112 Xotices con'cemvng Oxnam Parish. By J. Hardy. 



Robert Hunter oblidges himself to answer to liis Lop's Baron Court and to 

 obey the lawfull Acts and Orders thereof. And it's hereby declared that 

 the said tenent shall only be oblidged to maintain or pay for maintenance 

 of said hounds so long as the said Marquess and f orsaids shall keep a pack 

 of hounds, and he shall only be lyable for the said carriages and hay ser- 

 vices in case the same are demanded within the year ou which they are 

 due and payable, it being always optionall to his Lop. and forsaids to 

 demand the samo or values thereof aforesaid within said year as he shall 

 think proper." The penalty for refusing to implement the premises was 

 £20 sterling. The lease was written by William Ainslie, and witnessed by 

 Alexander McMillan, Esqr., Keeper of the Signet, and the said William 

 Ainslie. 



(6). On the Oxnam Water Ancestry op George Stephenson 

 the Engineer. 



One of the most valued pieces of information communicated 

 by Mr Simson on my visit to Oxnam Bow, was the tradition of 

 the father of George Stephenson, the famous engineer, having 

 originally come from Oxnam Water. Dr Smiles in his "Lives 

 of the Stephensons," saj's, " A tradition is preserved in the family 

 that old Ivobert Stephenson's father and mother came across the 

 Border from Scotland, on the loss of considerable pt^operty there. 

 Miss Stephenson, daughter of • Bobert Stephenson's third son 

 John, states that a suit was even commenced for the recovery 

 of the property, but was dropped for want of means to prosecute 

 it." As to the certainty of this I know not, but it may be 

 discoveied by further inquiry. The recognised antecedents of 

 the family in the Oxnam district are mostly of humble rank. 



I requested Mr Simson to make out a statement of the evidence 

 of the claim, and he induced a relation to make inquiries at 

 Henry or Harry Stephenson, now residing at Hundalee, near 

 Jedburgh, to relate what he knew, he being a representative of 

 a younger branch of the family. Mr Sanson's friend's letter is 

 as follows, and I have placed his observations on it at the close, 

 as notes. 



" My dear Sir, — As promised you on Saturday, I have now made in- 

 quiries at Harry Stephenson and his two sisters at Hundalee, near Jedburgh, 

 regarding their ancestors. I lind that the family is an Oxnam Water one 

 for many generations. Harry says that George Stephenson the engineer 

 and his father were cousins. The grandfather of George was farmer of 

 the Brow-house, (A)., and two of his sons, George's father and a brother, 

 crossed the Border with the view of making their fortunes. Communica,- 



