Excerpt from Genealogy and History of the Hepburn Family of the Susquehanna Valley: With Reference to Other Families of the Same Name Before proceeding with the history of James and William, and their descendants, let us look into the history of the early families, - for there were several, - that we may better understand their distinguished ancestry. It will not be at tempted, however, in these preliminary remarks, to follow anything like a connected line of descent in Scotland, be cause at this late day that would be almost impossible, i'nas' much as the origin of the family dates back fully seven hun dred years. Investigations of the early history have been mostly confined to Burton, who is pretty generally conceded to be the fullest and most accurate of Scottish historians, for the purpose merely of showing some of the leading and representative members of the different houses and the stir ring and exciting events with which they'were connected. Many members of the family in early times occupied prominent positions in civil and military life, were distin guished as ecclesiastics, poets, divines, judges and advocates, and were more or less identified with the fierce political and religious dissensions which so disturbed Scotland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Others sat in Parlia ment and assisted in the framing of laws, whilst others were entrusted with their administration. One married a Scot tish queen, another distinguished himself as a soldier in the service of Gustavus Adolphus and Louis xiiith., and be came a Marshal of France, whilst another was prominent in the great battle of Waterloo. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.