Ten miles north of what was shortly to become the village of Strathmiglo, in the town of Perth, Scotland, it is Christmas, 1160. The citizens cannot point out today the place where King Malcom came for Christmas, for it has long ago fallen into dust, but the King is here this night, with attendants and guests, for the Christmas holiday. (His itinerary, fortunately preserved and of record, shows him at Perth for Christmas, 1160.)

Malcolm IV, "boy king of Scotland", who ascended the throne at 12, is 19 tonight, and this year has greatly increased his stature both as man and as King of Scots. For one thing, he defeated Somerled, the Argyle rebel, whose plotting with McHeth was to unseat the King, and he has defeated this alliance not with words, but by force of arms.

Fergus, Lord of Galloway, whose ambition and comtempt for the youth of the King, led his army against Malcolm this year, and had another serious trial for young Malcolm: twice he invaded Galloway, and was twiced repelled. He made a third effort, overcame his enemies in battle, and forced them to ask for peace. Fergus submitted his son Uchtred to Malcolm as a hostage, and he entered the abby of Holyrood as monk.

Somerled is at this gathering, to give his young King a renewed pledge of allegiance. Grandfather David I, whom he succeeded, would be proud of him this night! And so the spirit of the gathering is one of relaxation, of satisfaction, of looking forward to better times, and the whole is tinged with gaiety.

In the gathering this night is Ada, the King's half sister, and Duncan, Earl of Fife; and in the King's pocket is a dowery grant for land....a great deal of good land....and so what better time for the marriage than in this pleasant and convivial atmosphere.

And so on this Christmas night, 1160, a radiant Ada, and a young Duncan, bearded and looking 10 years younger than his 23, dagger in belt which he did not remove either in presence of Abbott or King, took their vows; and when it was over, Ada had become Countess de Fyfe. The King then presented the dowery grant. It was probably little larger than this copy, and differed from it only in a small ribbon under a blob of pink wax, into which Malcolm had pressed his seal. I do not think that either Duncan or Ada had any previous idea of the actual extent of these lands. Malcolm had probably sworn the witnesses to strict secrecy until the Christmas gathering.

Falkland Forest, alone, was then 9,000 acres, heavily timbered and teeming with game. Strathmiglo (valley of the Miglo River), Raithellet, Kings Kettle, and as if this were not enough, Strathbran (valley of the Bran River in Perthshire). With the exception of the forest of Falkland, the rest of the acreage was gently rolling wheat land.

When Ada's Arms were granted, we cannot be sure -- quite possibly at the wedding, or shortly after; a shock of wheat portrayed the character of the lands, its base the Coronet, marking relationship to Malcolm IV. Duncan already bore the Arms of his ancestors, the rampant red lion on a gold field.

(Be not hasty as you read. Think well on all these things; review, consider. It is only in this way that these early times and these ancient people take form in the mind of today. The ceaseless rolling on of years -- of centuries -- must be thought about. Remember that the year of this marriage, it will still be 330 years before Columbus will sail.)

From this alliance of Ada and Duncan, formed by marriage on this night, 1160, has come a family surmane which, by God's good grace, has not only preserved it's orgin's, but has endured for close upon a thousand years! Don L. Cash -- Amended Jan. 24, 1976)

THE DOWERY CHARTER

Grants to Duncan, Earl of Fife, and his heirs born of his wife , Ada, the Kings "nepto", Strathmiglo, Falkland, Rathillet, Strathbraan, and the whole ferm of (King's) Kettle, to be held in frank marriage. Edinburgh. (20 November 1160, to 13 September 1162).

The latin in script is difficult to read. 

The Charter was issued between the above dates, derived after checking witnesses. "Comiti" or "Comes": latin for Earl.

One hardly needs an English translation to follow the above Charter: Malcolm, by the Grace of God, King of Scots, addresses his abbots, earls, barons, justices, ministers, and his French, English and Scots subjects, and confirms ownership to Earl Duncan and wife Ada, his "nepto" of the lands of Strathmiglo, Falkland, Rathillet, Strathbran,and Kings Kettle, in 'liberum maritagium', or frank marriage, or for the benefit of their heirs. He details that the forests, water, game, fish, crops, etc. go with the land.

This Charter is especially interesting in that it seems to be the first granted in Scotland 'for the benefit of heirs', i.e., its ownership may be deeded to heirs in perpetuity, as long as heirs exist. This indicates a much broader base for property ownership than had existed in the dark ages, and indicates that Scotland in 1160 is beginning to come out of the dark centuries of feudal lordship, and into the light of reason and equity.

It is interesting to note that only one of these 16 witnesses had assumed a surname at this time, Richard Cumin. In all others, identity is to their occupation, office, parentage or place of residence. The orginal of this Charter has perished, evidently, as it has not re-appeared in Europe after 1604. Of the 161 Acts of Malcolm IV, only 29 still survive as orginals. The accompanying photograph is of the only known transcript, preserved in the Harleian Cartulary by the British Museum, London.

This transcript was made by Sir James Balfour, who was Lord Lyon King of Arms of Scotland from 1630 to 1654. Balfour says of his transcript: "I had it out of one little manuscript written with the hand of Sir John Skene, Clerk Register of Scotland, copied by him off the principal" (Skene's period as Lord Clerk Register was 1594-1604) After Balfour made his copy, both the Skene manuscript and the "principal" apparently perished, though there is always a possibility one or both may re-appear.

However, this Charter (and this copy), has been subjected to the closest scrutiny and discussion by mediaeval researchers over the years, and while the usual small errors occur in the proper names and in one or two of the latin words, its authenticity remains unquestioned. All Witnesses have been identified and placed within the time and locale of this Charter with the exception of Willelmo, abbot of Sterling, who, under the name William, still eludes us.

Earlist printing of this copy was by historian Sir Robert Sibbald of Fife in 1710. Latest printing by G.W.S. Barrow, M.A. University College, London, on page 228 of Volume I, REGESTA REGUM SCOTTORUM, Acts of Malcolm IV published in Edinburgh, 1960. Barrow has been engaged in this monumental work of assembling the Acts of the ancient Kings of Scotland, for the past ten years under grants of the Carnegie Trust, and others.

LANDS OF THE DOWRY CHARTER OF 1160

STRATHMIGLO

Strathmiglo Parish in 1160 extended four miles north and south by four miles in breath, with an acreage of 9,024. Lying a little less than three miles from Falkland Parish, which had an acreage of 8,265, it appears from ancient maps that the tracts joined.

The Miglo River intersects Strathmiglo Parish, (more recently named the Eden). The soil is rich and deep. Its land, known first as Casch and later, around 1225, as Cash, was divided in 1430, and then referred to as Cash Easter and Cash Wester.

The village of Strathmiglo, begun 1160-61, has another village called Cashfeus, on the opposite side of the river, so named because a portion of its lands was "feued out" about 1785 for building. Between the two is a level meadow, the Town Green, a public park.

Wester Cash, in 1485, came under the ownership of Margaret Malcolm and her husband, John Bykkerton, and in 1568, John Moncrieff was the tenant of Easter Cash.

In years past Strathmiglo had a bleach works, and a linen factory. The economy today centers around agriculture and livestock raising. It recently won an award as the cleanest and best kept Village in the Parish...which seems to say much for the citizenry of one of the oldest Villages in all Scotland. This year, 1976, marks its 816th birthday.

KETTLE

Spelled "Cattel" in the Charter, Kettle derived its name from the Gaelic "Cathel", meaning 'battlefield'. This must relate to some great battle fought over its lands before recorded history, and in all likelihood may have been some of the action of Mons Graupius in 83 A.D.

Kettle consisted of 7,612 acres when orginally granted to Duncan/Ada in 1160. Ancient historians sometimes call it Kings Kettle, simply indicating it was Crown land and within the King's right to bestow. Five villages are now on the lands, one, of course, retaining the name Kettle. We estimate the population of all five to be around 1500.

