FINDLATER GENEALOGY
ORIGINS & THE EARLDOM
The earliest Findlater on record is Galfridius (or Geoffrey) de Fynlater. He was the hereditary sheriff of Banff and is recorded as holding an inquest in 1342. His daughter married Richard Sinclair, a younger son of Roslyn, in 1366. She resigned the lands into the hands of the king and they were regranted to "Ricardo de Sancto Claro and his wife Joanna de Fynletyr." In 1381 Robert II granted Sir John Sinclair the Grieveship of Cullen. In 1391 Johannes de Sancto Claro de Deskford and Ricardus de Fynletter were put to the horn, or outlawed, possibly in connection with the burning of Elgin Cathedral. This took place in 1390 and was initiated by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, a son of King Robert II, who was known as the ‘Wolf of Badenoch’. The lands of Findlater passed by marriage from the Sinclair family to a branch of the Ogilvies, descendants of the Mormaers of Angus.
THE THREE BRANCHES
There are three basic stems from which the family descends. The first is the family which originated in the parish of Alvah in Banffshire. The second is that which started in Dyke in Morayshire. The third is from the South West of Scotland, starting near Drumlanrig, where there are still thriving Findlater families still living. For the BANFFSHIRE and DRUMLANRIG BRANCHES, will members of these branches please step forward to write their histories.
For more information please click on the branches below: