Our Royal Connection

Our royal connection is on my maternal great-grandfather Charles Griner’s paternal side of his family. Charles Griner’s 5th great-grandmother, Priscilla Burnett of Leys was born into the Burnett of Leys family of Scottish nobility, she was one of eleven children born to Thomas Burnett Jr. and Mary Cooper of Southampton, Long Island. Priscilla, one of Thomas’s Jr. daughters was the first generation of the Burnett Family of Southampton, Long Island, to be born in the New World a.k.a The America.

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Priscilla Burnett of Leys’ great-grandparents were Alexander Burnett, 11th Laird of Leys and his wife and 1st cousin, The Hon. Katherine Arbuthnott of Fiddies. Alexander Burnett, 11th Laird of Leys and his wife The Hon. Katherine Arbuthnot of Fiddies was both the great-grandchildren of Alexander Burnett, 9th Laird of Leys and Lady Janet Hamilton of Arran (House of Hamilton)

Lady Janet Hamilton was the daughter of Robert Hamilton, Seigneur d’Aubigny (21 March 1476 – 1543) and Lady Elizabeth Campbell. Robert Hamilton was the 3rd youngest son of James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton and Princess Mary Stewart, the Countess of Arran. Robert was born at Brodick Castle, in the Isle of Arran, Scotland and he died in 1543 in Torrance, Lanarkshire, Scotland, when he was 66 years old.

Princess Mary Stewart, the Countess of Arran, the grandmother of Lady Janet Hamilton; was the eldest daughter of King James II of Scotland and Mary of Guelders, Queen consort of Scotland.

King James II of Scotland was the eldest son of James I of Scotland and Lady Joan Beaufort, Queen consort of Scotland. (not to be confused with Lady Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland, Joan’s Aunt.) Lady Joan Beaufort, Queen consort of Scotland was the daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset and Margaret Holland, Duchess of Clarence. John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset was the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and his 3rd wife, and former mistress Katherine Swynford (nee Roet), Duchess of Lancaster. John of Gaunt was the 3rd son of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, queen consort of England.

One of Alexander Burnett, 11th Laird of Leys and the Hon. Katherine Arbuthnot of Fiddes’s grandson was Thomas Burnett Jr. of Leys was the eldest son of Dr. Thomas Burnett of Leys and Jane Foys of London, England. Dr. Thomas Burnett Sr., was born at Crathes Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, he later received his M.A. degree from Cambridge University   and later soon became a physician of eminence practicing in Braintree, Essex, England, where he later met his wife, Jane Foys, a daughter of John Foys of London, England.

All of Thomas and Jane’s children was all born in Braintree, Essex, England.

* The English Royal Connection is from Edward III of England, the great-grandfather of Lady Joan Beaufort, the wife James I of Scotland (Family Records)​

Thomas Burnett Sr. of Leys m. Mary Cooper of The Cooper family of Southampton, Long island

1. John Fithian (b.1681),
2. Josiah Fithian (b.1685),
3. Samuel Fithian Jr. (b.1688)
4. Esther Fithian (b.1691)
5. Matthias Fithian (b.1694)
6. William Fithian (b.1698) 
7. Isaac Fithian (b. sometimes before 1702) named in his father’s will