NESBITOLOGY
Newsletters 1-5
Otis B. Nesbit

Nesbitt/Nisbet Society, United Kingdom
Publication No. 10

Cambridge
1995

Foreword

Otis B. Nesbit (1871-1952) was a pioneer in Nesbitt/Nisbet studies: not only did he carry out detailed investigations of his own family history, inextricably tied up with that of the mid-West of north America, but he also engaged in a remarkably wide correspondence with Nesbitts and Nisbets all over the world. Best of all, he recorded all he found in these marvelously eclectic newsletters. Many of those involved in research in the 1930s appear here, in vivid word pictures, including Robert Nesbitt of Sutton-in-Ashfield, John Nesbitt Dowling of Birmingham, and my own great-grandfather Robert Chancellor Nesbitt. Their letters, those of many others and Otis' own writings are highly readable social history, as well as a valuable record of genealogical research.

The reader should bear in mind that, as in all genealogy, very little of the past is absolutely certain, and there are a few inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the family trees collected here. Kathryn Inman, O.B.N.'s great niece, is collating up-to-date records of the family. In addition to descendants of Otis Nesbit's 8 brothers, he is also survived by his son-in-law, the mathematician Sir Alexander Oppenheim (b. 1903), his grand-daughter Judith Oppenheim and her husband Nwobidike Nwanodi, and their four children.

This volume represents a truly international cooperation: the original mimeographed newsletters were sent from Kathryn Inman and Stuart Nisbet in America to me in England; I copied them and passed them on to Bruce Nesbit in Australia who retyped the nearly illegible originals; and the resulting volume has been printed in two continents. Otis Nesbit's descendants, Kathryn Inman, Judith Nwanodi and Tony Nwanodi kindly gave permission for this reprint, and checked over the family tree.

Family Letter No. 1.

by

O.B. Nesbit. 444 Jackson Street,

Gary, Indiana.

USA

January 1, 1935.

Dear Family,

Another Christmas has come and is going fast. We had a very nice party for the children of Jackson Street between 4th and 5th Avenues on Monday afternoon. Thirty-one of the thirty-four were here. They all had good appetites for Christmas. We had ice-cream, cookies and cakes (Alice baked), popcorn, a half bushel popped by a neighbour boy, and candy, served in Santa Claus paper plates, cups, and Christmas paper napkins.

We served them on three tables in the basement, set up in white linen and everything done like wife Alice, and daughter Allegra, like to do such things. Allegra had one of her students in the back part of the room with his piano-accordion, which he played well. He played many carols and Allegra decided it would be fine to have the children sing some. They did, but with questionable success. The girls did one well. As a mixed chorus it was not so successful, but you should have heard them sing when he struck up a popular tune.

After finishing the food they came upstairs, and Rezia Rawley Gaunt and Allegra distributed a bag of candy and a book to each. Their ages ranged from three to fourteen years. We all had a grand time and hope they did too. This is the third year we have had them in.

Alice, Allegra and I, went to Valparaiso Christmas morning and had a turkey dinner with Ella and Cora Vincent, and Jessie Philly who lives with them. The turkey was superb and everything else was fine. Before dinner, we opened our presents around their tree. Gyp, our cat, got a matched towel and wash rag and a cake of soap. I received ties and gloves, and had received $15.67 to pay for Dr. Robert Nesbitt's "History of the Nesbitt Family". Dr. Nesbitt is 79 years old and writes the most beautiful hand, and his letters are charming. Enclosed is a mimeographed copy of one that should thrill all true-blooded Nesbets (sic). Every page of the book was as interesting to me as his letter. He has made five visits to the US and has been about all our country as well as Canada. He had an Uncle Joseph Nisbett, D.D. at Lock Haven, Pa, a Presbyterian Dominie for many years.

Many interesting pages are devoted to him. His history of his family in Ireland is delightful and contains accounts of the allied families Shannon-Thompson-Coburn-Henry-Swan-Thornton-Clarke, and others. His good wife Annie Elizabeth Coburn Nesbitt was a writer and lecturer of influence, a leader in temperance and equal suffrage in England where they have lived for half a century. A number of papers read by them at meetings on various subjects, are contained in the volume of 757 pages. He has three daughters, Margaret, M. (?.G.) Stewart, Annie Gertrude Nesbitt Shields (T.L), Madura, India, and Mary Irene Nesbitt, Principal and owner of the Gilmer School of Dancing at Nottingham, England, and one son James Victor Nesbitt, a prominent attorney who married Winifred Jan Pearson. Mr. Nesbitt's book was published in 1930, but back to Christmas presents, I received a Brown County, Ind., cheese board made of cherry and black walnut and a new-fangled cheese cutter, and some other things. It doesn't matter what the rest received. They are only interested in what the cat and I received. Ha, Ha!

We came home early as the roads were very icy. Ella came home with us. After reaching home, we had callers and after they left, we went over to the Wray's across the street to see their presents. Mrs. Wray had received a new (on the market) automatic two-slice toaster and a utility tray; so I came home and got the cheese board and a Holland apple cheese and we ate toast and cheese, salad, cake, and drank coffee with the Wrays, and other friends who came in. We ate them out of house and home. I came home to see about things and found Allegra had just come in, and callers were arriving, Rev. Swanson and his wife (Dorothy Wood). They drove from Buffalo, New York, Monday to be with her mother Mary, and Dr. Parker's family. They had been to Hobart to the Unitarian Sunday School Christmas tree. We were hungry, so I sent for the cheese board and the remaining cheese. Allegra fed them cold turkey we had brought home from Valparaiso, baked beans that Alice had prepared, cake and home-made ice-cream; and before they left, Miss Hoke, the principal at Lew Wallace School where Allegra teaches and Mr. and Mrs. Haskill came in, stopping on their trip home from Chicago. The icy cold had about wrecked them, so they must have coffee, cake and ice-cream. Wednesday brought the Robert Nesbitt book and a box of glazed fruit from the Nesbitts at Richmond, California. I read the book and ate all day, when callers were not here. Another present worth mentioning was a photograph, beautifully done and appropriately framed, of a drawing of the Nisbet Mansion in Berwickshire, Scotland, built prior to 1652 and still a show place. I had loaned Rev. John Pratt Nesbitt at Princeton, Ind., my copy of Nisbet's Heraldic Plates last September, and while they had it Mrs Nesbit had a photo taken of the mansion that her two sons, both M.Ds, her daughter Esther, and husband might have copies. I wish you could all have known this fine family. The picture is done in sepia and appropriately framed. It is very nice, resembles an etching sufficiently that I have decided upon this method of reproduction to supply the "Clan". My offering will be a little larger, probably 8" x 10", will contain the Coat of Arms in the corner and have a title. It is attractive enough to adorn a gallery. Rev. John Pratt Nesbit put out a family book on his family this year.

Wednesday night we entertained Mrs. Mary Wood, her daughters Mrs. Parker, Mrs Swanson and their husbands; her son Ralph Wood, and his wife of Springfield, Illinios, her sisters, Mrs. Conroy of Hammond and her daughter, Madelyn Conroy, Mrs. Armet and husband, of Hobart; John and Mary Parker, and Ella Vincent, for dinner at a private home that puts on special dinners. We came home from there and as the party was mostly females: we talked and talked. Allegra left at nine to catch a train to Chicago where she joined a conducted tour to Florida, to be gone until January 6: school opens on the 7th. I read Thursday and Friday and today got a typist and have been at it all day. Will put enough in this letter to last you all for another year.

Miss Zula Young, of Highland, Kansas, daughter of my sister Rachel, has been able to teach, but would not venture to come see us. She fell and fractured a hip a year ago. She writes that Dorothy Young, (Rev. L. D's wife) at Dallas, Texas, is better. She has had a severe heart attack. She is a good preacher's wife and a true helpmate to Leon. Hope she rests up long enough to recover. They visited us last summer. They had been in California. Leon preached in Sacramento during his two-month vacation there. He says I showed him the whole Century of Progress in one day. Don't disillusion him, but he did not see any of the fair. Although Dr. Blain Branson, D.C., Vinnie Young's man at 1916 Pepper Avenue, Lincoln, Nebraska, spent most of his time at the General Motor's Exhibit in 1933, he saw more than Leon did, however, L.D. is the pastor of the Abbey Presbyterian Church, and a great preacher. He has a fine church and was Vice Moderator of the North American Assembly in 1933.

We went down to see Zula last summer, and Alice about passed out. She hasn't cooled off yet. We spent one night with the Street family near Purdin, Mo. It is one of the fine old Missouri families. Big house, lots of food, bounteous hospitality. Has a large family, three girls home last summer. They are all teachers. Violet teaches here in Gary with Allegra. The boys are married and live near. Missouri was dry and burnt; it was too hot to look up some of our folks. I saw cousin Virginia Kinnett at Monroe City, Mo. She is a dear great soul, a grand daughter of Aunt America (Painter). She loaned me some pictures and I am going to get copies made so that I can return them. Her son Samuel was the most sought man in town as he was engaged in hauling water and filling cisterns. Water was scarcer than beer.

On the trip, I stopped at Chilicothe and hunted up a Mrs. Mattie Mathews, widow of Charles Mathews, a deceased son of Harvey Mathews who married Uncle Hiram's daughter, Nancy, and later Uncle John's daughter, Annie. From her (Mattie), I got cousin Annie Mathew's address. It is Belfontain, California; 1031 East Palm Street. Her son L. R. Mathews is at Encinitas, California. Have some letters from Annie and some family news. She is not well. Says she is not old.

We came home through Shelbina and drove out in the country hunting a cousin Gene Painter, son of Oscar. He was not home, but we found his wife and fine family of eleven children. All are well mentally and physically. We came on by Stoutsville and out to see Otis Emery Cartmell and his mother, cousin Lucinda. She is a dear. He is a fine man. He fixed up the burial lot on the old farm this fall, got out the stones on the place and had a wall built around the graves. Pictures show a nice job. I shared the expense with him and we hope to pass the hat some way among the descendants of Samuel and Nancy (Thomas) Nisbet, and give them a chance to help.

Zula gave me some fine old family pictures. Did not get to see Grace Young King at Robinson, Kansas as she was away fishing with their younger children. Saw her daughter Donna in Troy, where she is in a dentist's office; on our way home. Zula did not feel like riding (sic) so far, so we missed seeing George Young and his fine family at Centralia, Kansas. Say boys, that is a fine place to go.

Alice and I attended the Nisbet Family Reunion at Cynthiana, Indiana last fall. About 150 were there. W.R. Nisbet, an attorney at Sullivan, Indiana, his wife and his married daughter, Mrs. Billman of Cincinatti, Ohio with her son J.R., a dandy fine boy, attended. I had a card from him at Christmas in response to having received a booklet containing D. Nesbit's poem, "Always Christmas". He has been searching city directories for Nisbets. He noticed a story in the newspaper where someone of the clan was to be executed for murder, and was distressed by it. A few have gone wrong from time to time, but the criminal records do not contain many in my search for family data. Its membership is made up of good sturdy stock, and to stimulate the young generations to guard that its good name is upheld, is one of the objects of my work.

Recently a woman member of the family with more than one college degree was surprised to learn that the family had a long and illustrious line of ancestors and many honorable members at this time.

At the reunion we again met Mr. And Mrs. James Rash of Madisonville, Ky, and his sister Mrs. Soloman. Bud Nesbit and wife from Providence, Ky were there. These Kentucky people represent the James Nesbit family, a pioneer in Hopkins Co., Ky, from South Carolina. A large family of fine people

The James Nesbit and Rebecca Lewis families of Posey Co., Ind. were there in goodly numbers, and they are a mighty nice crowd. You should have seen cousin Will and Mary Ann Endicott. Think of it, they have lived together over 65 years. Cousin Ann is able to beat most preachers at praying. A grand old couple. The Nisbet graveyard on the old place has been cleaned up, and we hope it may be fenced and the stones reset.

A.J. Endicott and his family from Princeton were there. Arthur presided at the exercises in a manner that did honor to his progenitors. Cousin Ann Nisbet McLaughlin, 524 N. Main Street, Henderson, Ky, and her fine daughters, Mabel, who read a fine paper on family matters, and Elizabeth with her Irish wit and her good nature, good looking too, were there. Cousin Ann, past 85 and an invalid, shared equal honors with cousins Will and Mary Ann, Cynthiana, Indiana in a popularity contest for attention. The younger crowd in Posey Co. are intelligent and industrious. We visited cousin Ann and had three happy days with her. Rev. John Pratt Nesbit, his fine wife and charming daughter, Esther; came over after his morning service and he gave a good talk on the origin of the Nisbets in Scotland. We enjoyed lunch with them on our way home.

Alice has an awful case on them, but you know she has shown poor judgement in choosing one Nisbet man and you must regard her judgement with care. I like this family myself. Their two fine sons are M.Ds in Indiana and Esther teaches music in the public schools at Hartford City, Indiana.

On Wednesday Nov. 28, after school, Alice, Allegra and I started for Ann Arbour, Michigan to spend the school vacation with Dr. Reed Nesbit, his wife Mabel and daughter Nancy Alice, at 302 Revena. We stopped at Niles for a chicken dinner. Arriving at our destination at 1.20 a.m. We enjoyed a hospitable greeting, and had a fine Thanksgiving turkey dinner to which some young doctors were invited. Mabel uses her domestic science education to good advantage. She is a graduate of Michigan University. Her brother William Wilkins of Wichita Falls, Texas, is with them attending the University. He is a fine chap. Expects to study medicine. Mabel had friends in for tea on Friday and Saturday afternoon. Dr. Lilly of Atchison, Kansas, had dinner with us Saturday night, and entertained us by telling of his research on animals, principally rats, on the cause of decay of teeth. He practiced medicine for many years, and after the death of an invalid wife, and having an income sufficient, he travelled and visited the medical centres in this and foreign countries and settled down at Michigan University to do his research. He is having a good time. Has learned many things but reached no conclusions that will greatly benefit man as yet. In rats, cracked corn and rice will produce decay and nothing given with it will prevent it as far as he has found. He has a distinct advantage in his work, as he is independent and not supported by a Fruit Growers Co. or a Codfish Crowd and an Electric Light Co or a Dentifrice Mfgr, with an order to report good results. We called on some good antique dealers; saw some nice glass, furniture etc. Visited the Law Library, a beautiful building, elegantly furnished, and well supplied with books and materials. Here we were shown through by our cousin, Mrs. Inez Webb Noyes, a great grand daughter of my aunt Mary Nisbet Martin and Hugh Beheimer a former Gary boy. Mr. And Mrs. Noyes both have important positions in the university libraries. Mrs. Noyes is a daughter of Fanny Wright Webb, 1004 E. King Street, Franklin, Indiana. Great grandmother Mary Berry Nisbet is buried on the Alexander Martin lot in the Livonia, Ind. Cemetery.

Dr. Reed Nesbit is working hard and doing fine work in his field of urology. Is head of the department at the Michigan State Hospital and teaches in the medical department of the university. We drove into Detroit and visited Mrs. Elden Small and on Sunday returned home through the Irish Hills route and stopped at various places. The roads were fine and it was a spring-like day.

Our work in school has gone on very well. We have immunised about 500 children against scarlet fever this fall, 200 against diphtheria, and vaccinated 1425 against smallpox, besides examining athletes and doing other routine work. Have Dr. Sue Thompson, a Canadian woman, eight nurses, two dentists, three oral hygienists, one sight-saving teacher, one lip-reading instructor, and three clerks in my department and they keep me busy. Except for a cold which did not keep me in, I have been quite well. Alice has been well except for some arthritis. Allegra, very busy with school work. She is head of the History Department at the Law Wallace School. Has made some reputation and received some outside recognition for a "Better Citizenship Organisation" in the school. She has outside clubs, also, Woman Voters League, College Club, Kappa, Womens' Dean Club in Chicago, and really keeps quite busy and does not have to diet to keep her girlish figure of 95 lbs.

Our daughter Beatrice and her husband just arrived at Zurick, (sic) Switzerland where he will study for a time, then go to Cambridge. He has been doing mathematics in Raffles College, Singapore for three years. Is on leave till October. Will visit his parents at Manchester, England. Beatrice expects to leave England in April for home and he will follow, leaving for Singapore via the Pacific route, going by New Zealand to visit his sister on their way back to Singapore.

I hope Nancy Crumble of Holliday, and Eddy Jones, who runs a farm for Dr. Furnen at Shelbina, will send me a copy of family records in Nancy Elizabeth Painter Jones' bible, or her mother's bible, if they have it.