RATHILLET

Spelled 'Radhulit' in the Charter, this ancient property of Duncan/Ada was farm land when they took ownership in 1160. Today a little Village on the land bears the name, Rathillet, and consists of 16 houses and a population of 58 people.

In 1670, one David Hackston was heir to the estates of Rathillet, and it is probably by his name that Rathillet became stamped on Scotland's history.

Hackston, member of a Convenanter band, had witnessed the murder of Archbishop Sharp in 1679. They waylaid his coach at a lonely spot known as Magus Muir, as he approached his headquarters at St. Andrews. A year went by before the horseman in the background, his face covered with his cloak, identified as Hackston of Rathillet, was tried and beheaded.

Robert Louis Stevenson, as a boy, rode to the spot on numerouss occasions with his father. A grim place, indeed, this clearing in the deep woods. A large tomb beside the road, wherein, says the inscription: "Herein lie five men who suffered martyrdom by their adherance to the Word of God", and near it, the cairn of Sharp.

It fascinated Stevenson for years afterward. As he matured and began to write, his manuscripts, unpublished, reveal that he tried, again and again, to bring Hackston back with his pen, but failed. "It is an old temptation with me," Stevenson wrote, "to pluck away the cloak, and see his face, and read his heart."

STRATHBRAAN

Literally, it means 'Valley of the Bran'. These lands lie in the south Perthshire, along the River Bran. Perthshire adjoins Fife on the north.

Records are silent as to the extent of this grant, but if we may judge from the munificance of the others, it must have been ample.

This land lies where Clan country begins, and where Clan influences and customs have been a part of the life of the people for centuries.

Accurate knowledge of when some of our ancient family first occupied these Perthshire lands remains obscured. It could have been at the dispersion of Cash's from Fife in 1424, or it could have been as early as a son or grandson of our progenitors a century or more earlier.

But that an ancient Cash did occupy these lands, establish a family, and leave descendants there is amply proven by the names of MacCash, MacCasche, MacCaish, etc., appearing there today, numerous such spellings as members of the Clan McDonald, even a place name or two in Gaelic, a ruin, a bridge, pointing mutely to some ancient Cash.

Research on the Perthshire people still goes on, and we plan to have a Cash descendant going to Scotland about mid-year 1976; we hope that a final attempt to pierce the haze of centuries maybe successful.

Fife is a "lowland" Parish. Our progenitors were "lowlanders". Perthshire is the only penetration of our ancient Cash's into Clan territory. We are not satisified with the small 'bits' of information we have been able to find. Almost all vital records before 1700 were either stolen by the English or destroyed by Reformation mobs. Both our Immigrant and the Mariner who brought him here, had left Scotland before this. Parish officials cannot help, but are cordial, and wish you well. Our search next will be centered largly along the Bran River, and you may wish for us that there maybe a little Abbey that we have not found, one forgotten by the Reformation.

WITNESSES TO THE DUNCAN-ADA CHARTER -- (1160-1162)

(NOTE: The first witness, Bishop Arnold of St. Andrews, 'dates' this Charter between Nov. 1160 and Sept. 1162, which was his term as Bishop)

1. ERNALDO, who was an Abbot at the Abbey of St. Andrews. St. Andrews would have been some distance from Edinburgh, but it appears there were always well known or influential men visiting or in other business with the King, and they were asked to witness Acts in preparation at the time.

2. WILLELMO, an Abbot of the Abbey of Struelin, (Sterling).

3. OSBERTO, an Abbot of the Abbey of Jedburghe.

4. WILLELMO, from the 'fratre regis' after his name is indicated as a clerk of the King's household.

5. ADA, Comitissa, is of course the Kings mother, Ada de Warrene, the wife of Earl Henry. (Adela in French records)

6. VALTERO, as indicated by the word 'cancellario' after his name, would be a Chancellor of the Kings household.

7. GILBERTO, comite de Anegus, is Gilbert, or Gillebrigde, Earl of Angus. He was of equal rank with Duncan. They were friends. Gilberto shared with the Sheriffs of Forfar and Scone the duty of collecting various Royal funds.

8. RICHARDO de MORUEILL, or Richard de Moreville, was the Royal Constable of Scotland.

9. ODONELL de UMPHRAWEILL, very probably the son of Gilbert, Constable of Earl Henry of Northumberland.

10. RICHARDO COMYNE, also spelled Cumin and Comyn, was Justice of Scotland about the time of this Charter, but was getting along in years, and Duncan became associated with him and continued, after Comyn's death, as Justice. In all, he was 28 years in the administration of law. (i.e., Duncan)

11. PHILLIPPO de COLUEILL; little can be found on this man except that he was "a Baron of Lanarkshire."

12. VILLIELMO de BURDET, or William Burdet was Stewart of Malcolm IV nearby Huntington estate. Other records definitely place him there between 1157 and 1163. This is one method used to check the authenticity of ancient charters, i.e., to check the time and place of the witnesses against other records of the time.

13. MATHEO, signs next. He was the archdeacon of St. Andrews Abbey, and was most likely at the King's court at the time in the company of his assistant Ernaldo, who is the first wirness.

14. NESS, filio comitisse, signs as 'son of the countess'. He would be the son of the countess and William, Earl of Leuchars, and other estates of Fife. He chose in this case to identify himself with his mother.

15. ORME, filio Hugonis, does just the opposite, and identifies himself as the son of Hugo, who was a lay Abbot of Abernethy. Orme was a landowner of some importance in Fife.

16. ROBERTO de QUINCI, was a Norman. They were coming into Scotland from England at this time in considerable numbers. Robert became a Justice of Scotland under William the Lion, Malcolm IV's brother, who succeeded him as King in December, 1165.

ANCESTRY OF DUNCAN II, 6th EARL OF FIFE, CASH PROGENITOR

Duncan MacDuff, who became 1st Earl of Fife with the accession of Malcolm III, 1057, was born about 1015. He was the great-great-great-great grandfather of Duncan II, 6th Earl, who married Ada, half-sister of Malcolm IV in 1160.

No thesis has ever been advanced by historians to link the 1st Earl to his ancestral heritage, probably because no recorded link exists. The great weight of collateral evidence remains either overlooked, or writers have not had the courage to advance it.

The 1st Earl was, in our opinion, a great-grandson of Duff, King of Scots 962-67; a grandson of King Duff's son, Kenneth MacDuff, who was King of Scots as Kenneth III 997-1005; and his father being one of the unknown sons of King Kenneth.

Only one son of King Kenneth is known, Boedhe. Boedhe had a son, also unknown, who was murered by Malcolm II as a youth before he had progeny. Kenneth also a daughter, Gruoch, who became the mother of Macbeth.

King Kenneth's other sons are unknown, but it appears obivious that one of them fathered the man whose signature on ancient charters names him Duncan MacDuff, who became 1st Earl of Fife in 1057. 'Mac' in Scots is 'son of', and the ancestary of this 1st Fife Earl must by that simple fact go back into the Duff heritage. He it was whom Shakespeare immortalized in his Tragedy of Macbeth.

Sir Robert Sibbald, an early Scotch historian, connects the Gaelic word 'duff' with 'swarthy'. We may assume that, in ancient days before King Duff, his ancestors of the Celtic tribe mixed to some extent with the Greeks and Spaniards as the tribal migrations moved through these lands, leaving the mark of black hair and eyes and swarthy skin to emerge in some families or individuals. Originally, we probably have here first a term of physical identity, taken from these physical characteristics, which later became a surname.

As the ancient Celts came into Scotia in 454, and mixed with the Picts, who were physically a fair, red-haired race, likely in the intervening five centuries to King Duff, the physical characteristics which had brought about the Duff identity, had lightened. Coming on down the line to Duncan, 6th Earl, who married Ada in 1160, we see him with black hair and eyes, and slightly olive skin, while we visualize Ada as the fair skinned, blond haired, blue-eyed Celtic type.

