I'm a Cranstoun and this Cranstoun family web site concerns itself with with my family and all its members and was started as a result of the passing of my mother on December 12, 2011.
I had all the Cranstoun family pictures and was going through them and wondered who I was and where I came from so I asked my father, about his family. He really did not know much about the Cranstoun family as he said, "We didn't talk about that when I was little."
I remembered some of his stories from when I was a young lad and so I asked him questions which seemed to jog his memory. "Daddy used to go to school riding on a donkey cart", "My mother used to always complain that his brother was spending his inheritance", "I never met my father until I was four years old", "There was something about a Lord Cranstoun but I never understood", "I asked my grandma if she'd ever seen a picture of my other grandma and she told me she had seen a picture but the face had been cut out of the picture", this was something very curious and disturbing to me as I proceeded on my journey.
I had bits of information to build upon, I knew my grandfather had a brother, his family appeared to have some money, I searched the internet for the Cranstoun family and found all the Scottish Lords, so my father assumed we came from there. What I was to discover in my quest was amazing and shocking and involves many families as you will see. I was able to document the Cranstoun family from Antigua and St. Kitts back to Scotland, however to protect the living, we will concern ourselves with deceased members of the Cranstoun family.
History of the Island of Antigua Volume 1
History of the Island of Antigua Volume 2
Having searched the internet I came
across a paper on the sugar industry in the Caribbean by Dr. Susan Lowes
PhD, who would later bcome my mentor in my quest.
I read her paper and low and behold my family history was staring me right
in the face! My family was part of the sugar industry history in the Caribbean.
My grandfather had five sisters Irene Evelina "Irenie" Cranstoun,
Edith Eliza "Maud" Cranstoun, Alice Anne Louise Cranstoun, Mary
Olive "Maisie" Cranstoun, and Florence Ethel "Florrie"
Cranstoun. His brother was Arthur Herbert "Artie" Cranstoun
and his father's name was Langford Selly Cranstoun and he married Evelina
"Effie" Gibbons Harper and each has their own story which I
wrote about in my book "In My Father's House Are Many Mansions".
The family of Langford Selly Cranstoun of Antigua. This family picture was given to me by Edward "Ted" Mercer, my father's cousin, son of Alice Anne Louise Cranstoun Mercer on my visit to his home in Toronto. When he found out I was the grandson of Langford Duer, his mother's brother, he got up and returned with the original picture and said, "This should belong to you." I had it blown up and mounted and it now is one of my prized possessions.
Family of my grandmother Dawson family from left to right Charles Percival Dawson, Grace Penelope Dawson, Fannie Dawson, Ada Mary Dawson, my grandmother. Frederick Whin Dawson, Annie Elizabeth Huggins Dawson. The two families lived two entirely different and distinct lives.
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I decided to go to the Springfield Cemetery to find family graves for myself. I already was in possession of pictures from Colin Mallalieu, a relative of “Ted” Mercer. They were pictures of the Malone family graves but after doing all this research and coming this far, I wanted to see the graves for myself.
Family of Langford Duer Cranstoun from left to right his brother-in-law Alexander Needham, sister-in-law Grace Needham, (Baby) Pearl Ruth Cranstoun, Ada Cranstoun, Annie Elizabeth "Barr" Dawson, Duer Selly Cranstoun, Langford Duer Cranstoun holding daughter Vivian Cranstoun.
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Cranstoun Clan history, in my opinion, becomes very questionable and muddled with the death of James 8th Lord Cranstoun. All titles in British history have been passed down to the eldest son in order to keep the bloodline intact. Not the case for our family!?!?