David, born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1826, was a younger son of Robert Cairncross, born on 4th March, 1792, Robert being the son of Robert Cairncross and Jean Rolls; the latter Robert, born in 1771, died on 9th February, 1829, in Dundee.
David, who was a mason, emigrated to South Africa when very young. He took up residence at Haarlem, in the Uniondale District of the Cape Province and there, in 1850, he married the first of three wives, as the records of the Haarlem Mission Station testify. He had eight sons, and those eight sons had 32 sons; and there were nine daughters as well. David died at Haarlem on 11th June, 1900. The 32 grandsons have also produced numerous sons and grandsons - how many, it is not possible to say, as they have become dispersed all over the Cape Province and cannot easily be traced. Such as have been traced are listed in the genealogical tree on page 174a. [2]
It is thought that their numbers equal, if indeed they do not already exceed, those descended from William of Prestonpans, the latter numbering 55 males living at the end of 1952. David was known to at least two members of the first branch. William the Architect (1841 - 1915), about 1895, when supervising the building of the jail at Uniondale, found he was one of the masons; and Thomas L. L. (1865 - 1954), writing on 23.2.39, said: "While I was teaching at Krakeel River, Lower Longkloof, I was introduced to a David Cairncross residing at Haarlem, Longkloof. This must have been around 1890, about 50 years ago. This Mr. Cairncross appeared to be a man of 50 or 60 years of age at the time. He once called on my late father on legal business at Uniondale. Naturally my father questioned him on his history. He said he landed at Algoa Bay and tramped all the way from there until he got to Haarlem, a German Missionary Station. He settled there and must have died there. My father told me that there was no doubt that he belonged to the Cairncross clan."
[1]Haarlem: situated about 55 miles east of George, Cape Province.
[2]David's family tree can also be seen in the Family Tree section of this site. The tree is called, "Descendents of Robert Cairncross, born 1777, married Jean Rolls" Click here to see it.
Click here to go back to the Title page.
Click here to go back to the CONTENTS page.
Click here for the Kings of Scotland.
Click here to go to Chapter XXIII.