: Anecdote on page 670 of "The Pictorial History of
: Scotland" by James Taylor DD of Elgin first
: published in 1858. Dr Taylor was quoting from the
: Coltness Collections published by Maitland Club:
: "On his return from Edinburgh, Cromwell passed
: along the uplands near the Kirk of Shotts, and called
: at Allertoun, a mansion-house belonging to Sir Walter
: Stewart ... (it is quite lengthy) .. he drank his good
: wishes for the family, and asked for Sir Walter; (who
: was absent with the Scottish Army) and was pleased to
: say his mother was a Stewart's daughter, and he had a
: relation to the name ... The lady (of the house) had
: been a strenuous royalist, and her son a captain in
: command at Dunbar; yet upon this interview with the
: general (Cromwell) she abated much of her zeal. She
: said she was sure Cromwell was one who feared God, and
: had that fear in him, and the true interest of
: religion at heart."

Certainly another piece of the puzzle.

Cromwell's mother was a Stewart, and as you stated in another post, a John Caldwell married a Mary, daughter of Sir Walter Stewart. Perhaps giving food and drink to Cromwell might have been construed as "aid" as you mentioned in your other post.

Having relation to a name, and being directly related are two different things. After all, you and I both have relation to Caldwell.

This Mary Stewart, wife of John Caldwell of Allertoun may have been a cousin to Cromwell, but that doesn't make Cromwell a direct relation to any Caldwells other than those descended from this John and Mary, and most certainly does not make any descendants of William of Stratton a direct relation to Cromwell.

The passage above states that "the lady of the house" was a "strenuous royalist" - I presume Scottish royalist, of which were defeated on more than one occassion by Cromwell. I would venture to guess this the reason that this lady of the house held her tounge in Cromwell's presence.

What I'm a bit confused about is that this passage states that the lady's son was a Captain in command at Dunbar. I'm curious as to which side he stood - with the Irish Catholics to battle Cromwell, or with Cromwell to instill the Church of England on the Irish?

(btw - I inverted the order in which Cromwell rode against Scotland and Ireland. It was actually Ireland before Scotland in order.)