High Sheriff of the entire Province of Maryland at 29 years of age.
The Order of the First Families of Maryland:
Qualifying ancestor: James Veitch of Maryland.
Eligible for membership: Lineal descendants of James Veitch (Veatch).

Colonial Dames of the XVII Century:
Qualifying ancestor: James Veitch of Maryland.
Eligible for membership: Lineal female descendants of James Veitch (Veatch).
Seventeenth Century Colonial Ancestors by the Colonial Dames, vol. 1 p. 266.

Historic Marker erected by the Maryland Historical Society:
VEITCH'S COVE
JAMES VEITCH, BORN 1628, IN/
ROXBURGHSHIRE, SCOTLAND. SETTLED/
AT VEITCH'S COVE, LATER KNOWN AS/
VEITCH'S REST. AN ORIGINAL LAND/
PATENT GRANTED BY LORD BALTIMORE/
IN 1649. SHERIFF OF CALVERT COUNTY/
1653-1657. DIED 1685./
MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY

MILITARY RECORD
1645-47: Major Gen. David Leslie led the Scots horsemen aiding Cromwell's Puritans to victory over Catholic King Charles in the English Civil Wars. Gen. Leslie's regiment included John Stewart (1599-1659, the Earl of Traquair, a Catholic and first cousin of Malcolm Veitch of Muirdean (ref., History of the Church and State of Scotland by Andrew Stevenson, p. 544).
1646: James Veitch was Quartermaster of Major-General David Leslie's Regiment (Papers relating to the Army of the Solemn League and Covenant, 1643-1647, Volume 1 [1917], by Charles Sanford Terry, p. liv; Publications of the Scottish History Society, Vol. 16, pub. By T. and A. Constable).
Conclusion: James Veitch, the Quartermaster serving under the Earl of Traquair, was most likely the James Veitch who was a son of Lord Traquair's first cousin Malcolm Veitch and who afterwards disappears from Peeblesshire records.

1647: James Veitch was "transported" to Virginia (see Preston, Waring, Brooke), unsubstantiated reference/ internet posting (citation needed).
If these records are of the same James Veitch, he apparently was captured in battle and transported but then returned to Scotland and/or England.

1649: James Veitch, at age 21, received his first land grant for "Veitch's Cove" in Maryland from Lord Baltimore of London.
1651: James Veitch transported himself, at age 23, to Maryland two years after receiving his land grant from Lord Baltimore.
1653: James Veitch was appointed Lieutenant of the Calvert County Militia and also deputy sheriff of the county, two years after his arrival, at age 25.
1657: At 29 years of age, James Veitch became High Sheriff of what was then the entire Province of Maryland.

Conclusion: The most logical explanation for James Veitch's meteoric rise in the New World would be due to his above-average abilities, or prior military experience, or high birth and influential associates, or a combination of all these.

Masonic Record: The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) No. 1, reputed to be the oldest operating Masonic lodge in the world, was established before 1598 (David Murray Lyon, History of the Lodge of Edinburgh [1873]; David Stevenson, The Origins of Freemasonry [1988], pp. 38–44). Sir John Veitch of Dawyck (1614-1682), nephew of Malcolm Veitch, was "arguably the most powerful Freemason in Scotland" at the time when his first cousin James Veitch served as horseman under their fathers' first cousin the Earl of Traquair, believed to be the same James Veitch who later became the High Sheriff of Maryland at age 29.

BIRTHDATE
The age of James Veitch the Sheriffe was recorded in a legal deposition in 1658 as age 30, fixing his birth at 1628.
His birthplace was Scotland, according to a family history begun in the 1870s by fourth-great-grandson Gen. James Clifford Veatch (1819-1895), who was born at a time when great-grandchildren of the immigrant were still living.
James Veitch was referred to as "Planter" in contemporary deeds. He also paid for the passage of his bride-to-be and another woman thought to be her maid (ref., Guthrie, p.15; Rose, p.26). His apparent education, prior military experience, and other important details are lacking but his biographers have advanced compelling theories and extrapolations based upon his associates and events in which he or they played a part during the political struggles between Royalists and Puritans, Catholics and Protestants, Anglicans/Episcopalians, and Presbyterians.

BIRTH PLACE
Roxburghshire is near Peebles, also called Peeblesshire and Tweeddale, on the English border.
Border Reivers: Veitch is listed among the border families of Scotland and England. Descendants are part of the Border Reivers DNA project at Family Tree DNA.
(Virkus, v. VI (1937), p.593; v. VII (1942), p.58; Burke's (1939), p.2951; The Original Scots Colonists of Early America, Supplement 1607-1707 (1968) by David Dobson, p. 175 (infers Scots); Calvert County Historical Society, Veitch's Cove historic marker.)

DNA
DNA of Sheriff James Veitch's descendants include multiple matches to descendants of John Veitch (1732-1784) of Peeblesshire (a great-grandson of Malcolm Veitch's brother Alexander, and who came to Bladensburg, Maryland and married his cousin, a granddaughter of the Sheriff's granddaughter), as well as to other Veitches of Peebles, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hawick in Roxburgshire, and Leith. Further studies are being conducted at present but, based on the matches so far, are expected to confirm that Sheriff James Veitch in all probability was indeed the son of Malcolm Veitch as has been asserted for the past 83 years or a nephew or other close relative.

In 1719, Rev. Hugh Conn arrived in the New Scotland Hundred settlement of Maryland, where Sheriff James Veitch had died 35 years prior, and there married his second wife Jeanne, shown as Jeane "Vintch" or "Veitch" on some family trees. For at least the past 100 years, Conn descendants have claimed she was a Veitch (Washington, D.C. EVENING STAR, March 5, 1916, part 2 page 4), and thought to be a granddaughter of Sheriff James Veitch. Hugh and Jeane "Vintch" Conn owned several plantations which remained in the possession of their descendants over 240 years. Their granddaughter Mary Conn married John Veitch from Peeblesshire, a great-grandson of Malcolm Veitch's brother Alexander, and inherited two adjoining plantations, called "Barbadoes" and "Scotland," on 11 January 1772, which their descendants held until the 1930s. Descendants preserved a collection of 18th century letters from Veitch relatives in Peeblesshire. "Barbadoes" and "Scotland" are located in New Scotland Hundred, a few miles from the last home of Sheriff Veitch and approximately five miles from the plantations of the Sheriff's grandchildren John Veatch and Mary Veatch Masters, siblings or first cousins of Jeane "Vintch" Conn if true that Jeane Conn was the Sheriff's granddaughter. Mary Veatch Masters died around the time that her supposed cousin Mary Conn married John Veitch, the son of Mary Masters' reputed third cousin.

