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Here's something new to chew



Dear Cousins,
     Whilst reading a book written by my great great aunt Ida Von Holt, I came
across a passage describing her trip to Scotland in 1936 to research her
Sinclair roots.  In her search she found the following information in a small
booklet about the Clan and their Charters:

     “A certain Father Richard Hay, Prior of St. Pieremont, whose mother was
married to Sir James St. Clair of Rosslyn, has left the only authentic
information about the family of St. Clairs.
	“Being of an antiquarian turn of mind he made use of the opportunity afforded
him in examining the various Charters in possession of the family about the
year 1700.  These notes of the Charters were published in 1835 under the title
of Genealogy of the Saint-Clairs of Rosslyn including the Chartulary of
Rosslyn.  This is fortunate as a fire in the Castle later destroyed all the
old Charters and papers.
	“The family descended from one Waldonius who took the name of Saint Clair
from the place, probably in Normandy, where his estate was situated.  He
married a daughter of Richard Duke of Normandy, father of William the
Conqueror, and their son, William accompanied his uncle the Conqueror to
England and fought in the battle of Hastings in 1066.  Soon after that this
William Saint-Clair went to Scotland and served under  the Scottish King
Malcom Canmore.  His grandson was ‘dubbed’ a Knight by King David I, about
1138.  The family was true to the Scotch tradition and served under the Kings
- Malcom, David and The Bruce.”  *

I make no claim as to the accuracy of this information.  I just thought it
might be of interest and a vehicle to incite comment.
Aloha,
Philip Sinclair Keat
Honolulu, Hawaii

*Stories of Long Ago - Niihau - Kauai - Oahu, Ida Elizabeth Knudsen Von Holt
(Star-Bulletin Printing Company, Honolulu, 1953)