History of the Johnstones, 1191-1909, with ... - Electric Scotland

io THE JOHNESTOUNS' SERVICES TO THE CROWN
was married to Janet (widow of William, Lord Seton), a daughter of the rebel
Earl, George, of March and Dunbar, and his eldest son's wife was the daughter of
Lord Maxwell. As the next brother was named Gilbert, but had not yet married
Agnes of Elphinstone, he is possibly the Gilbert de Johnestoun de Gretna who
signed the retour of the young Lord Maxwell in 1453. He was knighted for
his services against the English, and was a guarantor of the peace signed with
England in 1483. When Sheriff of Edinburgh the next year, he deputed his
nephew, Adam of Johnstoun, to summon Sir James Liddel to surrender on a
charge of " ganging awa' into England with the Duke of Albany." His elder
brother, John, was the Chief who, like himself, fought at Arkinholme in 1483.
The citation is witnessed by Robert of Johnstoun and William Johnstoun,
besides John of Carruthers, Sir John of Murray (the chaplain), and others.
Sir Gilbert of Elphinstone was Sheriff-Depute of Dumfries in 1472, when
he received a gift of the lands of Drumgrey (Rahills, etc.) from the Crown.
They were granted "for faithful service" in 1408 to his relative, William of
Johnstoun, 1 but were now claimed by Robert Charteris of Amisfield (ancestor
to Earl Wemyss). Charteris was ordered to show his writs of the time of
Robert III. and James I., for which the Clerk of Registers in Edinburgh was
also to search, and Sir Gilbert was summoned to appear there on his own
behalf. Gilbert was sued in 1491 for non-payment for " certain merchandize
from Ellen Halyburton, as was proved by the said Ellen's compt book." She
gained her case, but agreed to delay the execution of letters of distress till
Whit Sunday,—a judgment very creditable for that time. The debt was not
paid till after Gilbert's death, when his son, Adam, was sued for it.
The rebellion of 1484 was hardly crushed when the new one broke out
in Dumfriesshire under Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, in which James III.
lost his life (1488). Maxwell was nominally on the side of the King, but con-
trived to gain the favour of his opponents, and was appointed with the rebel
Angus to rule Dumfriesshire during the minority of the young James IV.
Adam of Johnstoun, nephew to Sir Gilbert, was on the side of the King.
He was cousin to Maxwell, and married to Marion Scott of Buccleuch. A precept
of sasine from the Earl of Bothwell in 1493 to our lovit Adam of Johnstoun
of that Ilk and others charges them to infeft Walter Scott of Buccleuch in the
lands of Roberthill, one of the earliest possessions of this family in Annandale.
In 1504 James IV. held an assize at Dumfries, when Adam of Johnstoun
and his son, James, were pledges for each other, and both for several of the
Murrays. James Johnstoun was returned heir to his father in 1 513 in the
Barony of Johnstoun, the advowson of its church, the mill and lands of Duns-
kellie or Cove, Cavertholme, and Brotis, within the parish of St. Patrick (Kirkpatrick
Fleming, and Graitney) and Wamfray, all " sequestered at the King's
instance for certain fines of Justice Courts, which now his Majesty freely
discharges and dispones the land to him again."
This meant that no rents had been received by the Laird or his family for
some years, and was perhaps connected with Adam of Johnstoun's attack on
1 In William's Charter they are described as in the Barony of Amisfield.