DOCUMENTATION OF BIRTH PLACE/PARENTAGE
The Maryland Historical Society marker at Veitch's Cove alludes to James Veitch being identified as the son of Malcolm Veitch of Foulage in Peebles, Seyfield (Seafield) in Midlothian, and Muirdean in Roxburghshire near Peebles (also see Compendium of American Genealogy: The Standard Genealogical Encyclopedia of the First Families of America, by Frederick Adams Virkus, vol VI (1937), p.593; vol. VII (1942), p.58).

The documentary evidence supporting the claim that Sheriff James Veitch was a son of Malcolm Veitch of Muirdean, Roxburgshire:
1. Malcolm Veitch's Service of Heirs dated 18 Dec 1630: sons John, eldest son & heir, William, Alexander, James; daughters Joan, Katherine, and Janet. The placement of
James in the list fits for the birth date of 1628.
2. The "Veitch of Dawyck" Pedigree chart by J.W. Buchan; Hist. of Peeblesshire, vol. 3; Scots Ancestry Research Society (National Records of Scotland);
3. History of Peeblesshire by Buchan, vol. 3 page 440;
3. The 1658 deposition wherein James Veitch gave his age as 30 years;
4. The statements of historians/authors James Walter Buchan and Henry Paton that he probably was the same James Veitch shown in their History of Peeblesshire, Volume 3 (1927), pp. 439-440, solely based on the fact that he is the only James of the right age and status who disappears from the county records (Lou Rose, p.36; also see Burke's Peerage, 1939 ed., p.2095).
5. "Veitch of Dawyck" family tree (produced by the Royal Bontanic Garden Edinburgh) given to tourists today at Dawyck House, ancient Veitch family seat and headquarters of the Dawyck Bontanic Garden, shows James Veitch of Maryland as the son of Malcolm Veitch.

Identifying him as the same James Veitch is based predominantly on circumstantial evidence and subjective determination due to the wealth, position and influence of Sheriff James Veitch and his descendants.
Circumstantial evidence supporting the identification of Sheriff James Veitch as the son of Malcolm Veitch includes the 18th Century letters from the Veitches of Peeblesshire (descendants of Malcolm's brother Alexander) to their relatives the Veitches of Bladensburg, and the Veitch associations with Col. Ninian Beall and Rev. Hugh Conn.

MASONIC RECORD
Sir John Veitch of Dawyck (1614-1682), nephew of Malcolm Veitch, was son and heir of Malcolm's elder brother Sir William Veitch of Dawyck. This Sir John Veitch of Dawyck (1614-1682), first cousin of Malcolm Veitch's son James, was arguably the most powerful Freemason in Scotland at the time when James Veitch rose to prominence in the Province of Maryland. Sir John Veitch was appointed (1641) General Surveyor, Master of Works, and King's Architect of Life of Scotland (see: Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland's Century by David Stevenson, p.73; Restoring the Temple of Vision: Cabalistic Freemasonry and Stuart Culture by Marsha Keith Schuchard, pp.450-51; The First Freemasons: Scotland's First Early Lodges and Their Members, 1988, by David Stevenson; The Edinburgh Almanack, or Universal Scots and Imperial Register (1819), p.225; The Freemason's Chronicle, vol. 19 (15 Mar 1884, p.162).

There was another known James Veitch untraced, near the same age but three to four years older, and born in Midlothian, again not in Peebles. This James Veitch was baptized 27 Sept 1625 at North Leith, Midlothian, son of Alexander Veitch (origins unknown) and Bessie Hunter. No other record found on this family, but this James would have been 34 or 35, however, at the time James Veitch the High Sheriff of Maryland gave his deposition stating he was 30 years old.

Only one other James "Vaitch" is known who was the same age as the Sheriffe of Maryland : This "James Vaitch," born 20 Feb 1628 at Inveresk With Musselburgh, Midlothian, son of David "Vaitch." Other members of this family remained at Inverest With Musselburgh through the 1750s where the name was almost consistently spelled in records "Vaitch." Some family trees online show this David Veitch (1615-1702) as the son of William Veitch (1585-1643) and Dame Christian Murray (1590-1677), and grandson of John Veitch and Janet Stewart of Dawyck, meaning he would be a grand-nephew of Malcolm though these appear to be confusing him with William and Christian Veitch's son David (1622-1704). EVERY other known James Veitch of this age and generation on record is accounted for and was not the immigrant to Maryland.
Note that there is no known son of James Veitch the Sheriff named Malcolm or David; however, none of the other children of Malcolm named a son after their father either.

FOULAGE
(also Fouladge, Foulitch, Fowlage)
Foulage Castle: ruins of historic castellated seat in Peebles. (source: Castles of Scotland)

Malcolm Veitch of Muirdean, brother of the Laird of Dawyck, was witness for his first cousin Sir John Stewart of Traquair. Malcolm "held Foulage for a time, but in 1618 resigned it in favor of Andrew Lauder in Heathpool. In 1624 he acquired from Sir William McDowall of Mackerston the lands of Lintonlaw, Muirdene, and Wester Mains of Mackerston in Roxburghshire" (Clark, vol. 3, p. 1543). On 1 Aug 1623 (fol. 176b) Sasine dated 26 July 1623 "from Sir William Mackdowgall of Mackerstown, knight, to Malcolm Veache, brother german of Wm Veache of Dawick...of the lands & barony of Markartstown in the paroch of the same, shire of Roxburgh." (Roxburghire Sasines.) Thus he held, at the time of his death in 1630, several valuable properties, all vested to his eldest son John on March 3, 1631. As Lou Rose, curator of the Calvert County (Maryland) Historical Society, stated in her book The Life and Times of Sheriffe James Veitch, it would seem logical for Malcolm's younger son James to go into the army and later "to leave Scotland, a land seething with religious, political, and military struggles, to emigrate to Maryland, where the conflicts of the old country were not only reflected, but often anticipated and translated into action. ...In the process of sinking new roots into the fertile soil of the New World, James Veitch apparently tried to steer a balanced course in the Colony's troubled waters, without playing a too-visible role in the violent clashes between Provincial authorities and dissidents, the latter, in turn, split into many-hued hostile political and religious interest groups." (Rose, p.9.)

