212 ANDREW HERON AND HIS KINSFOLK. 
Andrew Heron and his Kinsfolk. 
By B. M. H. Rocers, M.D., Lieut.-Colonel R.A.M.C. (T.F.). 
The Heron family had lived in the neighbourhood of 
Newton-Stewart for over 300 years before Andrew Heron was 
born at Kirrouchtree, the house where his ancestors had lived 
since they came to Scotland. 
Burke traces their ancestry to a Norman adventurer from 
Caen named ‘‘ Hairuns,’’ who came with William the Con- 
queror and settled down in Northumberland. Readers of 
Walter Scott will remember that James IV. of Scotland passed 
the night before the battle of Flodden at Ford Castle, the 
home of the English Herons. 
How the family came to Scotland is told as follows :— 
In the early part of the 14th century a certain Gerald Heron, 
sorely wounded in a border fight in the neighbourhood of 
Newton-Stewart, was carried to the home of the M‘Lurg, in 
view of a possible good ransom, and incidentally to be nursed 
back to health by the laird’s daughter. In due time this 
being accomplished, he very properly and romantically mar- 
ried his nurse and received the property of Kirrouchtree as his 
marriage portion from his father-in-law. Lewis,” in his Topo- 
graphical History of Scotland, states that it was a Miss M‘Kre 
who showed her skill as a nurse and brought the estate into 
the family ; the name of the lady is immaterial. 
It is from a long line of Herons that Andrew is descended. 
Of many of these there is little known beyond names, a few 
dates of succession to various properties, and the names of 
wives. Indeed, much confusion is caused by the frequent 
repetition of the same Christian name, and it becomes very 
dificult to distinguish between the many Andrews and 
Patricks, these two names being the ones that they most 
favoured. One peculiarity seems common to all, viz., a judi- 
cious selection of a wife who would add to the family acres, 
for Cumloden, Machremore,! Kirrouchtree, perhaps Bargally, 
as well as others which it is now impossible to identify, came 
through a wife to the Herons. So that by the time we reach 
Andrew Heron’s father, Patrick, large tracts of land and rich 
