Lineage – According to family tradition an ancestor was
required to repair the armour of King Alexander III and made such a bad job of
it; but, as he fought well, the King knighted him with the remark that though he
was ‘nae smith’, he was a brave gentleman.
The Naesmyths of Posso have always recognised as a cadet branch; the family of
Alexander Nasmyth (1758-1840), painter, engineer and architect, and his son
Patrick (1787-1831), his six daughters, who were apt pupils of their father, and
his youngest son James Nasmyth (1808-90) the engineer who invented the steam
hammer and after his retirement gained further distinction from his astrological
studies of the moon.