graham of menteith clans?

[minid80]

hi everyone,

I am from the clan graham of menteith but last name is monteith. I am interested to see if there are any monteith's or menteiths out there or in scotland.
I like researching my family background.
If anyone has any information that would be great
Thank you

[jacobitedreamer]

Originally posted by minid80
hi everyone,

I am from the clan graham of menteith but last name is monteith. I am interested to see if there are any monteith's or menteiths out there or in scotland.
I like researching my family background.
If anyone has any information that would be great
Thank you

Hi,


I will give you all info I have tomorrow, there is plenty to tell of the Menteith Grahams.

[minid80]

thank you for your reply that information would be excellant

[jacobitedreamer]

Originally posted by minid80
thank you for your reply that information would be excellant

Sorry, it took a little longer than expected, but here we go.

To the Grahams of Menteith belong several cadet branches, such as Gartmore, Rednock and Duchany, Glenny and Ballewen.

The story of the Menteith Grahams starts in the 12th century, maybe even earlier. Mention is of Gilchrist, Earl of Menteith, in 12th century. But he was not a Graham. The Menteith lands came to the Grahams via Patrick Graham, grandson of William de Graeme. William married Euphemia Countess of Strathearne. So they were Earls of Strathearne until the King, James I., took the lands of Strathearne from them and gave them the Earldom of Menteith instead, a flourishing bit of land.

Ghee, I will go on tomorrow, my daughter needs her bedtime story now. Promised, I'll be back tomorrow

[jacobitedreamer]

Did I actually mention that the Graemes of Menteith do have their own tartan which differs a bit from the Montrose Graeme Tartan? Well, just thought this would be of some interest.

Back to the Menteith Graham history where we left it yesterday:

The seat of the Menteith Grahams was Inch Talla.This is in Lake Menteith and I think there must still be a ruin (the book I have here is from the 50s, so I cannot say if this has changed.

There is little to tell of the Menteith Grahams until the days of King James I and IV, the seventh earl was a favourite to the king and had a start, as a young man, into a really flourishing carreer. He held offices such as the one of the Justice-General of Scotland and even Privy councillor of Scotland AND England. Then he got back from King Charles the lands of Strathearn. Hey, he was a proud man one could tell but maybe the speed of his carreer was too much to take for himself. As you might probably know, all Grahams can boast some drops of royal blood in their veins and so did Menteith, boasting that "he still had the reddest blood in Scotland". But he had miscalculated the structures and intrigues of the court and the humour of his king and so this was turned against Menteith, since some folks claimed (no proof for or against this was ever found)that Menteith wanted the crown for himself. Deprived of his offices and banned to his own lands in Menteith, he had to face the death of his son, Lord Kilpont, who rode with the Great Montrose.

Lord Kilpont's son managed to restore the honour and financial ressources of the family, but only to end up unmarried and without heir, so he bestowed his fortunes on his niece Helen under the condition to have her married to Montrose or Graham of Claverhouse, who promised to "marry the lady in her smoak". But she went off to Ireland to marry some officer and Claverhouse almost drowned trying to follow her. So the conditions were unfulfilled and the Earl died without being able to hold his lands under the name of Graham.

So the line of the Earls of Menteith ended, but the Menteith Grahams as sept of clan Graham do still exist. Famous Don Roberto, a gaucho, poet, politician, inmate of state prison of Argentina, famous through Tschiffely's books (my mom has a copy of one of his books)is one of the most recent Menteith Grahams (of the cadet branch of Gartmore and Ardoch).

The Grahams of Menteith as sept of Clan Graham still exist, although the line of Earls is ebbed away.

I will try to find some more interesting stories and facts for you.

[nnaeiggam]

Hi, I too am a Monteith.
My family are from Northern ireland and I am trying to hunt down my ancestors.
Father always said that the monteith family orginally came from Stirling (lake of Menteith)area. I was interested in the mention of the Neice that went to ireland to marry, Do you know whom she married??It may help me tremendously.
Thanking you for your time
cheers