David III had five children, as follows:






William, son of David III, had three sons:







John’s son, James, inherited the lands of Failzerton and Kilsyth from his mother, who was a daughter of Sir William Livingston. James was a famous preacher, a minister for the church in Airth in 1661 and at Stirling in 1665. His sermons were published in London in 1666. He was registered at Lyon Court as successor of Dykes and Nydie. He married Marion Elphinson, a daughter of the noted Bruce family, and the nearest line derived from the royal family of Bruce. Having no children, he adopted his relative, James Bruce, who succeeded as James Forsyth of Failzerton, alias Bruce of Gavell. This James was a member of the council of Stirling with the Duke of Hamilton.

The second son of John and brother of James, the minister, was Walter Forsyth, a regent of the University of Glasgow and titular Baron of Dykes. His will is yet in the documents of Scotland. He married his cousin, Margaret, daughter of Captain James Forsyth, who was a son of Robert of Failzerton. James became a captain in land and naval enterprises. In May, 1654, he was a prisoner of war among the English and escaped from the vault below the Parliament House where he had been confined. He married his cousin, Marguerite, daughter of Nicholas Denys, Vicomte de Fronsac, and royal governor of Acadia, Gaspesie and New Foundland.

I. Margaret married Captain Jean Denys of Honfleur, and St. Vincent de Tours, France.
II. James, who was commissioner for Glasgow in 1602.
III. William, his successor as Baron of Dykes, who became commissioner of the Scottish parliament in 1621.
IV. Matthew was an Advocate (a lawyer).
V. Robert of Failzerton was in the French army. He was a claimant to the title of Forsyth de Fronsac. The arms of Nydie were confirmed to the Forsyths of Failzerton by Sir George McKenzie, King of Arms of Arms of Scotland.

I. William, his successor, whose daughter, Barbara, married Baron Rello.
II. John, who was a Lord Commissioner of Scotland in 1652, and a member of the commission to meet the English Parliament to hear the plan of uniting the crown of Scotland and England. The Forsyths of Dykes were strongly opposed to unification. John was in favor of adopting the French language as the national speech, as a barrier against English settlement in the lowlands of Scotland. He regarded English settlement as a growing menace to integrity of the Scottish nation and to the independence of the Scottish kingdom.
lll. James, founded the branch Forsyths of Cromarty and Elgin.

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