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The Makgill muniments were deposited on indefinite loan in the National Archives of Scotland in September 1951 by Sir Donald Makgill, 12th baronet (later 12th Viscount of Oxfuird), who added further material to the collection in 1970, 1980-1 and 1984. It consists mainly of title deeds of property in the parishes of Cupar, Leuchars and Kemback, Fife, with other legal documents relating to the families of Ramsay of Brackmont, Scheves of Kemback and Makgill of Kemback. A few papers relate to the Makgills of Rankeillor and the estate of Fingask, Perthshire, sold by Sir John Makgill, 10th baronet.
The earlist documents, dating from the 13th-14th centuries are concerned with the lands of Tarvit, near Cupar, which came into the hands of the Ramsays of Brackmont. John Ramsay of Brackmont (1384) held the lands of Lucklaw, parish of Leuchars, in 1392, and in 1399 his son and heir, William Ramsay, gave them to his future wife, Jonet Lowel. William died in 1438 and was succeeded by his son, David. This son, or perhaps a grandson, died late in 1492, leaving a widow, Katherine Kennedy. Alexander Ramsay, his son, died in 1513, and was succeeded by his son, William (died c 1548) and grandson, William (died 1570). William's son, John, died in 1590 leaving three sons. The heir, David Ramsay, married, in 1602, Jonet Bruce, daughter of William Bruce of Earlshall. In 1605 he entailed his lands to his brothers and other heirs male, excluding his daughter, Euphame, but thereafter a son was born, John Ramsay, fiar of Brackmont. The estate became increasingly encumbered with debts and having first sold Little Tarvit, John and David entered into a series of transactions whereby a kinsman, John Ramsay, acquired Lucklaw and Brackmont, at first under reversion, later outright. John Ramsay, writer in Edinburgh and agent for the Burghs, later advocate and keeper of the General Register of Hornings, died in 1672, leaving a daughter and heiress, Janet Ramsay, who married Arthur Makgill of Kemback.
A feu-charter of the lands of Kemback and Kinnaird was granted in 1490 by William Scheves, archbishop of St Andrews, to his nephew, John Scheves. John's son, William, predeceased him and the lands were inherited in 1537 by his grandson, John, who died about 1563. John's son, Patrick, died in July 1604 and was succeeded by his son, also called John. The latter died in 1651, having conveyed the lands to his son, John Scheves, younger, who himself died in 1655 leaving two sisters as co-heiresses. The elder, Helen Scheves, having acquired her sister's share, sold the lands to John Makgill in 1667. Payment of the purchase price was spread over three years, during which time elaborate arrangements were made for Helen's continued occupancy of the lands and part of Kemback House. For the Scheves family see 'Macfarlane's Genealogical Collections' (Scottish History Society 1900), ii, 199-204.
John Makgill, a younger son of James Magill of Rankeillor, was minister of Cupar from 1654 to 1662, when he was deprived and took up medicine, graduating at Angers in 1663. He bought Kemback in 1667 and died in 1673, his eldest surviving son, John, also dying before 1677. The younger son, Arthur Makgill (1652-1725), who inherited, had married in 1675 Janet Ramsay, heiress of Brackmont and Lucklaw. Their son John Makgill (1676-1762), acquired the Fingask estate in 1751 as heir to his cousin, James Makgill of Rankeillor. The estates were then inherited successively by his eldest and youngest sons, Arthur (1709-1777) and George (b.1723), who died in 1797, leaving a son, John (1790-1817), whose eldest daughter married Robert Haldane of Cloanden, father (by a second marriage) of the 1st Viscount Haldane. John's son, George (1812-1878) was succeeded by Sir John Makgill (1836-1906), who assumed title of baronet as heir male and representative of James, 1st Viscount of Oxfuird. He married in 1866 Robert Haldane's daughter, Margaret Isabella Haldane. They were the parents of Sir George Makgill (1896-1926), 11th baronet, the father of Sir Donald Makgill, 12th baronet. (See Burke's Peerage.) |