Brother Samuel's (Rev. S.A. Nesbit) boy Paul is at Lodi, California. Wish he would send me his paper on his mother's family (Nellie Painter), also a story on his experiences as a radio operator during the World War in the Navy and an account since. B.F. McCray (sister Mary Nisbet's husband) is living at Oakland, California with his daughter Mrs. Ruth Usher. She is 90 and able to go. (Sic).

If cousin Mallie Scott of Richmond, California, has a picture of her father, I would like to borrow it. She is a Christian Science practitioner. Also for cousin Annie Mathews to loan me a picture of her father.

Or if these people will have copies made and send me a gloss print, I will remit the cost. Would be glad to have wives' pictures also. Am expecting cousin May Hardy to send me Uncle Hiram's, and records. One way to do it is to send such matters as are on hand, follow with more later.

Last summer, I got the address of Mrs. May Hardy, 6106 Charlotte Street, Kansas City, Mo., a grand daughter of Uncle Hiram who lived and died at Chilicothe. She was visiting her sister Alice, in New York at the time and stopped off and visited us. She is nice looking, refined and intelligent. Her good looking daughter Mrs. Linna Boysen met her in Chicago, where we met them and brought them home with us. We went to the fair, to Valparaiso and the Dunes. Had a nice visit. May has not sent me her family record, but if she doesn't, she will have a boarder some day until she produces it. Linna has two boys that their grandma thinks a lot of. Her mother lives with her.

Alfred Berry Endicott, 1027 Darmouth Ave., Claremont, California, a descendant of great uncle James Nisbet of Posey Co., Indiana, is not well, however, he reads and writes concerning the family and other things. He composed a good poem, "Dear Old Coverlet". Mabel McLaughlin had written to him about Mrs. H.L. King of Henderson, Ky., a descendant of my great aunt Rebecca (Nisbet) Lewis. (Aaran) having a very beautiful coverlet woven by great aunt Margaret Nisbet who lived with Rebecca. She is past 96 and was at California with her daughter, Mrs. Edith Been. They are such travellers I cannot keep track of them. My last address (for them) 3458 Ceder (sic) Street, Riverside, California. Her son Oscar, lives at Indio, California. A letter from Mabel today said cousin Ann McLaughlin had not been well. I hope she is better.

Emma Hoffman of Ft. Branch, Indiana, should prepare a paper on the Brother and Lewis families. It is always great to stop and see the Hoffmans. Last summer, Walter, Harriet, Emma and Anna, who live together, were getting ready to start for Chicago. They missed the reunion. George and Lucy Hoffman however were there. Another of the Lewis clan who missed the picnic was Miss Margaret Hale of Osceola, Arkansas.

Mrs. Lillie Gayle, a grand daughter of great uncle William Nisbet is at Manhattan, Montana. Her cousin, Mrs. J.H. Resiter, 521 West 3rd Street, Lexington, Ky., sent a Christmas card, but is too busy with her fine family and running the city, to write.

Oscar Painter is at Boliver, Mo., with his daughter, Mrs Ora Castleman.

Mildred Nesbit, my genealogy Scot in California is teaching in Pasadena, California, Public School. Have carelessly not preserved the envelope that contained her last address and her letter did not give the address. N.S. Amstutz, an attorney friend of mine, files envelopes as well as letters. Says they are important.

Charles E. Nesbit of Robert Nisbett's family has been lost. Haven't seen or heard from him since he came with his wife and spent part of a night with us in 1933. He expected to teach at Kansas City, Mo., last year. If you have heard from him let me know.

May I appeal to those who have not sent me names, dates, and information about their present and past generations and letters and papers regarding their families. I will copy or photograph and return them.

If any of you desire the picture of Nisbet House, Berwickshire, Scotland at $1.00, snap of Samuel Nisbet; Kentucky House; or if you want me to order tartans, let me know. If any desire to make direct contributions to the cemetery and marker fund, I will be glad to tell them the needs or send any contributor and sender an account.

Will expect a postcard filled with family news if you want to stay on my mailing list. If none received, I will consider you do not care for future family letters.

This concludes a faithful account of some of the things some of you may be interested in and I'll not promise another for a long time. It is not intended for a complete record. The letter is intended to interest some people in the family, to supply addresses that they can connect up with lost relations, and to include items that will interest some. All will not be interested in the same things. Will extend the mailing list somewhat beyond my immediate family to see if those outside may find interest. Want to supply the younger members of my family with some data. No one should consider that they are being left out. You are all in the family, and you can't help it. You are largely what you are because of it.

Wishing you all a Good New Year, I am with love to all

Otis B. Nesbit

P.S. Acknowledgment of a liberal supply of almonds and English walnuts from brother Edward and Effie (née Miller) and for a fruit cake from Mabel. Also pecans from Dr. Thompson from Ga., and a large basket of letters and cards.

Thanks to all. (O.B.N.).

ASHFIELD HOUSE
SUTTON-IN-ASHFIELD
NOTTS.
November 9, 1934
Tele. 109.
Dear Dr. Nesbit:

I was very greatly pleased to get your letter of October 20, and to learn you had got a copy of the Heraldic Plates. It is an invaluable history for all who have Nesbitt blood in their veins. My hunt and discovery of the book was thrilling.

I wish I knew when I last wrote you and what information I gave. I believe I have lots of news for you.

The owner of Nisbet House and estate is Lord Sinclair, who is a lineal descendant of John Ker who bought the property from Sir Alexander Nisbet, ca 1652. He does not live there. The present tenant is Grenville Farguhar who made my wife, self and two daughters most welcome when we visited Nisbet House last May. It is still one of the finest mansions in Berwickshire, situated in a magnificent park of 200 acres. Most of the present building was erected in the reign of Charles I. On the site of Nisbet Castle -- two important battles were fought there.

In December last, I got acquainted with a Mr. R.C. Nesbitt, a London solicitor, attorney. He is more fortunate than we are as he is able to trace, to the satisfaction of the Herald's Office, directly back to Sir Philip Nisbet -IX, p xiv, Nisbet's Heraldic Plates. You and I are also descended from the Nisbets, but we cannot furnish documentary proof in the way he has done.

At page xlviii of Marchment Herald's Introduction to the Heraldic Plates, is this paragraph: "Is it permissible to hope that the family of which he (Alexander Nisbet, the Herald) was the distinguished representative will take steps to place in the ancient burying-ground a fitting memorial of the old Herald"? This hope has been realised. Mr. Nesbitt, (London) has erected in Old Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh, a very beautiful memorial tablet to the Herald with suitable inscription. It was unveiled with considerable ceremony by John Buchan, M.P., the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly. The Lord Lyon King of Arms with his Heralds being present. Mr. Nesbitt honored my wife and myself by inviting us to be present at the ceremony in Old Greyfriars, and also at the subsequent luncheon. Needless to say, we were delighted to attend.

The Nisbet Coat of Arms is painted on the tablet, by the Court Painter -- a very beautiful piece of work.

Some months before, Mr. Nesbitt asked me to meet him at luncheon at the Athenaeum Club in London and we had a very interesting time. I offered to help him in defraying the expense, but he preferred footing the entire bill.

In St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, there is a Memorial Window to Montrose, a prominent general of Charles I. Sir Philip Nisbet, son of Sir Alexander, was one of the leading commanders under Montrose, and his name and Arms are recorded on the window, a most realistic production.

I have still greater news to tell you. Two or three months ago, I got acquainted with a J. Nesbitt Dowling of Birmingham, England, whose ancestor, two or three generations ago, married a Nesbitt. Talk of pedigrees! The Marchmont Herald isn't in it with J. Nesbitt Dowling! I have been over to see him and he is the greatest genealogical 'find' I've ever made. He has traced the Nesbitts back to, I hardly know where, long before the Norman Conquest; and mind you, he gives day and date, chapter and verse for every statement he makes; tells you where he has secured the information -- Old Charters, Wills, marriage settlements etc.; he has 70 notebooks filled with genealogical notes, and he has been good enough to allow me to copy some of them. He traces the Nesbitts back to the early Kings of Scotland -- in fact, before there were Kings at all! He is a most cultured, brainy man, and I am thoroughly convinced, entirely reliable.

I am hoping to get some photos of Nisbet House, soon. Our London namesake is publishing a book which will contain photographs. (It would not surprise me if your Co. Down ancestry were related to mine. The earliest record of my Nesbitt ancestor is Co. Monoghan, at a place named Mullyash which I believe is within a dozen miles of Laughbrickland).

Have I sent you a review of my book? If so you might please return enclosed copy. I did not publish my history with a view of selling any copies, but if you still wish to have one, the price is £3. The actual cost is more. Please excuse obliteration; for a moment I confused you with a Nesbitt in Pittsburgh who is on the same quest as yourself and with whom I have much correspondence.

I have known Wilbur D. Nesbit for many years. He and his wife (one of the Lee family of Virginia) entertained my wife and myself when we visited Chicago in 1925, and he has presented me with copies of his works, rendered doubly valuable by the kindest of inscriptions. There are ten pages devoted to him in my history.

Unless your experience would differ from mine, it will be futile for you to write Lord Sinclair, the owner of Nisbet (House). I wrote him twice, enclosing stamped addressed envelope, but -- nobility and all - he hadn't the decency to reply.

The address of your namesake in Pittsburgh, Pa., is Clarence R. Nesbitt, 6534 Dalzell Place.

Do you know the "Harvey Book" by Oscar J. Harvey, published at Wilkesbarre, Pa., 1899? It gives the history of many American Nesbitts, also the early history of the Nisbets in Scotland. I got a copy from a firm in Albany, New York. It is very expensive.

In what way was President Wilson connected with the family?

Many thanks for your invitation. It would be interesting to have a meeting. Rev. Joseph Nesbitt, D.D., Lock Haven, Pa., was my uncle, died 1894. "An honor to the name".

On our motor run through Scotland in July (1934), I found there is a Nisbet Tartan and I bought a necktie of that material - 2/6 of our money - from Wm. Grant, High St., Inverness, Scotland, a big dealer in tartans. The cloth costs 12/6 a yard and nothing less than two yards will be sold. My Nesbit correspondent in Pittsburgh ordered some when I told him about it.

I could not get any samples of it in Edinburgh.

Sincerely yours

R. Nesbitt

ALEXANDER NISBET

Memorial to Herald Unveiled

(Circa 1940)

"HISTORICAL SCOTLAND"

"A Memorial to Alexander Nisbet, the Herald, was unveiled in Old Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh, yesterday, by his Grace the Lord High Commissioner, Mr. John Buchan. His Grace was accompanied by Mrs. Buchan and members of their suite, and the ceremony was attended by Dr. Francis J. Grant, C.V.O., W.S., Lord Lyon King of Arms; Mr. J. Horne Stevenson, M.B.E., K.C., Marchmont Herald; Mr. Thomas Innes of Learney, advocate, Carrick Pursuivant; Lieut. Colonel J.W. Balfour Paul, D.S.O., of Cakemuir, Falkland Pursuivant; and Capt. Harold A.B. Lawson, Unicorn Pursuivant. His Grace was received at Greyfriars by the Lord Lyon and the Rev. Dr. W.W.D. Gardiner, minister of the church, and the ceremony took the form of a religious service.

The service commenced with the singing of the 84th Psalm, followed by a prayer and the reading of the Scripture lesson, "Let us praise famous men". The donor, Mr. Robert Chancellor Nesbitt, then offered the memorial to the custody of the Kirk Session, expressing the hope that it would add to the beauty of the fine old ecclesiastical building.

The Lord High Commissioner said he was pleased to have the privilege of unveiling the memorial to a famous Scotsman. Alexander Nisbet was buried in the Greyfriars Churchyard, but his tomb has long ago disappeared, like so many of their old Scottish sepulchres. The memorial was a lasting monument to a great gentleman and a great scholar.

Alexander Nisbet was born of the famous Berwickshire house, Nisbet of that Ilk. He had two uncles who followed Montrose, and who both died on the scaffold in his following. He did not think that any family on the globe could make a prouder boast than that. Nisbet himself was a douce (?) Edinburgh lawyer, like his father before him, but he was first and foremost a scholar.

THE SCIENCE OF HERALDRY

His Grace remarked that he was not sure that he could claim for the science of heraldry a foremost place among the activities of the human mind. There was a famous German philosopher who took it as an example of what he called a "false science", but he didn't agree with him. He should certainly claim for it a respectable place, as every historian must. It was a kind of historical shorthand, and its little lantern might be a most valuable guide in the dark places of the past. Moreover, it had a real interest and beauty - the beauty of exactness and regularity. There had been heralds of doubtful taste who had spoilt the simplicity of the old charges, but never in Scotland, where heralds had shown a very high level of distinction and scholarship, from Sir David Lindsay of the Mount down to his friend the present Lord Lyon.

The purity of the science in the north had been largely due to Nisbet. His great work, "A System of Heraldry", first published in Edinburgh in 1722, was an institutional work, as important in heraldic science as the great institutional writers, like Stair and Erskine were in the history of Scots Law. He remembered how he pored over that work as a boy, and still often turned to it. He was glad to think that the piety of his kinsmen had erected that worthy memorial to the old scholar in the kirk in which he worshipped.

A prayer of dedication having been offered by Dr. Gardiner, custody of the memorial was accepted by Mr. W.M. McLachlan, W.S., on behalf of the Kirk Session, and by Mr. J.A.S. Millar, M.V.O., W.S., on behalf of the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland. The service concluded with the singing of the hymn, "City of God", and the Benediction.

The memorial which was designed by Mr. A.G. Law Samson, the Herald painter, is in the form of a mural tablet inscribed as follows: "To the memory of Alexander Nisbet of that Ilk, author of 'A System of Heraldry', the most outstanding work on Scottish Armory. Baptised 22nd April 1657. Died 5th December 1725. This Memorial is erected by his Kinsman Robert Chancellor Nesbitt, a Freeman of the City of London and a sometime member of Parliament".

LORD LYON ON SCOTTISH HERALDRY

Following upon the unveiling ceremony a luncheon was held in the North British Station Hotel, Edinburgh, at which Mr. Robert Chancellor Nesbitt, the donor of the Memorial, presided over a company including the Lord Lyon and members of his court. Also present were Bailie Raithby, representing the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Mr. J.A.S. Millar, for the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland, the Hon. Sir Hew Dalrymple, K.C.V.O., for the National Gallery of Scotland, Dr. and Mrs. Robert Nesbitt of Ireland, and others. An interesting feature of the luncheon was the exhibition of the original MSS. In the handwriting of the Herald. In thanking his guests for attending Mr. R.C. Nesbitt acknowledged the tribute of the presence of the Lord Lyon and his court at a ceremony set 200 years after the death of the famous Herald. The Lord Lyon in reply said that Alexander Nisbet the Herald wrote about Heraldry in a sane and sensible manner, and Scotland was indebted to him for a national Heraldry which was the purest in the world.

The donor of the memorial is a kinsman of Alexander Nisbet. Their common ancestor was Sir Philip Nisbet, who married Elizabeth Haldane in 1582. Mr. Nesbitt was a Unionist member of Parliament for the Chislehurst Division of Kent from 1922 to 1924. He is a solicitor and has done professional work for both Church and State. He is an advocate of the Shanghai Bar, and from 1909 to 1926 was a member of the Council of the Law Society.

From 1920 to 1922 he was a member of the Lord Chancellor's Committee on Supreme Court Fees and on Circuit arrangements, and in 1921 he was a chairman of the Special Training Grants Committee of the Ministry of Labour, which administered £3,000,000 voted by Parliament for the training of ex-officers after the war.

Mr. Nesbitt is a director of the Union Bank of Australia, chairman of the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia, Board for Britain; and Deputy Chairman of the British Law Insurance Company. "The Scotsman", 31st May 1934.

Accompanying the above account of the ceremony, incidents, and history concerning it, The Scotsman published a large picture showing the notables participating in the churchyard at Alexander Nesbit's tomb and all other pictures showing The Lord High Commissioner Mr. John Buchan, M.P. and Mrs Buchan inspecting the memorial after the unveiling.

Otis B. Nesbitt's Library Contains

The Nisbet Heraldic Plates Ross and Grant
The Harvey Book Oscar Harvey
An American Family Charles F. Nesbit
Letters of Mary Nisbet Nisbet Hamilton Grant
Nisbet, Ross Families Blanche T. Hartman
History of the Nesbitt Family Robert Nesbitt
History of Nisbet or Nesbitt in Ireland Alexander Nesbitt
Nesbit Family John Pratt Nesbit
Several Volumes of Poems Wilbur D. Nesbit
History of Dickenson College J H. Morgan
Contains Charles Nisbet history
Millers and Nesbits (Ky) H.M. Hyatt
Cloud of Witnesses
Containing last statements of John, James and James Nisbet Jr. Martyred Covenanters.
Hundreds of letters and many notes.
NISBET HOUSE

Berwickshire, Scotland

From "The Scottish Field", February, 1933

Today Nisbet House stands very much as it did originally, the only addition is the ivy-mantled western tower. For the rest, it is a white 'harled', oblong building in the castellated style, with round towers at each end of the south side and two square towers on the north, in the centre of which is the old entrance. This is a simple lintelled doorway, surrounded with a great breadth of flat moulding, and surmounted by a heavy circular hood, with the owner's shield and initials above. At first this was the Nisbets', but on the estate changing hands, that of the Kers was substituted. In 1774, when the west tower was built, this entrance was closed, and the present doorway opened on the south side.