Coming down now from DUFF, King of Scots 962-67, let's set the line down:

DUFF, King of Scots, 962-67

KENNETH MacDUFF, his son, King of Scots 997-1005

KENNETH's UNKNOWN SON, born ca 990-3

DUNCAN MacDUFF, his son, 1st Earl of Fife born ca 1015

DUFAGEN, his son, 2nd Earl of Fife, born ca 1035

CONSTANTINE, his son, 3rd Earl of Fife, (1107) died 1127

GILLEMICHAEL, his son, 4th Earl of Fife, (1128) died 1134

DUNCAN I, his son, 5th Earl of Fife, (1135) died 1154 married Hela

DUNCAN II, his son, 6th Earl of Fife, (1154) died 1204 married Ada

Continuing these lineal descendants of KING DUFF on down, succeeding Duncan II, 6th Earl and Cash progenitor, Malcolm was 7th; Malcolm, again, 8th; Colban (or Colbanus) 9th; another Duncan was 10th; his son Duncan 11th; and his son, Duncan 12th. The 12th Earl had one child, daughter Isabel, who was childless, so the Fife Earldom with its lands and honors passed into history. Their bloodline, however, like the Scotch thistle, survives and thrives in those families who inherited it in Scotland and America.

The 1st Fife Earl, great-great-great-great grandfather of Duncan, 6th Earl, is, to some historians, a shadowy figure. He is contradictory; one Scots Peerage, Balfour-Paul, doubting his very existence, another, Douglas, lists him without question as the 1st Earl of Fife. The majority of Scottish historians from earlist times to the preseny day agree also that he was.

The ancestral thesis herein is our own, not before published, and the results of long and patient study. It has finally been supported, through the office of the Lord Lyon, Edinburgh, and its obvious inferences again, and again cautiously, concurred in by several of Britians top antiquaries.

The fact that the Fife Earls from the first MacDuff carried a standard of a rampant red lion ON A GOLD FIELD....a royal standard, and later adopted by King William as Royal Standard of Scotland, is to us a matter above doubt or argument.

The rampant red lion of the MacDuff's appears today, as it has for centuries, on the obverse of the Town Arms of Cupar, Fife. Anciently the first Earl's had a hilltop castle there, overlooking the town, where they resided, administered Fife's business, and held their courts. Cupar remains today Fife's 'County Town' (County seat).

We are dealing here with cloudy times in the dark ages of Scotland. Noble families divided sharply. Brothers, uncles, nephews killed each other calmly and efficiently in their quest for power or inheritance. Murder stalked the throne, and the families of claimants. The Kings who murdered, and the men who murdered to succeed them are known in history because of their crimes.....other than that, records of the noble families who lived within what law there was, and were loyal to King and Scotland, are today almost non-existent.

Malcolm III was crowned at Scone, ten miles north of what became Cash about a century later, in 1057. MacDuff, 1st Earl of Fife, undoubtedly seated him on the inaugural stone, that ancient symbol of Celtic Kingship used in Eire for centuries, and brought to Scotia with our Dalriadain Scots in 464. From then on, Earls of Fife placed succeeding Kings on the sacred "Stone of Scone", as one of the hereditary privileges granted them in perpetuity by Malcolm III.

Both Banner and Arms speak plainly of the royal ancestry of these Fife Earls....back through Duff, Malcolm I, Constantine...thence back for centuries to Conaire Mor, the 'Great Peace King' of Eire who ruled there in 5 A.D. Both Scottish and English researchers state that the naming of these Earls -- Constantine, Malcolm, Duncan -- names used also for the old Celtic Kings, bespeaks this ancestary and implies a blood relationship. But they have not gone a step further and linked the line with Duff...nor with Conaire Mor....and this goes certainly on back into the shadows of the Himalayan-Egyptian-Milesian-Scot migrations. These are our ancients. This becomes our responsibility and our task. There will be researchers aboard who will sigh with vast relief that we have offered this thesis, upon which we stand without reservation, thereby relieving them of criticism or responsibility.

It becomes clear that our male Cash progenitor, Duncan II, 6th Earl of Fife, was of the same ancestral strain as the woman he married, Ada, our Matriarch, whom Malcolm IVth terms in his dowry Charter, 'nepto'. Their marriage in 1160 would seem to have brought together about as pure a Celtic-Gaelic-Scot bloodline as could have been produced at that time in Scotland.

Duncan, 6th Earl of Fife, was a Justice of Scotland for 28 years under both Malcolm IV and his brother, William "the Lion", who succeeded him. A Justice (Justiciar) was not solely concerned with Law, but was a cheif administrative officer for the King.

COUSIN RELATIONSHIPS OF THE EARLS OF FIFE THROUGH THE 14th DEGREE

MALCOLM I, KING OF SCOTS
943-54
House of Alpine

DUFF................... Brothers. KENNETH II
King of Scots 962-67 King of Scots 971-95
House of Alpine House of Alpine

KENNETH III 1st Cousins MALCOLM II
King of Scots 997-1005 King of Scots 1005-34
House of Alpine House of Alpine

SON, name unk, 2nd Cousins BETHOC,his daughter
(possibly Duff)b ca 990-3 m Crinan, Abbot of Dunkeld, had

DUNCAN MacDUFF 3rd Cousins DUNCAN I
1st Earl of Fife King of Scots 1034-40
b ca 1015 House of Alpine
opposed Macbeth & assisted m Sibilla of Northumberland
Malcolm III to throne of Scots

DUFAGEN 4th Cousins MALCOLM III
2nd Earl of Fife King of Scots 1057-93
born ca 1035 House of Dunkeld m Ingabjord

DONALD III
King of Scots 1093-97

CONSTANTINE 5th Cousins DUNCAN II
3rd Earl of Fife King of Scots Md Ethelthryth

1107 EDGAR
King of Scots 1097-1107

ALEXANDER I
King of Scots Md Sibilla

DAVID I
King of Scots Md Maude

GILLEMICHAEL 6th Cousins HENRY
4th Earl of Fife Son of David I
1128 Md Ada de Warrane

DUNCAN 7th Cousins MALCOLM IV
5th Earl of Fife King of Scotland crowned 1153

1135 Uncle of Ada, Cash matriarch
m Hela WILLIAM I (Wm the Lion)

DAVID, Earl of Huntington
m Matilda of Chester

DUNCAN 8th Cousins ISOBEL
6th Earl of Fife 1154 Dau. of DAVID/Matilda
Justice of Scotland 1172-1200 m Robert de Brus of Annandale
m Ada, neice of Malcolm IV 3rd Lord of Annandale

(Cash progenitors)

MALCOLM 9th Cousins ROBERT BRUCE
7th Earl of Fife 1204 Son of Isobel/Robert
m Matilda, dau Earl of Stratherne 4th Lord of Annaandale
Founded Culross Abbey m Isabella de Clare
Neice of William the Lion, had:

MALCOLM 10th Cousins ROBERT BRUCE
8th Earl of Fife 1228 1st Earl of Carrick
Nephew of 7th Earl 6th Lord of Annandale
Grandson of 6th Earl m Marjorie of Carrick, had:|
m Helen, dau Llwellyn
(Prince of Wales)

COLBAN 11th Cousins ROBERT BRUCE
9th Earl of Fife 1266 King of Scots crowned 1306
m Anna Durward m Isabel of Mar & 2nd
Knighted by Alexander III 1264 Elizabeth of Ulster

DUNCAN 12th Cousins DAVID II
10th Earl of Fife 1270 King of Scots
m Johanna de Clare dau of m Joan, sister of King Edward III
Earl of Gloucester Dau MARJORIE m Walter Stewart

DUNCAN 13th Cousins ROBERT II
11th Earl of Fife 1286 King of Scots
m dau of Earl of Colban Son of Marjorie/Walter Stewart
m Elizabeth More, had:

DUNCAN 14th Cousins ROBERT III
12th Earl of Fife 1306 King of Scots 1390-1406
m Mary de Monthermer
Neice of Edward I of England

Earl of Fife became extinct in 1353 when the 12th Duncan died.