After Andrew Lauder took possession of Foulage upon Malcolm Veitch's resignation of the estate in 1618, the estate some years later was granted to the son of John Little who married Malcolm Veitch's daughter Katherine Veitch. Their daughter Janet Little married James Veitch "of Lowre," her mother's first cousin, the son of William -- not her uncle James (her grandfather Malcolm's son) who disappears from the records of Peebles (Sasines 9 June 1653).
This James Veitch of Lowre and Foulage was the son of Malcolm's brother sir William Veitch of Dawyck and Christian Murray. He won the bell in the Peebles race in 1637. "He was apprenticed to George Walker, merchant in Edinburgh, but came back to the land and was in Lour. He may have been James Veitch who was in Garraldfoot and was father of Alexander Veitch of Glen." (ref., Hist. of Peebles).
1635 July 29: James Veitch third son to William Veitch of Dawick apprenticed to George Walker merchant.
James Veitch of Lour/Lowre, Foulage and Edinburgh does not appear to be the James Veitch who was a soldier who was probably the James Veitch of Maryland. With certainty James Veitch of Garraldfoot was not James Veitch of Maryland.
It appears that in 1658 Malcolm Veitch's widow Katherine (Veitch) Veitch lived part time with her daughter Katherine Little at Foulage. ("Aug. 3, 1658: Katerina Veitch, spouse of wmgle [deceased] Malcolm Veitch, sometime of Foulage, was buried" [Peeblesshire burials; Scots Ancestry Research Society Report (1970) by UK National Archives, p.30]. Also, "We Veitches" by Wanda Clark, vol. 2 p.135.)



John Veitch (1732-1784) immigrated from Peebles and served in the British royal army, coming to America as the ship's carpenter onboard the HMS "Prince of Orange" which was at the Seige of Quebec in 1759. Letters addressed to him aboard the "Prince of Orange" from his father have been handed down by his descendants. Also aboard the "Prince of Orange" with him was his cousin Samuel Veitch/Vetch, later Governor of Nova Scotia. By 1765 John Veitch had settled at Bladensburg, Maryland, and later became an American Revolutionary War soldier. He married the granddaughter of Rev. Hugh Conn whose wife is said to have been Sheriff James Veitch's granddaughter. At Bladensburg, Prince George's County, Maryland, they lived five miles from the last home of the Sheriff James Veitch. He acquired the plantations called "Barbadoes" and "Scotland" which his descendants held until the 1930s. Nine tracts of land separated "Barbadoes" and "Scotland" from the "Discovery Plantation" five miles to the southwest, owned by Sheriff Veitch's granddaughter Mary Veatch Masters, whose father-in-law had purchased it from from Col. Ninian Beall's son Charles in 1720.

John Veitch of Bladensburg was a son of Alexander Veitch (c1693-aft.1780), "Mason and Burgess of Peebles," also called "Merchant and Burgess of Peebles" in some references. He was associated with the Earl of March in 1763/6 and correspondent of Alexander Veitch, Merchant of Glasgow, first cousin of Lord Eliock (great-grandson of Malcolm's brother Alexander) and apparently his own cousin (Clark, vol. 2, pp. 29-30; Rose, p.34; Alvin E. Veatch, p.1; internet postings of Fletcher P. Veitch, III, and letters in possession of). Several letters from the 1770s show both John Veitch of Bladensburg and his father Alexander Veitch of Peebles both corresponded with Lord Eliock's cousin Alexander Veitch, "Merchant of Glasgow, named as "cousin german" in the 1793 will of James Veitch, Lord Eliock (1712-1793). It was this Alexander Veitch's son James (d.1796) who was named Lord Eliock's first heir. Lord Eliock's grandfather was Alexander Veitch (Jr.) of Lyne, a first cousin of the children of Malcolm Veitch.
John Veitch's father Alexander of Peebles appears to be a son of Gavin Veitch of Peebles who married Elizabeth Anderson married Nov. 13, 1678 at Newlands, Peebles (ref., Veitch List at Rootsweb). Gavin Veitch (b. c1635 or 1655?) was a son of Alexander Veitch, Malcolm Veitch's brother Alexander (by either of his two wives, Janet Geddes or Margaret Scott).

Other unverified family trees on Ancestry.com, show Alexander Veitch, Mason and Burgess of Peebles, as being the son of Andrew Veitch (1647-1723) and wife Catherine Pringle. Burke's Landed Gentry, vol. 3, p.263, indicates a relationship between James Veitch of Dawyck and the Pringles. This branch could be from Andrew Veitch, "brother of the Laird of Courhope," who was one of the Veitches noted as avenging the murder of Malcolm's uncle Patrick Veitch of Dawyck in 1490 during a century-old feud with the Tweedies. An earlier Alexander Veitch (Jr) of Lyne (d.c1691) was also "merchant and Burgess of Peebles." He was a nephew of Malcolm Veitch and grandfather of James Veitch, Lord Eliock (1712-1793) (ref., A History of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet [1890], p.207).

DNA RESULTS:
DNA testing indicates that Sheriff James Veitch was related to John Veitch who came from Peebles, Scotland, to Bladensburg, Maryland about 70 years after James Veitch's death and acquired two plantations, "Scotland" and "Barbadoes," located five miles from James Veitch's grandchildren John Veatch and Mary Veatch Masters. John Veitch from Peebles was a descendant of Malcolm Veitch's brother Alexander who would be James Veitch's uncle.
DNA matches show that descendants of Sheriff James Veitch match descendants of other Veitches of Peebles, Seyfield, Leith, Hawick in Roxburghshire, Edinburgh, and Glasgow who were related to James Veitch, Lord Eliock (1712-1793), grandson of a nephew of Malcolm Veitch of Muirdean and apparently first cousin of Sheriff James Veitch of Maryland.

(Washington, D.C.) EVENING STAR, March 5, 1916, part 2 page 4 (55): "Ninian Beall…had eight children. One of his sons, Capt. Charles Beall, had a son, Col. Joshua Beall, and he was baptized by the Rev. Hugh Conn, one of the early Presbyterian ministers in this region. Mr. Conn had a church at Bladensburg, and he married into the Veitch family."

