Person:John Dirleton (1)

The History of the clan

This name is derived from the Norman 'vaus' or 'vaux', meaning 'dales' or 'valleys'. Said to have come to Scotland as part of Queen Margaret's (later Saint Margaret), entorage in the eleventh century, they aquired the barony of Dirleton in East Lothian where they built a splendid castle which remains the centrepiece of the village to this day. The castle came under attack during the invasion of Scotland by Edward I in 1297, falling only after a long and relentless siege. A nephew to Willaim de Vaus of Dirleton married the heiress to the landsof Barnbarroch in Wigtownshire around 1384. The estate of Dirleton was later to pass into other hands and the principal family of this name was thereafter styled 'of Barnbarroch'. John Vans of Barnbarroch married the only child of Robert Agnew of Shauchen in 1747, in return for Margaret's substantial inheritance he assumed the additional surname of Agnew. John Vans Agnew served in the second Boer War and commanded the Scottish Horse Yeomanry during the First World War. In the nineteenth century, the house of Barnbarroch was redesinged and extended only to be gutted by fire in 1941 never to renovated and still stands ruined and uninhabited to this day.

How to Find Dirleton Dirleton is within easy reach of Edinburgh, being only 20 miles east of the capital. Take the main A1 road east and then fork left along the A198 coastal road via Musselburgh, Prestonpans and the golf courses of Luffness and Gullane to Dirleton. The castle is now administered by Historic Scotland and is open Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 6.30pm during April to September (2pm-6.30pm on Sunday). During October to March there are restricted opening hours.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirleton_Castle The remains of Dirleton Castle stand on a rocky crag, hidden within the grounds of a beautiful garden. The oldest parts of the castle date back to the 13th century when John de Vaux replaced an earlier castle on the site. The main feature of his castle was the three storey drum tower, or keep, which contained the Lord's hall and private apartments.

From the late 13th century when Scotland and England were at war, the castle was attacked repeatedly, changing hands many times, eventually being partially demolished on the orders of Robert the Bruce. When the last de Vaux lord died without a male heir, the barony and castle passed to the Halyburton family. From the late 14th century, and for much of the 15th century, the battered castle was rebuilt as a magnificent residence, with new lodgings, a great hall, a chapel and a prison.

In 1515 the castle passed to the Ruthven family. The Ruthvens built a new house on the site of part of the de Vaux family's apartments, overlooking the new gardens they designed. Don't miss the magnificent beehive shaped dovecote that remains from this period.

The castle last saw military action during the civil war, and afterwards was left to fall into ruin. Later owners maintained the gardens, probably viewing the castle as the ultimate garden ornament. The gardens feature in the Guinness Book of Records for having the longest herbaceous border in the world.

Hello, A Vance Surname Project has just started at Family Tree DNA, and we are actively seeking participants. The project has the following goals: · We will use DNA markers to identify the individual family groupings among those who bear the surname Vance. These DNA markers reside on the Y chromosome. They are passed from father to son, and change very little over time. This makes them an excellent tool for tracing patrilineal descent, and one of the best scientific resources available to genealogists. · We also wish to determine the relationship between the Vances and the descendants of the Scottish family Vans, and the Anglo-Norman family Vaux, both of which are considered forebears of the Scots-Irish Vance family. Hence, we will also be actively recruiting Vauxes and Vanses to join our project. · Finally, we will use the DNA results of the Vance Surname Project to speculate about the “deep ancestry” of the family. Certain types of DNA markers occur more frequently in some parts of the world than in others, enabling analysts to speculate about the geographical origin of Y chromosomes that bear those markers. This may give us insight into certain questions about the Vances and the Vauxes. Were the Vauxes a Norman family of Norse Viking origin? Is the old legend that the Vauxes were descended from Visigothic nobles (i.e., Baltic Teutons) genetically feasible? Or are the Scots-Irish Vances most likely descended from Scottish Celts? We are intrigued by all these speculations, and hope you will be, too. The Vances, the Vanses and the Vauxes are all families of great distinction. The Vaux family - sometimes Latinized as de Vallibus - were originally Normans who came to Britain with William The Conqueror. They acquired lands in both England and Scotland, built castles like Dirleton in East Lothian, and endowed great abbeys like Dryburgh and Lanercost. They were players in the royal politics of their age, allying themselves with other nobles and serving in the households of kings. Among their descendants are Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, the landscape architect Calvert Vaux (who helped designed Central Park), and Winston Churchill. The Vanses of Barnbarroch were an important family in Wigtownshire for many centuries, intermarrying with the noble houses of Scotland, and producing warriors, ambassadors and bishops. Notable Vances include the Civil War governor of North Carolina, Zebulon Baird Vance; the former Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance; the distinguished sociologist of the Agrarian School, Rupert Vance; the science fiction writer, Jack Vance; and Eileen Vance, the childhood sweetheart of James Joyce. Andrew Jackson’s grandmother was a Vance, and the Hatfields (of the feuding Hatfields and McCoys) had Vances on both sides of their family tree. If you are an adult male of English, Scottish, or Irish descent with the surnames Vance, Vans or Vaux, and are at all interested in learning more about your relationship to these remarkable families, as well as the origins of your distant ancestors, please contact the administrators of the Vance Surname Project. Our project is sponsored by Family Tree DNA - the most prominent DNA Genealogy firm in the world, and the testing service selected for the worldwide Genographic Project now being conducted by the National Geographic and IBM. Our own Surname Project has a team of four. All of us are direct descendants of the Vance family, and three of us have already run other successful Surname Projects. We have more than enough expertise to make your participation worthwhile, and we implore you to join us. For more information, please e-mail Adam Bradford at adam.bradford@@gmail.com, James Vance Elliott at jvance@@tiac.net, Kenneth Vance Graves at ken.graves@@gravesfa.org, or Dustin White at dustinswhite@@hotmail.com. Family Tree offers a substantial discount to new customers who join Family Tree DNA through any Surname Project. Once you contact us, we will send you a link to Family Tree DNA through which you can order a DNA sampling kit. A few seconds of swabbing the inside of your cheek will provide Family Tree with all the material they need to test your Y chromosome DNA markers. Once your DNA is tested, it will remain on file for twenty years. During that time you may use that DNA for any other purpose that you choose. You may compare your results with relatives - or with the data now available in several different public databases. You can also obtain the DNA markers that define your maternal line. We on the Vance Surname Project will in the meantime be working hard to analyze the data and to present to you our findings, via both e-mail and our own dedicated website. Sincerely, James V. Elliott Co-Administrator Vance Surname Project

Could Johannes De Vauz be the same Johannes De Vaux that was sheriff of Nottingham in 1347-1350?