NOTES ON PRECEDING PAGE -- EARLS OF FIFE:

Sir Robert Sibbald, in his history of Fife, published 1710, lists a 13th Earl, as son of the 12th, says he was DUNCAN, married Mary....and died after 1353. Balfour-Paul in his Scots Peerage says that Isabella, daughter of the 12th Earl, was his only child, "as far as is known". This is probably not going to be resolved, and the majority of Scottish historians end the line of the Earls, descending from the DUFF/MacDUFF bloodline, with the 12th Earl.

His daughter Isabella, says Sibbald, recognizing the above questioned Duncan as her brother, and 13th, succeeded to the 14th in line, and through her marriages to William Ramsey, Thomas Bisert and Walter Stuart, they become the 14th, 15th, and 16th Earls of Fife. Then an indenture made in 1371 by Isabella, apparently through force or fear, resigns the Earldom to Robert Stuart (Earl of Mentelth), brother of her deceased husband Walter, and in it we note that he takes control of Falkland Castle, its surrounding forest, etc.

Upon Robert Stuart's death, Murdo (or Murdock), his son, suceeds as 17th Earl, but is executed in 1424 by James I for crimes against the Earldom and the King, and at the same time James seizes the Earldom and its lands and annexes all to the Scottish Crown. The title, its honors and its power vanish from history after a tenure of four centuries.

As mentioned elsewhere in this work, historians differ on MacDUFF as the 1st Earl of Fife. But the majority, including Douglas in his Peerage, begin the line of the Earls with this man, whom they term only "MacDuff". We discovered his first name rather accidentally in study of an ancient Charter.

There is an incident in the life of the 11th Earl worth repeating: He had a sister, Isabel, wife of John Comyn, Earl of Buchan. At the time of the crowning of Robert Bruce as King of Scots in 1306, the young 11th Earl was in England. So, Isabel rode to Scone, crowned Bruce and led him to the inaugural seat, by this act exercising the perogative of the Fife Earls that had been granted the first Earl by Malcolm I. Sometime later she was captured by English soldiery, and King Edward of England condemned her to an open cage attached to the outside of Berwick Castle and open to public view. Here she spent four years. She is typical of many courageous Scotswomen of those times.

The heart of King Robert Bruce was, by his own explicit direction, taken by his most trusted knight, Sir James Douglas, "to be presented", ordered the King, "to the Holy Sepulchre where our Lord lay, seeing my body cannot come there, and wheresoever ye come let it be known that you carry with you the heart of Robert Bruce."

Casketed in silver, the heart, in Sir James constant care, began its journey. But Sir James never reached Jerusalem. He kept to his ship, "kept always his behaviour and great triump, as though he were King of Scots himself, and in his company were twenty-six young squires and gentlemen to serve him, his vessels were of gold and silver, pots, pans, basins, ewers, dishes, flagons, cups. And all such as would come to see him were served with wine and divers manner of spices, all people according to their degree." relates Lord Berner's English version of the Flemish story, rich in the lovely prose of the fifteenth century.

Near the Spanish border, Sir James was attacked by Saracens, and though his party did wonders in arms, all were slain save William Keith, kept from the fight by a broken arm. He embalmed Sir James body, and took it and the heart in its silver casket back to Scotland, where the heart lies in the Abbey of Melrose that Bruce had loved.

ADA, CASH MATRIARCH, PARENTAGE & RELATIONSHIP TO MALCOLM IV

For over 800 years the parentage of Ada, our matriarch, has been obscured, in that not one historian has come forward with either discussion or reasonable speculation. The "nepto" of Malcolm's dowry Charter is interpreted "neice" by all early translators. Sir Robert Sibbald in his 1710 History of Fife repeats this, followed by Leighton, Millar, and later Fife historians. None objects to the term. Balfour-Paul, in his Peerage of Scotland, is the first to say: "there have been objections that Malcolm IV could not have had a neice of marriageable age by 1160."

He is quite correct. The facts speak for themselves: Malcolm IV was the eldest son of Henry, Earl of Northumberland, and Adela de Warrene, and was born in 1141. His brother, William, "the Lyon", born 1143, was 17 at the time of Ada's marriage; brother David, born 1146, was 14 in 1160. Two sisters, Adela and Margaret, preceded the brothers, born 1139 and 1140 ca. So it is readily seen that a meaning of "nepto" as "neice" is incorrect, and must be abandoned.

There is no record that Adela de Warrene had married before her marriage to Earl Henry in 1139. But we have found a meagre manuscript reference that Henry, Malcolm's father, had children prior to this marriage, though not one scrap of record exists to explain, or name the children. Any record of the progeny of Henry, a son of King David I, would have been prize booty for pillaging soldiery, and if there was record, we may assume it went to the bottom of the Atlantic in the "75 hogsheads". Record of the de Warrene marriage and children was preserved in France.

It rested squarely upon us to untangle the parentage of our Matriarch, left in (unreadable word) for eight centuries. Years of delving led us only to defeat, record-wise. There was left to us only the known factors, and these factors, applying logic and common sense, speak with a clarity and authority that must be recognized and accepted:

In the first place, the vast land dowry of the 1160 Charter was not one to be given to a distant relative, such as a cousin. The politics of the dark ages speak against such action, on this great a scale, by a King. Malcolm IV gave Ade in marriage to the ruling noble of Fife, Duncan II, it's 6th Earl by right of descent, himself actually a petty King of a goodly portion of Scotland. We find it logical that Malcolm would give to such a noble in marriage, a woman of equal rank and prestige. In this case, a woman of his (Malcolm's) close bloodline.

That Malcolm held great affection for Ada shows in the scope of the dowry grant. But we must also consider that some political significance lay quietly beneath this marriage, through which the young King was personally assuring himself of the complete future loyalty of Fife to his Crown. This factor is nowhere touched upon by historians, but it must have existed. It is perhaps the most compelling factor of all that Malcolm placed, in this marriage, as co-head of Fife's ruling house, a woman of his own close blood, whose fealty to him would be beyond question. By this marriage she became Countess of Fife.

It was such a policy that had won ancient Pictavia to Scotia; and from Scotia, to the creation of Scotland. It was deeply ingrained in the Celtic mind. And while it may be argued that Malcolm IV was only 19 at Ada's marriage, and perhaps was not politically mature, older men were about him as trusted councillors. Certainly this marriage in all its aspects had been discussed in their councils, and favorably advanced. It could well be that Malcolm's grandfather, King David I, as well as his father, Earl Henry, had expressed approval of such a match before their deaths.

So, from all this, Ada emerges as the half-sister of Malcolm IV. Nowhere in ancient times do we find a term being used in either Celtic or Latin to describe such a relationship, so it would appear that the Latin "nepto" of the Charter was the only term available to the writing scribe to convey this meaning.

With this decision, we may go back beyond Scotland now, with confidence, and take the bloodline into a much older antiquity. Just a glimpse here: Some years ago we found in a Paris Museum, a Genealogy which takes David I and his son, Earl Henry, father of Malcolm IV and Ada, back thru the ancient Celtic Kings of Ireland, well beyond 1000 B.C. opening the way to a previous era in Spain, Greece and Egypt....beyond which lies the formation of the Celtic race in the Himalaya's. This work, already well researched, has been held pending a decision on Ada's parentage, now resolved.

Why were Ada's Arms, granted her by Malcolm IV, King of Scots in 1160, not found in Scotland? Simply stated, they were stolen by the soldiery of Edward of England, whose thefts of Scottish land, birth, marriage, genealogic and heraldic records were fantastic. At one time Edward had shipped "75 hogsheads" of vital Scottish records to England by ship. Oliver Cromwell, as Lord Protector of England about 1656, consigned to Scotland, as a gesture of good will, the same number of hogsheads packed with records, but they never reached Scotland; ship, crew and cargo were lost in a storm at sea.

