William Reid of Castlehill

WILLIAM REID OF CASTLEHILL (floruit 1695-1763)

William Reid of Castlehill is the third son son of John Reid of Wester Kittochside(floruit 1664-1707). The baptism of William Reid, the son of John Reid in Kittochside, was registered at the Kirk of Kilbride, now East Kilbride Old Parish Church, on the fifteenth of December 1695. The name of his mother is not given. [Register of Baptisms for East Kilbride, 1688-1749, Registrar General for Scotland, New Register House, reference OPR.643/1]

The Castlehill Quarter of Wester Kittochside

On the twenty-third of December 1724 William's uncle, James Reid, gave him that sixteen shilling eight penny land, part of the ten merk land of old extent of Wester Kittochside, which he had purchased from Bessie Couper in 1676. He did not register the deed until after his uncle James had died but, thereafter, on the second of June 1729, William took possession.The instrument of sasine which followed from his infeftment was registered at Hamilton on the third of June 1729 [Particular Register of Sasines for the Sheriffdom of Lanark, National Archives of Scotland, reference RS42/13/part 22/folio 617r].The land which William inherited from his uncle James was known as the Castlehill Quarter and, thereafter, William Reid is occassionally noticed as William Reid of Castlehill [For proof see Register of Baptisms for East Kilbride, 1754-1820, Registrar General for Scotland, New Register House, Edinburgh, reference OPR.643/2, where the baptism of John Reid, son to William Reid and Margaret Steven of Castlehill, was registered on 20 August 1751]. On the same day as he was infeft in the land which had been given to him by his uncle James, William Reid took possession of the land which lay adjacent to his own, a twenty-five shilling land, also part of the ten merk land of old extent of Wester Kittochside. He purchased this land from James Young. [Particular Register of Sasines for the Sheriffdom of Lanark, National Archives of Scotland, reference RS42/13.Part 2/folio 617v]

His brother Robert Reid

William Reid of Castlehill was present when, on 26 June 1731, his brother Robert took formal possession of a house he had newly built in Kittochside.Thomas Taylor, portioner of Wester Kittochside, had sold Robert a small plot of land on which to build. [National Archives of Scotland, HM General Register House, Edinburgh, Particular Register of Sasines for the Sheriffdom of Lanark, reference RS42/14 (part 1)/87v]

His Death

William Reid of Castlehill appears still to have been alive on the fifteenth of February 1763 when the baptism of his youngest child Elizabeth was registered at the Kirk of Kilbride. [Register of Baptisms for East Kilbride, 1754-1820, Registrar General for Scotland, New Register House, Edinburgh, reference OPr.643/2] but he died before the twenty-first of February 1774. This is the date upon which the feudal superior issued a charter of confirmation, otherwise known as a precept of clare constat, in favour of: "John Reid port of Wester Kittochside son of the deceast William Reid port of Wester Kittochside." This precept acknowledged that the deceased William Reid had died last vest and seised as of fee, and at the peace and faith of the sovereign, in possession of a sixteen shilling eight penny land of old extent, as also a twenty-five shilling land of old extent, both parts of the ten merk land of Wester Kittochside, and that John Reid, the bearer of the precept, is the eldest son of the deceased William Reid and so is nearest lawful heir to his deceased father. [Particular Register of Sasines for the Sheriffdom of Lanark, National Archives of Scotland, reference RS42/20/ff.279v-280r]

A Misidentification Corrected

The Reid family historian believed that William Reid of Castlehill (floruit 1695-1763), here mentioned, was the grandfather of John Reid of Castlehill, rather than his father, another William Reid intervening between the two, but he was mistaken. [Herbert Reid, M.C., M.A. The Reids of Kittochside (Printed for private circulation, Aird & Coghill, Glasgow, 1943, page 33 and Table I]

Marriage

William Reid married three times. His first wife was Margaret Syme. She was infeft in a restricted liferent annuity which was secured on her husband's lands on the twenty-second of January 1736. [Particular Register of Sasines for the Sheriffdom of Lanark, National Archives of Scotland, reference RS42/14/Part 2/ folio 313]. His second wife was Issobell Craufurd. She was similarly infeft on the nineteenth of May 1741. [Ibidem, RS42/14/Part 2/ff.490r-490v]. He married for a third time to Margaret Stephen and she was infeft in her restricted liferent annuity on the twelfth of June 1745. [Ibidem, RS42/15/ff.17-r-17v]

Comments by Michael Reid Delahunt

Herbert Reid in his "Reids of Kittochside (Part I, 1943, p. 10; Part II, 1945, p. 20) wrote that this William Reid was "Portioner of Wester Kittochside." Julie Manierre Mann, in her copy of The Reids of Kittochside (Part I)" (1943, p. 11) annotated Herbert Reid's mention of this William Reid with the note that he "bought Castehill," and that his uncle James, who never married, and died in 1729, "rescued the [Covenanters'] flag, and willed it to [this William.] Castlehill is the family house (photographed here as it looked in 1980) located in the portion of Kittochside referred to as Wester Kittochside. Michael adds: Herbert Reid in his "Reids of Kittochside (Part I, 1943, p. 10; Part II, 1945, p. 20) wrote that this William Reid was "of Castlehill." Castlehill is the family house (photographed here as it looked in 1980) located in the portion of Kittochside referred to as Wester Kittochside.