:Hi Just thought I'd throw in a bit about our name. I was born at Inchgotrick farm, Kilmarnock 1941 ( I can remember my dad saying we were related far out to the lemonade Caldwells, there was also a Caldwell who had a bike shop before the war. My gr. gr. gr.gr. gand father George Caldwell was in Annanhill farm in 1753. An ancester of his Johnne Caldwell, was in Annanhill in 1590 recorded as witness to a document. William Caldwell of Kers, put to the horn (outlawed)for failing to appear on 16th May 1589 in the case of Robert Lord Semple having put the King's servants in jail at Castle Semple. William Caldwell of Lochirmoss on 11th Dec 1601 was part of a large party who moved from Ayr towards Maybole hoping to meet and fight with the Earl of Cassillis John Kennedy. They shot and killed John Speris the Master of the Earls household and sundry others. They were denounced as rebels on 4th Feb 1602. I have more of this stuff. The Caldwells in my tree have all been farmers, interestingly nearly all in farms which were on Wallace Estates i.e Springhill is beside what was Ellerslie castle. Up to 1600s Inchgotrick was a Wallace estate farm called Inchgotrick Mains which makes me think there would have been a Castle Caldwell at some time, possibly on the site of Treesbank house.
interesting piece of trivia is that John Walker of
: Johnnie Walker whisky fame was born at Todriggs Farm
: on 25 July 1805 to Elizabeth and Alexander Walker who
: were tenants of the farm.
: There was a Caldwell of Todriggs circa 1500 (and
: presumably for some time afterward). Only 300 years
: apart. I doubt if they still "owned"
: Todriggs in 1805. "of" didn't necessary mean
: absolute ownership in any case.
: My GGrandfather Joseph Caldwell became a soft drink
: "baron" around the late 1800's early 1900's
: in a town made famous by the name on the cap of the
: Walker whisky bottles.
: Our ancestors were poor people cutting coal at the time
: the Walker family were making good.
: But by 1909 when the Johnnie Walker caricature was
: devised Joseph Caldwell was a man of some substance in
: Kilmarnock - but obviously not world-wide.
: Joseph and his wife Janet Wilson had 13 children of which
: Thomas - my grandfather was the youngest.
: Of further trivial interest - Joseph's mother was Helen
: Walker - but there were a lot of Walker's and a lot of
: Caldwell's.
: If anyone can prove that we have an interest in the
: Johnnie Walker empire I will happily pay a finder's
: fee.
: By the way Walker is an occupational term from
: "Waulking" the cloth in wool processing
: (same as Fuller in England) and has nothing to do with
: Walking.
: If anyone can help with some history of the Caldwell's of
: Todriggs and of nearby Annanhill (now a well-known
: golf course) I think that they would advance the cause
: for the history of the Caldwell's of Ayrshire.
: There also was an early grant of land to a Caldwell at
: "Gaylis fromerly Scottishaw" which is modern
: Gailes on the coast of Ayrshire between Irvine and
: Troon.
: ... and a grant of the land of Kempisland (near Largs)to
: Thomas Caldwell son of Robert Caldwell of Todriggs by
: Sir Adam Mure which reinforces the Mure connection.
: Also note that Robert II of Scotland's first wife was
: Elizabeth Mure of Rowallan and it was all "in the
: pot" around the same time in history shows that
: this is possibly the time when the Caldwell family
: came as close as any to being influential in national
: affairs. Robert II of course lived in the royal castle
: of Dundonald. He is not regarded as a particularly
: good king but he did come into his kingship in his
: 50's and was regarded as a valiant warrior in his
: youth. He was just probably tired as his procreation
: was legendry.
: The Caldwell's of Ayrshire seem to have been just as
: ancient a family as the Caldwell's of the
: Lochwinnoch-Paisley area of Renfrew. Seekers after
: family history home in on the latter area due to the
: presence of the property known as "Caldwell"
: which is truth has had little to do with our direct
: ancestors since the 1300's and passed through an
: heiress so no present day Caldwell's can claim direct
: descent from the Caldwell's of Caldwell. Cadet
: branches - well, maybe, but consider that there were a
: number of sources of the family and ONE of these
: ancestors wound up with the Caldwell property.
: Consider that the Mure family had Cowdams (modern
: Coudham near Todriggs) Rowallan Glanderstoun and
: Caldwell properties and that these properties range
: the area where Caldwell seem to originate. It is also
: a fact that Mure of Caldwell was the feudal superior
: of all the Mures. Is it possible that the
: proto-Caldwell's without a surname took their surname
: from the name of the property of their
: "boss" their chief - Mure of Caldwell?
: I am not stating this as a fact - just asking for some
: erudite debate on its possibility.
: It would certainly make it easier if you were looking for
: a Caldwell tartan! There is a More(Mure) tartan (at
: least the Caldwell's were better educated and
: "more" consistent with the spelling of
: "their" name!)