16 Hope Street
                                                                                                    Glasgow, 21st May, 1894

James Wilson, Esq.,
   Dear Sir:-The following is extract from the old Minute Book of -------Library, of date 13th May, 1799: " A letter was presented to the Meeting from Mr. Dinwiddie's great grandfather & offering to pay the price of it." At a subsequent meeting the librarian was authorized to purchase a copy of "Barkers quarto Bible printed A.D. 1630 & deliver the copy of same Book at present in the library to Mr. Dinwiddie as soon as the other copy is procured."
  I saw in the library today a fine copy of this Bible, which I presume is the one substitued, if not it will be the original which Mr. Dinwiddie wished to obtain. It is a fine speciman of old Glasgow binding.
  Enclosed is extract from "Country Houses of the old Glasgow Gentry: giving an account of Germiston House. There is a good photograph of the building in the book, which is still standing & is occupied by labourers. About 20 years ago it was occupied by Dr. Burns of the Cathedral, who built a study in the garden, which is now a piggery. Railway operations have entirely destroyed the --------of what at one time was a beautiful residence.
  In the History of the Merchant's House of Glasgow are several references to the family.
  In 1681 Robert Dinwiddie gave a donation of f56 stg. to the Merchants House.
  In 1699 Robert Dinwiddie was appointed along with others to set as Representatives of the Marchants House and other bodies in taking charge of the maintenance of the poor in Glasgow.
  In 1742 Laurence Dinwiddie elected Lord Provost of Glasgow.
  1718. Agreement dated 18th April of this year by Merchants & Foreign Traders of Glasgow to retain two pence in the pound off the wages of all masters and seamen employed by them for relief of poor decayed mariners, among the signatures are Matthew Dinwiddie & Lawrence Dinwiddie.
  In 1764 Laurence Dinwiddie, Esqr. of Germiston died 3 May in the 68th year of his age & left to the poor of the Merchants House 200 Marks Scots equal to f11-2/3Stg.
  In 1770 Robert Dinwiddie Governor of Virginia gifted to Merchants House f50Stgs.
  In 1777 A fac simile of document & signatures relative to the importation & exportation of corn in Scotland. Robt. Dinwiddie subscribes f5Stg. & there is a fac simile of his signature page 198 of History of Merchants House.
  In the first Glasgow Directory published by Jones in 1787 Robert Dinwiddie of Germiston appears as a J.P. for Lanarkshire & as one of the governors of Wilson's Charity.
  Laurence Dinwiddie's name is also printed & he is described as Merchant, wharehouse North Side Trongate, near the Exchange.
  I sent you a sketch taken from the photograph of Germiston House in "Old Countryn Houses." The origianal house built by Robert Dinwiddie in 1690 stands almost in its entirety directly behind the modern mansion and communicates with it. Part of the old mansion is seen in the sketch which must have been a fine specimen of country houses of the period. The modern house was from the designs of David Hamilton, Architect of Glasgow Royal Exchange, Hamilton Palace, &c.

Trusting the foregoing notes may be of service to you,
                                                           I am,
                                                                   Yours faithfully,
                                                                                          Dow M. Corquadale.



        EXTRACT FROM "THE OLD COUNTRY HOUSES OF THE OLD GLASGOW GENTRY"

  The property of Colonel David Blair Lockhart, of Wicketshaw and Milton-Lockhart, is situated in the Barony parish of Glasgow and County of Lanark, and is about two miles from the cross of Glasgow.
  In ancient times the kinds of Germiston were part of the rich endowments of the Archbishopric of Glasgow, on the dissoulution of which, they came into the hands of the Hamiltons of Silvertonhill, early cadets of the noble house of Hamilton.
  Sir Robert Hamilton of Silvertonhill, who was a steady adherent of King Charles I, and who was created  a baronet of Nova Scotia about 1646, having much impaired his fortunes, was obliged to dispose of part of his estates. In 1652 he sold the barony of proban to the City of Glasgow, and the lands of Germiston to John Kirkland, in whose hands they remained only nine years, when he sold them to John Donaldson, who in his turn sold them, in 1690 to Robert Dinwiddie.
  Robert Dinwiddie, who was a merchant in Glasgow, was a native of Dumfriesshire, and said to be of the family of Dinwiddie of that Ilbe.
  His descendants, for more than a century, held a high place among the citizens of Glasgow, and their names are to be found among the magistrates and provosts of the city, and among the benefactors of the Merchant's House. Robert Dinwiddie of this family was, in the middle of last century, governor of Virginia, and is mentioned by Thackeray in "The Virginians."
 The last of the Dinwiddies of Germiston was Robert, son of Laurence Dinwiddie and his wife Katherine of Sir James Campbell, Bart., of Aberuchill and Kilbride Castle. He died in Rome in 1819 during his minority.