Learmonth_Lermontov_1057_2007_Molchanova_Learmonth_2007_Queen_Book_In_english

According to this account the Learmonth’s would have had land
in Fife in 1473. However the historian ‘Millar’ considered that “The
evidence upon which this statement is made is utterly unworthy of credence,
and if there ever was a family bearing the title of Dairsie or that ilk it is
unknown to credible history. Historical records confirm that the Learmonths
did not acquire Dairsie until about 1520 nearly two hundred years after the
date popularly assigned as the beginning of their occupancy” (“Fife Pictorial
and Historical” by A. H. Millar, 1895, page 165). Millar writing the history
of the county of Fife collected thousands of facts and records. However we
would say that Millar’s statement “it is unknown to credible history” is
misleading because if one cannot find any record it does not mean that a
record never existed as many records were lost during the troubled history of
Scotland. We were however able to trace the Darsie surname in the Scottish
Nation Biographical History: “Darsie a surname derived from the lands of
that name in Fifeshire now comprehended in the parish of Dairsie. These
lands were anciently held by the Dairseys of that ilk, under the bishops of St.
Andrews the hereditary offices of bailie and admiral of the regality of St
Andrews being also possessed by them. The family ended in an heiress Janet
de Dairsay, who, marrying a younger son of Learmonth of Ercildoune
Berwickshire Learmonth brought to him the lands at Dairsie and the
heritable offices attached to them. They continued in the possession of his
descendants until the whole were purchased from them during tile reign of
James VI, by the then Lord Lindsay of the Byres. The lands afterwards
belonged to the Spottiswoodes.
In the old castle of Dairsie a parliament was held in the reign of David
II. About 1590 the name of Darsie is found to occupy a prominent place in
the records of the two neighboring parishes of Eastern and Western
Anstruther. In the Cummissariat records of the diocese of St. Andrews the
Dairsies of Anstruther are mentioned in 1594 and 1626, also in an old folio
volume of ‘Retours’. The name of Darsie has also been noticed in
connection with a property in Anstruther. In some of the old Records, the
name is spelled Darsie and not Dairsie. James Melville in his Diary, and Sir
Walter Scott in Redgauntlet, adopt the same spelling. The arms of the
Darsies, Az on a bend argent three roses gules. Crest, a rose slipped gules.
Motto, Spero (database online; Provo, Utah: My Family.com, Inc., 2003.
Original data: Anderson, William. The Scottish Nation, Volumes I - III.
Edinburgh: A. Fullarton & Co., 1864, page 21). Therefore we have enough
evidence to conclude that the Learmonth’s owned lands in the County
of Fife near St. Andrews before 1473.
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