Messrs M'gibbon and Ross, in their noted work on Scottish architecture, thus describes the inside of the 'Castle': "The ground plan is of an advanced kind, and consists of the usual oblong structure, with rooms entering through each other and extending from side to side. In addition to the hall on the ground floor, there is a large private room, and both have chambers attached in the round towers".

Three staircases serve to unite the various storeys in the stately old mansion, two of stone, one in each of the square towers, and a modern wooden one in the added west tower. Moreover, in those rude times a man's house was in very truth his castle, built primarily for defence, and the immensely thick walls, with their numerous loopholes, tell their own tale.

There is an intense fascination; a haunting charm, about Nisbet, with the old-world air of mystery and romance inseparable from its rambling passages, spiral staircases, secret chambers, and underground passages. The steep stone steps are worn with the heavy tread of mailed feet, the loopholes battered with the hurtling force of cannon balls, and looking out of the narrow, deep-set windows in the turret, one's gaze falls on the meadow near-by, where in 1402, a bloody battle was fought with the English.

Things went badly with the men of the Merse that day, and many were the Berwickshire lairds who fell at Nisbet, never to rise again.

But those were days of feasting no less than fighting. Above the hearthstones in the old kitchen swing heavy chains, with hooks at the ends, which were used for the roasting of an ox, whole. And in intervals of border warfare there was doubtless much revelry and hospitality in the oak-panelled dining rooms. Behind the dining-room wall is a secret room with an outlet into the wide chimney of the adjoining library.

From the second floor a tiny secret staircase, now closed, leads downwards to an underground passage. This passage is believed to extend for over a mile, with an exit somewhere in the fields, and would be used in time of war for the purpose of smuggling in provisions and soldiers, or sending out spies and messengers.

'The beauty of this historic and stately house is much enhanced by its setting of meadow, wood and water. Within a stones throw of the front door a little stream bubbles noisily beneath a mossy stone bridge, while hoary oak and ash trees stand in groups about the grass or spread their giant arms above the carriage drive, and gorgeous copper beeches lend an effective note of colour, and in spring serve as a foil to the snowy blossoms of the geans1'. A winding shrubbery walk leads past the crescent-shaped flower garden, with its rose trellises and lavender beds to the herbaceous border and the kitchen garden within sheltering red brick walls. The shrubbery itself is an enchanting wild garden, for there are patches of aconite and wood anemones, foxgloves, giant hemlock, old-fashioned rose bushes, damask and maiden blush, while in February the field behind the house is carpeted with snowdrops, and in August, yellow irises line the banks of the brook".

Pictures for sale

I am having prepared a photograph of a drawing of this fine old house with the coat-of arms in the corner, which will be fit to adorn any wall or mantel. These I am offering at $1.00 each. If any profit accrues it will be used on erecting markers and improving burial places. These are appropriate for a Nisbet, Nesbit, Nesbitt. If not entirely satisfactory your money will be refunded.

Keep the above description. When you see the picture you will prize it.

O.B. Nesbit, M.D.

Another Honored Nesbit

Charles Nisbet, D.D. was called from Scotland to be first provost of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., in 1785 and remained until his death in 1804. His epitaph says he was a man of integrity and piety, in all learning most accomplished. Of reading immense, memory faithful, in real acumen of wit, pleasantry and satire truly astonishing; but to no mortal offensive, except to those who under the Cloak of Philosophy, insult religion. But to his family and friends, for manners, sweet benign, cheerful and social; beloved without a rival.

(1) Geans: A deciduous tree, native to Europe and western Asia, from which many varieties of cultivated sweet cherries have been derived.

NESBITOLOGY

Family Letter No. 2.

By Otis B Nesbit 444 Jackson Street,
Gary, Indiana,
USA
July 1, 1935.
The quest for ancestors has had its joys and sorrows, its ups and downs, in rewards and reprimands. This collection of material I am sending out contains some pleasant surprises and great rewards. Mrs. Dobson's letter is one rich reward. She saw family letter number 1 with the material enclosed. That such a crude compilation should bring such a masterly, cultured and refined history of her interesting family, spurs one on. We all enjoyed her letter so much I am sure it will bring much enjoyment and satisfaction to many of the older members of the "clan" and inspiration to some of the younger ones.

The finding of Dr. Robert Nesbit was well worthwhile and has added to my own life, and I judge from the letters received, pleasure to many.

This collection I am sending out with this is not intended to touch on all my replies. Some of these families I hope to work up as "families" and send out. Because you can not present as fine a report as Mrs. Dobson should not deter you from giving me such as you have.

I have devoted considerable space to a member of my family because I want you to know its most worthwhile member. The one whose life has had the greatest influence for good upon others. She is respected, honored and loved by all who know her.

If all goes well I may issue another letter about Christmas time and the response with the news and information warrants it. If I have time, and can, I would like to issue a letter on each family. An issue devoted to doctors, others to our lawyers; teachers; business men; preachers; Nesbit women would make a volume. Enclosed is some material on Nisbet House; pass it on if you have received it before. Several send names and addresses of relatives asking that the material be sent to them. The supply was exhausted and this could not be done until now. We will comply with these requests. Send me your family history or tell me who has it. I am wanting to locate descendants of William Nesbet who died in Brockbridge Co. Va. in 1794; and of John Berry who died in 1770; also the Kentucky Thomas family, the Templars and Aulds. Mrs. Mary Denham, Ackerly Fields of Fieldmont, The Plains, Va., has searched records and supplied me with valuable and painstakingly procured information which I feel grateful for.

"As we build monuments and erect stones to preserve national Memories, so family records deserve and should have a place in the domestic sanctum".

Oscar J. Harvey.

"We aim to know
If, long ago
Our forbears honors carried,
And if they came
In time to fame,
And whom the maids they married".

SAMUEL FRANKLIN NISBET FAMILY

Richmond, California Independent

Feb. 18, 1935.

Miss Nesbit Felicitated On Birthday.

Miss Nannie Nesbit today was happy in the possession of many telegrams and other letters of congratulation on the occasion of her eighty-second birthday yesterday, Feb. 17. Miss Nesbit received many callers at her home, 621 Bissell Avenue, and received telegrams from her brothers and other kinsmen and close friends.

Among those who sent birthday greetings was Col. Bastin, retired mail carrier, who celebrated his own birthday on Saturday 16th, and who penned the following verse:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy birthday to you Miss Nesbit,
All your neighbours are wishing today,
As we join in congratulations
To cheer you upon life's way.
Many sorrows and joys you have known;
Yet we're glad, through it all, you've proved faithful
To the causes you claimed as your own.
Many years we have known and we've loved you;
Of your worth all of Richmond will tell;
For our city is proud to own people like you,
And your fine civic spirit as well.
So we join with your friends and your neighbours,
Just to wish you the brightest of days;
May our father in Heaven enfold you
In His peace and protection, always.
May you live many years yet and prosper
In the things you're most wishing to do;
And the bread you have cast on life's waters,
Be returned in rich blessings to you.
So again, our congratulation
On a wonderful journey thus far;
May the rest of the way be so peaceful,
With never a shadow to mar.
Then, when all life's tasks are completed,
And all of your birthdays are o'er,
May the King in His beauty, reward you,
Over there on that beautiful shore.
For our birthdays below, are just milestones,
As our race in sweet patience, we run;
Ever looking to Jesus, the Author;
Who will crown when the victory's won;
Oh, the joys and the raptures awaiting,
All the pleasures of earth to transcend;
Once again to be joined with our loved ones,
And to be with them,--World without end.

Col. H. Bastin.

Mark C. Nesbit, R1 Box 101 Redwood City, Calif. wrote a fine letter. He was one of Governor Merriam's campaign organisers, and has a good appointment. Is married; his wife is secretary for the Phi Delta Kappa on Stanford Campus. His brother Paul is at Lodi, Calif. and has two children. They are sons of my brother, Rev. Samuel A. who recently celebrated his 75th birthday, and then proceeded to have a heart attack that put him down for a time. He is better. Now lives in Richmond, Calif. with his wife and daughter Carolyn who is a manager of a store in Oakland. Samuel's children appreciated the fine example lived by him, as we all do. His life has been given to the Christian Church and to those needing his services, religious and otherwise. He earned by hard effort A.B. and M.A. college degrees. Great things have happened in the Rev. E.T. Nesbit family. A daughter, Mary Templar Nesbit, arrived May 22, 1935 at Ann Arbor, Mich. to be a playmate for Nancy Alice and a joy to her parents, Dr. and Mrs. Reed M.

Miss Mildred Nesbit, a Pacadenia (sic) Calif. teacher is to marry Lon O. Bobo of San Gabrial, Calif. and will live there. If she gets what she deserves he will have to be a very fine husband.

Dr. and Mrs. Charles B. Branson of Lincoln, Neb. announce the marriage of their daughter Rachel Marion to Carroll Carson Gilbert, Apr. 27th, 1935 at Greely, Colo. Rachel was librarian at the college. She is a grand-daughter of my sister Rachel Nesbit Young who resided at Highland, Kansas most of her lifetime. She is a charming young woman and he is to be congratulated.

Mrs. Virginia Kenneth, 432 East Dover Street, Monroe City, Mo. had not been well. Her daughter, Essie May from Dryden, Wash. spent Christmas with her. Walter May, her son, is home with her. Her daughter Stella m. Edward Lenard. Her daughter ?anye m. Claude Watson of Welsh of Okalahoma, (sic) children are Parl (sic) grad. from High School last year. Earl grad. High School 1935. Irene is a junior. Claude Jr. a freshman. .......... Kenneth is home with his mother. Another son m. Man Van Slicke. We enjoyed the 'Family Letter'. The children were here and read it. We are proud of the Nesbit name. I never heard of a black sheep in the family, but I never did see or hear about a lot of them. Brother Oscar (Painter) and I are the only ones left in our family. On April 3, I will be 80 years old and I am able to do my work and cook for my son most of the time.

Oscar E. Painter. R2 Bolivar, Mo. He had been sick. He has a son James at 4203 Fifteenth Street, and a grandson Vernon at South Bend. I have ..1 grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Mrs. May Haray has sent me a lot of data on the Hiram Nesbit family. I wish she could locate his picture also try and locate Laura Speed's daughter, and see if she can get Uncles William's picture. Charley Nesbit will not answer letters.

Mrs Anna Mathews promised me more news about her family, when she heard from Dallas. I can't get an answer from John Y's boys. She sent me a lot, and a picture of her father.

Otis Cartmell and I have little financial aid on the stone wall he erected around the graves on the old farm.

Bulletin No. 19

OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT
BOISE, IDAHO
Wilber D. Vincent
April 10, 1935.
A CHAT WITH TEACHERS
THEME: HOW CAN A TEACHER PERFORM THE
GREATEST SERVICE TO HER STUDENTS?
Most of us are prone to rely on our experience when confronted with problems to be solved, questions to be answered, or philosophies to be woven. Perhaps we do this too much in the face of the fact that communication has opened a very wide opportunity for assembling the experiences of others, and striking a balance among the related data. At any rate, may I presume to answer this theme question, primarily from my own experience.

As I look back over the years, my memories are chiefly of class-room experiences. Personal contact with teachers and professors did not play a large part in my impressions. A number of teachers, however, left permanent imprints upon my mind, and I think upon my personality and character, by the things they said and did in the recitation period, in their lectures, and in their life outside of the school. In only two isolated cases did the teacher take the pains to provide a personal interview, and in each of these cases I still cherish the memory with a delight and with a feeling of extreme gratitude for the services rendered. Strange to say, the personal interviews both came with grade school teachers and in that much-maligned one-room school. The first High School teacher to make a lasting impression upon me was a lady principal, Miss Nannie Nesbit, who taught practically all of the subjects in a four years high school where there were not to exceed sixty pupils. Her contribution was, as I remember, soft-voiced, quiet mannered, but gave a thrill of inspired confidence in myself to do things. She was a careful scholar and some way had the power to make each one in the class feel that he was the individual of her extreme solicitude. She had a fine sense of humor and would laugh with us, but not at us. She had an unconscious type of dignity that made one wish to be held in her high esteem. In all of my experiences I have never been so impressed with the need for exact and careful English as in a freshman class under Miss Nesbit. We somehow caught from her the value of preparedness of our daily tasks. We learned something about poise and gentleness. We felt that our conscience was being quickened and tuned up every day in her classes. We did not do the ordinary freshman pranks because she wouldn't like such. We carefully prepared every paper because she made significant remarks wherever a comma or a period was omitted, and then very carefully discussed the meaning of those marks during the recitation period. She opened up broad new fields of reading by merely indicating in a very happy way the fine stories or the fine sentiment that might be found in certain books. And with all of this, she called us "My boys and my Girls", and had pride in us. [Blanks in the original] ...and when I had received a distinct promotion in my line of work, her letter of congratulation was the one that rang the most sincere and was by far the one most appreciated. Miss Nesbit's contribution in the way of service to her students was distinctly sincerity, effective friendship, building of confidence and an active interest in each of her pupils.

MISCELLANEOUS FAMILIES

Robert Nesbit M.D. of England wanted additional copies of Nisbet House for his children. He is delighted to have an invitation to visit Mr. Robert Chancellor Nesbitt at Nesbit House July 25. Mr. Nesbitt having rented it for a year. Picture us living in the actual place where our ancestors -- yours and mine -- lived for six hundred years and in the very house built by them nearly three hundred years ago on the site of Nisbet Castle. It is today, one of the finest mansions in Berwick Shire. His letter after this visit will be sent in my next.

** ** ** ** **

Col. Patrick Nisbet Hamilton Grant, of, Biel, Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland is living in the old ancestral home, having retired from the English Army. He published, Mary Nesbit's (Nisbet's) 'Letters to her Mother', an interesting book. The letters were found one hundred years after they were written.

** ** ** ** **

Dear Mr. Nesbit,

I know that my great grandfather came over about 1770 from Rathfryland, County Down, Ireland, where the family had gone from Fefeshire (sic), Scotland about 1600 or before. My earliest forbear in America was Joseph Nesbitt who settled and died in South Carolina. He was buried in 1788 in York. He married Sarah Miller of South Carolina. They had one son William, who moved to Georgia about 1819. Father and I were born on the same plantation that great grandfather William established in what is now Fulton County, Georgia. I am of the belief, though I have no documentary proof, that Joseph was related to Sir Alexander Nesbit of Dean Hall, South Carolina. If so, I'm probably descended from Nisbet of Dean, who, as you undoubtedly know were noted in Edinburgh as merchants.

My information such as it is, indicates that at least two branches of the family lived in Rathfryland. My branch once owned the estate known as Endale which was later the home of the Bronte sisters, famed as Irish poetesses. We are in some way related to the Arbuthnots whose descendants are in Pittsburgh, Rathfryland as well as Scotland and other countries. The name Samuel occurs several times in my family line, as do also Robert, James, John, Caleb and Allan. I do not believe that I am connected with the Connecticut, New York, New Jersey of Pennsylvania Nesbitts since their days in Ireland.

Clarence R. Nesbitt

6534 Dalzell Place

Pittsburgh, Pa.

Lorraine Nesbit, with F. Butterick Co., 333 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago; daughter of James Boyd Nesbit, now living in California. She is a cousin of Evelyn Nesbit Thaw whose father was Winfield Scott Nesbitt. He died when Evelyn was twelve years old. Lorraine promised to call me when she went through Gary but as yet, no call has reached. Also to write to her father for more information. She has a friend Hugh Nisbet in St. Louis whose mother has a full account of the Nisbets for generations. (Lucky woman). Hugh was born in Glasgow, Scotland. She quotes him that Nisbet is the correct spelling. The name derived from the Norman's pronounced Nisbay. Lorraine's grandfather came from Scotland and her grandmother was born in County Down, Ireland.

** ** ** ** **

Harold T. Nesbit M.D. 1617 Medical Arts Building, Dallas, Texas writes, "I like the picture of 'Nisbet House'. My mother is Mrs. George M. Nesbit, East View Street, Pleasantville, New York and my brother Dr. W.M. Nesbit 616 First Central Building, Madison, Wisconsin. His father was George M. Nesbit M.D. who died in Waterloo, Iowa in 1916. His grandfather came directly from Scotland to Waterloo, Iowa".

