Alexander Keith, Settler in Colonial Maryland

ALEXANDER KEITH

Settler at Baltimore in Colonial Maryland

Fake Genealogy

At least twelve pedigrees published by MyHeritage claim that Alexander Keith, here treated, is the son of William, Lord Keith by a wife named Jean Falconer but this is wrong. MyHeritage William, Lord Keith is reported to have died in infancy, and his father William Keith, Earl Marischal is certainly known to have died without surviving male issue in March 1671, and to have been succeeded in the Earldom by his younger brother George. The Scots Peerage VI: 60

The Question of Identity

Most researchers seem to agree that Alexander Keith was born at Fetteresso, Kindcardineshire, Scotland, in 1681. The Keith clan was very powerful in that area and had large land holdings and titled positions, but it is not clear who Alexander's parents were. The primary seat of the Lord Marischal and the Laird Keiths was Dunnottar Castle, a huge castle fortress built on a peninsula jutting into the North Sea, near the town of Stone Haven, south of Aberdeen. Fetteresso is a tiny kirk village just outside Stone Haven and not far from the main castle. Fetteresso itself also has a smaller Keith castle, a 'tower castle'. The Dunnottar Castle today is a magnificent ruin, part of the National Trust park system. The Fetteresso Castle has been converted into an apartment house.

Alexander Keith left Scotland around 1707 and immigrated to Maryland. The reasons for this are not clear. There was serious unrest in Scotland about that time because of the Act of Union of 1707 which disturbed the Scots traditional independence. English merchants had seized on the act to invade Scots markets, causing resentment. This led to the Jacobite [Jacob=James] Rising of 1708 seeking the restoration of the Stuart line of Kings and the independence of Scotland from the British crown. The Keith clan was solidly in support of the Jacobite Rising. [It failed, incidentally.] Whether this affected Alexander Keith's decision to leave cannot be known, but it must certainly have had some influence. In any case, he arrived in Baltimore and married Christianne Farfar shortly thereafter (in 1708). Her father William Farfar came from the same general area of Scotland and had arrived in Baltimore by at least 1692. William Farfar had prospered in Maryland and gave the new couple a 65-acre Baltimore estate called 'Shrowsbury' as a wedding gift.

Unfortunately the Fetteresso village records from early days have been lost. In the 1660s the Presbyterian Church became the official state church of Scotland. All Catholic parish records were destroyed, the Fetteresso records among them.

Fake Genealogy

MyHeritage

GEDCOM Note

[EDGE.GED]

Keith ancestry postulated by Larry Keith, Bx 271423 HTX 77277

ALEXANDER KEITH

Alexander Keith, here treated, is the son of William Keith, Indweller in Edinburgh and his wife Jean Falconer

KEITH
ALEXANDER
WILLIAM KEITH/JEAN FALLCONER FR2707 (FR2707)
M
28/05/1682
685/1
90 140
Edinburgh