2nd of Holmains
John Carruthers — 2nd Laird of Holmains
When John Carruthers emerges from the surviving record, the estate established by Roger de Carruthers had already changed considerably. Roger's documentary story began in 1375, when he received the lands that formed the nucleus of Holmains. By 1425/26, those original properties were in the hands of John de Carruthers, together with a much larger collection of lands scattered across Annandale.
Carruthers & Reid considered John the probable son and successor of Roger, although the surviving medieval evidence does not explicitly call him Roger's son. The continuity of the Holmains property is the principal evidence connecting the two men. This distinction is important. John belongs securely in the early Holmains succession. And by John's generation, Holmains was growing.
The Expanding Estate
The estate associated with John included Roger's original holdings at Holmains, Little Dalton and Fourteenaikerbank, but additional properties had entered the family's possession. These included lands associated with Ecclefechan, Plewlands, Copwood, Bengalhill, Moffat, Tundergarth, Glaisters, Newlands, Ruthwell and Perisbie, as well as the Carruthers interest in Raffols that provides one of the important clues connecting this generation with the earlier Carruthers family.
Exactly how all of this property entered Holmains is unknown. Carruthers & Reid themselves raised two possibilities: marriage or service. Either could explain it. A medieval laird could receive land through service to a superior, acquisition, inheritance, royal or baronial favor, or through marriage to an heiress or woman carrying property rights. Because the women of these first Holmains generations are so poorly documented, we cannot exclude the possibility that part of the expansion occurred through John's marriage—or even through Roger's. What we can say is that sometime between Roger's 1375 grant and John's appearance in 1425/26, the Carruthers family's landed footprint expanded dramatically. Holmains was becoming more than the estate Roger had originally received.
What Did John Actually Do?
John belonged to the same landholding Border society as his probable father, but one surviving record allows us to see him actually performing one of the responsibilities expected of a man of his standing. In 1457, John Carruthers served upon a jury responsible for determining the inheritance of George Moffat, who was being retoured as heir to his grandfather, Thomas Moffat. A retour was not simply a family announcement that someone had inherited an estate.
Under medieval Scottish law, an inquest composed of suitable local men considered the heir's claim and formally established his right to succeed to the property. The men chosen for these proceedings were expected to understand the people, property and relationships involved. John's presence therefore places him among the recognized landed men participating in the administration of inheritance and property law in his district. It is a small entry in a medieval record, but it gives us something unusually valuable. For a moment, John stops being simply another name in the Holmains pedigree. We can see him doing his job.
As Laird of Holmains, John would also have managed agricultural lands and tenants, defended the family's property interests, dealt with neighboring landowners and superiors, and fulfilled the obligations attached to his holdings. And because this was fifteenth-century Annandale, those obligations existed within the turbulent political environment of the Scottish Borders.
John's Wife — Another Missing Woman
John must have married, because descendants are documented, but the identity of his wife has not survived in the evidence we have found. Carruthers & Reid are very clear about this in
Records of the Carruthers Family: “To his wife there is no reference.”
That is important because modern genealogies sometimes identify John's wife as Elizabeth Carmichael. At present, we have found no contemporary charter, marriage contract, sasine or other reliable historical record establishing Elizabeth Carmichael as John's wife. That does not demonstrate that the tradition is necessarily false. Carmichael was an established Scottish family, and a marriage between families within the broader southern Scottish landed network would not in itself be implausible.
But plausibility is not documentation. For now: Wife: Unknown
Elizabeth Carmichael can remain among the possible research leads, but she should not be presented as John's wife without further evidence. As with Roger's proposed Dinwoodie wife, there may ultimately be evidence hiding in the records of the woman's family rather than the Carruthers family. Until it appears, her identity remains one of the missing pieces of the early Holmains story.
His Daughter Elizabeth
One woman in John's immediate family does emerge from the documentary shadows.
His daughter was Elizabeth Carruthers.
About 1449, Elizabeth married Gilbert Corry of Torduff and Dailbank.
Unlike the proposed identity of John's wife, this relationship has an actual historical source trail. Carruthers & Reid cite material from the Historical Manuscripts Commission and the Register of the Great Seal of Scotland in connection with Elizabeth and the Corry family.
Her marriage is useful for more than simply adding another person to the family tree. It shows us the Carruthers participating in exactly the sort of marriage network we would expect from a rising landed Border house. Property, kinship and political relationships were intertwined. A daughter marrying into another landed family could create alliances that endured for generations. Elizabeth therefore gives us our first securely identifiable woman in this early portion of the Holmains family.
His Son and Successor
John was succeeded by another John Carruthers, the man we identify as the 3rd Laird of Holmains. By 1471, the younger John was infeft as heir in the lands of Blawat. That transaction gives us an important chronological boundary. The 2nd Laird must have been dead by then. It also continues the pattern that makes this family possible to reconstruct despite the absence of parish registers or surviving family Bibles: land follows the family. Roger can be traced through Holmains. John 2nd can be traced through Holmains. And John 3rd appears as heir to those interests. The property becomes the thread connecting the generations.
John's Death
We do not possess John's testament or burial record. As with Roger, however, land provides the boundary.
John was alive and participating in the inheritance proceedings involving George Moffat in 1457. By 1471, his son had been infeft as heir. John therefore died: after 1457 and before/by 1471. His burial place is presently unknown. Given the family's association with Little Dalton and Holmains, burial somewhere within their local ecclesiastical world would be entirely plausible, but without evidence we should not assign him a grave.
The Second Generation of Holmains
Roger de Carruthers gave us the beginning.
John shows us what happened next.
By his generation, the original Holmains lands had become part of a much broader estate. The family was participating in the legal administration of Annandale, marrying into other landed families and establishing the continuity that would carry Holmains through succeeding generations.
For Your Reference;
Born: Unknown · probably Annandale, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
Probable Father: Roger de Carruthers, 1st of Holmains
Mother: Unknown
Wife: Unknown; Elizabeth Carmichael is a possible later attribution, but presently unconfirmed
Children: John Carruthers, 3rd of Holmains; Elizabeth Carruthers
Occupation / Position: Laird of Holmains; landed gentleman and estate holder; juror in a 1457 inheritance proceeding
First securely documented:1425/26
Last securely documented:1457
Death: after 1457 and before/by 1471 · probably Dumfriesshire, Scotland
Burial: Unknown
Key Succession Evidence — 1425/26: John appears in possession of the lands associated with Roger's original Holmains holding together with a substantially enlarged estate. The continuity of the property provides the principal evidence for identifying John as Roger's probable son and successor.
Key Family Evidence — c.1449: John's daughter Elizabeth Carruthers married Gilbert Corry of Torduff and Dailbank. Carruthers & Reid cite the Historical Manuscripts Commission and the Register of the Great Seal of Scotland in connection with this marriage.
Key Public Record — 1457: John served upon the jury that retoured George Moffat as heir to his grandfather Thomas Moffat, documenting John's role among the landed men participating in local inheritance proceedings.
Key Succession Evidence — 1471: John's son and successor was infeft as heir in the lands of Blawat, establishing that the 2nd Laird was dead by this point.
Arthur Stanley Carruthers & R. C. Reid, Records of the Carruthers Family (1934), Chapter V, “Holmains.” Read the original volume at Internet Archive
Historical Manuscripts Commission, Fifteenth Report — evidence cited by Carruthers & Reid for the early Holmains family and Corry connection.
Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, A.D. 1424–1513, No. 319 — supporting evidence cited for the Carruthers–Corry connection.
18th Great Grandfather of author Krysta Abesamis