Rev. Hugh Conn (1685-1752) came from Ireland, of Scots parents. He married first Mrs. Elizabeth Todd (1689-1717) and had one daughter Elizabeth born 1716. In 1722 he married his second wife Jeane (1702-1748), shown in some unsourced family trees as "Vintch" or VEITCH. Their sons were:
1. Hugh Conn Jr. born 1 Dec 1723 in Bladensburg, MD.
2. James Conn b. 16 Oct 1725 Bladensburg, MD
3. George Conn b. 7 Feb 1723 Bladensburg, MD., father of Mary Conn (1745-1812) who married John Veitch, immigrant from Peebles, Scotland.
Descendants of two sons of Hugh Conn Jr. are autosomal DNA matches to descendants of Sheriff James Veitch and identified as cousins at FTDNA. Some descendants believe Rev. Hugh Conn married a granddaughter of Sheriff James Veitch, so their granddaughter Mary Conn was marrying a cousin when she married John Veitch the immigrant from Peebles, Scotland who settled near them.
One family tree shows Jeane Veitch Conn as the daughter of Gavin Veitch of Prince Georges County, MD. and another shows him as James Gavin Veitch (b.1635 Scotland, d.1678 Prince Georges Co., MD.), son of Alexander Veitch of Peebles and Elizabeth Anderson; grandson of John Veitch and Janet Stewart of Dawyck. If that pedigree is correct, the father of Jeane Veitch Conn would be a first cousin of James Veitch the Sheriff.

CHRIST CHURCH
It is unlikely that James Veitch was buried at Christ Church where he was a communicant (ref., The Life and Times of Sheriffe James Veitch of Calvert County by Lou Rose [Port Republic, Maryland: Calvert County Historical Soc., 1982], pp. 30, 33, 37) and vestryman (ref., Rose, p.30), where he married in 1657, where he worshiped and where his children were baptized, located a half-hour by horseback from Veitch's Cove (Rose, page 30; Guthrie, pp. 16-17, 131). His son William and family are thought to be buried there (Rose, p.33), but James Veitch was probably buried in a family cemetery by his home, as was "the prevailing custom of the day" (Rose, p.8; Guthrie, p.9).
Christ Church was rebuilt on the same site many years later. It became an organized parish in 1692, five years after the death of James Veitch. In 1658 he "must have been a vestryman, which would explain his role in evaluating the credentials of a candidate for the position of minister" at Christ Church (Rose, p.30; Guthrie, pp.16-17; Archives of Maryland, vol. 41, page 84).

His biographers have debated whether he was in the Royalist Army at the Battle of Dunbar (3 September 1650) with 24,000 other young Scots when 10,000 of them, including Col. Ninian Beall, were captured fighting against Cromwell's Puritan army. 3,000 of the captives were released. No record shows he was among the combatants, though he is thought to have had military experience prior to arriving in Maryland and was most likely the same James Veitch who served in Gen. Leslie's Regiment in 1646 under his father's first cousin, the Earl of Traquair (Rose, p.9; Guthrie & Clark, p.7).

July 2, 1649: Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (1605-75) signed the land grant in London giving James Veitch his first patent of land in Maryland when he was just 21 years old. Lord Calvert was First Lord Proprietary, Earl Palatine of the Provinces of Maryland and Avalon in America, and Governor of Newfoundland (Avalon) 1629-52. Lord Baltimore was Catholic, and Maryland was originally envisioned as a refuge for English Roman Catholics, but he was a moderate whose appointments were generally to both Catholic and Protestants in equal proportion. King Charles 1st of England had been executed five months before James Veitch was given his land grant by Lord Baltimore.
The Veitches of Dawyck "supported the Crown and Episcopacy," like their cousins the Stuarts of Traquair, who were mainly Catholic Royalists but at times also charged with tolerating the Nonconformists (Protestants) (Rose, pp. 16, 30; Guthrie, 16-17). Mary Queen of Scots had stayed with her cousins at Traquair and the cradle which once rocked future King James VI (James I of England) is still there today.

Aug. 11, 1651: James Veitch was in Maryland when his 1649 land patent was recorded there, 11 months after the Battle of Dunbar. He was appointed Lieutenant of the Calvert County Militia shortly before becoming deputy sheriff in 1653. Puritan Captain Samson/Sampson Waring was his commanding officer in the militia as well as the High Sheriff. In 1657, at age 29, after being in Maryland for just six years, James Veitch became High Sheriff of St. Mary's, Patuxent, Calvert County, and the entire Province of Maryland, Kent Island being considered part of Virginia at that time (Guthrie, p.11; Rose, p.21).

In 1652: Lord Baltimore was ousted by Puritan-controlled English Parliament, and a Puritan Council took over Maryland government. Robert Brooke (1602-1655), became President of the Puritan Council and Acting Governor of Maryland. His son Thomas Brooke (1632-1676) had been commissioned major of the Calvert County Militia by Lord Baltimore himself prior to James Veitch being commissioned lieutenant. Also a member of the Puritan Council was Richard Preston, another of James Veitch's commanding officers in the militia.

March 25, 1655: The Puritan militia attacked a force loyal to Lord Baltimore at the Battle of Severn, executing (March 28, 1655) four loyalists captured after being given quarter upon surrender, notably the county's largest landowner, William Eltonhead, of Eltonhead Manor, 3,000-acres adjoining James Veitch's property. Moderate Marylanders were sickened and divided; Cromwell, contrary to the reaction that the Puritans expected, was furious. There is no record that James Veitch was present at Severn, but with his commanding officers Waring and Preston there, and culpable in this shameful episode, it is probable that he was.
In 1656: Lord Baltimore resumed control of Maryland.

Sept. 24, 1657: First recorded autopsy and verdict of a coroner's jury in the U.S.: Sheriff James Veitch and two physicians were ordered by the Court to conduct the autopsy and coroner's jury; verdict rendered this date (ref., Outlines of the History of Medicine and the Medical Profession, by Henry Handerson, et al). The victim was a servant of John Dandy.
John Dandy, a Catholic blacksmith and gunsmith, had been found guilty in 1644 of murdering an Indian boy named Edward, and sentenced to serve 7 years as the public executioner, a sentence rescinded three years later with no recording of executions carried out but the remark that his "service was satisfactory." (Rose, p. 37; Liberation Theology Along the Potomac (2011) by Edward F. Terrar, Edward Toby Terrar pp.110-11; Maryland During the English Civil Wars, Volume 1 (1906) by Bernard Christian Steiner, p.40; The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science (1907) edited by John Martin Vincent, p.40; Criminal Justice in Colonial America, 1606-1660, by Bradley Chapin, p.115; The Negro in Maryland: A Study of the Institution of Slavery, Volume 6, by Jeffrey Richardson Brackett, p.16).

