119

The Douglas's treason involved the forfeiture of the Lordship, and also of the lands of Galloway after the Duchess's death, by Act of Scots Parliament of June, 1455, and the lands were thereafter held of the Crown direct.

John Cairns' only child, Margaret, married a Lindsay, by whom she had a son, Michael, designed as Filio et heredi to Margaret Cairns de Firgarth (another part of the estate), the house on which she had thus made her principal mansion, Domus Manerialis. On 18th August, 1506, James IV. by charter concedes and quit claims1 the said Michael Lindsay of the Crown dues of entry incurred to the Crown, by the lands at her death being in the King's hands through his non-entry as her heir.

This Michael died without leaving children, and his nephew, John, son of a brother, James Lindsay, succeeded to him under a deed of entail, and on 29th November, 1527, obtained a charter 2 of confirmation from James V. of the Carsluith estate, including the Mill of Carsluith, whom heirs failing, to his father James Lindsay and his heirs, whom failing, to his own nearest heirs masculine of the name of Lindsay. Numerous other lands are included in this charter. John Lindsay had an only child, Elizabeth, his heiress, who married a Richard Brown, and they had a son, John Brown, to whom, as her son and heir "apparent," and to Katherine Gordoun, his spouse, and the longest liver of them, Elizabeth Lindsay, with consent of her husband (herself being designed as "Lady of Carsluith "), conveyed the part of the lands containing the castle, which are described as "the 2 merk out of the 7 merk land of ancient extent of Carsluith with the Mill thereof," the life-rent of herself and her husband being reserved. This charter is dated at Dumfries, 30th July, 1546. On 5th August following Queen Margaret, widow of James IV., confirms this charter in favour of the said John Brown and Katherine Gordoun, and this John Brown's initials and coat of arms and motto, with the partially obliterated date, 1546, appear on the preserved sculptured panel over the door of the castle (sketch, p. 120). The spouses seemed to have had at least four sons, John, Cuthbert, Thomas, and Gilbert.

To their son John (the second of the name) went the land and castle of Carsluith, and by charter dated at Carsluith 29th July, 1566, the father

1 Reg. Mag. Sig., No. 2989.

2 Ibid., No. 519.

conveys parts of his other lands to his son Cuthbert; and this is confirmed by James VI. on 17th November, 1581. Two of the witnesses to the father's deed to Cuthbert were Gilbert, designed as Abbate Dulcis Cordis (afterwards known as New Abbey), and Thomas Brown, his (Gilbert's) natural son.

John Brown, senior, whose initials are on the panel, died sometime between 1573-80, being designed in a deed of the latter date as the late John Brown. He was succeeded by his said eldest son John above

mentioned.

In 1570 John Brown, the father, finds his eldest son in a serious scrape, which did not affect merely "a puir man," and he enters into a bond of manuel rent with Lord Maxwell, recorded in 1579, to protect this same son John from the vengeance of the family of Barholm, for the slaughter of his neighbour James M'Culloch of Barholm, but in 1587-the families apparently having been reconciled-this same son appears in the records as borrowing 1000 marks from William M'Culloch, of the same family, and a similar sum from Andrew Lennox of Planton in 1591. This John Brown (second of the name) married Janet Gordon, who predeceased him, and his second wife was one Mary Hay. On 11th October, 1625,1 his son, John Brown (third), succeeded to the 7 merk land of Carsluith, and was alive in 1649, but died prior to 30th August, 1653, when his son Robert succeeded to him. John Brown, the third, appears on a commission dated 7th June, 1630, trying a witch, and the following year he and his brother Cuthbert are tried for desecrating the Sabbath and striking a minister on that day, a serious crime under the Scots Act of 1587; but the most serious offence by this turbulent Brown occurs in February, 1631, when, at the instance of the Earl of Galloway, he is charged in the High Court for the slaughter of a man. One of the defences which he and the others charged with him proponed was that Stewart, the murdered man, was only "ane puir Gardner, and had nothing to do with the Earl who now claimed him as his Servant." This Robert married Annie Boyd. Thomas, his son, succeeded to the estates in 1658, and he was followed by his son Robert in 1696, after

1 Reg. Mag. Sig., No. 273.