Sir William Wallace

Sir William Wallace

When Pat and I took our trip to Scotland and Ireland last year (so sad that I can say 'last year' now!) we figured since we were over there we would go and see the areas where we knew some of our ancestors were from.

The first night of our trip we were in Scotland. We stayed just outside of Glasgow in a town called Paisley. It was a cute town, kind of busy, but not where we were. We stayed in the Ashtree House Hotel (http://www.ashtreehousehotel.com/en-GB/homepage). I wish it had the history of it online because I don't remember all of it! However, I know it was built in the 1700's! It was pretty cool to begin our trip there!

We walked down the street a bit to a nearby pub (restaurant) in the rain (the only time we really got rained on during our entire trip! Not to mention one of the best meals we had during our trip!) The next morning the owner of the hotel told us that Sir William Wallace (of 'Braveheart' fame) used to walk down the street to go to school. I knew we had some Wallace's in our family history, but wasn't sure we were related. Well, we are! Since he was born in 1272 I won't even attempt to figure out how many greats he is to us... but he is a very, very, very great Uncle! Our direct relative, Sir John Wallace, is his younger brother, and of course our who-knows-how-many great grandparents are Sir Malcolm or Alan Wallace Lord Elderslie and Lady Margaret Craufurd.

Since I knew that our Wallace's were from Elderslie, Scotland, which is just west of Paisley, the next morning we drove there. I loved the area. It was pristine, and quaint... just the kind of place I'd love to retire in, but we won't, since it's all the way in Scotland!

If you'd like to learn more about Sir William Wallace, here is the link on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace

Oh, and if you're interested in knowing how the line gets to the Wallace's on family search... go down the Breed line until you get to Shinkle, go down that line to McConnell, and then go from there to Wallace. Follow that line for awhile and you will find them! Enjoy!!