** ** ** ** **

At Schoolcraft, Mich. several fine families of Nesbitts reside. In 1828 John and Robert came from Antrim County, Ireland to the county, and in 1830 their father George (d. 1839), and his wife Susan (d. 1835), with their family arrived, acquiring land five miles north-west of the town. A monument in the cemetery marked Nesbitt attracted our attention as we were recently driving by on the highway, upon inquiring we easily located James Nesbitt, b. May 28, 1847 and learned about the family. We met Mrs. N a daughter Mrs. Southworth a widow and her daughter. Her son an M.D. is there also.

Thomas a son of John, lives at Lawton, Michigan and his son a farmer, lives nearby. This family is fortunate in knowing from whence they came and I hope to get some of its members to get up its history.

** ** ** ** **

Miss Mary J. Nesbit of Allisonville, Indiana wrote she was pleased to have the letter and appreciated it very much. She is a descendant of William Nesbit of Millersburg., Ky. Her father Joseph A. was the village doctor there for many years. Evan Woollen Sr. has a fine home in the land of his ancestor John Nesbit purchased from the government. A newspaper carried the story recently that Mr. Evan Woollen Jr. had lost an eye as the result of an auto accident in the Southern route to attend a meeting at Yale. This family is one of the best in Indiana.

** ** ** ** **

Nisbet Grammer, 53 years, died of a heart attack at Buffalo, N.Y. April 21, 1935. He was president of the Eastern Grain Elevator Corp. He was born at Evansville, Indiana on October 24, 1881 and was connected to Mr. Edward Nesbit of that city. He graduated from Yale University in 1901.

Robert H. Nisbet (N.A.)

Se. Kent Conn.

Dear Sir,

This is not an attempt to answer your letter, rather to just acknowledge its receipt. My wife has been ill; and then I took a turn at it and NO letters have been answered for a long time. Now I am trying to clean up.

While with my mother in Providence - - we went into the family history a bit. My grandfather William Nisbet - - who in his earlier days was forester for the Earl of Selkirk wrote an autobiography, in which he tells what little he knew of the family - - - and my mother provided me with a lengthy paper telling all that any of us know of our ancestors.

I have a very old coat of arms in the face of an old clock - - or rather below the face - - and could send a sketch of it if you cared for it - - I simply can not at this time copy the pages my mother gave me - - - and it might not interest you if I did. If any data I have can be of use to you - - or of interest; another time I can give you some of it. I would like to know more of our family but just now have to confess a great ignorance on the subject.

I'll try to tell you more another time.

Hastily

Robert Hogg Nisbet.

(I asked him to send material and I would copy same. OBN)

** ** ** ** **

Mrs. Daysie Nesbitt-Strader, Owingsville, Kentucky. My father James John Nesbit, Bath Co. Kentucky. March 22, 1844. His father James Monroe Nesbit only child of Hugh and Maria (McAllister) son of James and Sara (sic) Logan who was a native of Ireland. She promised to come and see me when she visits her daughter at Elmshurst, Illinois, but I have not seen her.

** ** ** ** **

Clarence C. Nesbitt M.D. Pal...yna, New York whose grandfather was John, with my father Samuel, and his brother James, Adams, (sic) and Allen and their sister Dorcas came over some time in the 40s. There have been other children but I do not know their names. This branch came to Hamlin, Monroe Co., New York. They came from Ballybay, Cavan Co., Ireland. My father told me the family originally came from Scotland. He ordered three additional pictures that his children might have one

** ** ** ** **

Don't waste your money by sending it to Annie Walker Burns Bell at Washington D.C. She will send you some dates but will find it necessary to search something else for $1.00 or something else for $10.00 and so on.

** ** ** ** **

Mrs. W.O Nisbet 517 N. Tryon St. Charlotte, N.C. wrote for a picture and promised me their history. She says Dr. Charles R. Nisbet of their city is a descendant of Dr. Charles Nesbet of Dickinson College. The Carolina Nisbets have an interesting history which I hope someone will write up. I have been told Dr. Vernon Nisbet has the time but he answers not.

42 W. Palm Lane, Phoenix, Arizona.

May 13, 1935.

Dear Dr. Nesbit:

Your information concerning the Nesbit family interested me very much and I should like to have the picture.

I am the daughter of Ira A. Nesbit a son of William O. Nesbit and his wife Elizabeth Morgan Nesbit. Elizabeth Morgan was the daughter of .......... Morgan and Lucretia Crawford Morgan. Thomas Nesbit seems to have been a foster son, born in December 1804. One story is that his parents were killed by Indians and whether his name was Nesbit, or Nesbit was the name of the Presbyterian minister who reared him nobody seems to know. There is also a story of a sister but nothing is known of her. William O, Nesbit was born in Kentucky or possibly Tennessee December 26, 1825 and they seem to have come to Sullivan Co., Indiana a few years later, probably before 1830. So little is known beyond my grandfather Thomas and it was always such a closed book that some of us thought there must have been a reason, it may have been just carelessness. I am trying to learn something of the Morgans and may learn something.

They were very ardent believers in the Christian Church and since that Church was started by Walter Scott in Kentucky, I am trying to find some trace of them in that way, but it is a long slow process from here.

If all of this story or part of it can be fitted into anything you have, I shall be most glad about it. Had I known of you last summer when I drove from Chicago to Southern Indiana, I should have tried to see you.

Mrs. E.E. Ellinwood, R.F.D. 6, Phoenix and A.L. Nesbit, 1022 N. Tenth St., Phoenix, Arizona might be interested. Mrs. Louie Gage Dennit, grand daughter of Simeon Hiatt Nesbit may be also, but I do not have her address now. I shall try to show her your letter.

I hope to go to England and Scotland next summer. If I do I shall probably want more information from you. I am so in hopes that you can tie my branch of the family in some where.

Cordially yours

Glenn A. Nesbit

(Teacher, Public Schools)

** ** ** ** **

Dr. Elizabeth Nesbitt, Box 215 Little Falls, N.J. says that her family came a century or more ago from Deer Park. Castle Comer, Killkenny, Ireland.

** ** ** ** **

Mrs. Jane Wiley Cline, 2418 Pine Hurst Blvd, Shreveport, La. is trying to trace the ancestry of Thomas Nesbit, b. 1769 m. Constance Bennington in Ky. Went to Monroe Co. Indiana and died there. His daughter Sarah was Mrs. Cline's grandmother.

** ** ** ** **

Anna B. Nisbet, Undercliff, Irvington-On-Hudson, N.Y. wrote Miss Mabel McLaughlin in 1933 that her Uncle William Nisbet has a book on the family. Wish she would tell me what it is and give me her uncle's address.

A FINE SCOTCH-IRISH CANADIAN FAMILY

Molsen Street
Montreal
Canada
May 3rd., 1935
Dear Mr. Nesbit,

When I sent you the Montreal papers I intended to follow immediately with a letter but an interruption prevented me doing so at that time, and then with the closing up of a busy winter season of various activities, the time passed so quickly that I did not realise what a long interval had passed until I received your letter.

I am a busy minister's wife of the United Church of Canada, Union of Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational Churches in an area that has felt keenly the economic depression that has prevailed so long, and which has meant for us increased time and devotion to our church work.

I read your letter to Mrs. Marion Nesbit of St. Michelle Road, and was much interested, so much so that I was anxious to get some further information and determined to take the liberty of writing you. I thought upon reading the account of the unveiling of the Memorial Tablet to Alexander Nisbet the Herald in historic old Grayfriars by the Lord High Commissioner that you would be interested to know that he whom we knew on this side of the water as John Buchan of literary fame, was to be your neighbour in the important position of King's representative as Governor General of Canada. The mayor's conference was something unique and we are not sure yet what it may have accomplished.

What I have to tell you of our branch of the Nesbitt family is largely tradition to us, having come down from the father and grandfather. We have often hoped to verify it and make it history, but have not yet had the opportunity to do so. Perhaps with the wealth of information indicated in your letter we may be able to do that. You have put a great deal into small compass in the material in the letter to Mrs. Nesbitt, and to any other family looking for general logical information you have given many suggestions.

The branch of the family to which I belong came from Co. Cavan, Ireland, and the family seat was Lismore House. They left Scotland with James I when he became King of the United Kingdom, and came to live in England. Later, about the time of Cromwell, they went to Ireland.

The name is derived from the French 'ney' and the Scotch 'ness' meaning nose plus the Anglo Saxon term 'bit' meaning bit or piece. The combined terms 'Ness-bit' are supposed to have become the surname of this people or clan, when one of their number at the risk of his life saved William II when hunting wild boar in the new forest. The King was being pursued and in danger. His companions, with the exception of one man fled and sought safety; but this one man stayed by him, slew the boar and saved the King's life. The King dismounted from his horse, told the man to kneel before him and to remove his helmet, which differed from those worn by other clans in that it had a piece which came down to protect the nose. The King then touched him on the shoulder with his riding whip and said, 'Arise Sir Nesbit'. This incident too is the foundation for the design of the Coat of Ams -- three boars heads.

I have some silver on which is engraved the crest -- a right forearm in armour with the hand holding a mace, and underneath is written the motto "Je Mainiendrai", which is supposed to date back to Norman times. It is a neat and imposing crest.

Lismore Castle must have been a fine old structure in its day, but it is now in ruins. Quite a town, known as Lismore has grown up around it. The estate which is said to contain 2,000 acres is now broken up into farms. Many of the landed gentry of Ireland were characterised as "Absentee Landlords" who spent most of their time in England and around the court, and were practically visitors on their estates. Some of our people were among them. There is a strong military strain -- in my people at least. They are very fond of horses and very clannish with any who bear the name Nesbit. When they came to this country they knew very little or nothing about tilling the soil; there were few industries; and the professions offered little. They brought a few tenants out with them hoping to establish an estate like the one they left, in this country, their slaves. (sic) The lumbering industry was the most lucrative in the early days and they engaged in that with some success; but most of our family knew more about spending money than making it. However, there must have been quite a lot of latent ability in them, for they have done remarkably well, and are very comfortably off and are represented in nearly all of the professions.

This branch of the family Church of England and one very interesting figure, Canon Andrew Nesbitt was said to be the most high church clergyman in Canada. My grand father Robert Humphries Nesbitt was the first to come to Canada. He was the youngest son of his family and I think was a graduate in medicine from Dublin. He located finally on a beautiful spot on the Ottawa River, which is now just eight miles from the capital city Ottawa. The city has grown up since that time, so you see what a wise choice he made. In 1870 the terrible fire swept the country, and fire came with such rapidity over what was then the primeval country, that almost all that they had brought over with them was destroyed; which judging from what was told me by my father, must have been considerable. They hastily buried most of their treasured possessions in the ground and fled for their lives. Among other things rescued was the large family bible which still bears a mark of the event, a large hole burned in the fine leather covering. The family Coat of Arms was another treasured possession. It was damaged to some extent and they took it afterwards to a silversmith in a distant town to be retouched, but they were unable to restore it, and we have no knowledge of what happened to it after that.

My grandfather was also name Robert Humphries Nesbitt, and his wife was Mary Bishop. The Bishop family though is one I am very proud of and are among my favourite cousins. Grandfather's eldest brother John retained the old house near Ottawa, and is mentioned in a history of the country in which he lived and in which the City of Ottawa is located, as a fine old gentleman and a superb horseman. My grandfather went further north along the river and settled with a fine colony of people from the Old Land, almost all of them army officers of distinction. One family G.W. Monk, cousin of Lord Monk the then Governor General of Canada was parliamentary representative for his country for 24 years. He had quite a noted brother, Wentworth Monk, scholar and teacher who was a great friend of grandfather, and whose portrait now hangs in the National Gallery in Ottawa. The portrait was painted by the famous artist Holman Hunt, as a mark of his appreciation of their acquaintance and friendship when they met in Palestine. Grandfather retired in later years with grandmother and went to Toronto, but when they became too elderly to live alone they came to live with us in the old home. I have always been so glad we were able to have them with us again when we were older and when we were able to appreciate and to know them better.

Grandfather had three sons, William Henry Nesbitt of Winnipeg, Robert Ambrose Nesbitt and Richard Humphries Nesbitt of Ottawa, and one daughter Mrs. B.W.J. Rogers formerly of Toronto now of Ottawa. My father was Richard Humphries Nesbitt and my mother was Catherine Ferguson. The Fergusons came from Sterling and also have quite an interesting history. Both families have always been keen politicians, the Nesbitts ardent Conservatives and my mother's people, the Fergusons, just as ardent Liberals. One of whom was a Speaker of the British Columbia Legislature a few years ago during the Liberal régime.

I am the older of my generation and was named after my grandmother Nesbitt. My brother John Henry Nesbitt one and a half years younger is still living near Ottawa. One sister Georgianna Nesbitt MacLaughlin is living in the west, and my youngest brother Robert Humphries Nesbitt, in Toronto. Humphries has been a family name for ages. I too feel strongly on the point of family. The family is the first unit of society and without it there can be no stability in either state or church.

Now, my own immediate family! I have three lovely children, just now at university age and attending McGill University of this city. Richard Nesbitt Dobson 22. Nesbitt is now writing his fourth years examinations in engineering (general course). He is hoping to get his degree this year and I think he should. He has always done well on his examination in former years, and in his first year was told by the Dean of his faculty that his standing qualified him for the Robert Bruce Scholarship. He would like very much to take a two year course in the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and get his Master's Degree there. I don't know whether or not we shall be able to arrange it. Catherine Janet Dobson 21 got her degree in arts last year and is the possessor of the Silver Arrow for archery in college sports, and a member of the champion basketball team for the inter collegiate basketball in Canada.

Anna Ethelwyn Dobson 19 just finished writing third year arts yesterday. They all entered university at sixteen and none have ever missed a year. Janet would like to enter Law next year after this years rest at home; and Anna's ambition is to specialise in English and become a literary critic or a reader for some large publishing firm. It will mean a lot of study; almost a Ph.D. I imagine, but they are all fond of their work.

My husband and I are both graduates of Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario; Mr. Dobson in arts and theology. My major subjects were English and history with lectures in philosophy from the noted lecturer Professor John Watson; also lectures in Religious Knowledge from Professor Ephrian Scott who is now with Union Seminary, New York. We also had the pleasure of lectures from him last summer during our holidays when he had charge of a course on New Testament History at a summer school at the lovely town of St. Ann's near this city.

We have both Scotch and Irish Nesbitts amongst us. The mother of one of our Senators is a Nesbitt from Ireland and knows something of our family, the portrait of another, a Scotchman, hangs on the wall of Manitoba University as recognition of his being one of its founders. A niece of Lord Willingdon, now Viceroy of India is one of the Berwich Nesbitts. Isabella Nesbitt I think was her name, she was one of the Berwich Irish families, and married Col. Osborne, Aide de Camp to Lord Willingdon while he was here as Governor General.

We had the pleasure of attending the first State Drawing Room held by Lord and Lady Willingdon on assuming office and of being presented to Lady Bessborough when she attended one of our Womens' Canadian Club Meetings here. I have always been so proud of having the opportunity of hearing our Consul give a most fascinating address on Marseilles, the seat of his former consulate a few days ago. He gave another interesting address to a group in the city which I was very sorry not to have the opportunity of hearing. It was a comparative study of Machiavelli and Montaigue, so you can imagine what interest it would hold.

The Hon. Wesley Frost is a very popular lecturer here, and is a man of very fine culture and splendid platform appearance. On Thursday evening of this week at our Y.W.C.A. I heard a delightful address from the wife of your Vice Consul here, Mrs. Keeley, on the Near East, where she spent eleven years with her husband in consular service. She has a very charming personality and I felt she was one I should like to know better. When in Ottawa, where Mr. Dobson had a pastorate just preceding the one here, I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Linnell, wife of your consul there at the time and she very kindly helped me with the programme for one of my church teas at my home, by singing a group of songs. She has a lovely soprano voice.

After two previous pastorates it was interesting for me to go back to my home city for seven years. It was during that time that the union of the three denominations took place and although it is said that, "A prophet has no honour in his own country", I was honoured with the presidency of the first Minister's Wives Association after the Union. It was quite a venture to undertake the task which seemed at first to promise difficulties but we ended the year with the finest spirit prevailing and no mention or thought of the previous divisions. This year I am president of the Montreal Minister's Wives' Association which is quite a large body and includes also wives of the College Professors.

