EARLY
MONTEITH'S

  --- Monteith Family Web Site ---

[ Our Name | Stewart Line | Graham Line  | Homepage ]

OUR NAME

from the book

A History of the Monteiths

by J. Ernest Monteith

The name Monteith was not always spelled as we spell it today.  In the early entries in the Cappagh church registry, which goes back to 1756, the name was usually spelled Menteith and once I found Monteath.  R.B. Cunningham Graham in his little book Notes On the District of Menteith mentions that "there was a noble freedom about ancient spelling."  According to him, the earliest spelling of the name was Meneted.  The spelling Menteith was found as early as 1234.

William Anderson in his book The Scottish Nation, printed in 1863 declared that the name Menteith was derived from the geographic area in Scotland of the same name.  It is composed, he said, of two words "mene," a valley and the river "Teith."  Graham, to whom I've already referred, apparently did not accept this explanation, for in 1895 he wrote, "No reliable derivation of the word has been presented to me."

For centuries, the name Menteith was used as a title.  The early Earls of Menteith were Stewarts (or at least married to a Stewart) and the later ones were Grahams.  The first to adopt the surname Menteith was Sir John Menteith of Rusky, brother of Alexander, Earl of Menteith and the second son of Lady Mary Menteith and Walter Stuart.  P. Dun, in his book A summer at the Lake of Menteith, asserts that all who bear the surname Monteith, however spelt, are descendants of this Sir John.

An examination of the family trees of the two families, which in turn held the title Earl of Menteith will lend support to this statement.  None of the Grahams ever adopted the surname, and even if they did, most of them died childless or without male heirs.

The only member of the Stuarts to adopt the name Menteith was Sir John Menteith and he had three sons who used it.  If they had male heirs, then it is possible that Sir John may be the progenitor to all who bear the name Monteith.  But this I have not been able to establish.

If this Sir John is really our ancestor, he is not a person of whom we can be very proud.  He is credited with the betrayal to the English in 1305 of Scotland's most popular hero, William Wallace.  As a result of this treacherous act, Wallace was taken to London where he was tried, found guilty of treason and cruelly put to death.

It seems that a loaf of bread was turned with its bottom side or flat side uppermost as a signal that all was in readiness for the capture of Wallace.  Because Sir John was an important figure in the plot, if not the actual betrayer as Lord Hailes asserts, Sir Walter Scott in his book Tales of a Grandfather asserts, "In after times it was considered ill breeding to turn a loaf when a Menteith should be in the company."

Personally, I like the theory that all bearing the name Monteith are descendants of Sir John because it is an easy answer to the question, "Where did we all come from?"  However, I wouldn't be surprised if some day we discover that we are just descendants of the serfs who lived on the estates of the Earls of Menteith, men who adopted as a surname, the name of their overlord.

THE EARLS OF MENTEITH
THE STEWART LINE

1. Gilchrist - 2nd Earl of Menteith
   1. Maurice - 3rd Earl of Menteith
      1. Lady Isobel
         a) Walter Comyn - 4th Earl of Menteith (by right of his wife who later poisoned him to death)
         b) Sir John Russell
         c) Sir William Comyn
         d) Sir Edward Hastings
      2. Lady Mary
         Walter Stuart, - 5th Earl of Menteith (by right of his wife. Captured at Dunbar and executed in 1296.)
         1. Alexander - 6th Earl of Menteith
            Matilda
            Also captured at Battle of Dunbar. Imprisoned for a time in Tower of London. In 1306, captured at the Battle of Methven. Died in captivity
            1. Alan - 7th Earl of Menteith (Captured by the English 1306. Died before 1330)
               ( ? )
               1. Lady Mary
                  Sir John Graham - 9th Earl of Menteith
                  1. Lady Margaret Graham (1334 - 1380) - Countess of Menteith
                     a) Sir John Moray - Lord of Bothwell
                     b) Thomas, 10th Earl of Mar
                     c) Sir John Drummond of Stobhall
                     d) Robert Stuart, Duke of Albany - 10th Earl of Menteith
                     (3rd son of Robert II)
                     1. Sir Mordac Stuart - 11th Earl of Menteith
                        Isobel, Daughter of Earl of Lennox
                        1. Sir Walter Stuart
                        2. Sir Alexander Stuart
                           (The Earldom then reverted to the Crown in 1425)
            2. Mordac - 8th Earl of Menteith
               Allice
               (Held title only until the marriage of his niece. Taken prisoner in 1332 and slain in 1334)
         2. Sir John Menteith of Rusky, (Betrayer of Wallace)
            1. Sir Walter Menteith
            2. Sir John Menteith of Arran
            3. Sir Alexander Menteith

THE EARLS OF MENTEITH
THE GRAHAM LINE

1. Malise Graham ( ) - created the 1st Earl in 1427 
   Lady Ann Vere ( ? - 1490) - daughter of the Earl of Oxford

   1. Alexander ( ? - 1471) - took his father's place as hostage. Died in captivity
      Matilda - daughter of Thomas  Lord Erskine

      1. Alexander - 2nd Earl of Menteith
         Margaret - daughter of Walter Buchanan

         1. William - 3rd Earl of Menteith ( ? - 1537) died in battle
            Margaret - daughter of Sir John Mowbray

            1. John  ? - 1547) - 4th Earl of Menteith - killed in duel
               married daughter of Lord Seton

               1. William - 5th Earl of Menteith
                  married eldest daughter of Sir James Douglas

                  1. John ( - 1598)- 6th Earl of Menteith - succeeded to title in 1537
                     Mary ( ) - daughter of Sir John Campbell

                     1. William - 7th Earl of Menteith (Became Earl in 1610. Boasted he had the reddest blood in the Kingdom. Created the Earl of Airth in 1633 with precedence over Menteith)
                        married daughter of Lord Gray

                        1. John, Lord Kilpont (? - 1644) murdered
                           Lady Mary Keith

                           1. William ( - Sep 12, 1694) - 2nd Earl of Airth and Menteith
                              no male heirs

                        2. Charles (no issue)

                        3. James (no issue)

                        4. Archibald
                           Janet Johnston
                           1 son but male line extinct

                        5. Lady Mary

                        6. Lady Margaret

                        7. Lady Anne

                     2. Sir James Graham
                        Lady Margaret Erskine
                        no male heirs

               2. George Graham

                  1. James Graham

                     1. Marion
                        John Graham of Duchray

               3. Lady Mary
                  Laird of Buchanan

               4. Lady Christian
                  Sir William Livingstone of Kilsyth

            2. Robert
               no issue

            3. Gilbert
               no issue

            4. Lady Margaret
               Duke of Argyll

         2. Walter Graham - ancestor of Grahams of Gartur

         3. a daughter (name unknown)

   2. Sir John Graham of Kilbride

   3. Walter Graham

[ Our Name | Stewart Line | Graham Line  | Homepage ]

© copyright 1997- 2003
Editor: M. L. Monteith
Send mail to monteim@sentex.net with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: January 02, 2003