Hi Ed, The following comes from J E Reid's "History of the County of Bute" pp 244-245 published in 1864. Much of the information you have given is confirmed here. "The KILCHATTAN estates passed in 1664 to James Stewart, son of John Stewart, of Ballinstraid, or Ballintoy, County Antrim, Ireland, who was of that date served heir to Ninian Stewart of Kilchattan, his uncle's son. The service included the principal mansion of Kilchattan. The lands were purchased, in 1698, by Sir James Stewart, and thereby became part of the Bute estate. The ASCOG property still remains separate, although portions of the original estate have passed to the Bute family, it was originally acquired by a branch of the Bute family, and was united with the estate of Kilcattan; thereafter, it passed to a second son of Stewart of Kilcattan, in the person of John, who married a daughter of Fairlie of that Ilk about 1584; his son, John of Ascog, married Gilles, daughter of Kelso of Kelsoland (now Brisbane, Largs); and their son, Ninian, married Janet, daughter of Blair of that Ilk; their son, John, was twice married; and his eldest son, John, married Margaret, daughter of John Robertson, apothecary to Charles II., and chirurgeon in Glasgow; and their son married Margaret, daughter of Captain Archibald Murray of Blackbarony. Thereafter, the estate came to belong to the Murrays; and on 28th May, 1763, John Murray of Blackbarony executed a deed of entail, in which, failing heirs of the entailer, and of his sister Mary and her heirs, the e! state was destined to Archibald, only son of Mr M'Arthur of Milton, whose relationship is not stated. Mr M'Arthur took the additional name of Stewart, and was one of the Edinburgh celebrities of his day immortalised in Kay's Portraits. He was a man of exceedingly parsimonious habits, was never married, and had no domestic servant, but generally employed some neighbour's wife to perform the drudgery of the house; he was likewise eccentric to such a degree, that he kept pigs in his bedroom, and would not allow them to be disturbed. Besides the Ascog and Milton estates, he acquired large properties in Argyleshire, and was also proprietor of part of Coates, near Edinburgh, where he lived for some years in the old turreted house at the west-end of Melville Street, and latterly in Lord Wemyss' house, Laurieston, where he died 28th March, 1815, aged 66. He generally wore white clothes, and had a peculiar manner of throwing his legs over each other in walking, which was owing probably to his great corpulency. After his death, the estate of Ascog fell to Frederick Campbell Stuart, Es! q., the next substitute of entail, and afterwards having been disentailed, I presume was acquired by the late Robert Thorn, Esq., of the Rothesay cotton works, whose family still retain the property." The estate of Ascog was at the time of Robert Thom's ownership, about 420 acres around but not including the loch which covers an area of 90 acres and it is just South of Rothesay township. Might I perhaps suggest, if you have not already done so that you obtain the Services to Heirs relating to the estate - there are a number from 1815, 1826, 1828 and 1829. Also the sasine indexes will have some detail of the transfer of ownership to Robert Thom. These are on LDS film. Perhaps the archivist at the Mountstuart trust might be able to shed some light on the connection between the Stewarts of Ascog and their bunch. Again, according to Reid, Ninian, the seventh child of Ninian Stewart, Chamberlain of Bute and heritable keeper of Rothesay Castle. (by his third wife, Elizabeth Blair) " Got Nether Kilmory from his brother Robert in 1532 and Largabrachtan from (brother) William in 1548. Succeeded to Kildavanan on the death of his father and purchased Kilchattan from his cousins, and was ancestor of the Kilcattan and Ascog families of Stewart from whom come the Stewarts of Ballinstraid and the Stewarts of Ballintoy, in Ireland, through whom the Marquis of Londonderry is descended from the Bute family" Ninians elder brother, James Stewart, became Sheriff of Bute in 1539 (Reid p159) Hope this is of some help. Cheers, Bill