“No Longer Separated by Oceans and Centuries”
Genealogy of the Liddle Family by Martha (Liddle) Gifford
Message from Gary Liddell to Team Liddell on 24Apr04:
I recently ordered a book entitled "Genealogy of the Liddle Family" by Martha (Liddle) Gifford written in the late 1800s or early 1900s (she died 1917) that deals with John (b 1748-Roxburgshire, Scot) and Robert (b 1741-Roxburgshire, Scot) Liddle line. They camae from New Castleton, Liddesdale, Scotland to America (NY) in 1775. The book has 71 pages (including index) and covers about 5 or 6 generations of John and Robert's line. This does not tie into my James Liddell (b 1712) line, but wanted to bring it to everyone's attention. It does have a few pages of historic information at the beginning, a coat of arms, photo of Hermitage Castle, alineage chart, and photos of a few Liddles. Most of the book (pgs 10-66) deals with the individuals in the branches of this line. Other lines mentioned: Van
Deusen, Trubey, Von Crapser, Van Antwerpen, and Watson families.
On pages 3 and 4 there is a "Historical Sketch of Liddesdale" that has some interesting information:
---Thomas Wake claiming Liddesdale caused a loong border warfare in 1566.
---Hermitage Castle is said to have been built by Lord Nicholas de Sules about the year 1244, who then owned all of Liddesdale.
---The Sules family forfeited their estate in 1320 and Hermitage went to the Grahams and then by marriage of Mary Graham, to the Knight of Liddesdale, William Douglas.
---The ancient name of the river was Lid. The modern name of Liddle or Liddal includes both the name of the stream and the dale or del through which it flows. The addition of dale to Liddel, is a pleonasm, del and dale meaning the same. However, the name Liddle, Lyddel as applied to the river appears to have been established by the year 1250 or possibly earlier, though the ancient name sometimes appears much later.
---The manner of spelling the valley's name varied so much in different localities and epochs of history that the derivatives are bewildering. The spellings most frequently found are, Liddisdalae,Lyddesdale, Liddesdale, Liddesdail, Lidddisdale, etc., Liddesdale being the present established form.
---Documents have not been found recording the direct lineage from the family of Lord Sules to the Liddle ancestry, but in A. Jeffrey's History of Roxburghshire, Vol. IV, is recorded a Randolph de Sules of the family of Lydal, who was made Provost of Roxburgh in 1296. These Sules, Lords are buried in a small enclosure beside Hermitage Castle.
---It is hardly disputable that the Liddles are other than a branch of this Lydal family of Randolph de Sules, because both the names Liddle and Liddesdale have undergone many different forms of spelling since the thirteenth century.
---In Vol. IV, History of Roxburghshire, Jeffrey also records a Richard de Sules whose family name was Lydal marrying in 1729, a Muriel Lobdel of Robertson. This town is about two miles from New Castelton, and it was here that John and Robert Liddle, first recorded in this book were born.
There is also a paragraph on the alleged incident where Lord William Sules (whose reputation for brutality was even in that rough age such that he was commonly looked upon as inhuman) is boiled (after being wrapped in a sheet of lead) in a large cauldron on a spot called Ninestane Rig about a mile from the Castle, Hermitage.
Page 6 describes how, in 1727, Sir John Liddle (who the author thinks is the father of John & Robert Liddle) was swindled out of his land estate and as a result, years later, the cause of John and Robert emigrating to America.
Reference is given as Encyslopedia Britannica, XVI, 588, Alexander Jeffrey, History and Antiquitus of Roxburghshire, Edinburg: Seton & Mackenzie, 1864.
Page 7 has a verse about the Sules boiling I can't resist sharing:
"Lord Sules
Ona circle of stone they placed the pot,
A circle of stones but barely nine;
And heated it read and fiery hot,
Till burnished brass and glimmering sheen.
They rolled him in a sheet of lead,
A sheet of lead for a funeral pall,
And plunged him into the cauldron red,
And melted him, lead and bones and all.
On Skelf Hill the cauldron still
The men of Liddesdale can show.
On the spot they placed the pot
The grass nor harebell neâ'er will grow.
I purchased this book from Higginson Book Company (www.higginsonbooks.com) who specialize in reprinting old books of genealogy interest. The cost of the hard cover was $26.50 (soft cover $14.50) if you are interested in collecting it for your library. It's worth a visit to their website as they have quite a few books on various surnames as well as historical and books of genealogy interest. Apparently they print and bind to order, as it took about a month to get my copy, but it is printed on good quality acid-free paper and the hardcover is Class A archival quality.
Take care,
Gary Liddell