Oct. 3, 1657, Sheriff James Veitch was the executioner who conducted the hanging of murderer John Dandy, "the first legal [recorded] execution in the Province of Maryland" (Rose, p.37). Veitch himself had investigated the murder of Dandy's servant, tracked Dandy into Virginia where he captured him, and brought back to stand trial. Dandy was "the first person executed in Colonial Maryland" (ref., In Search of Yesterday [1969] by William A. Veitch).
See also: Seven Hangmen of Colonial Virginia (2009) by C. Ashley Ellefson; Crime and Punishment in Early Maryland by Admiral Raphael Semmes (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1938), pp.162,208.

Ten years later:
James Varlow gave testimony in a grand jury inquest against James Veitch and Mary his wife for feloniously killing their servant Sarah Feakeley (ref., "Provincial Court Proceedings, 1667," Maryland State Archives, Vol. 57 page 169). Pp. 170, 453: James Veitch was cleared of wrongdoing but Mary Veitch was held on suspicion pp. 170, 453). She was afterward judged "not guilty" and Patrick Hinderson judged guilty (pp. 171, 453).

28 Feb 1658: Deposition of James Veitch states his age is "30 years or thereabout" (Maryland Deponents 1634-1799 xli, 84 [MD ARCHIVES]; We Veitches by Laurence Guthrie, pp.6-7; Lou Rose, p.13).
Historians James Walter Buchan and Henry Paton listed James, son of Malcolm Veitch, in their History of Peeblesshire (Volume 3 [1927], p. 440), and in correspondence with Dr. A.C. Veitch (Rose p.36; also ref. Guthrie, p.6) stated that Malcolm's son James was the same age and that it was their belief they were one and the same. Malcolm Veitch married his cousin Katherine/Katharina/Katarina Vaiche/Veitch, her maiden name shown in the Sasines (Wanda Clark, We Veitches, vol. 2, p.135). She was the daughter of John Veitch according to a family chart, and the late Wanda Clark stated in correspondence before her death that Malcolm's wife Katherine Veitch was the daughter of John Veitch but did not identify which John Veitch. Several unsourced family trees show him as the John Veitch "the Younger" of North Sinton who was a 4th cousin of Malcolm. The IGI shows Malcolm's wife as Margery Wilkinson, with no source for this claim.

After publication of their History of Peeblesshire, the authors Buchan and Paton indicated to Dr. Arthur Clifford Veatch that James Veitch of Maryland was probably the son of Malcolm Veitch, citing his disappearance from the Scots records (ref., We Veitches by Guthrie, p.6; Lou Rose, p. 36). The corresponding age of James Veitch of Maryland together with his sudden rise to prominence in the Colony at such a young age weighed in their identification of James Veitch of Maryland as scion of the Veitches of Dawyck, the same assessment given by Burke's and subsequent authorities (Rose, p.36).

James Veitch's association with Ninian Beall and the New Scotland Hundred settlement also factored in the identification.
"Families of Masters, Veitch, Gatton and Selby can be found in early times living in the same neighborhood of Peebleshire and Roxburghshire, in the lowlands of Scotland. At the time of the Civil Wars in Scotland, beginning about 1648, a large exodus of Scots to Ireland, Barbados, Virginia and Maryland began. … In 1652 Ninian Beale (Beall), of Largo, Fifeshire, began patenting a large amount of land in what is now Prince George's Co, Md., and offered a settlement area to those Scots wishing to leave Scotland at this time of trial. The Masters, Veitches, Gattons, etc. eventually also moved to this area, called "Scots Hundred" and here we find the majority of the records." (Ref., "Maryland Beginnings" by Carol Collins & Mary Glenn; Masters Family History by Jack Masters.)
Prince George's was created in 1696 from sections of Charles and Calvert Counties. One reference says the Masters family came "with Lord Baltimore when Maryland was settled" ("Legends of Arrival: The Masters Family In America" by Margaret Masters Buehrig, Masters Family History by Jack Masters). The Veitches of Dawyck were physical giants, judging by skeletons exhumed in recent years from the family vaults showing many of them around 7 feet tall (Lou Rose, p.28; The Veitch Chronicle). When a corpse was exhumed from one of the Beall plantations in the 19th century, the skeleton was identified as Col. Ninian Beall and said to measure six feet seven inches tall and retain long red hair, even though Col. Beall was aged 92 when he died (Early Days of Washington (1899) by Sally Somervell Mackall, p. 48).

James Veitch bought land from Col. Ninian Beall in New Scotland Hundred (Rose, pp. 9, 37), and also sold "a dwelling plantation" to Capt. Thomas Claggett who lived on the southside of Patuxtent River in Calvert County (Rose, p.38; Maryland Calendar of Wills vol. II pp.31-32; ed. by Jane Baldwin, pub. by Kohn & Pollock, 1906). Capt. Claggett was one of the first six vestrymen of Christ Church and the "father or step-father" of Ann Claggett who married Nathan Veatch (ref., Lou Rose, pp.32,37,9; Burke's (1939), p.2951, says "Ann,...dau. of Captain Thomas Clagett"; also, Family Origins: Early History [1974] by Franklin Miller, p.76).
Sheriff Veitch's grandson James (son of Nathan) is shown in Burke's American Families as marrying Rachel Hepburn. Some family trees show her as Rachel Beall, a daughter of Ninian Beall Jr., though others show her as a Hepburn whose mother, a Magruder, was a cousin of the Bealls. Her maiden name is still argued (see also Guthrie, pp.101-103). But this grandson James Veatch purchased "all that part or parcel of a tract of land called Beall's Pasture" in Prince George's County, April 3, 1723. He sold Beall's Pasture to Major Edward Sprigg, June 28, 1733.

