Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 7.djvu/248

 24G STIRLING. America. He was P.C. and Sec. of State [S.]. 1636-10; Keeper of the Signet [3.], 1627 ; a Commissr. of the Exchequer [S.L 1628, and one of the Extra Lords of Sessiou [S.], 1631-35, having been er. 4 Sep. 1630, VISCOUNT OF STIRLING and LORD ALEXANDER OF TULLIBODY, and subsequently, at the coronation [S.l, 14 June 1633, EARL OF STIRLING, VISCOUNT OF CANADA, and LOUD ALEXANDER OF TULLIBODY [S.J, with in either case a rem. to his heirs male of the name of Alexander- He had a grant from the council of New England of a large territory including Long Island (then called the Island of Stirling) which he colonised, thus giving rise to the flourishing state of New York. He m. before 1601 Janet, only da. of Sir William Erskine (of the house of Ralgonie), Commendator of the Bishopric of Glasgow, known as " the Parson of Caiupsie." She d. before 1630 and was but. in Stirling church. M.I. He d. insolvent, in London, Feb. 1639/10, and was ill)'. 12 April 164C, in the High Church, Stirliug.(") [William Alexander, styled Viscount Canada, 1st?, ami h, knighted 22 March 1626/7 : an Extra. Lord of Session [S.]. 1635-38 ; took an active part in establishing a colony on the river St. Lawrence, his death being caused from the effects of the hardships he there suffered. He m. Margaret, 1st da. of William (Douglas), 1st Marquess of DOUGLAS [S.], by his first wife, Margaret, da. of Claud (Hamilton), Lord Paisley [S.J He d. v.p. in Loudon, March 1638, and was bur. at Stirling. His widow d. 1 Jan. 1660.] II. 1640. 2., William (Alexander), Earl of Stirling, &c. [S.], (Feb.) grandson and h., being only s. and h. of William Alexander styled Viscount Canada, and Margaret, his wife, abovenamed. He sue. his grandfather in the peerage [S.J Feb. 1639/10, but enjoyed the same only a few months, dying voung and unm. iu May, and being bur. 12 Sep. 1640, in the High Church, Stirling.(>>) III. 1610. 3. Hen rt (Alexander), Earl of Stirling, &c. [S. |, (May.) uncle and h. male, being 3d but 1st surv. s. of the 1st Earl.( c ) He sue. to the peerage [S.j in May 1640 but to none of the paternal estates in Scotland. He m. Mary.C) 3d and yst. da. and coheir of Sir Peter Vanlore, Bart., Alderman of London, by Susan, da. of Laurence Bkuke, of Antwerp. He d. Aug. 1614. ( e ) His widow was living 18 Aug. 1644. elaborate account of this order of Baronets. It seems curious that he who had all the land, of which 150th part made a Baronet, should, if he accepted a Baronetcy, not have taken the highest iu rank. As late as 30 Nov. 1629, he styles himself as (only) "Knight," but that, probably, in those lax times, did not exclude the higher title of Baronet. The creation of Alexander is not in the Great Seal Register [S.] but is apparently in the " Rcgistrum Preceptorum cartarum pro Baroncltis Nova Scotia, 1625-30." See Milne's " List of the Knights Baronets of Scotland." (") He " filled a lar ge and conspicuous space in his generation as Scholar, Courtier, Statesman, Coloniser, and Poet ... his poems are weighty with thought. • his tragedies have ' brave translunary things,' if laboured and dull as a whole. . . his ' noble poverty ' is the best vindication of his integrity. He stands above any contemporary Scot, alike iu many-sidedness and strenuousness of character." [.Vol Biogr.] ( b ) He left three sisters among whose issue is the representative (heir general) of the 1st Earl. These were (1) Katharine, m. Walter (Saudilands), Lord Torpichen [S.J leaviug issue, a da. (2) Margaret, m. Sir Robert Sinclair, Bart. [S.], of Longformacua (3) Lucy, hi. Edward Harrington, Page of Honour to the Prince of Orange in 1630. (°) His next elder br., the Hon. Sir Anthony Alexander, d. s.p. and v.p. in LoudoD, Aug. 1637, and was bur. at Stirling. ( u ) She is often called " Susan " being confused with her sister, Susan, whose will as " Dame Susan Croke " was pr. 5 Dec. 1685. See " Genealogist, " N.S., x, 77. (•) This is the date given in Turnbull'a "Stirling Peerage trial ;" that in Woodu " Douglas " is " 1650."