392 BURKE'S COLONIAL GENTRY. umberland, to order tlie release of the Scots merchants and their goods, lately wrecked in a ship of Henry Pierson's, on the coast of Werkworth, last Lent, and said to be in his (the earl's) custody, that the truce be not broken." In 1425, the head of the family, John de Pbeisson, was burgess of Linlithgow, and servitor* {generosus) to the king, James I, of Scotland. A payment out of the customs of Linlithgow is ordered to him " by the king's ring, to the auditors." In 1450, his eldest son, Thomas, held lands at Blackness, Eister Liff, Forfarshire, at whose death, in 1466, sasine of these lands (which now form part of the west-end of Dundee) was granted to his two daughters, Mariota and Sybilla Persoun. Henry, brother of John de Perisson, was bailie of Linlithgow, 1434. His son, Thomas Peresone, was one of the clerks of the Chapel Royal, Edinburgh, 1467. John Person was procurator for the Abbot of Culross in 1489 in all places ]5crtaining to that Abbey, in the burgh of Dunfermline, and Sir Andro Pierson was one of the monks of the Abbey of Dun- fermline at that date (see Eoss's Old Dun- fermline). In 1506, the nephew of Thomas Peirson, of Blackness, servitor {armiger) to George (Hepburn) ,t " Abbas de Arbroath," had a charter of " ly Rude with pertinents in ly Almory de Arbroath." The chartulary of the abbey contains several charters, granting lands to Thomas Peirson and his successors. A grant was made, 1st June, 1506, to Thomas PlEESON, " et Mariote, Sponse sue Moderne " (present or second wife), " dimidiam tercie partis ville nostre de Soutbterre." Thomas Peirson married, as his second wife, his cousin, Mariota, daughter and co-)ieiress (with her sister, Sybilla) of Thomas of Black- ness. Thomas and Mariota Persoun, on the 13th October, 1508, obtained a grant of lands of Kepty (now part of Arbroath, on which the railway station is placed), Arbroath, which, with the other grants, formed the nucleus of the future property of Lochlands. Thomas Peirsone, m. thirdly, Margareta Schort (who survived her husband, and afterwards m. Andrew Christeson, who also held land from the abbey of Arbroath), and, dying before 1524, left issue, I. John, son by first marriage, a monk of Arbroath, who signed as a witness to charters granting abbey lands, 1539, and 1544, to which Cardinal Beton signed as commendator of the abbey of Arbroath. II. Walter, of whom hereafter. III. Thomas, son by first marriage. He had a charter of Clow, 1605. Ancestor of the Pearsons of Clow (between
- The term servitor, at that date, had a
different significance from that which now obtains. The office varied in importance, according to the rank of the person attended. For an exhaustive inquiry into this subject, BeeGentUman s Magazine, 1836, pp. 22,23, 106. t The miUtary abbot of Arbroath, who fell at Floddcn, 1513. Dunning and Forgundenny, Perth- shire), from whom descend Sir Charles Pearson, the present solicitor-general for Scotland and M.P. for the Univer- sities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews ; and also Lady Paton, wife of Sir J. Noel Paton, Knt., H.M. Limner for Scotland. IV. David, son by first marriage. His son, Henry, obtained a monastery charter of Nether Baith, Dunfermline Abbey, 1576, and, with Mariora Dewar, his spouse, had sasine of one- third part of the lands of Wester Baith, " now called " Peirson's Baith,* 8th March, 1576. Charter granted by Robert Richardson, '■^servitor" to Mai'y Queen of Scots, commendator of St. Mary's Isle, Crail, Fifeshire, and treasurer to the queen. v. Adam, son by third marriage, in- herited abbey lands of Kepty, and others. He m. in 1529, Elizabeth Fethe (who deduced from Duncan de Fethyn, witness to a charter of Arbroath Abbey, 1254), and had issue, 1. Bernard, b. 1531, d. young. 2. James, inherited the abbey lands of Kepty, Smiddie Croft, and Lamblaw Croft, which included Lochlands, as part of Cairny. He was of Cairny before 1560. In 1599 he disponed that part of the lands of Cairny called Lochlands, to his nephew, Thomas Pierson, son of his next brother, David. James Peirson had issue, I. " Mr."t David, who had a renewed charter of Cairny, 1601, with old augmentation dues for the abbey lands. His eldest son and heir, " Mr." Alexander, was de- signated of Balmadies, 1614, and in 1624 a feu- ferme charter of the lands and barony of Balmadies, or Auchter- merichties, was granted to him and his wife, Isobel Beton, of the family of Beton of Bal- four. They had issue three sons and one daugh- ter, 1. James, of whom agiin; 2. "Mr." Archi- bald, became sheriff de- pute of Forfar to David, first Earl of Southesk, sheriff (see Crawford Case, p. 131) ; 3. " Mr." Robert, who graduated A.M. at St. Andrews,
- The term " Baith," according to Celtic
derivations, signifies land covered with birch trees. t The title of "Mr." in Scottish usage meant, in those days, a graduate of a uuiver-' sily.