New Scotland Hundred was created in 1683 in Charles County. It became Prince Georges County in 1695 when Charles County was divided into Charles and Prince Georges. New Scotland Hundred was the westernmost settlement at its creation and remained so into the 1700s. Some of Maryland's most prominent citizens made their homes in New Scotland Hundred, including Col. Ninian Beall, the Edmonstons, the Belts, the Thompsons, and others. Many of these families were from Scotland and Presbyterians. Col. Ninian Beall was the leading citizen in New Scotland Hundred and settled many of the 200 people he transported to Maryland in that area where he had acquired so much land. New Scotland Hundred included the site of present-day Washington D.C.

In 1703 Col. Ninian Beall, of Upper Marlborough, acquired much additional land in the same vicinity, the track known as Rock of Dumbarton (site of Dumbarton House today), and the tract of land called Beall's Levels which included much of the land around the White House and along Pennsylvania Avenue to the east. The White House itself sits on the site of Beall's Leavels.

James Veitch preceded Ninian Beall in Maryland, transporting himself, and was not among the 200 Scots transported from Scotland by Col. Beall.
It wasn't until 1718 that a Presbyterian church was erected on land just south of Garrison's Landing which had been set aside for such purpose by Ninian Beall, himself a staunch Presbyterian. This is the Presbyterian Cemetery at Georgetown, D.C.

Per Kathi Hudson: "Evergreen Cemetery was originally the 'Presbyterian Burying Grounds' – most specifically for Bladensburg Presbyterian Church…. This was around the early to mid 1700's. ...James (son of Alexander) or Ninian Beall donated/leased/sold the land to the Church. James Beall left Rev.[Hugh] Conn a yearly sum of 10 shillings in his will."
"Evergreen Cemetery, Bladensburg, donated by Col. Ninian Beall to the inhabitants of New Scotland Hundred," has been suggested as the possible site of James Veitch's burial.

Rev. Hugh Conn of the Bladensburg Presbyterian Church was the grandfather of Mary Conn whose father Capt. George Conn deeded her the "Barbadoes" and "Scotland" plantations upon her marriage to John Veitch in 1771. Reverend Hugh Conn's Rams Head ale horn from his college days in Glasgow has been passed down and is still in possession of descendants of John and Mary Conn Veitch today. His name is engraved on the silver clasp on the lid.

Sheriff James Veitch was Episcopalian; Ninian Beall, Presbyterian. But if James Veitch moved to New Scotland Hundred near Ninian Beall, then his burial site is more likely near his home there or in a church graveyard nearby and not at the Christ Church near his earlier home at Veitch's Cove, 40 miles southeast of Georgetown. Whether the Old Presbyerian Cemetery predated the Prebyterian Church started by Ninian Beall and John Veitch's father-in-law Hugh Conn is undetermined.

EVERGREEN CEMETERY (Old Presbyterian Cemetery site)
Prince George's Heritage (1972) by Louise Joyner Hienton, page 98: "Archibald Edmonston, even though a member and elder in the church at Marlborough, assisted in the establishment of the new church on the Eastern Branch of the Potomac. On August 25, 1725, Archibald Edmonston for divers causes, considerations, and sixpence in cash deeded to Hugh Conn, James Stoddart, James Beall, John Beall, John Jackson, William Beall, Ninian Beall, and William Tannyhill, and their successors one acre of land, part of the tract of land called 'The Gore' on the east side of the Eastern Branch of Potomac River 'which sd acre of land is given for ye building or Erecting one or more house or hous's for ye use of a Presbyterian Congregation for ye worshiping of ye Almighty God & to no other use or intent what'soever.' This acre of land is located just south of Bladensburg in what is now 'Evergreen Cemetery,' known once as the 'Old Presbyterian Cemetery.' It was reported in 1900 that a Bladensburg undertaker while digging a grave in this cemetery turned up brick and mortar which he said were parts of the foundation of this early church." (Also, Outline History of Captain John, Hermon and Cropley Presbyterian Churches in Montgomery County, Maryland, Washington (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Historical Society, 1926) by Rev. George S. Duncan.)
Page 6: "Mr. (William) Tannehill lived on the south side of the Eastern Branch." (Anacostia River.)
Page 94: "During the March court, 1706,…Mr. William Tannehill, with the consent of Mr. Thomas Addison, presented a petition to have Mr. Addison's old house at the Eastern Branch declared a meeting-house for the people of the Eastern Branch who would join in worship with the Reverend Nathaniel Taylor. Mr. Tannehill was for many years one of the justices of the county court." (Addison's Chapel is today St. Matthew's Church Addison Chapel, 5610 Addison Road, Seat Pleasant, Prince George's County, Maryland.)
Page 91: "The first record of a Presbyterian Church in Prince George's County is to be found in Ninian Beall's deed of gift of a half acre of land to the Patuxent Congregation in 1704. This half acre of land became a lot in the Town of Marlborough when the town was laid out in 1706."

