Another branch of the house of Balfour possesses the lands of Balbirnie in the parish of Markinch, Fifeshire. During the reign of Malcolm the Fourth, the lands of Balbirnie belonged to Orm the son of Hugh, abbot of Abernethy, the ancestor of the family of Abernethy. (See ABERNETHY, surname of, ante, p. 14.) He exchanged them with Duncan earl of Fife, the charter being conferred by William the Lion. Sibbald says that anciently these lands belonged to a family who took their name from them, and were designed Balbirnie of that ilk. About the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth century, the lands of Balbirnie were purchased from the Balbirnies, who held them under the earls of Fife, by George Balfour, son of Martin Balfour of Dovan and Lalethan, the ancestor of the present proprietor. This Martin Balfour was, in 1596, served heir to his grandfather David Balfour, in the lands of Dovan and Lalethan. He was descended from Peter Balfour, a younger son of Balfour of Balfour, who, having married a daughter of Thomas Sibbald of Balgonie, obtained from his father-in-law a charter of the lands of Dovan in the reign of Robert the Third. The present proprietor of Bulbirnie seems
, therefore, to divide with Balfour of Fernie, the representation of the ancient family of Balfour of Balfour.
Source: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/balfour.htm
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