Duncan, the elder son, predeceased his father in 1581, leaving four sons—John; Patrick, ancestor of the Grants of Easter Elchies, of which family was Patrick Grant, Lord Elchies, a lord of session; Robert, progenitor of the Grants of Lurg; and James, of Ardnellie, ancestor of those of Moyness.
John, the eldest son, succeeded his grandfather in 1585, and was much employed in public affairs. A large body of his clan, at the battle of Glenlivet, was commanded by John Grant of Gartenbeg, to whose treachery, in having, in terms of a concerted plan, retreated with his men as soon as the action began, as well as to that of Campbell of Lochnell, Argyll owed his defeat in that engagement. This laird of Grant greatly extended and improved his paternal estates, and is said to have been offered by James VI., in 1610, a patent of honour, which he declined. From the Shaws he purchased the lands of Rothiemurchus, which he exchanged with his uncle Patrick for the lands of Muchrach. On his marriage with Lilias Murray, daughter of John, Earl of Athole, the nuptials were honoured with the presence of King James VI. and his queen. Besides a son and daughter by his wife, he had a natural son, Duncan, progenitor of the Grants of Cluny. He died in 1622.
His son, Sir John, by his extravagance and attendance at court, greatly reduced his estates, and when he was knighted he got the name of “Sir John Sell-the-land.” He had eight sons and three daughters, and dying at Edinburgh in April 1637, was buried at the abbey church of Holyrood-house.
His elder son, James, joined the Covenanters on the north of the Spey in 1638, and on 19th July 1644, was, by the Estates, appointed one of the committee for trying the malignants in the north. After the battle of Inverlochy, however, in the following year, he joined the standard of the Marquis of Montrose, then in arms for the king, and ever after remained faithful to the royal cause. In 1663, he went to Edinburgh, to see justice done to his kinsman, Allan Grant of Tulloch, in a criminal prosecution for manslaughter, in which he was successful; but he died in that city soon after his arrival there. A patent had been made out creating him Earl of Strathspey, and Lord Grant of Freuchie and Urquhart, but in consequence of his death it did not pass the seals. The patent itself is said to be preserved in the family archives. He had two sons, Ludovick and Patrick, the latter ancestor of the family of Wester Elchies in Speyside.
Ludovick, the eldest son, being a minor, was placed under the guardianship of his uncle, Colonel Patrick Grant, who faithfully discharged his trust, and so was enabled to remove some of the burdens on the encumbered family estates. Ludovick Grant of Grant and Freuchie took for his wife Janet, only child of Alexander Brodie of Lethen. By the favour of his father-in-law, the laird of Grant was enabled in 1685, to purchase the barony of Pluscardine, which was always to descend to the second son. By King William he was appointed colonel of a regiment of foot, and sheriff of Inverness. In 1700 he raised a regiment of his own clan, being the only commoner that did so, and kept his regiment in pay a whole year at his own expense. In compensation, three of his sons got commissions in the army, and his lands were erected into a barony. He died at Edinburgh in 1718, in his 66th year, and, like his father and grandfather, was buried in Holyrood abbey.
Alexander, his eldest son, after studying the civil law on the continent, entered the army, and soon obtained the command of a regiment of foot, with the rank of brigadier. When the rebellion broke out, being with his regiment in the south, he wrote to his brother, Captain George Grant, to raise the clan for the service of government, which he did, and a portion of them assisted at the reduction of Inverness. As justiciary of the counties of Inverness, Moray, and Banff, he was successful in suppressing the bands of outlaws and robbers which infested these counties in that unsettled time. He succeeded his father in 1718, but died at Leith the following year, aged 40. Though twice married, he had no children.
His brother, Sir James Grant of Pluscardine, was the next laird. In 1702, in his father’s lifetime, he married Anne, only daughter of Sir Humphrey Colquhoun of Luss, Baronet. By the marriage contract it was specially provided that he should assume the surname and arms of Colquhoun, and if he should at any time succeed to the estate of Grant, his second son should, with the name of Colquhoun, become proprietor of Luss. In 1704, Sir Humphrey obtained a new patent in favour of his son-in-law, James Grant, who on his death, in 1715, became in consequence Sir James Grant Colquhoun of Luss, Baronet. On succeeding, however, to the estate of Grant four years after, he dropped the name of Colquhoun, retaining the baronetcy, and the estate of Luss went to his second surviving son. He had five daughters, and as many sons, viz. Humphrey, who predeceased him in 1732; Ludovick; James, a major in the army, who succeeded to the estate and baronetcy of Luss, and took the name of Colquhoun; Francis, who died a general in the army; and Charles, a captain in the Royal Navy.
The second son, Ludovick, was admitted advocate in 1728; but on the death of his brother he relinquished his practice at the bar, and his father devolving on him the management of the estate, he represented him thereafter as chief of the clan. He was twice married—first, to a daughter of Sir Robert Dalrymple of North Berwick, by whom he had a daughter, who died young; secondly, to Lady Margaret Ogilvie, eldest daughter of James Earl of Findlater and Seafield, in virtue of which marriage his grandson succeeded to the earldom of Seafield. By his second wife Sir Ludovick had one son, James, and eleven daughters, six of whom survived him. Penuel, the third of these, was the wife of Henry Mackenzie, Esq., author of the Man of Feeling. Sir Ludovick died at Castle Grant, 18th March 1773.
