A handful of mid- or late-eighteenth-century deeds and wills made reference to a “Mark Bannerman” as owner of the place for a brief period, c. 1726-27, but with research came a more fascinating full picture. The most interesting thing about his ownership appears to be that he changed the name from its already-in-use “Mahockney” to “Nehocknay” or “Nehockney” … and one can only assume a bit of Gaelic air there. That name lasted through the next owner, a Mr. Edmund Bagge, largely because Bagge married Bannerman’s widow Katherine (or Catherine) and got the place that way 🙂

Bannerman’s note of pre-Burns Scottish influence in America became evident when research uncovered an obscure 1961 article in a now-defunct medical journal (of all places), of a light-hearted nature encouraging doctors to live a full life with non-medical artistic interests, using Bannerman as an exemplar. The author got a couple of things wrong and didn’t know the half of Bannerman’s history (Scottish rebel, exiled, etc.), but all that continues to be pieced together with subsequent research.

Click here for a PDF of the full 1960 article.