Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE OK FAMILY. The Family of Ker, a word which I believe signifies Strength, is of Anglo-Norman lineage, and the name stands in the earliest record of the Normans in this Country -- the roll of Battle Abbey; an edifice founded by William I. to commemorate the victory which he gained over Harold II. on the 14th October 1066 (eight hundred years ago). The name of Ker, or according to the Norman orthography, Karre, stands conspicuous on this roll of fame, as corroborated by the celebrated chroniclers Hollinshed and Duchesne. It has been said that the family was a noble and illustrious one in France before the Conquest, and that William's companion was one of its members who became the progenitor of the English and Scotch Kers, the former being no doubt the parent stock, which probably was settled at Kershall in Lancashire. Several of the name are mentioned by Prynne, and others appear on the Ragman Roll -- that ancient document which contains a list of those who swore fealty to Edward I, 1272-1307. Two members of the family of Ker probably springing from the Lancashire stock came to Scotland about the close of the 14th century, where they settled in Roxburghshire, founding the two great families of Cessford and Fernieherst, or Kershaugh, or Kersheugh, as Fernieherst was first called. It is not known whether the two Anglo-Normans were brothers, but they were probably nearly related. Their names were John and Ealph -- the former being the ancestor of the Kers of Cessford, originally styled of Atildtounburn, and the Forest of Selkirk -- the latter beingthe progenitor of the Kers of Ferniehirst, first styled Kersheugh. Both families were supporters of the great house of Douglas, at that time paramount on the Scottish Border. But a more ancient family than either, of the same na...