I fear I have been saying too much about myself and work just now. There is much that I might write of concerning others that would be of more interest to you. I am gathering information for a biography of one of our clan, a very interesting character who did much for this country. I had a letter from a cousin, Evelyn Nesbitt, containing a bit of early news of four brothers who went to Ireland some centuries ago and I passed the letter on to another Nesbitt family here who are uncertain about their lineage and I shall send it to you when it is returned to me, to see how it coincides with information you have.

Some of our people who have retained the old spirit of adventure have found outlet for that adventurous enterprise in missionary work and it has achieved both success and distinction, and done much, both for their churches and their country. Military pyrotechnics have lost much of their attraction; war has lost its glory, and has come to be looked upon as a horror and something to be decried, missionary endeavour with its world interest, its broad vision, its study of all peoples and races, their customs, governments, literary, artistic, musical, and religious culture, to a certain extent replace the old activity.

Concerning some things I have said here, I would like to repeat that they are to us as yet only tradition and may not be quite correct. There are some facts upon which I would like to enlarge sometime. A few years ago, a cousin, Albert Nesbitt, undertook to look up the family tree and had a direct link back to a point between 1400 and 1500. He died a few years ago, but I think I might get access to his information if his sister is at her home now. She is alone since her parents and her brother died, and travels quite a lot. I shall be glad to pass on the information when I get it.

I should like very much to meet your wife and daughter, Allegra. What pretty names! Alice and Allegra! Have you an Edith too, an "Edith with golden hair"?

I am enclosing snaps of my family, Nesbitt and Janet recently got their graduation photographs. They are very fine; at least I think so. Anna hopes to get hers next year. Janet and Anna may possibly go to Syracuse early in June to a fraternity convention. Janet and Anna are both Kappa Gammas, which is international, and several of your prominent women are among the alumnae of the same fraternity. Mrs. Hoover, wife of the former president I think is one. There are a number of girls going and I may motor over with them as a chaperone. Nesbitt is a Delta Sigma Phi, also an international fraternity.

I am sending for a copy of Nisbet House and would also like a snap of Samuel Nesbitt's Kentucky House. I would very much like a copy of the Heraldic Plates, and later the girls want me to get some of the Tartan I have seen color copy of. That was some years ago and I am not quite sure just now of the pattern and arrangement of colors.

How could I obtain Robert Nesbitt's "History of the Nesbitt Family"? Some of the other books you mention I should like to get later. Your family letter is so interesting that I should like also to be on your mailing list and shall be glad to help with expense of output. I am enclosing postal order for $2.00 for Nisbet House and postage. Will you kindly keep any change that is left over as a D.A. account for further expenses.

I shall be pleased to help with any information I can at any time, and I want to thank you for your interest and the work you have done to revive the name of a great and a brave people.

Yours sincerely

(Mrs. W.A.) Ethel Nesbitt Dobson.

JAMES NISBET AND REBECCA LEWIS FAMILIES

Posey County, Indiana

Mrs. Alma Potter and her daughter, Dorotha of 312 E. Spring St., Princeton, Indiana, both wrote they liked the letter. Dorotha likes to hear about the "black sheep". The black sheep are always hard to find, because so many are like my sister Nancy, she has always kept our "skeleton closet" securely locked and it's mighty hard to find any bad ones.

** ** ** ** **

Ruth Nesbit of Cynthiana, Indiana was another of the younger generation who sent a nice letter. She graduated from High School last year. A daughter of Charles Nesbit! Her brother Charles was married recently. He was in Gary for a couple of days in June. He reports all well at home. One of our neighbors complained that the children are not taught to write these days. I showed her Ruth's letter and she changed the statement to "some children". This reminds me of an incident that happened in our yard. I was taking an elderly lady through the iris and she was wanting to know the name of each. We came to Jane Williamson who was not yet in bloom and I said "like all women she is late". She quietly retorted, "some women". We had about sixty friends in for breakfast to view our iris. Will be glad to trade iris with any admirers.

** ** ** ** **

Mrs. Flora Fisher has embarked in the restaurant business at Cynthiana, Indiana and Mabel writes, "her Irish Stew is a riot". Eat there if you have a chance. The Posey Co. Nesbit women are all good cooks. I drive down to the Posey County Nesbit Reunion the Sunday before Labor Day; this year it will be September 1st and what food they do bring. If you can plan to get there.

Mrs. Eva Newman is growing peonies at Poseyville and my opinion of her is that she can do anything she goes at well.

** ** ** ** **

Mrs. Sarah Reel and her dau. Edith Benn are at 4282 Almond St., Riverside, Calif. We have enjoyed an old fashioned breakfast consisting of hominy grits, toast, Arkansaw [sic] sorghum, hot cross buns, coffee with real cream; and oranges. For dinner we are having fresh green sugar peas, beefsteak with brown gravy, apple dumplings with lemon sauce. Get out your pencils, she was born Sept. 9, 1837. She in unlike the woman in Brown Co., Indiana. We were being taken up to "Bear _allow" by James Bond, County coroner, undertaker, restaurant keeper, taxi driver, and guide. As we passed the County "Poor Farm" an inmate was at the gate. Joshua said that the man had been an inmate for fifty years. His mother still in town. Mrs. Nesbit said "I would like to talk with her if she still has her faculties". To which Joshua replied, "Madam, she never had any". Sarah Reel by all account had and still has an abundance of faculties.. With your pencils note her birthday and get a letter, card, or present to her. Wouldn't hurt to send it in advance. Have three fine letters describing visits to her. Two by Mildred Nesbit and one by Alfred Endicott. Most of you dyspeptics will be drinking milk at fifty and sixty and calling yourselves old.

Mrs. Ann Louisa Nisbet McLaughlin 321 N. Main St., Henderson, Kentucky, b. June 1849 spends most of her time in a wheelchair. She likes Fanny May, chocolates and other good things, and has a yard full of nice flowers. A post card or letter does her heaps of good, and believe me, she's got more than her share of faculties. That is why some of us are so dumb.

** ** ** ** **

Onie Williams of Owensville, was killed January 1, when his car was hit by a train. Frances, his widow and his two children Anna May and Thomas and his parents Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Williams have our sympathy.

** ** ** ** **

Copy of a letter written by Mrs. William Magee Endicott (Mary Ann Rose)

at the age of 85 to Miss Mabel McLaughlin. William is 86

Cynthiana, Indiana,

May 1, 1935.

Dear Cousins,

Will write a few lines to all of you. We are neither one very well, just barely keep up most of the time. Will has been poorly all winter - lays down quite a lot. Says he doesn't hurt much, but has a very bad cough, and is so weak. He doesn't do very much, just what I can't do. We help each other with the work. The children are very good to come and look after us - did when we were both down. I had the flu I think. Will did too. He thinks it is just a deep cold ails him.

Hopes this finds you all well and happy. Would love to see you. Sure hope to some time.

We are having lots of rain. A little cool tonight. We have fifty young chicks. Get over five dozen eggs a day. Have only three hens sitting now. Not trying to raise so many this year.

Well my hands cramp so I will have to close this time.

With lots of love to all.

MARY ANN ENDICOTT.

** ** ** ** **

Claremont, California

February 15, 1935.

Dear Sir, and Relative,

Your 'Family Letter' reached me in due course. I have been much distressed at not being able to acknowledge its receipt - to tell how greatly I enjoyed every part of it. My illness has been wearing me down and I've not had the strength to do so. This afternoon I have asked my wife to again put the machine beside me so that I might write you, also Mabel, brief letters. Having come to the place where I can no longer keep up my correspondence .... write any bits of verse or story ... or assemble any more data for my memoirs ... the hours of the days and nights seem very long; and I suppose too ... makes me more sensitive to my weaknesses and suffering. There are so many things one wants to do when they reach the stage where it is no longer possible to do them. How I wish I had become more 'family conscious' earlier in life ... that is that I might have had the opportunity of knowing you all better ... such a 'hobby' as getting better acquainted with the living and learning more about our forebears might have been the 'foil' needed to have made the going easier .. have offset some of the endless nerve wrecking strain that a strenuous business life put upon me ... might have in some measure been a preventative medicine that would have kept me going for many years. On Monday next, the 18th I will have reached my 68th anniversary - much too young to be shelved isn't it? I cannot foresee what is ahead ... a complexity, of ailments may bring me to an end of the road soon, or it may be that I shall have to suffer them indefinitely, no one seems to know .. that is hidden in the veil that surrounds us in life. There seems nothing we can do about it all, but wait as patiently as one can ... and to be patient is hard for me to be.

If by circumstance or fate I may come to a full recovery that will enable me to carry on as I could a while ago, I shall hope to be the recipient of what-so-ever you may have to offer the 'family' and to, if I can, reciprocate with anything informative that may come to me. Meanwhile for this time I have about reached the limit of my strength and would better stop, but hoping that you will sense from this how much I appreciated your 'family letter' and how interested I am in all of the happenings in which your family has a part.

Roseanne, my wife, is as completely shut in as I am; her job is a never ending one ... nursing me thru the weeks and years. February 5th, just passed was our 45th anniversary ... 45 years ... of them, those filled with sunshine ... others as now ... when the clouds hang heavy about us, but through them all she has been the anchor that moored me to life .. 'tis only by the grace of God and her valiant help that I am still here. My .... our love to you and yours.

Sincerely yours

Alfred Berry Endicott

1927 Dartmouth Avenue.

** ** ** ** **

Mrs. Beatrice Nesbit Oppenheim our youngest daughter came home from Singapore via Switzerland and England for a visit, leaving her husband Alexander, in England visiting his parents at Manchester. He had been in Zurich and Cambridge Universities. He is a Professor of Mathematics at Raffles College, Singapore and on ten months leave. He arrived June 1st. He had a fine visit and enjoyed them very much. Beatrice and Alexander are at the University of Chicago for the summer. Will return to Singapore in late summer. Beatrice has been away four and a half years; in Edinburgh, Scotland and three years in Singapore with vacation trips to Japan, China and places near them. They have many things to relate which they do in a very entertaining way. Beatrice did not get into Scotland and did not bring the tartans. Professor Oppenheim was at Bayler College, Oxford for seven years and received his Doctors from Chicago after being there three years.

Dr. Reed Nesbit of Ann Arbor appeared before a long list of surgical and scientific societies this year presenting papers on unusual interest and value. There are more than forty Nesbits in the A.M.A. Directory of Physicians and Surgeons in the U.S. and Canada. (Beatrice and Reed should be under Samuel F. Nesbit).

NISBET HOUSE

Duns

Berwickshire

Scotland

This House, originally called Nisbet Castle, in some documents Nisbet House, and in one, The Place of Nisbet, is situated in the Land of Nisbet, two miles south of Duns, the county town of Berwickshire. The entrance gate is on the road which leads to the River Tweed and the border with England, ten miles distant.

It was built during the reign of Charles I by Sir Alexander Nisbet of that ilk with the aid of his wife Dame Katherine Swinton on the foundations of the old Castle of Nisbet which had stood there for many centuries.

It is a fine characteristic specimen of the picturesque style of castellated architecture which prevailed in Scotland during the seventeenth century, and is in a state of complete preservation. Signs of defence are visible in the numerous shot-holes, and the burn that curves across the park is evidence of the moat which at one time surrounded the castle.

In 1774 the arrangements of the castle were remodelled and a square tower was added at the western end. An entrance door was provided on the south side, which is now the front of the house. A full description is given by MacGibbon and Ross in their authoritative work, "The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland".

Sir Alexander Nisbet was the eldest son of Sir Phillip Nisbet who married in 1582 Elizabeth Haldane, daughter of John Haldane of Gleneagles, Perthshire, where Broderick Chinnery-Haldane is today the present Laird. According to Nisbet's Heraldry, Sir Alexander "was most conspicuous for his bright parts and dutiful loyalty to his Sovereign King Charles I" and, in his own words "suffered most sadly both in his person and estate to the utter ruine (sic) and undoing of himself, family and children".

With the defeat of the Royalist cause, the lands of Nisbet were lost to the family and though, after many years of exile, Sir Alexander in 1660 petitioned Charles II for restoration of his estate, it finally passed into other hands.

The stone bearing the Nisbet Arms, placed over the entrance by Sir Alexander, though removed from its position, still reposes in a good state of preservation in the burial vault adjoining the House.--- A description from Scotland.

Upon the lands where the House stands the Nisbet family may have had its beginning. Certain we are that the land was in its possession for 600 years before the House was built about 300 years ago. Have a fine photograph 8 x 10, a reproduction from Alexander Nisbet's Heraldic Plates, which was taken from a pen drawing in MacGibbon and Ross book. At a $1.00 each, 3 for $2.00 at same address. Have had orders from 12 states and two foreign countries with several repeats. They all like it.

Otis B. Nesbit, F.A.C.P., M.D.,

444 Jackson St., Gary, Indiana

U.S.A.

WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT THE PICTURE

"It is a thing of beauty". Rev. S.A. Nesbit, Oakland, California.

"Yesterday's mail brought the beautiful Nisbet House picture. I took it right down and had it framed. It's great. We all appreciate it very much".

N.L. Nesbit, Richmond, California.

"I received the picture alright [sic]. I liked it immensely. It provides a setting for dreams of the old hairy- chested Nesbitts who butched their enemies and cattle with equal 'sangfroid'".

Charles T. Nesbitt, M.D., Wilmington, N.C.

"I think it is excellent and I'm sure there should be a number of clan who will be glad to get it. Mrs. Nesbit thinks you have made great strides this past year for the Nesbit cause".

Rev. John Pratt Nesbit, Princeton, Indiana.

** ** ** ** **

The insert is the picture of the family shield cut in stone and placed over the door by Alexander Nisbet. When John Ker acquired the place in 1652 he had this stone, on which they were carved, removed and placed in the burial-vault adjoining the House, A.N. for Alexander Nisbet and D.K.S. for Dame Katherine Swinton, his wife.

The picture of the house originally appeared in the Messers MacGibbon and Ross publication on "Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland", and were reproduced in "Alexander Nisbet's Heraldic Plates" by Ross and Grant in 1892. It was from these plates that the photograph was made.

Nisbet House is still described by Dr. Robert Nesbitt as one of the show places of Southern Scotland. The lands upon which it has been built was known as West Nisbet and had been held by the family for about six hundred years. The house was built on the site where the castle had been demolished. It was built probably between 1633 and 1641, about the time Alexander Nisbet was knighted. Upon these lands the family is said to have had its origin.

Send Family Data

If your family history is not contained in the Nesbit books listed, send me a card telling me about your family, or who has the information, and if I do not have your family line I will write you. If I have any information you want, ask for it. Send me what you have.

O.B. Nesbit

444 Jackson Street

Gary, Indiana, U.S.A.

NESBITOLOGY

Family Letter No. 3.

by

O.B. Nesbit. 444 Jackson Street,
Gary, Indiana,
USA.
December 31 1935.
ALWAYS CHRISTMAS

Wilbur Dick Nesbit
Used to think that Christmas was nothin', but a day
To get a lot o' presents an' to give a lot away.
Shouted "Merry Christmas!" an' helped to trim the tree--
Just a day o' Christmas was all that I could see.
Since I found that Christmas is more than any day,
Christmas came to our house--an' never went away.
Struck me a sudden that friendliness an' cheer
Was meant to be a duty more than one day in the year!
If we're happy Christmas, why not the day before
An' the day that follows, an' so on, evermore?
Got to thinkin' of it--an' that is why I say
Christmas came to our house--an' never went away.
Lots of us go ploddin' along the road o' life
An' think that one day o' gladness will make up for all the strife--
But the Christmas spirit can show you how you need
To make each day a Christmas in thought an' word an' deed--
Used to pack the kindness in camphor balls next day
Till Christmas came to our house--an' never went away.
We just keep on given' to strangers an' to kin
An' find that what is goin' out is always comin' in;
Makes the sunshine brighter where we've got to live
To learn that given' 's keepin'--what you keep you give.
Holly in December, an' violets in May--
An' Christmas came to our house an' never went away.
Used to think that Christmas was nothin' but a date
Till I learned that truly you would never have to wait,
But that it's the spirit that never stays apart
If you let it find you, an' keep it in your heart.
Since I found that Christmas is more than just a day
Christmas came to our house --an' never went away!

Copyright P.P. Volland 1920

Copies of Letter No. 2 and this edition will be sent on request, as long as our supply lasts

NISBETOLOGY

NISBET FAMILY LETTER NO. 3

December 31, 1935.

Our Christmas party for the children on Jackson Street in our block was a success. Twenty eight were able to attend. Seven were absent on account of sickness or away from the city. Allegra was at her best and had taken great interest in having the things just right. Ella Vincent came over from Valporaiso to help. They decorated the big table in the basement with a snow scene of trees, of house, of animals, of children etc. It seated eighteen, six boys were seated and another four older girls who helped out; four mothers ate upstairs. Alice had baked cookies. We served brick ice cream with Christmas centers, cookies, candy and nuts. We gave each a sack of candy and a small present. Their ages ranged from two to fifteen.

