Kerr and Rochell/e.....this is the beginning of my mother's family tree. The Kerr's and Buckalew's have a history going back over 400 years ago...they either fought each other, or with each other against someone else, or married one another. Les Buckalew (Buckalew Family Page)shared with me the following excerpts from the book "The Steel Bonnets," George MacDonald Fraser; Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1972...(spelling not corrected because of old Anglo-Scottish quotes). Page:92, "A master of the large-scale foray technique was that old Walter Scott of Buccleuch who flourished in the first part of the sixteenth century, was an inveterate English-hater, spent several terms in confinement in Scotland for political and other reasons, and was eventually cut down by the Kerrs in the great Kerr-Scott feud. When he swept into the English Middle March in the winter of 1532 it was with 3000 lances, most of whom he held in reserve while smaller forays were detached at chosen targets. The main body thus served the double purpose of base camp, established on an English villiage, and ambush for any English trods which might pursue Buccleuch's smaller raiding parties."
"Officially the whole affair was patched up, but Cessford's death led to a long and bitter struggle; various attempts were made to resolve it, and in 1530 the widower Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch married Janet Kerr, daughter of Andrew Kerr of Ferniehurst, as a result of which the two leaders were temporarily reconciled. But under the surface the feud smouldered on, and twenty-six years after it had begun the Kerrs finally got their revenge. Scott of Buccleuch was walking on the High Street of Edinburgh on an autumn night of 1552 when he was waylaid by a band of Kerrs and others who cut him down on the spot. The murderers were outlawed, and the Kerrs suffered much from Scott retaliation, but thereafter the feud was mended by treaties.....and by further marriages between the two sides."
Bloodthirsty bunch...wouldn't you say?! It's a wonder that we ever made it this far!!
Right about here I need to put in the usual disclaimer: If I made or make a mistake in any of these pages.....hey!...didn't mean to...I promise!!
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