Kirkpatrick Family Research – Watties Neach / Wallace’s House
Posted by Dawn-Ann on February 15, 2009
I’ve been interested in my genealogy since I was a young girl and the advent of the Internet has been a great boon for my research. However, I have discovered it’s also a frustrating source of greatly inaccurate information. Unfortunately, much of the Kirkpatrick information out there is suspect. Many well-meaning people are simply copying and pasting scads of information that is just not correct.
To that end, I guess it shall be left up to me to rectify the situation. As I find time, I have been poring over some intriguing publications I have stumbled upon about the Kirkpatricks. I’m piecing together a family tree, one tiny clue at a time, and my aim is to verify as much of it as I can from reliable sources. When I am satisfied that I have something worth sharing, I will do so here. Watch for it!
So, here’s the first tip for Kirkpatrick researchers. There is no “Watties Neach.” Not now. Never was. It’s a mis-translated (probably mis-read from old documents) phrase that has been copied and pasted into many, many Kirkpatrick family trees.
I first got an inkling of this when I was trying to figure out where exactly Watties Neach was. I was having a dickens of a time and could find no record of it anywhere (I am the Queen of the Search Engines and can sniff out information pretty quickly.) Then I stumbled upon an old email in a genealogical research site. Someone who had lived and worked in the area suggested that Watties Neach was likely a mis-reading of Wallace’s House. Indeed, it is easy to see how double l’s could have been mistaken for double t’s on old documents, but how house could become neach is a bit of a stretch.
Then, when I was in Scotland last summer, I stopped in at the Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society. A very helpful, very knowledgeable lady there told me that neach is probably a mis-reading of neuch, which in the old language meant “corner” or “place.” Bingo! Wallace’s Neuch! There is a recorded association between the Kirkpatricks and the Wallaces and many Kirks came from that area (though I have yet to figure out what exactly that association was).
Fun and interesting stuff. Wish I had tons more time to work on the research!
Comments
6 Responses to “Kirkpatrick Family Research – Watties Neach / Wallace’s House”Leave a comment, and if you'd like your own picture to show up next to your comments, go get a gravatar!
Where to begin ? I’m engaged in the same sort of search as yours, God help me,and have run across bags of confusing websites, etc., and some very good stuff as well.It started when, having followed my father’s mob from the founding of Hatley St.George in England tempore William the Conquerer by Baldwin of Limoge,to Kilkenny county,Ireland,where we stole land from the Irish in the 1600’s,all the way to my birthplace and home in Ottawa,Canada, I decided as a project to follow my mother’s family back as well. She was a Richardson, born at Leicester, UK, in 1905, whose father, Harold Guy Kirkpatrick Richardson was related to the distant Empress Eugenie, etc., etc. I’ve accumulated a ton of stuff on my computer but am not yet at a point where I’m ready to collate it. I had no idea what I was getting involved in but it’s addictive so I guess I’ll just keep on researching the Richardson/Kirkpatrick bunch.
Lots of luck,
Cheers,
Mike St.George
Westminster, Maryland, USA. stgeorge82abn@comcast.net
Hi Mike, thanks for your comments. The Kirkpatrick family tree is so addicting because it does have such a wild and varied history, which also touches on royalty and intrigue and mystery. I think I want to write a book one day.
Stay in touch and let me know how your studies go!
Dawn
I found this passage in the History of Kirkmichael
“Mr. Dobie gives an excellent account of the story of Wallace’s Tower (called, on the O.S. Landranger map “Wallace’s House fort, grid reference NY033908.) The story is that, in 1297, Wallace occupied the fort with a small band whilst contemplating the capture of Lochmaben castle then held in the English interest by Graystock, an English officer and Sir Hugh Moreland. In a minor engagement Wallace met and slew Moreland with five of his followers; the spot is marked by a large stone called the “sax corses”. This reverse so infuriated Graystock that, after receiving reinforcements from England that officer attacked Wallace in his fortlet, but Wallace contrived to escape and in his turn received reinforcements from the companies of Sir John Graham and Sir Roger Kirkpatrick. The Scots turned on their pursuers at Knockwood and the English leader, Graystock, fell mortally wounded, whereupon the English turned and fled. Wallace did not follow far in pursuit but rode fast to Lochmaben castle, which was in no position to deny his entry. Hardly had Wallace taken the castle when “bands of broken men, footsore and wounded,” from the engagement at Knockwood asked for admission at the gates “only, however, to share the fate of their comrades who had been encountered in the field the day before.” (A fuller account can be found in McDowall’s History of Dumfries)”
http://www.kttchurch.org.uk/pages/our-profile-and-history/kirkmichael-church.php
Wow – that’s fabulous information, Wallace. I’m going to check that link and I think I have the History of Dumfries somewhere… Thanks bunches! :)
Hello again.
Last time I emailed you was 20 march ,2009, which message is still on your site.
You must surely by now have been on thescottishnation.com or
electricsscotland.com, which seem to be connected to each other somehow (computers and the internet are, and I suspect always will be, a mystery to me) and which provide a long, detailed history of your – and my – clan Kirkpatrick. My maternal grandfather, Harold Guy Kirkpatrick Richardson,was the son of Harold Slingsby Duncombe Richardson and Florence Margaret Kirkpatrick.
Again, lots of luck.
Cheers,
Mike St.George
stgeorge82abn@comcast.net
Hi Mike. I’ll have to look up those sites. I’m afraid I haven’t had the time I’d like to do research these days. Thanks for the tips, though!