Ruth Rockwell came home on Saturday and decorated the Christmas tree in the dining room. Sunday, she and Allegra went to Chicago to a birthday dinner for Ruth at a friend's. They stayed all night, going to Wisconsin to be with her aunt and Allegra returning home. Cara and Ella Vincent and Mr. and Mrs. A.W. Roberts and Miss Dorothy were with us for Christmas dinner. The dinner was the best that Alice ever provided.

Rev. Harvey Swanson, pastor of the Uniturian [sic] Church at Buffalo, New York and his wife Dorothy (Wood) were visiting Dr. Parker's. She is a sister of Mrs. Parker. They had come to officiate at the wedding of her cousin Madeline Conroy, of Hammond, to Abraham David Miller a dentist at Joliet, Illinois, a family affair. The wedding party was at Parker's for dinner. Madeline has been a domestic science teacher in the Hammond Schools and is a charming, smart girl. Callers kept us from getting up to the Parker's until 8 o'clock so we missed seeing them.

Mark Nesbit took a motion picture camera up to the Mildred Nesbit wedding at Colusa, California last summer and took a picture of my brothers, Samuel A. and Edward T., their families, sister Nannie, and some friends. I have a copy. The Roberts took the Vincent girls home with them and showed them these pictures and others. We had a one hundred foot film run of our family before Beatrice and Judith left, but a balky camera ruined it and it was not a success. If Reed Nesbit, Leon Young, and others of my immediate families will send me copies of any strip of their families, I would be pleased to assemble a family picture. Please keep it in mind. I hope we can get a motion picture of the Family Reunions as they are held, too. Don't you think it would add interest?

We had a white Christmas. A light snow fell all day and night, Tuesday. The temperature was about eighteen degrees above zero at five o'clock Christmas morning and a blizzard was upon us. The temperature dropped rapidly and was near zero by 8 a.m. when it began rising and by seven p.m. was up to twenty five. This morning the sun is shining, the sky clear, but it's around zero again.

Rev. John Pratt Nesbit, 215 N. Prince St., Princeton, Ind. would like to hear from descendants of Alexander Nisbit who settled in Georgia and are members of Sir Alexander Nisbet's family.

REV. WILLIAM NESBIT VINCENT pastor of the Presbyterian Church Fort Wayne, Indiana, spoke at the Men's Dinner in the 43rd Ave., Presbyterian Church here. We attended. He made a good speech. Is son of a missionary. Lived many years in S..., his mother Mary Nesbit. Wrote to his aunt Mrs. Mary Nesbit MacDonald, Tekamah, Neb. Her grandfather John Nesbit brot (sic) from Ballabay, Ireland when two years. Settled in Bradford Co., Pa. the locality name Ballabay. Uncle Andrew David dead. Richard G. in Cannon City, Col. (Hope he sends me data on family including dates and marriages. O.B.N.)

** ** ** ** **

COUSIN SARAH REEL who celebrated her 98th birthday Sept. 9, 1935 and her daughter Mrs. Edith R. Benn arrived at 208 South Race Street, Princeton, Indiana from California, to visit the scenes of her childhood and early married life. She belongs to the Rebecca Nisbet Lewis (Aaron) family who came to Posey County. Ind. in 1818 from Harrison Co., Kentucky. Her letters and interviews have been helpful in tracing the Samuel Nisbet family to which I belong. O.B.N.

** ** ** ** **

LEIGH M. NISBET, 41 Sawyer Rd., Wellsley Hills, Mass. finally responded with an enclosure of a picture of Nisbet House and a bit of his 'tree'. I have been writing him since 1928. I called on his father J.A. Nisbet in his bank at Zenia, Ohio and had a pleasant chat and he directed me to the Talbot Cemetery on the Columbus Pike where a lot of Nisbets are buried. It was one of the best kept country cemeteries I have ever visited. J.A. Nisbet told me his son had a history of his family and he would send it to me. I have written Lee but no response till now. Thanks though late. He is now at the above address and is a professional Boy Scout Executive. He says the family historian is Miss Flora B. Nisbet, Zenia, Ohio. I hope I get a lot of information from her. He says "tradition has handed down the story that they came down from one of the sons of Hardihill (sic), but they do not know which son. According to the records James Nisbet came to So. Carolina about 1787 from County Antrim, Ireland, with his son John who was twelve years of age. In due time John begat; Samuel who moved to Cedarville, Ohio in 1834 with a covenanter delegation. My father John Alexander was his son. My son John died but the blood will pass on in our daughter, Nancy. There are two generations missing between John of Hardihill (sic) and our authenticated records. We have a copy of 'Scots Worthies' which came to America with James".

(Where is it, I want to see it some time. O.B.N.)

He enclosed a letter Jack Nisbet son of William at Richland, Wisconsin, dated Dec. 30, 1922,. William was born in Scotland near Ayr, his mother near Glasgow. His gr. fat (sic) John son of Hugh lived in Dunlap, living in 1992 in Chiwacum, Wash., with an uncle John, Hugh and Tom. If Jack or a Nisbet gets this I hope he will send me more news on his family, and that Miss Flora B. Nisbet will send me all she can on her family. I would like to help out several descendants of the Carolina families.

One of my cousins says my great grandfather had a brother who in early days was editor of a magazine, paper or something in Carolina. If any of you find any reference to such a publication, I would like to learn about it.

MISS BREVARD NISBET of Macon Co., received her A.M. degree in chemistry at Mount Holy, Okla. last June and spent summer travelling abroad. She received her A.B. from Wellsly College. Her father was Otis Brevard Nisbet. He had been dead a number of years. Her mother married Mr. Roy Stubbs. A neighbor brot (sic) me a clipping from the Macon Telegraph containing her picture and the notice. The Nisbet girls do things, as well as the boys. Hope she will send me her 'family tree' that her mother preserved for her.

NESBITT COMMUNITY NEAR MARSHALL TEXAS

MISS MANDE NESBITT, 601 West Grand, Marshall, Texas wrote Mrs. G.L. Cline of Shreveport. "My grand parents were both Nesbitts. My mother Willie Nesbitt, m. a second cousin, William Thomas Nesbitt. My gr. grand parents came from Ireland and settled in Nashville, Tenn. My grand parents came to Marshall, Texas and settled seven miles N.W. of here, known as Nesbitt Community.

Our gr. grand mother came from Scotland. My mother is seventy two.

(Wish you would work up your family tree giving dates and names, achievements, etc. O.B.N).

** ** ** ** **

MRS. JANE PATTEN, Windsor, Mo., 94 years, October 31, 1935. She is the daughter of John Nesbit and Sarah Steele, son of John and Mary McClure Nesbit son of William Nesbit and Agnes McClintock of Bourbon Co., Ky. William came to Ky. in 1775 returned to Pa., was a Rev. soldier, died in Ky. Jane married Hugh Patten has two daughters. One has taught 30 years in Windsor Schools. These and other facts told in a letter written by her October 19.

The Hiatt Book on Millers of Millersburg contains the William Nesbit family history.

** ** ** ** **

The Walter Nisbet family and the Lamborn's have had a family reunion at or near Peru, Indiana on the first Sunday after Labor Day for several Years. We attended this year. About sixty were present. A group of nice folks. The Nesbits came down from Wm. Nisbet who came to Canada then to the U.S., lived in Pennsylvania in Kentucky and on to Ohio where he died. Walter Nisbet of Peru is its family historian. He has the old bible and much data. The Lamborn family is fortunate in having a fine lineage which has been well preserved. Atty. W.O. Lamborn, 620-165th Street, Hammond, Indiana has the Lamborn Book which carries the family to England back to 1199.

They enjoyed seeing the Nisbet tartans and the pictures of Nisbet House we took down. The women do know how to prepare good food.

** ** ** ** **

HENRY GRAY, Book store, 1, Church Field Road East, Acton, London, W.3., England, supplied me with "History of the Nisbet or Nesbitt in Scotland and Ireland", by Alexander Nesbitt of Lismore, Co. Cavan, Ireland, compiled by his widow Cecilia Nesbit, June 1889, printed by Andrew Tredale, 13 The Strand, Torquay, for which I paid £2/2/0, or $7.87 in 1921.

Mrs. Mary James of Paris, Ky. has been searching early Bourbon Co. records and is quite sure that her ancestors William Nisbet, Jeremiah, Nathan, Thomas, Robert and Samuel were brothers. William, Samuel and Jeremiah came down from around Millersburg, Pa. with the Miller and McClintock families. The Samuel in her list is a different Samuel from my gr. grand father who came from Virginia. Her Samuel died in Bourbon Co. and mine died in Harrison. Her Samuel died about twenty years before mine. Her Thomas may be the one Mrs. Cline of Shrevesport, La. is interested in.

Wilbur Dick Nesbit b. Zenia, Ohio, Sept. 16, 1871 d. Chicago 1927; poet; writer, advertiser and toastmaker. Son of Harvey Nesbit, son of John Nesbit: the same John referred to in the Leigh Nesbit notes. I knew Wilbur, and will sometime devote some space to him. I am injecting this in answer to some inquiries. His widow and two sons survive. His poems should be assembled and printed in one volume, which has not been done.

"HELL HOLE OF CREATION" by L.M. Nesbitt, English mining engineer born in Rome 1891, the grandson of an English army officer who settled there in 1848 on retiring from the Bengal Army. He grew up in Italy, attended the Camborn School of Mines. From here he went to Africa, worked in several mines, returned to Italy in 1916. Then to the United States, Cuba, Canada, Venezuela, Columbia and back to Africa; organised an expedition to explore the Abyssinian Danakil of which the "Hell Hole of Creation" is an account. Published by Alfred A. Kopf, New York 1935, price $3.75. If any of you want a hair-raising account of adventure, here it is. He was killed in the crash of a Dutch air-plane in Switzerland, July 1935. Should anyone have more about this family, I would like to have it.

"THE BASTABLE CHILDREN", by Edith Nesbit, an English woman writer of children's stories, who lived in England and died I think in 1933. I have always wanted a volume of her stories. She was read in England as Louise Alcott, was in the United States. This and others of her books have been printed in this country for the first time and I commend them to you who need stories for children. Coward, McCan Inc., publishers. Her biography was written by Doris Langle Moore in 1933. Her husband was Hubert Bland. I have been unable to find this book in Chicago.

A number of my mailing list have not sent me their family history. I am hoping they will do so. I am looking for data on the Wm Nisbet family of Rockbridge Co., Va. James Templer of Virginia, Ohio, Mo., and Kansas. The Auld family and the Nancy Thomas family. If some of you do not evidence more interest, your names are going to be dropped from my list.

Thanks to the great number who have sent cards and letters. They indicate this Nisbetology has many readers. This is a new word coined by Dr. Robert Nesbitt this summer.

My best wishes to you and yours,

Otis B. Nesbit.

444 Jackson Street,

Gary, Indiana,

USA.

December 31, 1935.

INTRODUCING ALICE NESBIT - MY WIFE

Last year as the bells rang out the old year and rang in the new, we wondered what pleasures the year 1935 would bring us.

Only a few weeks elapsed of the new year when we were delighted, to hear that our daughter Beatrice and husband had been given a ten month leave from Raffles College, Singapore where he is a professor of mathematics, and would spend some time with us here. They purchased 'Round the World' tickets and came via England. Beatrice's letters were filled with interesting tales of their visits at Zurich, Paris, London, Manchester, and six weeks at the University of Cambridge where Dr. Oppenheim worked with his old professor Dr. Hardy of Baliol, Oxford and also lectured there.

The first of January we had the beauties of Florida, told us by Allegra who spent her holiday vacation there. In February we enjoyed hearing of an interesting meeting at Atlantic City of the National Deans' meeting, the superintendents meeting of the N.E.A., which Allegra attended, also having a day visit with her father's old boyhood friend Dr. Dell Kercher in Philadelphia.

The last of April brought Beatrice, telling of her trip from England, and visits with friends at Princeton and the Reed Nesbits at Ann Arbor. Dr. Oppenheim arrived in May in time for the annual iris breakfast, we had for our friends interested in our many varieties.

The last of June we had the pleasure of a fine visit with brother Edward and Effie Nesbit of Colusa, California. While they were here we had a four day trip seeing some of beautiful Wisconsin, and giving sister Effie a chance to visit her brother Samuel Miller at Green Bay.

We spent many days during July and August in Chicago as the Oppenheims took an apartment near the Chicago Campus, while the doctor did some research work at the University of Chicago. The announcement August seventeenth of the arrival of the first grand child was one more added pleasure of the year. We had Beatrice and the dark-haired blue eyed little doll, as our friends call her, in our home for six weeks before leaving. Dr. Oppenheim left for Singapore the first of September to be at Raffles College for the beginning of another year.

The family decided I should see Beatrice and Judith off for Singapore (and take a lot of pictures of Judith by and show and talk about the baby too. Effie brot (sic) a bag of pictures of Mary Templer Nesbit's pictures and everybody had to see them. (I guess Alice got even with her. O.B.N.). I wish we could have had a picture of us four as we entered the North Western Station the morning of October 29th en route for Vancouver, over the Canadian Pacific R.R. The porter remarked there was plenty of room in the apartment if we had not so much baggage. Judith enjoyed the trip and cooed and smiled.

(Grandma says not a cry on the trip. Believe it or not. O.B.N.). I was glad to see the beautiful Canadian Rockies in their garb, with the pine with their long white gloves of snow, as Beatrice spoke of them. My first view of the Canadian Rockies was six years ago in their Autumn colours. We met lovely people en route, many of them going on the Empress of Canada with Beatrice. The morning of November 2nd, after looking over the Empress of Canada and saying farewell to the children, I entered the Princess Alice bound for Seattle, and at four o'clock saw the Empress of Canada at Victoria (on Vancouver Island), sail away, on its long voyage to Hong Kong via Honolulu.

After spending Sunday with cousins Dr. and Mrs. MacWhinnie at Seattle I enjoyed the beauties of Portland for three days visiting Mrs. Whinnie's mother, Mrs. Tessie Williams Ingold. I was interested in meeting a Mrs. Scott of Portland whose husband has cousins (Nisbets) at Dallas, Texas. I found fourteen Nesbetts and one Nisbet in Vancouver, fifteen Nesbetts in Portland, in the phone books.

A night and day trip from Portland brought me to Williams, California, where a ten mile bus trip brought me to Calusa, the home of Edward Nesbit, pastor of the Christian Church. I enjoyed a weeks visit with brother, Effie and sister Nannie who is with them this winter. Nannie had not been in her usual good health, and brother went for her, and their excellent care was bringing her to her usual good condition. I was interested in seeing the country with prune orchards and rice fields. (But, how she talks of California weather. O.B.N.). Sunday, had the pleasure of having brother Edward give an interesting sermon on 'Prayer', sister Effie presiding at the organ. After church, we enjoyed a fine turkey dinner and having our niece Marie, and husband, Mr. B. Butler with us.

A day and two nights at Richmond with our brother, Rev. Samuel Nesbit, and family and a delightful evening with some of the nieces and nephews, at the beautiful home of our nephew and wife, and sons Charles McCray, one of the pleasures of my Richmond visit. Two days with my cousins of the Pierces seeing beautiful Santa Barbara was another added pleasure.

From there to Glendale where I was met by our niece Mrs. Mildred Nesbit Bobo of San Gabriel. After seeing some of Pasadena I was taken to the nieces new home and met her interesting family. I had the pleasure of their company Sunday attending the services at Universalist Church of Pasadena. Three days with my cousins the Gene Woods at Pasadena, they taking me to our friends Miss Ina Martins at N. Hollywood for two days. From Los Angeles to Denver where I visited Mrs. Wm. Hutton and George Hilton's, cousins, for three days, a nice visit to Manhattan, Kansas with Dr. H.T. Groody and family, our son, as we call him. It was here Thanksgiving noon I had first news of Beatrices' safe arrival Nov. 28th at Singapore. A cable received from the professor at home that morning was repeated in a telegram to me, telling of the safe arrival of the children, Beatrice completing her trip around the world. Not everyone can get a telegram dated the same day. It was received Nov. 28, the date of their arrival and the cable was Nov. 28. They are one day ahead of us, and with our time they arrived Nov. 27.

My last stop was a delightful ten hour visit with our new-found cousin Lina Boysen and family at Kansas City. My family met me in Chicago Nov. 30th and took me shopping and to the 'Fat Stock Show' in the p.m., staying for the 'Horse Show' at night. It was exceptionally fine this year.