U.S. General James Clifford Veatch (1819-1895), great-great-grandson of James and Rachel Veatch, and fourth-great-grandson of James Veitch the Sheriff, was the first to make a serious effort to research the Veitch genealogy in the 1870s. Great-grandchildren of James the Sheriff were still living when Gen. Veatch was born. Gen. Veatch's grandson Dr. Arthur Clifford Veatch (1878-1938) later continued the research begun by his grandfather. All that is preserved of this history are small portions of information incorporated into the manuscript of Rev. Laurence Rawlin Guthrie (1881-1974) three decades later, some letters from the 1880s, and some of the information Dr. Veatch had shared in letters with cousins (Papers of Gen. James Clifford Veatch, at the Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, contain personal and business letters but the only genealogy dates to 1935). Fire destroyed Dr. Veatch's home and many papers in 1935, with only a rough portion of the original material surviving, sans citations and source materials such as letters so that it is impossible to assess how much was oral tradition and how much was source documented. Gen. Veatch's history had stated that James Veitch the immigrant came from Scotland during Cromwell's day. This much was family tradition. Some branches of the family said that the Veitch immigrant came from Peebles, Scotland, though the famous Veitch horticulturists in England were the more renowned Veitches by the time Gen. Veatch began his research. But any correspondence Gen. Veatch had with the Veitches of Bladensburg, Maryland, originally from Peebles (Guthrie, pp.29-30), or those of Northumberland, England, just a few miles from Peebles (Guthrie, p.90), such information is lost, though several letters from Alexander Veitch of Peebles to his son John Veitch of Bladensburg are indeed preserved, as mentioned above (William Albert Veitch, In Search of Yesterday, 1969). Surviving correspondence from the early 1880s shows that Gen. Veatch traced to his great-great-grandfather James Veatch by that time but is vague regarding information he possessed on earlier generations. His second cousin John Jefferson Veatch had a son Alvin Elias Veatch (1870-1934) who published a family history in 1904 which did not include a clear record of earlier generations except to quote one 1880s letter: "Tradition states that the Veatch family originated in Scotland; that during the reign of Cromwell in England, part of the family emigrated from Scotland to Ireland from which country two brothers, James and John Veatch, emigrated to America...." ("The Veatch Family in America: Being a History of the Descendants of James Veatch, who Came to America from Scotland A.D. 1750(sic)" [1904] by Alvin Elias Veatch, pp.1, 173). The Indiana History Bulletin (1928), vol. 6, p.40 quotes a paper read by Mrs. Edna Brown Sanders before the Indiana Historical Society in which she stated that Gen. J.C. Veatch's paternal ancestor came from England. Whether or not Gen. Veatch could accurately trace his line to the Sheriffe James Veitch, he apparently did not identify the Sheriffe's parents as Malcolm and Katherine Veitch. These parents were claimed by his grandson, Dr. A.C. Veatch, based on his correspondence with historians Buchan and Paton. Dr. A.C. Veatch was a brilliant, intuitive researcher and for years the lead geologist for Lord Cowdray and was acting president of the Sinclair Exploration Company. Dr. Veatch's international reputation as a scientist, geologist, mathematician, and researcher undoubtedly was persuasive to Burke's Peerage and others looking at the same evidence when they identified Sheriffe James Veitch as the son of Malcolm Veitch. Dr. Veatch was a brilliant intuitive researcher whose calculations earned one of the world's great fortunes for Lord Cowdray and whose own personal oil leases and investments have generated more than $800 million dollars to date. (Burke's American Families; Burke's Landed Gentry, 16th edition, 1939, p.2951; American National Biography vol. 22, 1999; Indiana Authors and Their Books, p.629.)

Rev. Laurence Rawlin Guthrie (1881-1974), the third family historian to attempt to complete the genealogy of the Veitches, was already the author of "American Guthrie and Allied Families." His mother was a Veatch and he was "particularly partial to his mother's family" (Wanda Clark, We Veitches). Having lived in Montgomery County, Maryland, he was more familiar with Montgomery County locations where James and Nathan Veitch lived than his Indiana cousins and Gen. J.C. Veatch. His mother was another second cousin of Gen. Veatch so he was able to acquire the unfinished manuscript from the widow of his third cousin, Dr. A.C. Veatch. Rev. Guthrie was also a third cousin of William Alvin Veatch who published his own little book on the Veatches in 1904. Rev. Guthrie worked for many years on the manuscript but was unable to complete the book for several reasons including advanced age and declining health. Then Wanda Veatch Clark (1913-1989) spent two years editing the manuscript which was published soon after Rev. Guthrie's death in 1974.

James Veitch the Sheriff spelled his name Veitch his entire life. His son Nathan Veitch signed his name Veitch on some documents but signed his will as Veatch. Veatch is the spelling given in Burke's and in other sources listing him as a "Gateway Ancestor" by various lineage societies.
Descendants of James Veitch are members of the hereditary society Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons and Daughters of the Kings of Britain (commonly known as The Royal Bastards), often described as one of the more prestigious lineage societies in the United States and one of the most difficult to join. The late Charles Melville Lord (1895-1980), a James Veitch descendant, was an early member (before 1957) but not a charter member.

Partial List of Hereditary Societies showing James Veitch or Veatch among qualified ancestors or accepted "Gateway Ancestors":
1. Baronial Order of Magna Charta (James Veatch of Md)
2. Order of the Crown of Charlemagne (James Veatch of Md)
3. National Soc of Saints and Sinners (James Veatch of Md)
4. Order of the Founders and Patriots of America (James Veatch)
5. Military Order of the Crusades (James Veatch of Md.)
Also:
6. Order of Alba (James Veitch of Md)
7. The National Guild of St. Margaret of Scotland (James Veitch of MD)
8. Society of Descendants of Lady Godiva (James Vaitche (Veitch), Maryland)
9. Order of the First Families of Maryland (James Veitch)
10. National Society Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims (James Veatch, Veach, Veitch, Vaitch)

Compendium of American Genealogy, vol. VII (1942), by Virkus, p.58:
"9-James (Veitch) Veatch (b Roxburghshire, Scot., 1628-d 1685), from Scot., 1651; filed a demand in Md. For 100 acres 'for transporting himself into this Province this present year,' 1651; granted 'Veitches Cove' on St. Leonard's Creek, nr. Patuxent River, Calvert Co., by Lord Baltimore; sheriff, 1653-57; m 1657, Mary Gakerlin;
8-Nathan (ca. 1668-1705), grand juror, Prince Georges Co., 1696; owner of 'Hopeful Blessing,' 'Expedition of Beall' and 'Hawks Nest'; m ca. 1689, Ann Clagett (ca. 1672-1748; cap. Thos. [1635-1703], m. Sarah__);
7-James (1695-1762), owner of 'Beall's Pasture, 1723-33;…"

