James 6th Lord Cranstoun married Sophia Browne. Her father Jeremiah Browne of Abscourt in Surrey was a very successful West Indian Trader and a successful and powerful business man in England.
(Is it really just a coincidence that my Cranstoun line comes from the West Indies?)
Jeremiah Browne was powerful enough to demand James 6th Lord Cranstoun sell some of his castles to pay off his fathers' (William 5th Lord Cranstoun of Crailing) debt before he married his daughter. James 6th Lord Cranstoun complied with Jeremiah’s request by order of parliament, and married Sophia Browne in 1749 (there is an act in British records to verify this).
In 1754 Jeremiah Browne Speaker of the Island of Nevis (former Chief Justice of the Island of St. Kitts) died and James 6th Lord Cranstoun and his wife inherited lands from her father. When Jeremiah Browne died he left his estate (Browne's) to his son James who sold it to James Dobie whom he went to Inner Temple with, however Sophia and James also inherited property from Jeremiah Browne, on top of the property "The Retreat" or "Cranstoun Estate" on St. Kitts, James inherited.
In 1770 a deed between the Right Hon. James, 6th Lord Cranstoun of Edinburgh and Sophia Browne his wife, and the Hon. William Cranstoun, their eldest son, John Bannister, William Manning and others, relates to a large plantation, negros and other slaves, mills, still, copper, mules, horses, cattle, etc., in the island of St. Christopher in America; two large skins, with signatures and seals the 6th Lord Cranstoun, Lady Cranstoun and William Cranstoun (7th Lord) dated 1770. (Oliver’s Caribbeana Volume 2 page 23), This transaction is in all likelihood the purchase of Cranstoun Estate in St. Kitts, known as Cranstoun House or The Retreat.
Sophia Browne's sister Elizabeth married Anthony Hodges President of the Island of Montserrat in 1720, son of Anthony Hodges Deputy Govenor of the Island of Montserrat another powerful and rich family in the West Indies.
Jerimiah Browne's brother James Browne 1710-1778 married Anna Nisbet daughter of Colonel Walter Nisbet and we can trace this line back to George Nisbet of that Ilk 1527-1600 who married Elizabeth Cranstoun of Thirlestane Mains daughter of Cuthbert Cranstoun of Thirlestane Mains 1506-1592. This line can also be traced to Frances Herbert "Lady Nelson" Woolward wife of Lord Horatio Nelson 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté.
William Manning (son of William Manning above and future Director of Bank Of England) and his firm (Manning & Vaughan) had dealings with Martin Byam and his wife Elizabeth in 1793 with his partner Benjamin Vaughan (his brother-in-law who did not like the trading business and left and went to America and became best friend to Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson also visited William Manning in England).
So William Manning (one that dealt with the Lord) had a son William Manning born December 1, 1763 and died April 17, 1835 who was a British politician in the government of William Pitt and the head of the Bank of England who turned down a baroncey, was the Deputy Govenor of Australia and head of the firm Manning Anderdon West Indian Traders. He had a son named Henry Edward Manning who became a Cardinal in the Catholic Church.
So now we need to learn from the History of the Island of Antigua and learn about the sugar plantations to piece this all together. In the History of the Island of Antigua Volume 3 there is a list of all the plantations and their owners. So I found a plantation called Seaforth’s owned by a man named Justin Casamajor, guess who the manager of this estate was...my 3 times great grandfather, David Cranstoun. Justin Casamajor had a daughter named Mary Hannah and she was the second wife of John Proctor Anderdon (who will later become a partner with William Manning) who had been previously married to Anne Oliver who was the daughter of Thomas Oliver (Govenor of Massachusetts) first son of Robert Oliver of Antigua, related to Vere Langford Oliver who wrote the History of the Island of Antigua.
When Justin Cassamajor died his daughter, Mary Hannah, inherited Seaforth’s from her father and John Proctor Anderdon and his partner William Manning acquired the property.
John Proctor Anderdon and Anne Oliver had a son named John Lavicount Anderdon who married the daughter of William Manning.
John Proctor Anderdon and Mary Hannah Casamajor had a son named William Manning Anderdon. I’m trying to show how the children of people of the early 1800’s named their children.
The David Cranstoun Dilemma
David Cranstoun was a "man of colour" which means he was the son of a white father and a Mulatto mother.
David Cranstoun was a prominent member of early Antigua society who owned plantations, was a manager of some of the largest plantations on the island and the final straw was he handled the bankruptcy of Manning Anderdon for the plantation of "Little Duer's" of Antigua in 1831, he must have been pretty good as Manning Anderdon still owned it in 1852.
The names Browne, Manning, Anderdon, Byam and Bannister all lead to...David Cranstoun!
This ties fathers and sons together, so let's look at this.
David Cranstoun named his children John Duer Cranstoun, David Anderdon Cranstoun and James Edmund Cranstoun. His partner in the bankruptcy of Manning Anderdon was John Freeman and one of John Proctor Anderdon's children from his first wife was named Freeman Anderdon. Freeman's was an estate owned by the Freeman family but later owned by the Olivers, John Proctor Anderdon married into that family with his first wife Anne.