Edward simply wanted to make sure, when his time came to finally crush the stubborn Scots, that he would have a "blueprint" for the extermination of the nobles and their descendants. But he reckoned without Robert Bruce.

Ada's Arms were found in England, ferreted out and published by James Fairbairn, a Scot, who won fame for his able work on the heraldry of Great Britain and Ireland. (A more detailed discussion on the Arms will be found herein)

Ada and Duncan's Land Grant from Malcolm IVth was also not found in Scotland, but a copy of the original grant was found in the British Museum, London. It had been copied by the Lord Clerk Register of Scotland "from the original" and its accuracy has never been questioned. We will concede that possibly the original was lost in the great fire of 1700 in Edinburgh...but how and why Lord Clerk Register Sir John Skene's copy found its way into the British Museum is an interesting question. But that it WAS found is the important factor!

We have come to feel that our Matriarch Ada lived with her great grandson and family in her declining years. Certainly she must have dearly love the pink sandstone castle Duncan had built for her in the valley of the Miglo, and to which she had come as a bride in 1160. The wheat waved as of old in the soft summer wind; the sun sank behind the Lomond Hills in the same old glory of red and pink.

While Ada's death year is unknown to us, if she married at 15 in 1160, she would have been 80 when this great grandson came to maturity. Allow me to think that she shared this home that had once been hers, that she loved this great grandson and his wife, and that before she died, there could have been for her a golden year or two, in which she might have cradled in her arms a child or two of this first House of Cash.

NOTE: Not only Cash and Strathbogie, but Spens, De Syras, Weems or Wemyss, Duff and Fife are held by some researchers to be surnames taken by various descendants of the Earls of Fife. Sir Robert Sibbald in his History of Fife, published 1710, adds these: Mackintosh, Toshay (Foshay) and Craigtoun (Craig ?).

ST. ANDREWS CROSS-- the Scottish National Flag, one of the worlds most ancient banners. This Flag, as distinguished from the Union Flag, which, from the Union of the Crowns in 1707 contained the Cross of St. Andrews, and that of St. George of England, to which, after union with Ireland in 1801, the Cross of St. Patrick was added.

The legend of the St. Andrews Cross flag is that Hungus, King of the Picks, about 750 AD, before a battle with the Saxons, betook himself in prayer, and, falling asleep a little before day, dreamed the Apostle St. Andrew stood beside him and assured him of victory. He ordered a banner made of the saltire cross on which the Apostle had been crucified. With the flag at the head of his army, the Saxons gave way. From then on, the flag was carried by the Picts, and after their absorption by the Scots, it was retained as Scotland's national flag.

ARMS OF ADA, MATRIARCH OF CASH, AS GRANTED HIS HALF-SISTER BY MALCOLM IVth KING OF SCOTS ca 1160-61

The Arms shown here, credited to the Cash surname, (which had been taken in this shortened form in Fife, Scotland, about 1225 A.D.) were first listed by James Fairbairn, a Scotch researcher and heraldic writer, in Vol. I of his great work CRESTS OF THE FAMILIES OF GREAT BRITIAN AND IRELAND. Through the years they went through four Editions of his work, listed, as he found them, without country of orgin, (page 104) as follows:

CASH, out of a mural coronet or, a garb ppr., and thereon a bird perched. Plate 153-49.

By 'mural' coronet is meant the markings, resembling brick, indicating the degree of relationship of the holder of the Arms to the Monarch. (The Coronet as a base is only used where there is such relationship). By 'garb' is indicated the shock of grain supported by the Coronet. The bird perched atop the grain is identified as a martin, which in heraldry is the cadency mark of a 4th son. The 'ppr' indicates 'proper' referring to proper colors in which the Arms are to be borne -- i.e. brown for the grain shock and the field, gold for the coronet, against a blue sky. (See note below in explanation of the 'or')

As we found no record of these Arms at the office of the Lord Lyon, Edinburgh, Scotland, we knew then that Fairbairn had found them at the Arms College, London.

In any event, Fairbairn found the record of these Arms identified only with the Cash surname, but with the issuing country, Scotland, deleted. He knew these were the Arms of a King's relative, and himself a Scot, suspected their source, but good reporter that he was, took down the record exactly as he found it.

He was well aware of the vast number of Arms records stolen from Scotland by the English soldiery, copied there, and the orginals, about 1656, assembled by Oliver Cromwell as part of a 75 hogshead shipment of vital records consigned to Scotland as a good will. Unfortunately ship, crew and records were lost at sea.

In 1905, Fairbairn's great work, then in its 4th edition, was 'revised' in England by Laurence Butters, who was on the Queen's payroll as a "Seal Engraver, ordinary". The work was edited by Joseph MacLaren. In this 'revision' the error occured which merits this discussion: the ancestral Cash Arms therein are credited to "England".

We realize that at the time Butters made his 'revision', about 1905, Ireland, Scotland and England had been for two centuries joined politically as Great Britian. But certainly when these ancient Cash Arms were granted in the 12th century, Scotland had no ties with England, and was a separate political and ethnic culture. So crediting these Arms to "England" seems to have been the arbitrary act of an over-zealous Englishman on the civil payroll, who simply seized the opportunity to 'amend' the Cash Arms, which were lacking a source, by guessing rather than investigating.

This 1905 Butters/MacLaren 'revision' was copied in 1911 by the Heraldic Pub. Co., 279 Church St. New York, and their reprint again copied recently by the Genealogical Pub. Co. Baltimore, MD. These reprints are found in libraries in larger cities, and Cashes who have compared them with the orginial 4th edition Fairbairn's (of which the title page is shown herein) have raised many questions. The two reprints did not research; they simply copied the Butters/MacLaren work. Responsibility for the Cash error rests entirely with Butters/MacLaren.

NOTE: The "or" in the above Arms description is an abbreviation for Ordinary--Ordinaries, in Heraldry, are the symbol or "charge" on the sheild, in this case, the 'garb' or shock of grain.

A sketch of the Cash ancestral Arms shown on the preceding page, was examined in October, 1960, by Dr. Anthony Wagner of the Arms College, London. I had sent the sketch to Sir William Cash, of the English Cash family, and suggested that discussion with the College might be fruitful. It turned out that Sir William and Dr. Wagner were long time personal friends.

Neither in their discussions, nor in subsequent correspondence from Dr. Wagner, does the College of Arms make ANY representation that these Cash Arms are of English orgin.

This is entirely correct -- they are Scotch: This simply places the Butters/MacLaren "English" origin for the Cash Arms incorrect.

While we are discussing the Arms, our investigation over the past twelve years into various circumstances surrounding them has developed a point or two that perhaps we should mention here:

1. Our direct questions as to how the Cash Arms, as well as copies of the land grant of Malcolm IV to Duncan/Ada came into England and were found there in contemporary times, are met with uniformly evasive replies by English officials.

Without pointing any finger at all, we recall that John de Baliol, known to history as the puppet of Edward of England, and rival of Robert Bruce, (The Robert Bruce mentioned here as rival of John Baliol, was of course the first Bruce, (or de Brus) great grandfather of the later King Robert crowned in 1306.), was King of Scotland, 1248-1315. He and his associates had carte-blanche to the vital records of Scotch noble families in registries and abbeys. His co-operation with Edward's commanders is well known.

2. The Arms themselves quite clearly tell us their own story. They should be considered in the same context with Malcolm IV's land Charter to Duncan and Ada, included herein. The Coronet is marked to show the relationship between Ada and the King. The land Charter granted by Malcolm IV on the occasion of Ada's marriage to Duncan II, 6th Earl of Fife, silently confirms the Arms. The shock of grain on the Arms silently confirms the vast acreage of wheat land granted by the Charter in Fife and Perthshire. If they are considered together, they constitute an authority and an authenticity that is beyond question.

