Genealogy Wylie » Mariota (Janet) Maxwell (± 1419-> 1472)

Personal data Mariota (Janet) Maxwell 

• She was born about 1419 in Calderwood, East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
• She died after June 25, 1472.Sources 1, 2
• A child of Robert Maxwell and Elizabeth Denniston
• This information was last updated on June 21, 2009.

Household of Mariota (Janet) Maxwell

She is married to Robert Boyd.

They got married about 1440.

Child(ren):

1. Thomas Boyd  ± 1441-± 1473 
2. Alexander Boyd  ± 1450-> 1508 
3. Elizabeth Boyd  ± 1454-< ???? 
4. Archibald Boyd  ????-< 1506 
5. Annabella Boyd  1454-< 1507 

Notes about Mariota (Janet) Maxwell

Marlot, daughter of Sir Robert Maxwell of Calderwood. [Magna ChartaSureties]

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He [Robert Boyd] married Mariot (or Janet) daughter of Sir RobertMAXWELL, of Calderwood. She died after 25 June 1472, apparently early in1473. He was living Easter 1480/1, and d. before October 1482, it issaid, at Alnwick, where he had fled in 1469. [Complete Peerage II:260,(transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

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Neither Burke's Peerage nor The Complet Peerage are sure whether thisperson is named Janet or Mariota. I have named her Mariota (Janet) toindicate the uncertainty. See below for an indication that there may havebeen two sisters, a Mariota and a Janet, that married differentpeople--or the Mariota/Janet that married Robert, 1st Lord Boyd came froma later generation of Maxwell as indicated by Burke's (see discussionbelow about inconsistancies in Burke's lineage) and the Mariota/Janet ofthis generation married William Porteous. I have portrayed two separatesisters in my ancestry, but welcome any further information on it.

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Burke's has a fairly major screw up with the ancestors of Mariota/Janet.In the Kilmarnock, Baron line which contains the Boyd lineage, themarriage of Robert, 1st Lord Boyd to Janet or Mariota Maxwell is given.Burke's states that Mariota/Janet's father is Robert Maxwell ofCalderwood described in the Farnham, Baronet line.

Under the Farnham line where the Maxwell of Calderwood lineage is given,one would expect to find a Robert Maxwell of Calderwood with a daughterMariota/Janet who married Robert, 1st Lord Boyd. Not only one, but twodifferent generations, one (Robert) the grandson of the other (John),supposedly had daughters that married the "1st Lord Boyd".

The "Robert" (grandson, who had an un-named daughter marrying 1st LordBoyd) died in 1531 while his supposed daughter Mariota/Janet died byearly 1473--58 years earlier?--not likely. The grandfather (John), whichnames his daughter Mariota/Janet marrying 1st Lord Boyd, is the son of amarriage of 4 Dec 1450 and is dead by 1490--again born to a marriage anddied way too late for Mariota/Janet and the wrong name (John-not Robert)!To compound matters, this "John" married Janet/Marion Boyd daughter ofThomas Boyd 5th Lord of Kilmarnock (who also happens to be father ofMariota/Janet's husband Robert, 1st Lord Boyd)-therefore havingMariota/Janet Maxwell marrying her mother's brother!

There is a Robert Maxwell of Calderwood, married 1402, grandfather of the"John" and great great grandfather of the "Robert", who seems to beperfect--but in a screwed-up lineage, who knows? I have designated thisRobert Maxwell of Calderwood as father of Mariota/Janet and discountedthe other Robert and John.

My impression is that all of the mistakes are in the Farnham line--not inthe Kilmarnock line.

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Sandy Hotson, originally through a post-em and subsequently throughe-mail, has information that a daughter of Robert de Maxwell married aWilliam Porteous and subsequently "Hawkshaw", one of the estates owned bythe Maxwell family, was passed on to the Porteous family. I did somesearching and found the following supporting information for that theoryat a web site: www.applegate.co.uk/fam_his/381-415.htm. The page isentitle "The Tweedie Archive, Tweedie/Tweedy Genealogy".

