“ He is better known through his cruel treatment of Allan Stewart, the commendator abbot of Crossraguel, Stewart being badly burned by the earl’s orders at Dunure in 1570 in order to compel him to renounce his title to the abbey lands which had been seized by Cassillis. This “ane werry greedy man” died at Edinburgh in December 1576. His son John (c. 1567–1615) , who became the 5th earl, was lord high treasurer of Scotland in 1599 and his lifetime witnessed the culmination of a great feud between the senior and a younger branch of the Kennedy family. ”

“ KENNEDY, the name of a famous and powerful Scottish family long settled in Ayrshire, derived probably from the name Kenneth. Its chief seat is at Culzean, or Colzean, near Maybole in Ayrshire.
A certain Duncan who became earl of Carrick early in the 13th century is possibly an ancestor of the Kennedys, but a more certain ancestor is John Kennedy of Dunure, who obtained Cassillis and other lands in Ayrshire about 1350. John’s descendant, Sir James Kennedy, married Mary, a daughter of King Robert III. and their son, Sir Gilbert Kennedy, was created Lord Kennedy before 1458. ”

“ The titles and estates of the Kennedys were now claimed by William Douglas, afterwards duke of Queensberry, a great-grandson in the female line of the 7th earl and also by Sir Thomas Kennedy, Bart., of Culzean, a descendant of the 3rd earl, i.e. ”