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- [angeline robertson1.FBK.FTW]
Napier
The Napiers have a long and ancient history and are descended, through the Earls of Lennox, from the Celtic royal familes of Scotland and Ireland. One suggested derivation of the name is from the officer of the royal household who was in charge of linen, the 'naperer.' The earliest certain reference to the name appears in a charter of Malcolm, Earl of Lennox, sometime prior to 1290, which granted lands at Kilmahew in Dunbartonshire to John de Napier. The Napiers were to hold lands at Kilmahew for 18 generations, until the estate was sold in 1820.
The 1st Laird of Merchiston, Alexander Napier, was a prominent Edinburgh merhant who amassed a fortune and became Lord Provost of the city. His son, Sir Alexander Napier, rose high in royal favour. He was wounded while rescuing the widow of James I and her second husband, Sir James Stewart, from the rebels. James II honored Napier by making him Comptroller of the Royal Household in 1440, and Vice Admiral of Scotland in 1461. His son, John, the son-in-law of the Earl of Lennox who was executed in 1444, did not press his family's claim to the earldom. He was killed at the Battle of Sauchieburn in 1488. His heir, Alexander, and his grandson were both killed at Flodden in 1513.
The most famous of the name is the 7th Larid of Merchiston, John Napier, who developed the system of logarithms. His son, Archibald, who succeeded to Merchiston in 1617, accompanied James VI when he traveled to England to claim his throne, and was sworn a memeber of the Privy Council in 1615. He became a judge and was Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland from 1623 to 1624. He was first created a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1627, and later in that year raised to the peerage as Baron Napier of Merchiston. A brother-in-law of Montrose, he naturally supported Charles I throughout the civil war. He died in 1645 and his only son, Archibald, 2nd Baron Napier, was forced into exile when Scotland became part of the Commonwealth. He died in the Netherlands in 1660.
Three grandsons of the 6th Lord Napier served throughout the Napoleonic Wars, each attaining the rank of general and the Order of the Bath. Francis, the 8th Lord, was an ensign when he was captured during the American War of Independence. He survived the ordeal, and later sat in Parliament as a representative Scottish peer, from 1796 to 1823. Francis, the 10th Lord Napier, was a friend of Jefferson Davis, later to be the only president of the Confederate Sates of America. He was ambassador to the Netherlands, Russia, and Prussia and served as acting Viceroy of India in 1872. A Knight of the Thistle, he was created Baron Ettrick of Ettrick in the peerage of the United Kingdom in July 1872.
Crest: A dexter arm erect couped below the elbow Proper, grasping a cresent Argent.
Motto: San tache (without stain) Tartan: Blue and white plaid with highlights of black.
Troy married Grace Bryant on November 9, 1922 in Breathitt County, (Athol) Kentucky. James Johnson was the minister. Mitchell Bryant and Hillward Hensley were witnesses.
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