10
INTRODUCTION AND COMPENDIUM.
with the changes in government, education, and modes of living, acquiring ex-
tensive landed possessions, making improvements in agriculture with the
increased facilities introduced, modernizing their family residences to keep pace
with the beauties of architecture of every decade, these many generations have
figured more or less in the history of the country, from the time when they
first sat down there till the present. Hence, the American author who would
make any claim to accuracy in statement, is compelled to wade through hun-
dreds of volumes of ancient and modern local history, in order to qualify
himself for his work. These books are rare in this country, and as many of
them cannot be found in our public libraries, I have found it necessary to pur-
chase expensive genealogical and historical volumes in Europe; others that
were out of print have been consulted, and extracts relating to our family
copied for my use. To be correct in my descriptions of places where the
family have been seated in Scotland and England, I have consulted gazetteers
and descriptive maps, many of which have been forwarded to me by friends in
those countries. My acknowledgments are due to many of my correspondents
in Great Britain for the disinterestedness manifested by them in their re-
searches in my behalf, being in no way connected with the family. These have
seen my notices and queries in the papers and magazines, and being near the
sources of information, they have kindly examined many ancient books, records,
and other documents, from which some have forwarded copious notes appro-
priate for this book. Gentlemen in official positions which impose many press-
ing duties, have found the time to render assistanee that could not have been
available otherwise. The laws of England and Scotland were early applied to
the preservation of the records of the old families, and hence the sources
there are much more prolific than in this country. Records have been well
kept in parishes, and where now extant are almost always within the reach
of searchers. Those great repositories of antiquated documents and records
of families, the College of Arms and the British Museum in London, and the
Register Office and Lyon Office in Edinburgh, have been thoroughly searched
for me, and every item coming within the scope of my book culled out and
copied. But when the services of solicitors and officials are called into re-
quisition, the expense attending the work of examination and writing of ex-
tracts is too heavy for a poor man.
My correspondence has extended to many gentlemen of high rank, members
of parliament, ministers in foreign ports, congressmen, eminent judges, authors,
bishops, clergymen, presidents of colleges, earls, lords, barons, mayors of
cities, governors, State secretaries; indeed all classes, from the peasant in pov-
erty to the millionaire, have been identified with this book by furnishing me
such materials as were accessible to them. The record offices and historical
libraries have been examined in London, Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester, and
Newcastle, in England; Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Galashiels, Hawick,
Kelso, Selkirk, and Paisley, in Scotland; Cork, Dublin, Limerick, Belfast, Cole-
raine, Londonderry, and many small towns, in Ireland. I have also caused the
records in Australia, St. Christopher, Barbadoes, Bermuda, Cuba, Isle of Wight,
Shetland, Orkney, and Man, to be searched for my work. A correspondence
was also carried on for some time with gentlemen in various provinces in
France and Germany, but the labor of translating was so great it was discon-
tinued. Parish registers by the hundred have been consulted in Great Britain,
and some of them covering a period of more than three hundred years, being
without an index and written on vellum, were carefully turned leaf by leaf
for me.
Scores of ancient church-yards in England and Scotland have been
