-----Original Message-----
From:
WILLIAM F. ST. CLAIR <wfs@sullybuttes.net>
To:
sinclair mailinglist <sinclair@jump.net>
Date:
Monday, February 15, 1999 7:44 PM
Subject: John Sutherland
Sinclair
Dear Cousins,
From the Lakota ND. souvenir booklet I shall
quote: "A modest man, he always referred to himself as Mr.
Sinclair though he held these titles: BARONET OF NOVA SCOTIA,
Lord Berridale of Scotland, and later Earl of Caithness.
Coming To Lakota on 1884, he bought 3040
acres of land about six miles NE. He ran a dairy herd of 50 or more
purebred dairy cows. In a model creamery on his farm 50 pds of
butter were made daily. This packaged in five pd. packages and a large
part of it sent to Montana. The rest of it was sold at the back doors
in Lakota to regular customers by the noble-born gentlemen himself.
Surely this would be an unusal occurrence anywhere but imagine a member of
the Scottish nobility peddling butter in Lakota. Only his genteel
manners and the quality of his impeccable attire hinted of the fact of his
noble lineage. A special accent of his courtly appearance was a bright red
silken sash. Many of his workers came from Scotland, their
transportation paid for them by the Earl.
In 1905 Lord Berridale returned to Scotland
to take over his hereditary estate as Earl of Caithness. This estate
consisted of a strip of land ten miles wide clear across the north of
Scotland. The next few years he spent repairing his castle and tenant
houses. Then returning to the US. he engaged in various mining
ventures in
California and for a time lived in Peace
River territory of Canada.
He lived Quietly at the Balboa Hotel in LA.
for 3 yrs. After a few years,
injured in an auto accident, he died and was buried inForestlawn
Cemetary."
In my mind the burning question
haunts....Why Baronet of Nova Scotia??? After all the spilled ink of Prince
Henrys voyage in 1398, is this a silver thread to Kirkwall or just another
"coincidence"?? Perhaps one of you experts on Herealdry can
comment!
Wm. F. St.
Clair