The Grahams of the borders are descended from Sir John Graham of Kilbryde, called, from his bravery, Sir John “with the bright sword,” second son of Malise, Earl first of Strathearn, and afterwards of Menteith, by his wife, the Lady Ann Vere, daughter of Henry, Earl of Oxford.
Sir John “with the bright sword” was also ancestor of the Grahams of Gartmore in Perthshire. Sir William Graham of Gartmore, created a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1665, married Elizabeth, second daughter of John Graham, Lord Kilpont (son of the Earl of Airth), who was slain by one of his own vassals, James Stewart of Ardvoirlich, in the camp of the Marquis of Montrose, in 1644; and had a son, Sir John Graham, second baronet of Gartmore, declared insane in 1696. On his death, 12th July 1708, without issue, the baronetcy became extinct, and the representation of the family devolved upon his sister Mary, wife of James Hodge, Esq. of Gladsmuir, advocate. Their only daughter, Mary Hodge, married, in 1701, William, son of John Graham of Callingod, and had a son, William Graham, who assumed the title of Earl of Menteith.
The castle of Kilbryde, near Dunblane, built by Sir John “with the bright sword,” in 1460, was possessed by his representatives, the Earls of Menteith, till 1640, when it was sold. The Menteith Grahams were called the Grahams “of the hens,” from the following circumstances. An armed party of the Stewarts of Appin, headed by Donald Nan Ord,[251] called Donald of the Hammer, in their retreat from the disastrous field of Pinkie in 1547, in passing the lake of Menteith, stopped at a house of the Earl of Menteith, where a large feast, consisting principally of poultry, was prepared for a marriage party, and ate up all the provisions; but, being immediately pursued, they were overtaken in the gorge of a pass, near a rock called Craig-Vad, or the Wolf’s cliff, where a bloody encounter took place. The earl and nearly the whole of his followers were killed, and Donald of the Hammer escaped, amidst the darkness of the night, with only a single attendant. From the cause of the fight the Highlanders gave the name of Gramoch na Geric, or “Grahams of the hens,” to the Menteith branch ever after.
The clan Graham were principally confined to Menteith and Strathearn.
GORDON.
Badge—Rock ivy.
The Gordons are an ancient and distinguished family, originally from Normandy, where their ancestors are said to have had large possessions. From the great antiquity of the race, many fabulous accounts have been given of the descent of the Gordons. Some derive them from a city of Macedonia, called Gordonia, whence they went to Gaul; others find their origin in Spain, Flanders, &c. Some writers suppose Bertrand de Gourdon who, in 1199, wounded Richard the Lion-heart mortally with an arrow before the castle of Chalus in the Limoges, to have been the great ancestor of the Gordons, but there does not seem to be any other foundation for such a conjecture than that there was a manor in Normandy called Gourdon. It is probable that the first persons of the name in this island came over with William the Conqueror in 1066. According to Chalmers,[252] the founder of this great family came from England in the reign of David the First (1124–53), and obtained from that prince the lands of Gordon (anciently Gordun, or Gordyn, from, as Chalmers supposes, the Gaelic Gordin, “on the hill”). He left two sons, Richard, and Adam, who, though the younger son, had a portion of the territory of Gordon, with the lands of Fanys on the southern side of it.
The elder son, Richard de Gordon, granted, between 1150 and 1160, certain lands to the monks of Kelso, and died in 1200. His son, Sir Thomas de Gordon, confirmed by charter these donations, and his son and successor, also named Thomas, made additional grants to the same monks, as well as to the religious of Coldstream. He died in 1285, without male issue, and his only daughter, Alicia, marrying her cousin Adam de Gordon, the son of Adam, younger brother of Richard above mentioned, the two branches of the family thus became united.