourhood.
At the Reformation the lands were in the hands of Walter Stewart, son of the laird of Minto, who was made Commendator of the Priory by King James VI., and it was erected into a temporal lordship in his favour. (1)
The parish of Blantyre was afterwards divided into a number of small estates, few of them more than a plowgate of land. Craighead was among them, or was probably composed of two or three of them.
About the beginning of the present century, James Hill, writer in Glasgow, and afterwards of Gartloch, was the proprietor. He sold it early in the century to James Smith, a younger son of Mr. Smith of Craigend, Stirlingshire, and of the firm of Leitch & Smith, West India merchants in Glasgow; - he died about 1815, and left the property to his nephew, also James Smith, who, upon succeeding to Craigend at his father's death, sold Craighead to Thomas M'Call, by whom considerable additions were made to the house. Mr. M'Call was a member of an old Glasgow family who had been settled as merchants there since the end of the seventeenth century. (2) At his death it became the property of his eldest son, Thomas, merchant in Glasgow, of the firm of John M'Call & Co., who in turn sold it in 1840 to the late Misses Brown, the last of whom died in 1862, and bequeathed it to the present proprietor, George Alston.
Mr. Alston is the son of the late George Alston of Muirburn, merchant in Glasgow. His wife is Margaret, only surviving daughter of Robert Wallace and Katharine Tennant his wife. (3) They have a son George and other issue. The Alstons are an old and highly respected family in Lanarkshire. (4) The father of the present proprietor married Miss Rachel Brown of Auchlochan: he is therefore nephew of the late owner.
Craighead is thought by many persons who have studied the topography of this district, to be identical with the Fairy Knowe of Sir Walter Scott's admirable tale of "Old Mortality."
The Alstons are a family of old standing in Lanarkshire, and are said to have been seated at Thinacre Milne in the parish of Hamilton since the beginning of the fourteenth century. Be this as it may, we find settled there
I. JOHN ALSTON, towards the end of the sixteenth century. He died 22nd March 1610, leaving a son,
II. JOHN ALSTON of Thinacre Milne. He had two sons: William, who seems to have predeceased his father, and
III. THOMAS ALSTON of Thinacre Milne. He married Jean Cockburn, niece of Sir John Cockburn of Ormiston, Lord-Justice Clerk, and had issue: 1) John of Thinacre Milne. This branch became extinct in the male line about the end of the eighteenth century; 2) Thomas, of whom presently. 3) James of Natherley, merchant in Edinburgh, born 1642, died 1715. He married Sara, daughter of Rev. J. Wilson of Dysart, and from them are descended the families of Alston of Elmdon Hall, Warwickshire, and Alston Stewart of Urrard, Perthshire.
IV. THOMAS ALSTON of Eddlewood. He acquired the lands of Mains of Eddlewood in 1657, and half of the lands of Burnknows of Eddlewood in 1672. He had issue: 1) James of Mains of Eddlewood. This branch failed in the beginning of this century. 2) Dr. Thomas of Burnknows and Eddlewood, which he sold in 1702. He had two sons, Gavin of Sunnyside. and Dr. Charles, born 1683, died 1760. The latter studied at Leyden under Boerhaave, and returned to Edinburgh in 1719, where he was appointed "King's Botanist," and was chosen Professor of Botany and Materia Medica in 1738, and died in 1760, leaving no issue. His principal works were "Tirocinium Botanicum Edinburgense," and "Lectures on the Materia Medica." A genus of plants was named Alstonia in his honour. 3) John, who carried on the line.
V. JOHN ALSTON in Glassford Milne, and of Overhall and Netherfield, deceased before 1710. He married Janet, only daughter of James Marshall of Chappleton, and had two sons and four daughters. The sons were 1) John, of whom presently; 2) Andrew, who was a tenant in some of his brother's lands - alive in 1743.
VI. JOHN ALSTON of Overhall, &c., succeeded to his father's lands, and acquired in addition others in the parishes of Glassford, Avondale, and Storehouse, and more particularly Muirburn, the present family estate. In 1710 he married Isobel, daughter of George Hamilton of Browncastle, an old Lanarkshire family. They had three daughters, Mrs. Morton, Mrs. Miller, and Mrs. Dickie, and three sons: 1) John, afterwards of Overhall. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Carmichael of Eastend, and had issue: Lilias, married James Young of Netherfield, and had issue - Isobel and Catherine; Janet, married William Arnot of Silverwood, and had issue - Elizabeth; Rebecca, married Maurice Carmichael of Eastend, and had issue - Joanna, Mary, Thomas, John. Mr. John Alston was a merchant in Glasgow. He sold Overhall in 1791. His place of business in Glasgow seems to have been the 2nd flat, Spreul's Land, Argyle Street. 2) George, of whom presently. 3) James, born 1725, died 1778, afterwards of Shawtonhill, married Marion, daughter of John Miller of Westerton, and had issue: John of Westerton, born 1762, died 1835, married Mary, daughter of James Dennistoun of Colgrain, and had issue. James, a twin, died an infant. William, born in 1763, a merchant in Glasgow, third flat, Turner's Land, Argyle Street, in 1789. He married Jean, daughter of James Brown of Auchlochan, and had issue, Isabella, who married H. W. Garden, died in America in 1864; and James William, afterwards of Stockbriggs, who married first Marion Cross (see Auchintoshan), and had issue, Jane, unmarried, Anna Boiling, married to Professor J. B. Cowan, M.D., and William; and secondly Margaret Hamilton Stirling (see Craigton), and had issue, James, John Stirling, who bought Stockbriggs from his half-brother William, and others. Mr. Alston of Stockbriggs died in 1866. 4) Christian Calder, born 1765, married Richard Dennistoun of Kelvingrove, and had issue.
