Maxwell Allied and Dependent Families
• Sturgeon •

This surname was connected with the Dumfries area as early as the 1500s, with Andrew Sturgioun and John Sturgioun noted in records as witnesses in Dumfries in 1544.

Records show that Agnes Sturgeon was examined for “The Test” in Tinwald in 1685, and this suggests that she and, by extrapolation, others of her name were suspected of Catholic sympathies. The Maxwells were ardent Catholics, in contrast to most of the other populace in Southwest Scotland. This, along with the linkage of geography, might explain why the Sturgeons allied themselves with the Maxwells.