Lauderdales are descended from James Maitland Lauderdale, the Emigrant, who settled in Pennsylvania around 1714. He is thought to have moved from southwest Scotland, where the Lauderdale name is known in the 18th century, to Northern Ireland and thence to North America.It is not known who James Lauderdale, the Emigrant was descended, and he made no claims to be descended from the Earls of Lauderdale. Equally, he was firm in his assertion that he was a Maitland by origin, and this is the tradition which he handed down to his children and grandchildren and which was formally recorded by James Shelby Lauderdale in 1880. This refers to a meeting between his uncle Sam, and Dr David Lauderdale who met in 1830, and discovered that they shared a common family tradition. Another Lauderdale from New York was met in 1880 in St Louis with a similar tale.
Lauderdale as a family name, not connected with the title, first appears in the Scottish parish records in Galloway in the early 18th century with the birth of Jean Lauderdale in 1737, the daughter of James Lauderdale at Beith, Ayr.
Maitlands have lived in or been connected with Galloway since 1360, and our understanding of James the Emigrant is that he came from that part of Scotland, so the combination of geography, name and his family tradition makes it almost certain that he was a Maitland by origin, and as such, related by blood to the Earls of Lauderdale, but not descended from them.
Washington Co., VA
