Mark Carse of Cockpen

[jennyblain]

Hi Pauline,
Yes, she's a daughter of Gilbert Kirkwood, goldsmith, and his first wife, Janet Bannatyne/Ballantyne (and various other spellings), so is connected into several Edinburgh burgess families. Her stepmother, Gilbert's second wife, was a Foulis.

And yes, various mentions of Mark Carse, both father and son, in the Foulis accompt book, which I was looking at a while back. Fascinating networks of people.
Best,
Jenny

[Montrose Budie]

Hi Jenny

Late on the scene but I had the CD for Balfour's The Scots Peerage to hand so I had a quick look.

The only reference is under the entry for KER, Marquess of Lothian, - Sir William KER referred to witnessing a charter to Richard CAS of Fordell in 1623.

mb

[jennyblain]

Hi Montrose,

Richard Carse (Cas Cass Cars etc) was the father of the first Mark. They are an interesting family - lawyers and burgesses in Edinburgh, and Mark became the agent for Ker of Lothian. They were landowners at Fordell, and then Mark was given Cockpen. His grandson or g-grandson finally sold Cockpen around the 1720s, as I recall - I haven't re-checked the date and it may have been just into 1730s.

We ran across them while looking for a particular Mary Carss in the mid 18th century, and traced them back as they were so interesting. There were a few other Carses around, and very probably my Mary is descended from another line, though all may connect further (and unprovably) back. As with many other bits of research, the fun is in the search for detail and depth.

best,
Jenny