A History of Peeblesshire

J. W. Buchan and Rev. H. Paton. Published 1925-7.

HAWKSHAW, CARTERHOPE AND FINGLAND

These three hill farms lie north of Earlshaugh, and may be convenientlydealt with together, as, although they are now owned by differentproprietors, they were one holding in early times. The Fingland andHawkshaw burns flow direct into the Tweed opposite the lands ofGlenbreck, but the Carterhope burn flows into the Water of Fruid, whichjoins the Tweed below the Hawkshaw burn.

The property, a £15 land of old extent, was apparently royal demesneuntil the time of King Robert the Bruce, who granted it to Sir David deLindsay, Lord of Crawford, for his homage and service, and the servicesof two archers in the King's host. In this grant only the lands of'Hawkeschaws' are referred to, but it is clear that at that time andlater, Carterhope and Fingland were considered to be parts of Hawkshaw.Part of Hawkshaw was also known as Glengonvir or Glengonar...........

[there followed a discussion of the Lindsay and Crawford heritage, whichI skip]

Turning back to deal with the grant of the lands to Sir John Maxwell ofPollok, which was confirmed in 1372, there is record of an indenture madeat Dumbarton in the year 1400 between Sir John of Maxwell, Lord of NetherPollok, and his son Robert, on the one side, and Sir John of Maxwell, theson and heir of the Lord of Nether Pollok, on the other side, accordingto which it was agreed that Robert and his heirs should have the'Hawkschawland, Fynglen, and Carterhope in Twede muir' with certain landsin the sheriffdom of Lanark. Thereafter the lands continued to be held bya branch of the Maxwell family, and they were sub-feued to the family ofPorteous, but when this took place there is no record. The result wasthat a third superiority was created - the Crown being the over-superiorof the barony of Crawford Lindsay or Crawford Douglas, the successiveproprietors of that barony being the superiors of the Maxwells, and theMaxwells and their successors being the superiors of the family ofPorteous and their successors.

The chartularies of the barony do not go back beyond the beginning of theseventeenth century. In 1626 the holder of the third superiority wasEdward Maxwell, son of Sir James Maxwell of Caldercross, and it isreasonable to infer from that entry that the Maxwell family had been incontinuous possession since the grant confirmed in 1372. In 1635 SirJames Maxwell of Caldercross, Baronet, was the proprietor, and hetransferred his right of superiority to Sir William Murray of Stanhope,Baronet, from whom it passed in 1696 to his son, Sir David Murray, and in1738 to Sir David's son, Sir Alexander. In 1738 the owner of thissuperiority was James (Stewart), fifth Earl of Galloway, and his sonAlexander, the sixth Earl, conveyed it in 1763 to William Loch, a writerin Edinburgh.

Dealing now with the right of property, this was held by the family ofPorteous for almost three centuries. There was a 'tower' on the banks ofHawkshaw burn which is marked on Blaeu's map, and near it in ancienttimes was a chapel on the banks of Fruid Water, the remains of which werestill visible in the eighteenth century, 'standing in a cemetery whichwas not then altogether forsaken.'

There was a WILLIAM PORTEOUS of Hawkshaw in 1439. In 1467 THOMAS PORTEOUSof Hawkshaw is referred to. He took action against Walter Tweedie ofDrumelzier for some wrong which is not specified, and obtained ajudgement in 1478 on behalf of himself and the widow and children ofHerbert Porteous. On 27th October, 1479, the Lords of Council inEdinburgh ordained that:

'Jofra Litil and William Litill sall restore to Thomas Porteous ofHalkschawis 18 score of scheip with yowis, price of the pece, 4s.;spulzeit, takin and withholdin be the said Jofra and William out of thelandis of Halkschawis.'

[the article goes on to detail many other Porteous family members insubsequent centuries. The above information supports Sandy Hotson'ssupposition that Janet (or maybe Mariota) married William Porteous. Ihave indicated such a relationship in my ancestry.]

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Timeline Mariota (Janet) Maxwell

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