So the question arises as to how does a "man of colour" associate with all the upper class members of society and become an upstanding member of that society, own plantations and property in the city of St. John's, Antigua and yet have no records appear anywhere?
All these other families can be traced, and they all name their children after their parents, wife's parents or close friends and the only way to trace David is through the slave and plantation records and a few letters he wrote in "1840-1845, comprised of three letters to Robert Sutton and Lydia Sutton, East Bilney, near East Dereham, Norfolk", and only a few mentions in the History of the Island of Antigua and a few other publications. David's wife was Elizabeth Symes, another powerful and rich Antiguan family.
So to sum up we have David Cranstoun a "man of colour" who no one can trace, who can be tied in some way to:
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William Manning - MP in the government of William Pitt, Govenor of the Bank Of England, his son was Cardinal Manning.
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Jeremiah Browne - Chief Justice of the Island of St. Kitts, who was powerful enough to force James 6th Lord Cranstoun to clean up his debts before marrying his daughter Sophia Browne.
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John Richardson Herbert, President of Nevis and uncle to to Frances Herbert Nisbet Woolward who married Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson. We can trace the Nisbet line back to Cuthbert Cranstoun 1506-1592 who's daughter Elizabeth Cranstoun of Thirlestane Mains married George Nisbet of that Ilk in 1557.
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American Consul Mr Higginbothom spent a day with David Cranstoun touring his plantation and eventually rented property from David Cranstoun - Buckleys.
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John Duer, John Casamajor, Freeman, Oliver, Hodges, Anderdon's all rich and powerful people.
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David Cranstoun was manager of Seaforth's plantation.
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David Cranstoun owned Buckley's Estate.
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David Cranstoun owned Blizard Estate.
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David Cranstoun owned property in St. John's, Antigua.
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David Cranstoun owned property at Body Ponds.
How Can This Be Possible?
Unless, James 8th Lord Cranstoun, who was royalty, not married until 1792, a well liked person and due to his station in life, could not allow illegitiment children to be known, was the father of James Cranstoun the father of David Cranstoun. He could not have his illegitimate son at his estate on St. Kitts, his brothers were living and being married there. He moved his son James to Antigua. What other reason would James 8th Lord Cranstoun have for being on Antigua where he was picked up by Admiral Hood, an historical fact, there's no other explanation for him to be there, away from other family members, i.e. his brother Charles who's son was James Edmund Cranstoun 9th Lord (notice any similarity to David Cranstoun's son James Edmund) who was born at Cranstoun House in St. Kitts.
So we can trace ties to David Cranstoun through his grandfather James 6th Lord Cranstoun and place James 8th Lord Cranstoun physically on the Island of Antigua, plus we have Church Registry records showing he fathered a son James!
James 6th Lord Cranstoun
Died: 8 July, 1773, Portman Square, St. Marylebone, Middlesex, England
Buried: 14 July, 1773, Westminster Abbey, Westminster, Middlesex, England
Kinship: Son and heir - succeeded father 1727.
Office: Grand Master of Freemasons, 1745-1747.
Titles: Succeeded father, about 1727, as Lord Cranstoun, title created 1609.
Residence: Of Portman Square {Portman Square, St. Marylebone, Middlesex, England}, 1773.
Property: Obtained an act on 1756 for the sale of estates in Northumberland (settled on his marriage) for the disencumbering his Scottish estates.
Finances: By wife had £12,000 (besides a larger fortune afterwards), an estate in the West Indies, etc.
Probate: Will dated 23 Mar 1773; will proved 8 Jul 1773.
Married: Sophia Browne 1749
Children: 1. William 7th Lord Cranstoun, b. 3 Sep 1749, Crailing, Roxburghshire, Scotland, d. 30 Jul 1778, St.
James's Street, Piccadilly, Westminster, Middlesex, England
2. Elizabeth Cranstoun, b. 16 Sep 1751, Crailing, Roxburghshire, Scotland, d. Yes, date unknown
3. Brown Cranstoun, b. 31 Mar 1754, Crailing, Roxburghshire, Scotland, d. Yes, date unknown
4.
James 8th Lord Cranstoun, b. 26 Jun 1755, Crailing, Roxburghshire, Scotland,
d. 22 Sep 1796, Bishops Waltham, Hampshire, England
5. Charles Cranstoun, d. Nov 1790
6. Colonel George Cranstoun, b. 21 Dec 1761, Crailing, Roxburghshire, Scotland, d. 8 Mar 1806, Suriname
7. Charlotte Cranstoun, cb 31 Mar 1764, Crailing, Roxburghshire, Scotland, d. Yes, date unknown
On my trip to the Cranstoun Estate in Scotland in 2017 I found that James 8th Lord had returned to his family home Crailing to tell the residents to remove their family graves as he had sold the property. They were moved to the church yard. While there James borrowed oney from the poor box and never paid it back. People wanted to know if I was there to pay back the debt.