How can I find my family’s link to the Pringle clan who lived in the Scottish Borders?
Q I’ve taken my family tree back to a John Pringle in 1647, whose descendants were born in Stow (including Walter, a shoemaker), where the Pringle clan chief lived in the 17th and 18th centuries. I can’t link my Pringles to the lairds, but could they be related? Lisa Thackwell, by email
AThe name Pringle is an abridged form of the surname Hoppringle, derived from lands of the same name within the parish of Stow in the Scottish Borders. It is entirely possible that your family connects into the landed family of that name within the parish, but as with any genealogical research, the only ways to prove that are to use the available documentary evidence.
Baptismal records for Stow survive back to 1626 and marriages back to 1646 and these can be found on ScotlandsPeople ( scotlandspeople.gov.uk). Borders Family History Society has a publication on monumental inscriptions for Stow ( blog. bordersfhs.org.uk/2014/ 04/stow-monumentalinscriptions.html), while the kirk session records for the parish exist back to 1626. These are held at the Scottish Borders Archive in Hawick ( www. heartofhawick.co.uk/info/19/ heritage_hub) or in digitised format at the National Records of Scotland (NRS) in Edinburgh ( www.nrscotland.gov.uk).
Where the parish records fail, inheritance records might help. To find moveable estate, you can search for wills on ScotlandsPeople – among the many found there, for example, is a testament dative of George Hoppringle “of that ilk” (from the place of the same name) from 1687. For land, which was inherited through the rules of primogeniture, you will need to use separate records called services of heirs, again held in Edinburgh ( www.nrscotland. gov.uk/research/guides/ inheriting-land-andbuildings). The pursuit of estate papers at the NRS may also help, with many records for the Pringles and Hoppringles in the area returned through a general search at the catalogue at catalogue.nrscotland.gov. uk/nrsonlinecatalogue/ welcome.aspx.
Should the available documentary evidence not establish a connection, the Clan Pringle Association has a DNA project, which might be worth participating in. Details for this are available at www. jamespringle.co.uk/html/ clan_ association.html. It is possible that research on this may already have connected to your family’s branch, although to participate in this you will need to test a confirmed living male Pringle relative.