3. While the surname Cash remained with the Arms data in England, the origin, or King who granted, was deleted. Why? Stolen in Scotland and brought to London probably in the early 1300's, any Englishman with authority at the court of Edward, would have stripped this record of King or Scotch origin, simply because any authority or perogative of a Scotch King was not to be recognized. (With the exception, of course, of John de Baliol!)

4. The possibility that the source record of the Cash Arms, long deleted from their original grant, (or James Fairbairns would have found and recorded) may have become utterly lost or destroyed in England and could not be found at the time Butters wrote in 1905, should be mentioned here. We are not attempting to excuse guesswork or error... simply stating that it could have happened.

NOTE: On Jan. 30, 1976, we received from Genealogical Pub. Co. Baltimore, a Memo stating they had reprinted the "wrong edition" of Fairbairns, (by which they must mean the Butter/MacLaren work of 1905) and that a newer reprint now out is "correct". We are checking....

5. Vol. 2 of Fairbairn's work reveals a Motto in connection with the Cash Arms: "Il buono tempo verra" or "The good time will come." No Motto is shown on the original Crest as granted ca 1160. Mottos generally would have been adopted by later descendants, and this one was probably taken in the early 1300s.

This Motto is credited to Cash, but is shared on the Arms of six other families: Gaille, Groombridge, Hitchens, Hitchins, Hyland and Questeed.

Our interpretation of this is that this Motto was most likely adopted by the Cash who bore the Arms at some low point in the fortunes of Scotland. This could well have been during the first winter after Robertmap of Europe. Bruce's loyal followers were less than two hundred. Often in flight from superior English forces, they hid in glen and heather, striking out in guerilla fashion, subsisting on rabbits and venison. But in 1307, as more and more Scots flocked to his colors, he moved out to begin a long and harrowing, but eventually successful, effort to drive the invader back into England.

Fifemen supported Bruce throughout his Kingship, and gave their lives freely in his cause. To us it seems entirely reasonable that some young Cash, a Fifeman and a Baron, who bore these Arms, a fourth son of his (of Cash), and in some way which history does not reveal, rendered to the young Baron and to Bruce's cause, service above and beyond the call of duty. He could, insuch case, confer his Motto taken under circumstances of this kind, upon retainers.

(A Baron is anciently defined as one with the right to eat at the King's table. Certainly Cash's of the ancient noble family enjoyed this right.)

6. The Cash Arms have survived many trials in the 816 years since they were granted by Malcolm IV of Scotland to his niece (half-sister), Ada.

But we now know their true source: the King who granted them, the woman who bore them and passed them to her descendants, their meaning, and their times.

These things endure unchanged, like a block of granite. And for their integrity and their preservation, let our thanks be given to the Almighty.

THE TAKING OF THE SURNAME CASCHE-CASH

As we come to the time when the descendants of Duncan and Ada, probably grandson and great grandson, first took the surname Casche, we are within a period almost barren of record. But we do know that Duncan and Ada had these four children, as confirmed by Balfour-Paul's Peerage of Scotland:

1. MALCOLM who succeeded his father, was 7th Earl of Fife, died 1228, leaving no issue.

2. DUNCAN who married "the lady Aliz Corbet", daughter of Walter Corbet of Makerstoun. Their progeny is unknown, except for son Malcolm, who is known because he became 8th Earl of Fife.

3. DAVID who got from his father Duncan the lands of Strathbogie, and whose son, John, took his surname from these lands as John de Strathbogie.

4. DAUGHTER name unknown, who married, about 1188, the son of Roger de Merlay.

The mark of cadency on Ada's Arms, the 'martlet' or baby martin atop the wheat shock, is the mark of a 4th son. And while no record exists of who he was or of what generation, the thought persists that he was of the 4th generation, or a great grandson of the progenitors, Duncan/Ada. In such case, from their marriage in 1160, the martlet tells us the Arms of record were borne about 1225. Under these circumstances, the bearer was likely about 22, married, head of a house in his own right, and probably using the shortened surname, Cash, as his Arms, when finally the record saw the light of day in 1898, are credited to Cash.

The fact that no record or public printing of these Arms exists from the time of their issuance ca 1160-61, to the time of Fairbairns Crests, published in 1898, well supports the premise of their theft, removal to England, and their suppression from public knowledge for the intervening centuries. This pilferage likely occured between 1225 and the Battle of Bannockburn, 1314.

In seeking the house who first adopted the Casche surname, we eliminate Malcolm, #1 above, who left no issue. Also David, #3, whose son took the surname Strathbogie from their lands. Also a daughter, #4, who took the name of her husband, de Merlay. We are led therefore clearly to Duncan, #2 above, and his descendants. And, just as the descendants of his brother David took their surname from their lands, it is apparent that

Duncan's descendants took theirs from their home castle, Caschel, which is gaelic. Actually, Casche may have been the name of the castle lands even before the family took it as a surname. The Chair of History of the venerable University of St. Andrews, 22 miles from the lands, supports this thesis when it states: "The lands of Casche are of considerable antiquity, and seem to have been known from the 12th century."

So very possibly, during Duncan's generation, (#2 above) this gaelic term for the Castle, may have been used by him to designate both land and castle, perhaps as early as 1190. He may first have used it as an extra identity...perhaps signing himself before his fathers death in 1204: "Duncano filio comes" or Duncan, son of the Earl, then after his fathers death, perhaps "Duncano de Casche" Duncan of Casche.. It is in such ways and by the passage of time, that surnames became affixed to families and endured.

It is a reasonable assumption that the Duncan (#2 above) who married Aliz Corbet, may himself have dropped the 'l' from the gaelic Caschel, and that their sons were born to the surname Casch or Casche. Their only recorded son, Malcolm, became 8th Earl of Fife, and having this identity, took no surname. It appears logical that another son of Duncan/Corbet, born as Casch or Casche, on reaching maturity, dropped the 'c' and the 'e', in the common practice of spelling a word phonetically as it sounded, and in this case, pronunciation remained the same. His son's bring us into the 4th generation from Duncan/Ada, and obviously the forth son bore the Arms, as they came into record bearing a fourth son's cadency mark, a martlet, or young martin.

So based on the recorded Arms, this son who bore the surname in its shortened form, brought into being, by right of birth, the first House of Cash, in the period, as closely as can be estimated, of 1225 A.D.

SEIZURE AND DISPERSION - 1424

John (Stewart) Earl of Carrick, became King of Scotland in 1390, succeeding his father Robert II. He chose to rule under the name Robert III, rather than John. He was 50, in frail health, and crippled by the kick of a horse in his youth, his vitality not equal to that of his arrogant nobles, he entrusted much of the government to his brother, Robert Stewart, which proved an unwise course.

In 1398 Robert III created his eldest son, David, age 21, Duke of Rothesay, and the King's brother, Robert, he named to be Duke of Albany. This was the first creation of "Dukes" in Scotland. The ambition of Rothesay and the jealousy of Albany resulted in Rothesay's death at Falkland Castle, which Albany then occupied. It was said he died of dysentery, but the circumstances were suspicious. He was quickly and secretly buried. The public accused Albany of murder; but, lacking evidence, he was acquitted.

Meanwhile, Robert III sent his only remaining son, James, to France, fearing for his safety, but enroute he was captured by the English, taken to London and imprisoned. The old King did not long survive these tragedies, and died by 1407. The Scots parliament continued Albany his brother as Regent, with the prior declaration that James, now captive in England, was their lawful King.

Albany tried to prevent the return of the young King of Scotland. Albany died in 1419, and with James being still a captive, Albany's son, Murdoch Stewart, succeeded as Duke of Albany, Earl of Fife and Regent of Scotland. A cold, cunning and selfish man, ill-fitted for these posts, Scotland shortly became a scene of anarchy, treason and confusion.

