ABSTRACT
Janet, daughter of John Reid, married Gilbert Robertson, a cadet of the family of Robertson of Struan. From her, in the third generation, descended one William Robertson, who late in the seventeenth century was seated at Gladney, in Fifeshire, and was probably what was called in Scotland a pocket laird. The eldest son of William Robertson, the minister, another and more famous William Robertson, followed his father in the Church. William, the eldest, settled in South Carolina, the most fiery of all the Southern States, and adopted to the full its fiery spirit. In all relations of life, Principal Robertson was an estimable figure, and no man that ever lived more fully reaped the rewards of virtue; no career would more fittingly adorn a moral tale. Brougham was by far the most notable of Principal Robertson’s more immediate kin, but the historian’s own descendants have not lacked talent.
