In Scotland the Glen family appears to have been not only ancient, but quite a distinguished one in various ways. The ancient family were of Norman extraction and the ancestor who accompanied Walter FitzAllen from Shopshire, England, to Scotland bore the name of Nase or de Ness. The family of de Ness was from Ness or Ness Strange, near Shrewsbury and descended from the Norman house of l'Estrange, the first of whom is said to have been Guy l'Estrange, younger son of the Duke of Brettanger.
The family in Scotland assumed the name of Glen from the Lordship of Glen, Renfrewshire. This lordship comprised of Bar, Brigend, Lynthills, Gayflat and other lands was granted by David I to Walter Steward; therefore, the first lords were the Stewards, and they, probably through a marriage of the daughter of one of the family to the de Ness line, granted the Lordship to Henry de Ness. Henry de Ness held, under the Steward, the lordship of Glen, in 1180. It seems certain that John de Ness was the father of Lord Richard de le Glen and identical with John Constable of Dunoon, "who was seized of lands in Kildun". "Before 12 Nov. Edward I, 1292, (November 12, 1292, in the reign of Edward the First) Lord Richard under the designation of Richard de le Glen holding this lordship of the King, in capite, confirmed to John de le Glen, his son, (fil mio), his lands called Gayflat, in the tenure of the Glen, which Robert Nase and Cubinus formerly held of his (Richard's) predecessors by the same bounds which Richard his (ie) Lord Richards's uncle held the land of him (Richard) and his predecessors, hereditarily, John de le Glen and his heirs paying one penny yearly on the feast of Penticost at the Court of Glen." "The lordship finally became the property of the monastery of Paisley, the Glens holding the lands of Gayflat, Bar, Brigend and other lands under the Lord Abbots." From the grant of Confirmation we find Gayflat had been the inheritance of Richard, the uncle of Lord Richard, who must have granted it to his grand nephew John, whose father as Lord of the Manor confirmed the gift.
Glens held positions of importance both in Civil and in Military affairs. John de le Glen, of age in 1292, during the revolt of Wallace, commanded troops of Robert Wishard, Bishop of Glasgow. He must have distinguished himself at Bannockburn for immediately after King Robert Bruce granted him the forfeited lands of Balmutache (Balmato) Fife.
John De Glen married a co-heiress of the Abernethy family and had an older son, Robert de Glen. Robert de Glen married a Margaret, daughter of King Robert the Bruce. She was alive February 29, 1363, and as there is no other marriage of record than this one of Robert de Glen, then Margaret was the mother of his children, and hence all the lines of Glen of Bar, Renfrewshire, are of royal lineage. "King David granted Nether Pitedge, King Horn Fife, (adjoining Balmuto) to Robert de Glen; other lands granted to him were Glasgow Forest, Thanedom of Kintare, Aberdeen." Bullock.
Robert de Glen and Lady Margaret Bruce (daughter of King Robert the Bruce) had the following children: 1. William de Glen 2. Robert de le Glen 3. John de le Glen John de le Glen, the younger son of Robert de Glen and Margaret Bruce, had a son Sir John de le Glen who had a grant of the lands of Balmuto. He married Margaret Erskine, coheiress of Sir Alan Erskine.
In 1605-6 Sir James Hamilton and Montgomery, having secured large grants of land in Ulster (Ireland) prepared to plant a colony of Scotsmen in that country. James and John Glen, younger sons of David of Glenlora, removed to Ireland in 1606. These brothers were ancestors of most of that name in Ireland.
Glenn family tradition says that following the American Revolution three brothers Glenn came to America. One was named Daniel, another Robert and another name unknown. It is from one of these brothers that our line probably descends to our Great Great Grandfather, Charles Frederick Glenn but so far we've been unable to make the connection.