We had the pleasure of a two day visit from our cousin Mrs. Hardy of Kansas City and I hope all of you Nisbets may have the pleasure of knowing these lovely newly found cousins.

Christmas is over and we find ourselves with many lovely cards from friends and relatives from near and far; maple sugar from our good new friends the Rev. and Mrs. Dobson of Canada; fruit and nuts from California; fruit cake from Ann Arbor Nesbits; air mail from Singapore, and tardy mail from the Oppenheims in Hong Kong; cards from Honolulu from Mrs. Bells Pierce who is visiting the Islands. I hope all who read these letters had as Merry Christmas as we, and that the bells of 1936 will ring in for all; peals of happiness, good health and prosperity.

Uncle Charles and Aunt Maggie Vincent celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary yesterday at Porter, Indiana. We attended. They are looking fine and appear good for many more years. All their children and grandchildren except one, were with them.

Uncle Charlie is the only surviving child of Martin and Mercy Pierce Vincent, a son of Richard and Margaret Alley Wilsie who came to Lake County, Indiana from Milan, Ohio, from New York State. I have four D.A.R. bars on the Pierce line; one on the Seth Pattee line, and joined on the Moses Wood line. Have these if they will take out of one. (sic). I would like to get in touch with anyone having my Vincent history behind Richard.

Your new correspondent,

Mrs. Alice Vincent Nesbit

(She worked so hard with the children's party that she has forgotten all about it. Then I thought she would tell you about Miss Florence Gray who has been in Lorado Taft's Studios for ten years and a school friend of Beatrices's, making a model of Judith's head and Beatrice having her make one for Grandma to have on her mantel. It was made when about six weeks old. Then, how she omitted telling you about the John Wood family reunion; and it's celebration of it's century in this country and her anniversary address as president, is beyond me. I thought she would put it into the letter so you could see who she is. O.B.N.

** ** ** ** **

JOHN ORR, bookseller, 74 George St., Edinburgh, Scotland supplied me with "Nisbet Heraldic Plates" at $15, "Cloud of Witness", Story of the covenanters at $3.

DIRLETON JOHN NISBET, Lord, 1609-1687. Wrote a volume on "Some Doubts and Questions in the Law". Volume published in Edinburgh in 1698. Portrait in front of the volume in this library.

Letter from Alfred Berry Endicott

A Descendent of James Nisbet of Posey Co. Indiana

(Thank you cousin Alfred. O.B.N.)

Dear Doctor Nesbit:

For the moment I seem to have an added bit of strength... hence I can lie here and attempt a bit of 'one- finger' typing to get off a few Must letters long overdue. How much of it I will be able to do, is problematical, for usually, just when I think that I am coming up - I flop.

I trust that the pencilled acknowledgment of the receipt of the etching of Nisbet House assured you how greatly I appreciated the kindly act. I do not know if I told you this, or not, but it so happened that there was in our house a little frame into which the etching fitted perfectly---just as tho' 'twere made for it, so, it hangs across the room from me, and directly within my sight all the while. Your family letter and the Nisbet data accompanying it is filed in the supplement of my memoirs that I was trying to write to be passed on to my only grandchild - John Paul Endicott. I doubt that I will be able to complete them for him. It is with avid interest that I read all such matter, and I cannot begin to tell you how greatly this new and renewed contact with members of the family has helped me throughout these many weary days and nights of illness. You see, I can conjure up many things to think about in connection with the family and its history...no trouble at all to go a wandering and imagining... not necessary at all to have facts.. legend and tradition form, perfectly, a base upon which to reconstruct the age old movement of our people down across their ancient homelands, then westward across the seas. I conclude in my imaginings, that I will not push any further back, than to the point where the research of yourself, and others, place the probable beginnings of the line...you see, I'm not sure that I want to acknowledge those old Northmen-Vikings-Pirates as being forebears of ours. Yet, after all, they had "what it takes".. initiative.. courage.. skill.. and determination; and most things else needed to enable them to overcome obstacles that stood in their way, albeit tho' some of the methods to do so were pretty barbarous. I wonder if it may not be that our present civilization has not become, in some ways, too soft. Anyway, my undying thanks go to cousin Ann Louisa and Mabel for their having (after discovering me) shared the results of their research with me, thereby awakening my interest in 'family' lore and personages. Likewise, to those others of you who have supplemented that which they did, in so generous a manner.

Well, as I suspected I would, I went "haywire".. the foregoing undated, but it was days and days ago-- now, I am trying it again. It is now July 13th (just for the record in case). Meanwhile, there came to me your family letter of July 1st., and WAS it enjoyed! Read and re-read, until I can almost repeat a lot of it. so much of its contents I would like to comment upon.. starting to do that, of comments there would likely to be no end. However, I cannot refrain from making some.. the tributes to the elderly one who gave of herself so wonderfully to youth through the years.. helping them to build character along with the attainment of knowledge.. why, that makes her (in youthful slang) "tops" to me. Now, she wouldn't appreciate my using the King's English in such a manner, I know, but to such a one as she, it is fitting that obeisance should be made.. no more worthwhile thing is ever done than the building of character, Christian character, into our youth.. it must be that she has done her full share of that, and her memories of her long life 'giving of herself' certainly should be paying her dividends of happiness now. Coupled with the above is your defence of the young High School girl who wrote you from Cynthiana. I wouldn't know just why it should have been said that "children are not taught to write these days".. I have been thinking that a lot of our youngsters can write exceedingly well.. can too, get up on their feet and think, and talk. Before I was put on the shelf I, here in Claremont, was having a perfectly grand time and there amongst the young people and, as an onlooker, imbibing some of their spirit, whether it be listening to their debates - revelling in the music they produced - sitting in on a football rally (whooping it up just as tho' I belonged) - or reading one of the libraries, of which we seem to have our full share. We virtually live upon a college campus - directly across the street is an unimproved area, which, will in time be filled with buildings.. just across this area, one block away, is the campus of Scripps College for women - a very high class boarding school with a student body of approximately 250 and an equipment of buildings superlatively lovely. One half block down and across the street (on our side of the street) is the main building of Claremont Colleges (graduate school and coordinating unit for the colleges, now here to come). This building houses the official staff of Claremont Colleges and a great reference library. Just below lies the campus of Pomona College (the old college) a co-educational institution with a student body, limited to less than one thousand - it too, magnificently equipped in every way. The Pomona library is 'Carnegie' endowed. Down in the village we have a branch of the Los Angeles County Free Library, houses in a specially built building - not large but a 'dream' of a place. Down the street a block and one half away is the home of President Blaisdell of Claremont Colleges.. the same distance up the street finds President Jaqua of Scripps College living.. next door to us lives Mrs. Virginia Judy Esterly, assistant to President Jaqua. So, you see, what with all these surroundings, physical and mental.. I should be able to absorb some degree of education, were I not shut-in away from it all.. to keep youthful, in spirit if not in body, as see (sic) these young folks passing and re-passing our home.

A long time ago, in our mid-western home, I was privileged, for many years, to be a rather active member of our school board-- do you wonder then that I'm FOR the young folks NOW? This old world is in a pretty (pardon the word, but nothing else expresses its condition, for me) rotten shape, but I am betting on our young folks.. they are falling heir to a fearful mess, but they will come thru and clean it up if given one bit of a chance at it. Interesting too, the letter from Mrs. Dobson.. what a mighty lot of good things may be expected from a family group such as she has! I think I was more interested in forecasting the possibilities ahead of such a group, than I was in all the interesting data (and it was interesting) she gave us. Of these comments there seems to be no end (as I said it might be).

In view of your interest in the doings of the members of the clan it may not be amiss if I devote a paragraph to one of them close to me - true it is, he is away out on a limb from the trunk of the tree, but I feel he will qualify for a place on the family roll. I speak of John Paul Endicott, our only grandchild; you have him placed, I think, thru me, back to great grandfather James Nisbet. Just past 17 - graduated from Panama High School in June. Of his accomplishments, his four great grandparents, all living near him here, are just a little proud -- maybe it is not modest to say this, but we are pleased with what he has done - and that's that!.. He made the California Scholarship Federation (an honor society) with 74 points (minimum 40) the highest number ever made in the history of the school .... during his senior year he was High School editor, specialising in editorial writing, of their J.C. - H.S. paper ... as such his entry in the Quill and Scroll magazine's national contest - editorial division - brought him the California first place award ... then he went after the class scholastic record and placed as the highest ranking student in his class of about 250 ... the subject of his address, as Valedictorian, being "Is Education Modernised?". He developed his answer to the question along the line of the newer program of education termed "Integration". As extra curricular work he carried band and orchestra (he plays trombone, as did his Dad, years ago). Then to make sure that he would keep busy he carried on as leader of the Youth group of his church and as 1st Sgt. of the Boys' Brigade of his Congregational Church. And was he tired! Very much so, but he should be fit for anything now, for immediately following the close of school he had a fine outing in the mountains with his brigade ... then with his father and mother drove to Seattle and took a boat trip to Alaska. Just got home last evening, and I'm all ears waiting for him to tell me about the trip ... his doing that will be another of those things I call 'My compensations' for having to lie here all the while. Maybe, it will be that before I send this I will copy a few excerpts from the folio wherein I've written down some of them, and enclose them to you.

My verse and story (?) writing has about passed out ... certain vagaries come up from out of the depths now and then, but strength is lacking to get them down on paper .. the reasoning mind and the decrepit old body seem not able to shift out of low gear. I did a while ago, catch one bit of 'imaginings' and get it down - the thing itself, meaningless, but between the lines I would have you sense that what-so-ever I was seeing was seen because of you, and others, having planted the germ of 'family consciousness' within my mind - when I think of 'family' it is certain that you will be in my thoughts, and I'll be wonderin' if maybe you too are looking back down the corridors of time and be seeing things too - there must be a lot of pictures of those folks one could glimpse if we could focus our minds' eye in that direction. Mabel still uses some kind of rabbit's foot with which to publicise me, for I recently received a Vincennes magazine carrying a bit of a

historical rhyme , "The Curly Headed Drummer Boy", evolved by me in which cousin Will Davis figured - the theme suggested by Mabel - I told her that I was not well pleased with it. It didn't 'jell well'. A trained writer might work out the proper 'meters' on any suggested theme, but as an untrained one I find that if anything at all worth while is evolved, it just has to come out 'as is' without regard for meter, syntax, et cetera.

I have before me two poems by Wilbur D. Nesbit, caught from some newspaper or magazine column ... one, "Forever On Thanksgiving Day" ... the other, "Nasturtiums". I like them, oh so much. THERE is, I'd say, a very gifted person. Is he of our family?

I am so sorry that I cannot contact the Nesbits you have told me of as being in California. I had thought, some years ago, that by now, Rosanne and I would be able to take to the open road and go 'a gallivantin' all about this west coast area - then it would have been, I might have seen them all.

Another regret is that while surrounded with Nesbits and Nisbets here for years, it did not register with me that I might find relationship with them. Why, I had them as customers for years and years, both in bank and building-loan ... in 1922 there lived in the apartment next to us a young couple, she, one Mary Nesbit - they afterwards were our neighbors up here and it never registered that she bore my grandmother's name.

Of the generation approximating mine there are those who have, I know, passed on. Of the next two generations there are a number around here yet, but my acquaintance with them is slight, and in most cases, none at all.

And "Time marches on" -- it is another day - and time to end this, if over-due, now an over-long letter. I note that you included my February letter in your family letter, and thank you for the unseen, unknown contacts it has given me with those others who you so kindly think of when mailing the letter out, BUT, this is NOT a letter - it is a longwinded visit with you - perhaps you will have become tired of the visitor - you are, I know a very busy person - I envy you your ability to keep busy, AND as I re-read your Christmas time letter I say to Rosanne, "Oh for a physical make-up able to handle all those good eats". And "Oh for a temperament that would enable me to do the things for folks like as Dr. Nesbit does and to get the fun out of life that he does".

"Thou shalt Not Covet". You will forgive me for being envious, if so be it, such wishes are envious.

My ... Our ... Sincere regards to each and all of you.

Alfred Berry Endicott,

1027 Dartmouth Ave.,

Claremont, California.

July 14th 1935

** ** ** ** **

W.W. Elliot, Nisbet Hill, Duns, Berwickshire, Scotland has a set of twelve photographs taken recently: one taken of a painting of the house before being remodelled It was in the "locked room". Price £2/10/0. Order direct.

WOOD SMOKE WHY?

An appreciation to Dr. Otis B. Nesbit, by Alfred Berry Endicott

Some things lie within ... some, beyond ken

Of each I have tried to draw a picture with my pen.

A PROSE POEM

WOOD SMOKE:
The delicious odor of it floats in to me upon the air ..
coming from I know not where.
Lying here upon my bed .. ill .. I, thru my window, have but
a circumscribed view .. always much the same, yet ever new.
Eh! maybe it is, you'd like to see it too!
Close by, a brilliant starry Poinsettia nods to me thru
the window panes .. tho' 'tis California's Christmas flower, it
still with me remains. Grouped near-by are so many things..
A flowering Quince gleams, pink-red or orange berries for the
birds .. Coreopsis, its petals shining like molten gold .. Incense
Cedars, dark-green (transplanted, when they were tiny little
trees, from six thousand feet up the mountainside, by me)
stand nigh .. above them the Sycamores lift their heads high ..
Orange .. Lemon .. Lime .. Apricot and Plum trees stand within my
sight .. Guavos .. Cypress .. hedge .. a Palm .. Pines and a gigantic
Deodor, its highermost tip seems reaching for a star. Far
out beyond, last but not least of all, I see in delicate tracery 
across the sky the outflung branches of a great Eucalypti.
WOOD SMOKE!
The delicious odor of it floats in to me upon the air ... 
coming from .. out there somewhere. Then it is, I see it .. a
slender shaft weaving its upward way, from out this sylvan
scene, then come drifting in to me, here, where I must stay.
Strangely enough, tho' all this beauty lies before my ..
eyes .. its loveliness enhanced by great-blue skies .. tho' the fragrance
of the flowers, shrubs, and trees, mixed with the smell
of burning wood, comes in on the breeze, it is the sight of
that shaft of smoke that far, far different things makes me
see .. that sends me into a deep reverie ... like a shutter
it hides the here and now .. wafts me back through time and space,
to other years, there setting, another place.
BECAUSE, perhaps, where smoke is, there must be fire, that
which I first see is a fireplace in a wall, deep-throated
beneath a chimney great and tall .. in it, an immense log lies
at the back, while lesser ones on the andirons are piled high,
from out of which the juices sizzle and fry. Outside, wintry
winds are blowing hard .. I hear the moaning of the barren
limbs of copper beech and ash .. it seems they must and will
crash. At that, about those trees I seem not much concerned,
for, comfortably seated in an old, old chair, I am more interested
in what is to be seen before me there .. massive pile .. a
great house, hoary with age, stands outlined within the roaring
fire .. familiar to me it appears to be .. 'tis Nisbet House, Berwickshire!
Rising high are its minarets and towers ...
square and round, grey and dark, except when illuminated by a
brilliant spark. I see it as tho' I were looking on it from
without ... yet, it is within it, I'm sitting there, alone ... there
in that great house of stone. In the firelight's glow I see
Escutcheons, covered with armorial bearings, displayed upon
the walls ... portraits of famed men and fair ladies are hanging
thru out the halls.
Then it is, that I hear voices ... clanking of armour ... foot-
steps ... know that members of the 'Clan' are coming in from off
the moor ... some by way of a secret passage ... others are entering
thru the great door. No longer am I there alone. My people 
encompass me about, like a cloud .. never before have I
looked upon a group of folks of whom I felt so proud. Strong
men they are ... who come in and gather around that hearth ...
men, they are, who do honor to the land and place that gave
them birth. From behind me, down the winding stairs within
the towers, come the mothers, wives, daughters and sweethearts
of those men to voice loving welcome to they who had not come back
from out the bog and fen. Some will not have come back. They
who had fallen in the wars, or had suffered death because of
their faith ... yet, yet they seem to be there ... but maybe it
is that, after all, what of them I see is only their wraith.
Confused, I wonder ... is any of this real ... are these MY people
real, or are they only the Ghosts of those, who in bygone centuries
walked amidst the Scottish heather ... thru Victory or Defeat.
Thru fair or stormy weather!
WOOD SMOKE
The delicious odor of it ... taking me on a journey into
the past ... painting for me a picture that will for ever last
but why?
True it is, that upon my wall there hangs an etching of
that old Ancestral Hall, Nisbet House ... true too, that stories
about it rest within my conscious mind ... likewise true, from
these things I might some reaction, like as the above, find,
but WOOD SMOKE ... just a slender shaft of it weaving its
upward way towards the sky ... why, because of IT, should ghosts
walk the earth like men ... why should time and distance pass
away, and I all this feel, and see, and hear, while I am lying
here. WHY?