VII. GEORGE ALSTON of Muirburn, second son of John Alston of Overhall, received from his father during his lifetime the lands of Muirburn and "The Cults" on his marriage with Isabella, daughter of John Gibson of Wistoun. He had issue: 1) Isabella, born 1741, died 1823, married James Brown of Auchlochan, and had issue; 2) John, of whom presently; 3) James of Muirburn. He married Ellen Walker, and had a son George, who went to Australia, where he remained a number of years, and died in this country in 1847, fully thirty years ago; and a daughter Isabella, who married Mr. Thomas Dykes, a well known and respected writer in Hamilton, and whose descendants are now settled there. The fact of this James, the second son, succeeding to Muirburn, and not John, the first son, was the result of an amicable family arrangement. After his death, Muirburn was bought from his heirs by his nephew, George Alston. 4) George, died unmarried in Carolina.
VIII. JOHN ALSTON, merchant, and afterwards banker in Glasgow, was a much respected citizen. He was born in 1743, and left Scotland for America in 1759. On his voyage he was captured by a French privateer. Being stranded on the Spanish coast, and there set at liberty, he returned to Scotland and re-embarked the same year. He was settled in Maryland till 1770, when he returned to Scotland and went into business in Glasgow. He was afterwards manager of the Thistle Bank. In 1772 he married Patrick, the only surviving child of Patrick Craigie, youngest son of Craigie of Dumbarnie, Perthshire. (5) He had six children, and died in 1818, his wife having predeceased him in 1786. The children were 1) Anne Hay, born 1773, and married in 1800 John Gordon of Auchenhead. She died in 1811, leaving one daughter, Isabella Craigie Alston, who married Mungo Campbell, (Black Mungo as he was called by his friends) of John Campbell, sen., & Co., and had two sons and one daughter. 2) George, of whom presently. 3) Isabella, born 1777, married David Connell, merchant, Glasgow, and had issue, Anne Craigie, who married Sylvester Douglas Stirling of Glenbervie. 4) Robert Douglas, born 1778, afterwards of Auchinraith (which see), died unmarried in 1846. 5) John Thomas, born 1780, married in 1810 Annabella, daughter of Robert Findlay of Easterhill, and had issue - John, died young; Robert Findlay, married his cousin, Anne Craigie, daughter of George Alston of Muirburn, who died without issue; Dorothea, unmarried; Anne Craigie, unmarried; Annabella, married J. B. Hanbury; Isabella Connel, married the Rev. Mr. Mant; and George Augustus, who married, but has no issue. Mr. John Thomas Alston was a merchant in Glasgow and in 1822, when George IV. visited Scotland, he was Lord Provost, and as such represented Glasgow very worthily at the Court of Holyrood. In 1826 Mr. Alston left Glasgow and settled in Liverpool, and sold Moore Park, his country residence (see Moore Park) to Mr. James Campbell. Mr Alston, when Provost, was offered knighthood, but of course refused it. Provosts in those days did not accept knighthoods nor have their portraits painted. The race seems to have been a different one, but no doubt the present must be much better. 6) Patrick Craigie, died an infant.
IX. GEORGE ALSTON, afterwards of Muirburn, which, as we have already stated, he bought from the heirs of his uncle, James Alston, was born in 1775. He was a merchant in Glasgow, and much respected both in the city and the county, where he was a Deputy-Lieutenant. He died at Muirburn, 1850. By his marriage in 1810 with his cousin Rachael Brown, daughter of James Brown of Auchlochan, he had issue: 1) Isabella, died unmarried 1859; 2) Anne Craigie, married her cousin Robert Findlay Alston. She died without issue 1874. 3) John Patrick, born 1816, of whom presently; 4) James Brown, died an infant; 5) George of Craighead (see above); 6) James Brown, born 1821, married 1855 Elizabeth, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Hope, R.E., and has issue; 7) Robert Douglas, born 1823, married 1861 Margaret Elizabeth, daughter of John George Hamilton, and has issue; 8) Rachel, born and died 1826.
X. JOHN PATRICK ALSTON of Muirburn was born in 1816. He married, 1853, Mary Anne, daughter of William Hamilton of Northpark, and has issue. Mr. Alston, like his ancestors, is a merchant in Glasgow, of the old firm of Campbell, Rivers & Co., and, while in the city he worthily maintains the fair fame of the family, as honourable and upright citizens, he equally, in the county of Lanark at Muirburn, where he resides, sustains their well known character of good country gentlemen. He is a Deputy-Lieutenant of the county.
(1) Origines Parochiales, p. 60.
(2) See Belvidere.
(3) See Craigton.
(4) The Alstons of Muirburn (see end of this notice).
(5) Her mother was Anne Hay, daughter of Alexander Hay of Huntingdon, and sister of John Hay, Secretary to Prince Charles Edward. She married secondly Sir Robert Douglas of Glenbervie, author of "The Peerage of Scotland."
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