ARE YOU A MEMBER OF CLAN FRASER ?

In addition to Fraser many other surnames are associated with our clan, known as septs. A surname can be associated with more than one clan, depending on the area in which they lived. These names include those on the following list, with many variations in spelling.

 

BISSET, BREWSTER, COWIE, FREW, FRIZELL, MacGRUER, MacKIM,

MacKIMMIE, MacSIMON, MacTAVISH, OLIVER, SIM, SIMON,

SIMS, SIMPSON, SYME, TWADDLE, TWEEDIE.


TWEEDIE
By Susan Boag

The following information was mainly derived from two books, the Surnames of Scotland by George F Black and the Scottish clan and family Encyclopaedia published by Collins in 1994.

Although the Tweedies are a sept of the Fraser clan, it is unclear how this came about. The most likely explanation is that it was through marriage. This would seem to be born out by the stories below, which refer to a James Tweedie of Drumelzier and a Thomas Tweedie of Oliver Cast/e, both in the 16th Century. Early on in their history in this country, in fact in the 12th and 13th centuries, the Frasers moved from East Lothian to Tweedale, and early Fraser families included the Frasers of Drumelzier and Hales, and the Frasers of Oliver Cast/e.
The Tweedies are an old Peebleshire family and according to a wonderful myth, the first Tweedie was the child of a species of water spirit from the Tweed. Alas, the truth is that the name was derived from the lands of Tweedie, in the parish of Stonehaven, Lanarkshire. A Finlay Twydyn of Lanarkshire rendered homage to Edward I of England in 1296, but in the 17th century, this family lost their lands and barony.

According to The Surnames of Scotland; "the Tweedies had a reputation for being a savage race and at the close of 1592 they reverted to their true character". It seems that several murders had been committed and indeed, according to a quote in Chambers' History of Peebleshire; "The complaint states that it is not unknown how many slauchters have been commit tit upon them by James Tweedy of Drumelzier and his friends". By 1715 the Tweedies of Drumelzier were extinct.

In 1592, James Tweedie of Drumelzier was accused of the murder of Geddes of Glenhegdon. Some half century earlier, in 1524, Thomas Tweedie of Oliver Castle had been implicated in the murder of Lord Fleming, as a result of which, a bloody feud broke out between the two families. In 1531, Thomas was exiled from Scotland for three years.

All this suggests a pretty unpleasant family, but it must be remembered that the borderlands were notorious for their lawlessness at the time. Reassuringly, Collins' Scottish Clan and Family Encyclopaedia gives details of some fine upstanding 19th century Tweedies should you wish to read about them.

One further point of interest is that, although I have never seen it, I have learnt that a book was published in 1902, written by Michael Forbes, called The History of the Tweedie, or Tweedy, Family