The Earl of Douglas now negotiated with King Henry of England for James' return, and finally a ransom was arranged, paid by the Scots, and in 1424 James, with his Queen, Johanna, whom he married in England, returned to Scotland. Murdoch, exercising the perogative of the Earls of Fife, placed him on the inaugural stone.

Determined to punish those responsible for his detention in England, and for the muddled state of the Scotch government, he quickly arrested Murdoch Stewart at Perth, together with his wife, youngest son Alexander Stewart, his oldest son Walter, his aged father-in-law the Earl of Lennox, and some twenty six other barons and noblemen whom history does not name. The heaviest blow fell on the House of Fife, as Murdoch, Earl of Fife, had been Regent also, and though they were James' own kinsmen, the King had evidently decided to "strike down the tall weeds first".

Murdoch Stewart, his two sons, and his father-in-law, were publicly executed at Stirling. The Earldom of Fife, "with all its lands, manors and castles"... Strathmiglo, Kettle, Rathillet, Falkland....were now seized and forfeited to the Crown. The castle at Falkland, which had housed the later Earls of Fife, now became a Royal palace. Naturally the lands of Cash and the castle at Strathmiglo were included in the seizure, because they had been originally chartered to a Earl of Fife. The other noblemen were now liberated.

So the old and lovely dream that had been Ada's and Duncan's in 1160, had now, after 263 years, come 'full circle' to its end. Through suspicion, avarice, jealousy and lust for power, men had died, and the lands first granted in 1160 by Malcolm IVth had returned to the Scottish Crown. Our ancients who had occupied them were now without a home, their prestige severely damaged, perhaps in some circles even unwelcome in Scotland!

Our Cash ancients at Strathmiglo were victims of circumstances arising when the lineal descent from MacDuff ended with the childless Isabel, and the Earldom through her three childless marriages, was devolved upon Robert Stewart, brother of her second husband, Walter Stewart.

Murdoch Stewart, Regent and Earl of Fife in 1424, seems a thorough rogue. The Strathmiglo Cashes lived under his pernicious system of bribery, extra taxation, and all the ills of a dishonest public official, to none of which they agreed, and for none of which they were responsible. Suddenly what had been a tranquil, happy barony, was, through, Murdoch and his father before him, made into an object of the King's wrath simply because it lay within the Fife earldom.

Our people at Strathmiglo, after 263 years of occupancy, with close relationships to the Crown of Scotland, showing always a fierce nationalism for which they had died on many fields, and in support of Bruce, were far too aware of their own and Scotland's interests to co-operate with a rogue, or even to render lip-service toward keeping their rightful King, seed of their beloved Bruce, in English bondage.

Murdoch as Regent had visited Strathmiglo in 1420, and our people at the castle naturally gave him welcome at that time because he represented the government. He signed a document there, dating it "at the Castle of Stramyglo". Even this simple act of hospitility may have been recorded and later misjudged.

The end of these dark days had not been reached quiet yet, as the pestilence entered Scotland in 1430, called dourly by the Scots "the black death of the English", and it raged for three years unchecked while countless thousands died. How many Cash's succumbed to it can only be conjectured: it is possible only their various migrations saved some family units. That they survived in Ireland we know, as a few are there today, and we have record of Cash immigrants to this country in the late 1600's and early 1700's. That some went to clan country, and survived there, is proved by their presence there today, with the addition of the "Mac" traditional to that area, as MacCasche and MacCash. That they survived in Bohemia, southern Germaney, is indicated by a sparse showing of the surname there with the germanic "K" as Kash or Kasche, and by immigrants who came to this country in the 1700's. some retaining the K, others reverting to the traditional Cash. They survived in England, as some had gone there from Scotland as early as 1300, quite a few of the traditional surname appear there today, and we have record of immigrant's as Cash as early as 1675.

Now, at Perth, where Duncan and Ada married in 1160, and probably received their land charter from Malcolm IVth, and where Murdoch and his son's were arrested in 1424, James I, King of Scots is murdered there in February, 1436, leaving a baby son.

Scant record is left of all this unhappy business, but through it all moves a sinister figure, who stays discreetly behind the scenes. It is Walter, Duke of Atholl, who is, by blood, just one step from the throne....that step is James's baby son, and the middle ages has a way of dealing with such small handicaps! It was Atholl who encouraged James to strike down the Fife House, feeling that their vengeance would remove James I. It was he, it is said, who planned the Kings murder, and had even had a hand in the murder of young Rothesay.

Atholl was indeed near the throne; so Queen Joan crowned him, after James' death, with a paper crown...but the head was without body.

And as the curtain rings down on this, one of the sorrier spectacles of Scottish history, Ada's banner, the wheat on the Coronet, which had had meaning and power in Fife for nearly three hundred years, hung impotent in the fitful and forboding wind of the times.

But Duncan's, the red lion on a gold field, continued to snap impudently at the Cupar in Fife, and apparently none of the King's minions thought to take it down! So the Arms of one of our progenitor's remain on the Scottish scene as the obverse of the Borough Arms of Cupar....Ancient seat of the early Earls, probably since MacDuff, where they had a castle on a hill overlooking the town, where they administered Fife's business, and held their courts. It is today the 'County Town' of Fife.

The surname is scarce in Scotland today. Whether upon death of James I in 1436, Cashes returned to Fife, no record remains, but it seems doubtful. That they returned to a province other than Fife, perhaps near the coast, seems more probable. William, the Salem mariner, who brought our Immigrant to these shores, was born in Scotland about 1625, province unknown. The Immigrant, also William, born there about 1650...and this

in spite of King, Plague and Dispersion! If you have ever tried to eradicate a thistle, you will realize why the Thistle is Scotland's Badge! (Thistles are symbolic of one of the most ancient orders of knighthood; the Scottish Order of the Thistle.)

THE MARINER, WILLIAM CASH, OF SALEM

In order that the reader of the next page will not be confused, an explanatory note seems required here:

William Cash, Mariner, was born in Scotland about 1625, settled in Salem, Massachusetts, around 1667, where he married Elizabeth Lambert, raised his family, and died there in 1690.

This William was owner and master of the Brigantine, "Good Intent", was most likly a master mariner by the time he was 24, and operated his ship in the British Isles and American colonies trade for about forty years.

Perhaps as early as 1672-3 the Mariner brought to Salem his nephew, also William Cash from Scotland, who is listed as 'seated' in Westmoreland county, Virginia in 1677-- in a British Tax List. He was the immigrant ancestor of our American Cash family. This William also married an Elizabeth, though her surname still eludes us (it may have been Skinner).

These two William's, both with wives named Elizabeth, have caused researchers considerable confusion. Some attempt to name the Mariner as the Cash Immigrant, "from whom all of the name in America descended" but when they come to connect the Virginia family, they find they cannot do so. It is at this point that they realize they are two separate and probably from the same orgin in Scotland. Descendants of the Mariner are mainly concentrated along the New England seaboard, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, and by the middle 1800's in New York state. (The Salem Archivist knew nothing of the younger William Cash who had passed through Salem on his way to Virginia, apparently). The unique situation here is that there is little doubt but what the Mariner and our Immigrant were Uncle/Nephew, making the New England group our close "kin" ...but due to the destruction of vital records in Scotland, we have been unable to document what we so sincerely believe.

The Salem Mariner left in Salem archives, later appearing in the published Genealogy of Massachusetts, the fact that the Cash seat was anciently at "the place Cash, in Strathmiglo, Fife, Scotland" and by this very circumstance he became ours, because this, too, is the seat of the ancient orgin of the Cash family to which we belong, the marriage of our progenitors, the taking of the surname, and the granting of the ancient Land's and Arm's.

At this point we can only hope that in time some documentary evidence may be discovered which will definitley unite these two groups.

England has a large group of Cashes also, with whom we are in touch, and they are working on their genealogical orgin's. It appears this group may have been founded by a Scot of our ancient family who came into Cheshire area of England before 1300.

