Early in 2024, Wade King an occasional contributor to The Scottish Banner, published his family history, History of the King Family of Scotland, the West Indies and Australia. The book is of 550 pages. It records 42 generations of the King family over 1300 years. All those generations have written evidence to support them, from 778 A.D. which was about the time of the beginning of written history in Scotland. Before that history was recorded orally and memorised by those that undertook that responsibility. As a scientist (a specialist physician), Wade chose to rely only on written evidence, even though the family obviously had earlier ancestors going back into the mists of time well before the 8th century A.D.
The work is considered likely to be the longest family history ever written. At least, it was described as such by Iain Ferguson, recent Director of the National Archives of Scotland, who helped Wade with his research. With his thorough knowledge of the records, Iain was an invaluable helper.
Wade had a “leg-up” in the form of his surname. The surname King was given in the 11th century A.D. to denote membership of the King’s family. The King to whom it referred was Duncan I, King of Scots 1034 to 1040 A.D. King Duncan had a daughter Princess Bethóc (in the Gaelic) who was Wade’s ancestor. The genealogy of King Duncan I was, of course, recorded , so Wade was able to trace his ancestry back to King Kenneth MacAlpine, the first High King of both the Picts and the Scots, who ruled 843 to 858 A.D. and before him to his father Alpin, lived 778 to 843 A.D. (whom Wade designated generation).
A long family history
Wade had another “leg-up” in the form of a family tree stored in the Manuscripts and Archives Section of the University of Aberdeen library. This document showed the generations of the family in Scotland from Princess Bethóc down to the 18th century A.D. From then on it was easy to trace the generations using the website ScotlandsPeople. The family tree showed 14 generations of the family who were lairds of the Barra Estate in the Garioch district of Aberdeenshire and until 1596 lived in Barra Castle (which is still standing and used as a family home). It showed the generations after that who lived in the Ellon district of Aberdeenshire until 1652, when they were forced away from their estates in Ellon by Cromwell, who ravaged Aberdeenshire looking for royalists, Episcopalians and Tories who had supported King Charles I in the British Civil Wars.
The King family moved to Renfrewshire, a Whig area where Cromwell would be unlikely to look for Tories. They settled in Port Glasgow on the River Clyde and developed a shipping company there. The family tree shows Robert King (of generation 33) who led the Atholl Brigade in the last great Highland Charge at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Robert is the subject of a previous article in the Scottish Banner (Loch Lomond- A story of Culloden, February, 2022).
The tree also shows John King (of generation 36), born in Port Glasgow in 1776. He moved to the West Indies in 1803 to open a branch of the family’s shipping and trading company, based in Port Glasgow on the Clyde. Specifically, John went to the island of St. Thomas in the (then) Danish West Indies and settled in its chief town Charlotte Amalie. St. Thomas is now part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. John’s son Dr. William King lived on the neighbouring island of Tortola, the main island of the British Virgin Islands. In turn, Dr. William’s son James King (of generation 38) travelled from Tortola in the 1880s and settled in Sydney, Australia. The family has lived in Australia for the four generations who followed that James. Wade is of generation 40 and his grandson James (James King the twelfth of his line) is of generation 42.
Of course, having a long family history does nothing special for the individual. Everyone alive has 42 generations of ancestors. The difference is that Wade and his many King cousins know who those ancestors were, where they lived and what they did during their lives. The published family history gives Wade and his cousins a sense of connection with his King forebears and the ability to visit the places in which they lived.
Have you been looking into your family history? How far back can you go? Share your story with us by email, post or at: www.scottishbanner.com/contact-us
Main photo: Robert King leading the Atholl Brigade in the Charge on Culloden Moor, 16th April, 1746. Detail from the historically accurate painting by G.W. Baxter.
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