One of the Nisbets of Indiana.

(Claremont, California, 1935 - Springtime. Alfred Berry Endicott.

** ** ** ** **

NISBET HOUSE PICTURES

Have fine photographs of Nisbet House. 8" x 10" fine copy of a pen drawing from Nisbets Heraldic Plates which I can supply at $1.00, 3 for $2.00. Many have ordered these and are delighted with them. They frame well. Also post card pictures taken last year, two views, at 10¢ each.

Otis B. Nesbit, 444 Jackson Street, Gary, Indiana.

A NOBLEMAN GONE

Considerable space is given over the life and passing of Dr. Robert Nesbitt of Sutton-in-Ashfield, England, because I want the Nisbet/Nesbitt Clan to know more about one of its members who has done a great service to us and to his family by the publication of a fine book on his family. It is a good history of the North of Ireland and the life of its peoples as he portrayed the life of his progenitors, a good history of himself and his fine family. His accounts of his fine and talented wife are noteworthy. He devotes much space to his uncle, Rev. Joseph Nesbitt, a native of Ireland, who came to the United States in 1852 and was a prominent Presbyterian minister in Pennsylvania until 1894, when he died there, having recorded many events of our country during the Civil War, 1860-1865. The doctor made five trips to America and his recorded impressions are interesting.

Dr. Robert's account of his visit to Nisbet House was prepared and sent as a message to the Clan in America , but neither he nor I expected it to be his last. I am grateful that we have it and that he was good enough to give us his time and energy in its preparation. Some of the younger members might follow his example in useful use of their time.

I regret that his life could not have been spared for a few more years of pleasure with his family and family history hunting and that he could not have brought out another revised edition. I hope his family may be able to do so.

By his work and good and useful life he has built for himself and his family a monument that will never be destroyed.

More lasting than granite and bronze.

Below is his last letter to me, his letter to the Nesbits of America and reprint from the 'Free Press' telling of his death. O.B.N.

LAST LETTER FROM DR. ROBERT NESBITT

ASHFIELD HOUSE

SUTTON-IN-ASHFIELD

Dear Mr. Nesbit,

I'm not sure if I answered your letter of June 29. If not my sincere apology.

I enclose you some material for your Xmas Number. And hope it is something like what you want.

I have not heard anything of the interior views of Nisbet. I have some additional views of the house taken by an amateur photographer. Who is a 'big pot' in that district and am writing him inquiring if he can supply you. I will let you know result promptly.

Have you had any correspondence with John Nesbitt Dowling of Birmingham, England. Please let me know as soon as you can. His discoveries of Nisbet lineage are past all belief! But I have got confirmation of all his statements, from original sources.

I felt like walking on air all my time at Nisbet. Our host and hostess were kindness itself. And as I have said it was the prize of our lifetime. Mr. Nesbitt had paid several visits to Hadden, 1513, each time with added interest. He and I are endeavouring to prove that some of the Nisbets were slain on that battlefield.

Get a book titled, "The Tragedy of Scotland", by Colin Walkinshaw. Especially valuable for its pedigrees. Costs only a few dollars. Best wishes to all the clan.

Sincerely yours,

R. Nesbitt.

October 24, 1935.

DR. NESBITT'S DESCRIPTION OF HIS VISIT TO NISBET HOUSE

IN JUNE 1935

TO THE NISBETS OF AMERICA:

I have been asked to give my 'impressions' of a recent visit to Nisbet, the home of the Nisbet family in Berwickshire for more than six hundred years, and which is today, one of the fairest mansions in Scotland, and the residence of Robert Chancellor Nesbitt, a lineal descendant of the Nisbets of that ilk.

During the past summer, my wife and I had the high privilege of being guests of the Laird and his lady, who placed us under deep obligation by their personal charm and gracious hospitality. It was the prize of our lifetime! I couldn't sleep o'nights, thinking of our good fortune, to be living in the place that our Nisbet ancestors lived - as recorded in "Nisbet's Heraldic Plates" - from the early twelfth century to the seventeenth.

Nisbet House was built by Sir Alexander Nisbet, son and heir of Sir Philip Nisbet, during the reign of Charles I., on the site of Nisbet Castle, which he had demolished. The mansion which Sir Alexander then erected, constitutes the greater part of the present Nisbet House; an addition having been made by the building of a square tower in 1774. The estate of Nisbet was lost to the family in the time of Sir Alexander by his devotion to the House of Stuart - he mortgaged the property to subsidise Charles I. Someone said of him that, "he backed the wrong horse".

Nisbet is only eight miles from the border, that border; especially where Berwickshire is the boundary, which has witnessed battles, raids and rievers for a thousand years; "Norham's Castled Steep, and Tweed's fair river, broad and deep", Melrose, Duns Law, Kelso, Carham, Bryburgh, Berwick, etc., are all in the immediate neighbourhood, and on the actual Nisbet lands two important battles were fought, in the years 1353 and 1402.

There is a sealed room in the house believed to contain documents and charters. Mr. Nesbitt is determined that before the expiration of his tenancy he will see the inside of that room. All the living Nesbitts must wish him success.

During our visit Mr. Nesbitt proudly wore his Nisbet tartan tie, and he has had rugs and other articles interwoven with the Nisbet arms and motto - 'I byd it'. At an early date he intends asking the members of the Archaeological Society, and the Lord Lyon King of Arms to visit and investigate the house and grounds.

In the gardens there is a yew tree one thousand years old, and in the park there has recently been felled a hoary old oak planted there seven hundred and fifty years ago. At the roots of the tree there was found a peculiar chiselled flint, which, the experts at the British Museum pronounce to be two thousand years old. In Nisbet House is preserved a beautiful water colour painting of the mansion, showing the lake which formerly lay in front of the house. The picture is dated 1815.

Berwickshire, in which the Nisbet lands lie, is not only one of the most fertile counties, but it is the most historic and interesting district in all Scotland.

Mr. Nesbitt was visiting Nisbet one day before taking up residence there, and on the carriage drive, he met the members of the Berwickshire Hunt, which had met at Nisbet House that morning on their way to the coverts. It must have forcibly reminded him of his Old Nisbet ancestors, who, long centuries ago, rode down that same avenue on their way to hunt the wild boar in the surrounding forests; he has discovered the entrance to a secret underground passage, which, tradition states, extended for over a mile, with an exit somewhere in the fields, and would be used in time of war for smuggling in provisions and soldiers, or sending out spies and messengers.

The Nisbet family is one of the oldest in Scotland. Nisbet's Heraldic Plates has the following: "Gospatrick, the second Earl, who lived in the reigns of Alexander I., (1107-1124), and David I. (1124- 1153) granted to the monastery of Coldingham the town and lands of Nesbite, a grant confirmed by King David on 17th September 1139". Sir Archibald Lawrie, in his "Early Scottish Charters" states: "From Gospatrick descended a long line of Earls, and if any can trace their pedigree to him, they are of the best blood in Scotland".

All down the centuries the Nisbets have intermarried with the foremost families in Scotland - Hamilton, de Bruc (Bruce), Haldane, Swinton, Home. Malcolm Conmore married Princess Margaret, sister of Edgar Atherling of the English Royal House; daughter Matilda married Henry I, King of England and son of William the Conqueror. Gospatrick the Second's mother was daughter of Harold II. of England.

The Scottish Field of February 1913 published the following:

"There is an intense fascination, a haunting charm about Nisbet, with the Old World air of mystery and romance inseparable from its rambling passages, spiral staircases, secret chambers, and underground passages.........The beauty of this historic and stately house is much enhanced by its setting of meadow wood and water. Within a stone's throw from the front door a little stream babbles noisily beneath a mossy stone bridge, while hoary oak and ash trees stand in groups about the grass or spread their giant arms above the carriage drive, and gorgeous beeches lend an effective note of colour".

In Nisbet's Heraldic Plates there are twenty-six different spellings of Nisbet; Mr Chancellor Nesbitt has "gone one better", for he has found thirty seven.

Nisbet's Heraldic Plates, p XXI, gives the following description of Nisbet:

The desperate tenacity with which Sir Alexander Nisbet defended his ancient lineage will excite sympathy but hardly wonder. For five centuries at least his ancestors had been settled there, and nowhere in broad Scotland is there a fairer spot. The lands of Nisbet lie in the lap of the Merse, a district so fertile that even the savagery of border warfare never did depopulate it nor throw it out of cultivation. From Duns, the county town of Berwickshire,.....the lands of Nisbet are reached; a quiet country road shaded by fine trees leads to the entrance gate, a few steps further and we are in a noble park embracing in its boundaries the combined charm of hill, meadow, and stream. The kindliness of the soil is evidenced by the magnificent crop nodding gracefully in the summer breeze, and still more strikingly, by the giant ash trees dotted at irregular intervals throughout the park. No ball planted dandies they, but stately fellows with trunks of fabulous girth and giant limbs stretching to the sky. One of the chief attractions of Nisbet is the striking diversity of its surface, concealing from the spectator the extent of the park, yet continually exposing some fresh beauty. Then there is that sense of freedom induced by wide open spaces and given by noble trees with ample room, in which to live and thrive; and with it all, an air of repose, a sweet old fashionedness about the house and its immediate surroundings which, apart from its own stirring associations, invest the place with an absolute charm.

Robert Chancellor Nesbitt, the present occupier of Nisbet House is eighth in lineal descent from Sir Philip Nisbet of that ilk, who, in 1582, married Elizabeth Haldane of Gleneagles. Mr. Nesbitt holds the following positions:

Director of the Union Bank of Australia.
Chairman of National Life of Australia Board for Great Britain.
Deputy Chairman British Law Insurance Company.
Governor of Guy's Hospital.
Freeman of the City of London.
He was legal adviser to Ex-Empress Eugenie.
Former senior partner of Markby, Stewart, and Wadeson, and now acts in a
consultative capacity.
Member of Parliament for the Chiselhurst Division of Kent, 1922-24.
Legal Manager for the Welsh Church re-disestablishment.

** ** ** ** **

"Free Press"

DR. NESBITT J.P.

DEATH OF SUTTON'S OLDEST MAGISTRATE

LONG CAREER OF USEFUL SERVICE

With profound regret we record the death of one of Sutton's best known and highly esteemed residents, Dr. Robert Nesbitt, J.P., who passed away at the age of eighty years on Tuesday evening, November 26, 1935.

For over half a century the doctor's name -- always regarded with affection had been a household word in the town, and genuine sorrow will be felt in every home at the severance of another link with the past. Those people who had the pleasure of the doctor's friendship - and we regard it as an honour to have enjoyed that privilege - will sadly feel the loss of such a cultured personality.

Long Medical Practice

Whether in his professional or private capacity, Dr. Nesbitt was always the same, kindly, courteous and just; a man of outstanding integrity. From his long medical practice in the town - the doctor retired in 1927 - he and his good wife always retained their deep interest in every movement connected with the welfare of their adopted town.

With Mrs. Nesbitt - so closely devoted to her husband and family - the deepest sympathy will be felt in their irreparable loss. The doctor leaves one son and three daughters. Mr. Victor Nesbitt, who is a barrister in London; Mrs. Stewart, wife of Dr. W.G. Stewart, Nottingham; Mrs. Shield, resident in India; and Miss Irene Nesbitt.

For his years, Dr. Nesbitt's health had been remarkably good, but the end came somewhat suddenly on Tuesday. It appears that about 10:30 a.m. he descended to the cellar, and was returning with a scuttle of coal when the housekeeper - Mrs. Briggs - heard a crash. On investigation the doctor was found lying unconscious at the bottom of the cellar steps, with injuries to the head.. Dr. S. J.W. Donald was called in and diagnosed a fracture at the base of the skull. Death occurred soon after five p.m. the same day.

Early Education

Dr. Nesbitt, who had a distinguished career as a medical practitioner and in public work, was the youngest son of the late Mr. and Mrs. James Nesbitt, and was born in 1855 at Corglass, County Monaghan, Ireland. He received his early education at Unshena and Ballybay National School, and, though it was the ambition of his father that he should become a minister, he showed a preference for the medical profession, and at the age of 17 years went to the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, where he matriculated and entered on his studies as a medical student.

Quickly he achieved success and before he was 21 years of age he was a qualified surgeon. On leaving Dublin he started his medical career as a doctor's assistant at West Rainton, Durham, and later became house surgeon in the County Infirmary, Monaghan.

In 1882 Dr. Nesbitt bought a partnership in Sutton with Dr. Hammerton, whose name will be recalled by older residents, and then commenced a residence in this district which has been unbroken, characterised by usefulness and public service. Some seven years after coming to Sutton, Dr. Hammerton retired, and the extensive practice was transferred to Dr. Nesbitt.

Amongst those who have been associated with the doctor as partners will be recalled such well-known names as Dr. F.K. Tweedie (now resident at Colwyn Bay), Dr. S.W.J. Donald and Dr. J. Young, the two last- named being partners with Dr. Nesbitt at the time of his retirement from active medical work.

Local Appointments

A short time after coming to Sutton Dr. Nesbitt was appointed Medical Officer of Health, and he continued to hold that position until 1927, tendering his resignation, which was received with regret by the Council on February 1st of that year.

With the continuous growth of the town, Dr. Nesbitt's practice increased to such an extent that at one time he probably held more appointments than any other doctor in the United Kingdom; a fact which confirmed the confidence held in him by the general public. Some of the offices he held in addition of Medical Officer of Health, were District Medical Officer, Public Vaccinator, Surgeon to the Post Office, Certifying Surgeon, Medical Referee to Notts. Miners' Association, Surgeon to the Railway Companies and the various collieries, also medical officer to several small societies and other organisations.

Notwithstanding the great demand upon his time by reason of his professional duties, Dr. Nesbitt found time to devote some measure of attention to public affairs. In 1894 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace, and up to the time of his death was Chairman of the Magistrates sitting at the Mansfield Sessional Court.

In 1924 he was appointed Chairman of the Nottingham Division of the British Medical association, and in 1927 was chosen Chairman of the Notts. Panel Committee. He was also a member of the Standing Joint Committee of the County, and a member of the Notts. Insurance Committee. During the Great War the doctor became a Special Constable, and as a member of the District Emergency Committee took charge of a body of some 200 "Specials". He also served as Chairman of the local Tribunal in connection with recruiting during the war.

Golden Wedding

Any review of Dr. Nesbitt's life would be incomplete without reference to the fact that during the whole of his activities the doctor received the help and encouragement of a devoted wife, who herself has taken no small share in the public life of the town. Dr. and Mrs. Nesbitt celebrated their golden wedding in 1932, having been married at May Street Presbyterian Church, Belfast on September 2nd, 1882, the year they came to Sutton.

Dr. and Mrs. Nesbitt have travelled extensively, having visited America on no fewer than five occasions. These travels, together with numerous incidents in the life and work of Dr. and Mrs. Nesbitt are recorded in an interesting book published by the doctor in 1930 for private circulation, dealing with the history of the Nesbitt family. Although since his retirement Dr. and Mrs. Nesbitt have spent lengthy periods in London, Ireland, Bournemouth and elsewhere, they have always regarded Sutton as their home, the town where the service rendered by both has left its mark indelibly impressed upon the minds of the inhabitants.

The funeral will take place today (November 29) at 12 o'clock, being preceded by a service at the Congregational Church where Dr. Nesbitt had been a member for so many years.

NISBET TARTANS

O.B. Nesbit M.D.

Gary, Indiana

INVERNESS 17/8/1935

Bought of B. Grant

18 High Street, Inverness, Scotland

===============================================================

6 Nisbet ties (silk) 2/6 £0/15/0 US Duty $2.44

5 yards Nisbet Tartan (Saxony) 10/6 £2/12/6 $8.33

5 Scarves Nisbet Tartan (Saxony) 5/11 £1/9/6 $5.15

1 Campbell Scarf 5/11 £0/5/11

Postage £0/4/2

Total £5/7/1

===============================================================

The above account will enable anyone interested to procure Nisbet tartans. The silk and the wool patterns were not the same as explained by Mr. Grant, as meaning that two different tartan patterns have been discovered. The wool pattern is the most attractive.

The Saxony cloth is 54 inches wide and not less than 3 yards can be supplied. The scarfs are 12 inches wide by 54 inches long. He had a few silk ties in stock. The tartan can be procured in steamer blanket with the Nisbet tartan on one side.

GENEALOGICAL TREE

of one of the

CANADIAN NESBITT FAMILIES

by E.E. Brooks, September 1915.

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