We mention also here a quite large group of Cash's springing from the Salem Mariner, whose Cash spelling was apparently diverted to Kash by a German clerk in an early Virginia land deed, then carried down by descendants in that spelling. Many of these are located in Kentucky.

Another group presently in the Dakota's sprang from the ancient family who, at the dispersion of 1424, went to Bohemia in southern Germany, and here also the germanic K was affixed to them. Some descendants of this group, unaware of the Scotch tradition, came here as Kash, some as Kasch and others, having retained the tradition, as Cash.

"THE PLACE CASH" to which the Mariner, William Cash, of Salem, refers in stating where the surname was taken, was the castle grounds and establishment, as set apart from the farm land surrounding it in the valley of the Miglo River, as granted to Duncan and Ada in her dowry charter of 1160.

The Castle, byers (barns), fortalice or defense tower, an armorer or smith's shop, houses for servants and retainers, a small mill for weaving and making cloth, an archery range, enclosures and sheds for cattle, poultry, horses and sheep--etc, it was a substantial establishment, probably occuping about 200 acres.

Not only did a great grandson of Duncan and Ada adopt the family surname from the gaelic word meaning castle, caschel, but the surname, as was usual in those times, became associated with the land of the castle, also. By about 1225 AD, perhaps earlier, we know these acres were called "the lands of Casche", and after another century were referred to in the short form as the "lands of Cash". These lands were divided about 1775, and are known today as Cash Easter and Cash Wester.

The village of Strathmiglo, its center now about 3/4ths of a mile from the old location of the castle, began in 1161 from the crude sod huts of the first workmen on the Castle. (Strath, in Scots, is valley, the Miglo is the little river which still flows thru it)

"OF ENGLISH AND SCOTCH ORIGIN", said William of Salem, in speaking of the Cash family, and this he did in all sincerity, because he belived it to be so, and the English connections of our early Scotch ancestors seemed to support such a connection. There was, however, no Cash 'origin' as such in England. There were only various marriages between our ancients and Englishwomen, which was to be expected; Fife was a noble house, enjoyed close contact with the Scots throne, and several of the later Fife Earls, with more political interest than fealty in Scotland, leaned toward the English King, and some married his relatives and women of his court...but these were not of the Duncan/Ada line, though "kin". These alliances, as they came on down in the traditions of the old family, perhaps garbeled and misunderstood generation to generation, could easily have fostered, by the 1600's when William was born and growing to manhood, the idea that the family beginnings were in part English. William thought it was fact, or he would not have so stated; actually, it simply was not fact.

The marriages that contributed to this misconception were most likely that of Malcolm III, (1057-93) to Margaret, sister of Eadgar, who was briefly England's King. This alliance was about a century before the time of Malcolm IVth, our Ada's Uncle.

After Malcolm's time, within the House of Fife, we find the 8th Earl, also named Malcolm) marrying Helen, the daughter of Llewellyn, Prince of Wales.

Duncan, 10th Earl, married Johanna de Clare, daughter kof Gilbert de Clare, the English Earl of Gloucester.

Duncan, 12th Earl, married Mary de Monthermer, daughter of Ralph, Lord Monthermer, and granddaughter of King Edward I of England. They had one daughter, Isabel, who succeeding him in lands and honors, was childless, and the Fife Earldom passed into other hands. Duncan, 12th Earl, was the last Earl in male descent from the old chief, MacDuff. (some say Mary was Maria, and was niece of King Edward Ist)

Meanwhile the descendants of Duncan, 6th Earl of Fife, and Ada, our progenitors, had gone on undisturbed and unaffected by these alliances, Duncan and Ada having fused together in their marriage about as pure a Celtic-Gaelic-Scot bloodline as could have been produced in 1160. They lived and died in Scotland. Duncan and Ada's son, Duncan, married the daughter of a Scot, in Scotland, and that his grandchildren, who first took the Casche surname about 1225 at Strathmiglo were Scots of this blood, and certainly spoke Gaelic, is obvious.

There is however, one thing to be said for these English alliances: they seemed to throw a magical protection around this home Castle, and this family, whose dynasty endured for 263 years, while the incursions and attacks of the English troops swirled around them, and Castle's as close as eight miles from Strathmiglo were leveled, seem to have gone undisturbed, their Castle unscathed.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Dalriadian Scots...who were they? In very ancient times, Ireland was called Scotia, and its people Scots. This probably began around 1000 BC at the time when Irish oral history cites the coming from Egypt, (via Spain) of Scota, widow of Miles, or Mileaius, and her sons. They landed, says the honored legend, in Bantry Bay, and their ships carried horses, chariots, and loyal followers. They conquered the barbarian Firbolg, divided Eire between the sons, and the descendants of the sons supplied Eire's Kings for many centuries.

You will note on your present day map of Ireland, in the south, a place called Cashal. (no connection to our surname origin, merely Irish Gaelic for Castle). Cashal was the seat of the ancient Kings of Munster. Some of its orginial ruins are still preserved. About 462 AD a son of one of these Kings, Cairbre Riada, led a group of followers north, to escape famine. He was a popular and competent leader, as they named themselves the Dal (gaelic for Clan) Riada, and history from then on refers to them as the Dalriadian Scots.

Arriving in the north, a group of 150 of them decided to cross the Channel into Alba (ancient Scotland) and colonize. This was 464 AD. The adventurers were headed by Fergus Mor, the 131st Monarch of Ireland, who became first King of these Dalriadians who were to found what was to become first Scotia, then Scotland.

With Fergus was his grandson, Conal Gabhrain (or Gabran) who in 538 would be King of the Dalriadian group. Scots chroniclers mention him as a direct lineal ancestor of Malcolm IV who would be half-brother to our Matriarch, Ada, in 1160; This translated to the fact that the ancient Cash bloodline was actually a part of the migratory movement that founded Scotland.

Twelfth Century Scotch chronicles refer to six Scottish Kings as "the seed of Conaire Mor" in referring to their genealogy back thru the ancient Kings of Ireland: Alexander I 1107-1124, David I 1124-1153, Malcolm IV 1153-1165, William the Lyon 1165-1214, Alexander II 1214-1249, and Alexander III 1249-1286. As we trace the ancestary of these Scottish Kings, they lead us into the dim corridors of oral history, back to Heremon, Eire's first King, (son of Milesius) and beyond 1000 BC.

We found preserved in a Paris museum, a manuscript of the genealogy of Malcolm IV and William, his brother, taking their bloodlines back through Fenius Fairsaith, a King of Scythia, c 1300 B.C. thence back to Gomer, and his father, Noah. Then in Dublin, the irrepressible Irish go a step further, taking Malcolm IV and William beyond Noah, through Noah's ancestors, Lamech, Methuselah, Enoch, Jared, Mahaleel, Cainan, Enos, Seth and Adam! The archives of Ireland are rich in chronicle and manuscript history, preserved from an earlier time than that of any other country in Europe.

Beyond the earliest periods above mentioned in recorded and/or oral history, we come to a period which began roughly 30,000 years before Christ, which takes us into the Himalaya's, where the white Celtic race was formed in approximatley a ten thousand year entrapment by glacial ice, and in this period de-pigmented from the basic brown Aryan 'root stock' from which came Celts, Mediteranneans and Nordics in varying degrees of White, light and olive. As the glaciers ebbed and the passes opened, these people came into the plains of Iran and Afghanistan and into Egypt, and as the milleniums passed, plodded their many tortuous ways across the European continent.

The site of our racial formation lies, roughly, in what appears on todays maps as Ladakh, among some of the worlds highest peaks, but within a hundred mile long valley region fed by lakes with warm springs as their source, which nurtured and sustained the primordial, animal and marine life of the region. The area, now in Communist hands, may be long closed to further research.

San Diego, California sig DLC
May 8th, 1973
Amended Jan 24, 1976