Sources
These titles all show Sheriff James "Veatch" of Maryland as the son of Malcolm Veitch/Veatch of Muirdean, Scotland:
1 Burke's Distinguished Families of America (1938) by Burke's Peerage, p.2951; identical to:
2 Burke's American Families with British Ancestry (1939), p.2951; published simultaneously with:
3 Burke's Landed Gentry of Great Britain, 16th Edition (1939), p.2951;
4 Charles M. Lord, "Paternal Lineage (Lord-Crawford) of Charles M. Lord" (1955);
5. Charles M. Lord, "Ahnentafels" (1957); (member of Royal Bastards)
6. Charles M. Lord, "Royal and Noble Lines" (1957); (member of Royal Bastards)
7. Arthur Adams, Living Descendants of Blood Royal (1959), by Arthur Adams & Howard Horace Angerville (comte d'Angerville),vol. 2, p. 521;
8. William Albert Veitch, In Search of Yesterday: Genealogy of the Veitch Family (1969); (William Albert Veitch [1927-2003], the author, NOT descended from Sheriff James Veitch, served as U.S. Attorney for 30 years in Washington, D.C.; Maryland and Virginia);
9. Donald Whyte, A Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants to the U.S.A.(1972,2009), p.446: "Veatch, James, 1625(sic)-1685. From Muirdean, Roxburgshire. Son of Malcolm V. To Maryland, 1657. Planter. M. 1658, Mary Yakerlin (sic). Son Nathan, born 1668. (D.C., 13 Nov., 1959; 15 Apr., 1960). 6217."
10. Laurence Guthrie (Wanda V. Clark, ed.) We Veitches, Veatches, Veaches, Veeches: An Historical Treasury of Descendants of James Veitch, The Sheriffe (Redmond, OR.; Midstate Printing, Inc., 1974), pp. 11-17;
11. Charles M. Lord, "Line of James Veitch Traced to Harold II, King of England," American Genealogy, vol. 53, #3 (July 1977);
12. Walter Lee Shepard, Jr., "Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons & Daughters of the Kings of Britain," National Genealogical Society Quarterly (NGSQ), vol. 62 (1974), pp. 182-91); see also The Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons and Daughters of the Kings of Britain (1979) by The Society of Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons and Daughters of the Kings of Britain;
13. Lou Rose, The Life & Times of Sheriffe James Veitch of Calvert County (Maryland) (Prince Frederick, Md.: Porpoise Press for the Calvert Co., Hist'l Soc., 1982), pp. 6, 7, 9-10, 20-30;
14. William A. Veatch, James Clifford Veatch: Scholar, Solicitor, Statesman & Soldier (1983);
15. Wanda Veatch Clark and Leroy Eugene Smith, editors, We Veitches, Veatches, Veaches, Veeches, vols. 2&3 (Redmond, Oregon: Veitch Historical Soc., 1992);
16. Gary Boyd Roberts, The Royal Descents of 500 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States (1993), page 111;
17. Gary Boyd Roberts, The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States (2004), p. 114.
18. Patricia Scherzinger, Colonial Americans of Royal and Noble Descent (1996), pp.485-86;
19. Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists who Came to America Before 1700, 8th edition (2004) by Frederick Lewis Weis, Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr., et al.;
20. Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry (2004) by Douglas Richardson & Kimball G. Everingham, p.663;
21. Douglas Richardson, Magna Charta Ancestry (2005) by Douglas Richardson, Kimball G. Everingham p. 151.
22. The Heritage of the Veitches, Veatches, Veeches and Veaches to the Royal Family of Scotland and England (1998) by Robert B. Veech.
23. The Dalton Chronicles (rep.2012) by Rodney G. Dalton, chapter 14.
24. "Leo's Genealogics Website" by Leo van de Pas (genealogics.org).
25. "The Magna Charta Sureties, 1215", 4th ed. (1991); by F.L. Weis, W.L. Sheppard, Jr., and David Faris. - lines 41 & 91.
26. "Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700", 7th ed. (1992); by F.L. Weis, W.L. Sheppard, Jr., and David Faris; line 1 (Cranston).
27. "The American Genealogist", No. 53 (1977); pages 152-53.
28. British Roots of Maryland Families (1999) by Robert W. Barnes, p. 494;

29. Compendium of American Genealogy: The Standard Genealogical Encyclopedia of the First Families of America, by Frederick Adams Virkus, vol VI (1937), p.593; vol. VII (1942), p.58) (does not list his parents but does infer by extrapolation as it lists birthplace as Roxburgshire, Scotland).

The titles above all show Sheriff James "Veatch" of Maryland as the son of Malcolm Veitch/Veatch of Muirdean.
Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. was the former president of the Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons & Daughters of the Kings of Britain (the Royal Bastards), and a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogy, 1944-2000.
Charles Melville Lord was an early member of the Royal Bastards.

Mr. Richardson omits James Veitch in two newer editions:
Magna Carta Ancestry: a Study of Colonial & Medieval Families (2011), by Douglas Richardson;
Royal Ancestry: a Study of Colonial & Medieval Families (2013) by Douglas Richardson, Volumes 1-5.

Additional biographical references:
The Original Scots Colonists of Early America, Supplement 1607-1707 (1968) by David Dobson, p. 175;
Charles E. Burgess, "The Maryland-Carolina Ancestry of Edgar Lee Masters," The Great Lakes Review (1982),vol. 8, #2, p. 60;
Seventeenth Century Colonial Ancestors by the Colonial Dames, vol. 1 (1981, 1988, 1991), p. 266;
Raphael Semmes, Crime and Punishment in Early Maryland (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1938), pp.162,208;
Charles F. Stein, A History of Calvert County, Maryland (1960);
Maryland Historical Magazine, vol. III (1908), p.67;
John Thomas Scharf, History of Maryland 1600-1765 (1879);
Nellie Barnes Veatch, A History of the Barnes-McDowall Families (1968).

FINAL CONCLUSION
In recent years, several genealogists and societies have questioned James Veitch's parentage and whether or not Burke's Peerage was persuaded in 1939 less by the circumstantial evidence and more by Dr. Arthur Clifford Veitch's reputation and his creation of Lord Cordray's fortune in the trillions of-dollars. Also, the fact that Charles Lord, another Freemason, another early member of the Royal Bastards held his thumb on the scale in the 1950s when that Society accepted his lineage. A thorough reassessment of the circumstantial evidence for James Veitch's parentage overwhelmingly supports the conclusion of his being the son of Malcolm Veitch, and shows him indeed to be the single best candidate for Malcolm's son.

Malcolm Veitch's son James Veitch was a first cousin once removed from John Stewart, Lord Traquair, with whom he served in Maj. Gen. Leslie's Regiment; a first cousin of sir John Veitch, the most powerful Freemason in Scotland; a first cousin of Alexander Veitch of Lyne, the grandfather of Lord Eliock . It seems most unlikely he died obscurely in Scotland, leaving no record of marriage or death, and even more probable that he was the same James Veitch who served with his cousin Lord Traquair and later became the High Sheriff of the entire Province of Maryland at age 29, and whose descendants' DNA matches that of Malcolm Veitch's brother's descendants.
Fact is a theory for which there is overwhelming evidence. The overwhelming evidence in answer to the question of what happened to Malcolm's son James is that it would appear to the rational mind that Sheriff James Veitch could be none other than the son of Malcolm Veitch.