Hassiewells - Family History

The Hassiewells family spans only two generations, but they coincide with the most interesting (and complicated) part of the fall of the Auchterless chiefly line.

The founder of the branch was Archibald Dempster, third son of John Dempster of Auchterless, who received the lands of Hassiewells and Launchebray in the parish of Auchterless from his father in October 1553 ¹. This must have been one of John Dempster of Auchterless' last acts as he was dead some time before August 1554.²

Archibald, who appears to have had a university education was, like many of the family, a lawyer and acted for his eldest brother in various actions through the 1560s³. He was also involved in actions with his near neighbours, the Meldrums of Fyvie, a family whose rise and fall paralleled the Dempsters⁴. One third of Auchterless came to the Meldrums at the same time as the Dempsters had received their portion, whilst the lands of Fyvie had to be sold in the late 1500s, a fate the Dempsters managed to avoid till twenty or so years later.

In 1586 Archibald Dempster of Hassiewells, was also to act as the lawyer for his nephew Thomas Dempster of Cushnie, in the feud and court cases against the Currers of Inchdrewer⁵and took over as Sheriff of Banff for a short while in 1587 as his nephew Thomas succumbed to the debts left by his father and started down the road which took him from being Sheriff of Banff to one of the most notorious, and long-running outlaws of the period.

Family details for Archibald are sadly lacking. He was alive in 1592, as he is mentioned in the entail of that date⁶, but was dead by 1601 when he is specifically mentioned as "the late Archibald Dempster, portioner of Hassiewells"⁷. Archibald had at least one son, William, also mentioned in 1601, and possibly another son, since "George Dempster of Halsiewells" is mentioned in the Aberdeenshire Sheriff Court records of 1607, acting as cautioner (person putting up bail) for William Dempster in Logyaltoune⁸. However, since Archibald Dempster only ever possessed part of the Hassiewells property the designation "of Hassiewells" does not prove that George Dempster was his son, he could have been the nephew of Archibald, most commonly called George Dempster "of Ordley"⁹.

What makes things more difficult, but at the same time more interesting is that George Dempster of Hassiewells appears to drop out of the records after 1610, as, largely, does William, son of Archibald (except for appearances in the Dempster of Knockleith murder case of 1615 and in the trial of Thomas Dempster in 1620 alongside George of Ordley) but a new William Dempster appears in Shetland. The Shetland William Dempster first appears in the record in the first half of 1610¹⁰ and more detail about him appears in July of that year when, on his way to "his own house in Zetland" he is forced to put up a surety of 500 merks (333 pounds 6 shillings and 8 pence) not to "transport any victual, writs, armour, or passengers, except such as shall serve for his own use in this voyage"¹¹. This William Dempster in Skillester in Zetland is identified by the indexer of at least one set of records as being the same man as William, son of Archibald of Hassiewells, and if he is, he is a fascinating link between the Aberdeenshire branch, a mysterious passage by Professor Thomas Dempster, and a group of largely unstudied Dempsters in Shetland.

If, however, William Dempster in Skellesta is not the son of Archibald, then where did that William go? There is one other possibility, namely William Dempster in Drumleith, who appears in the records in association with Robert Dempster of Cushnie, and the associates of the Leslies and Leiths associated with much of the trouble in the Garioch in the 1630s¹². Unfortunately, after his one appearance in bad company in September 1631, William Dempster in Drumleith disappears from the records with his connection to any part of the family a matter of guesswork.

Footnotes:

1 Spalding Club: Antiquities of the Shires of Aberdeen & Banff , iii 566-567

2 Registrum Secreti Sigilli Regum Scotorum, 2805

3 New Spalding Club, Littlejohn D. (ed): Records of the Sheriff Court of Aberdeenshire, i 138,147

4 New Spalding Club, Littlejohn D. (ed): Records of the Sheriff Court of Aberdeenshire, i 307

5 The Register Of The Privy Council Of Scotland Volume IV 1585-1592, 88

6 Spalding Club: Antiquities of the Shires of Aberdeen & Banff , iii 570

7 The Register Of The Privy Council Of Scotland Volume VI 1599-1604, 300

8 New Spalding Club, Littlejohn D. (ed): Records of the Sheriff Court of Aberdeenshire, ii 108

9 Spalding Club: Antiquities of the Shires of Aberdeen & Banff , iii 570

10 The Register Of The Privy Council Of Scotland Volume IX 1610-1613, 7

11 The Register Of The Privy Council Of Scotland Volume IX 1610-1613, 649

12 The Register Of The Privy Council Of Scotland New Series Volume IV 1630-1632, 354-5

© James Dempster 1997