Tradition and the written records agree as to the German origin of the family, and its domicile in Scotland.

The first Irish Eslers emigrated from Scotland  and settled in Ulster at the Plantation in the beginning of the 17th century.

The first settlers were three brothers.  They carried with them their Scottish dialect and sturdy Presbyterianism.  Each became a land owner, and as freeholders or leaseholders their descendants have remained in possession of the same lands up until the present time.

One of the brothers settled in the Valley of the Braid, County Antrim, and it is with his descendants this record is concerned.

The first official document I have discovered is a lease dated 1718, to James Esler, of the "Quarter Townland" of Lisnamurrican, for a term of 31 years, at a rental of £8 per annum.

The said James was born in 1687, and died 1765.  He married and had four sons - Andrew, James, Jeremiah and William.

The second lease, granted to him also, is dated 1747, and was for the lives of his two sons - Andrew then aged 11, and James, aged 8 years.  Rent £11.6.8.

Andrew was born 1736, and died 1792.  He married and left one son, Robert.  James, born 1739, died in December 1794.  At his death the lease expired.  The lands had previously been divided into four parts.  Jeremiah died unmarried in 1818, aged 63 years, and left his land to the above-named Robert.

William died without male issue, and by the marriage of his daughter, his land passed out of the name.

Robert, son of Andrew, was born 15th April, 1766, died 12th September, 1835.  He married Mary Craig, and had male issue three sons - James, Andrew and Robert.  He occupied two portions of the land, on one of which he erected flax mills, and in 1804 built "the old house at home".  The land inherited from Jeremiah he divided between James and Andrew, and of his own portion he obtained a fresh lease in 1825, for the life of his son Robert, then aged 18 years.

James, the eldest son of Robert, born 1793, died 1873. He married Margaret McConnell (died November 15th 1888 aged 88 years) and had issue Francis, Robert, James and Mary Jane.

Andrew, born 1799, married Sarah Clarke, and has issue two daughters, Elizabeth and Sarah.

Robert, the youngest son of Robert and Mary Craig, was born 10th October 1806, and died 16th September 1884.  He married Martha Adams, only daughters of Hugh Adams, of Rokeel, 14th August, 1834 and had issue:

Dr Robert Esler, the eldest son of Robert and Martha Adams, married four times, and had five sons: 
Robert Charles, Dr. Alfred, Howard, Dr. Alex, and Dr. Maberley.

Mrs. Meban's family consisted of the following: Joseph (engineer in Canada), 2 daughters, Patricia,
(unmarried, physiotherapist in Antrim), Samuel (surgeon in Canada, one daughter, one son); twins Doreen (Mrs Erwin, one son one daughter) and Ronald (in business in Ballymena, two sons one daughter.

It is interesting to note that Samuel, the youngest son of Robert Esler and Martha Adams, remained in Ireland to carry on the family property.  His son James then carried on the farming of the lands.  When James died he left the property to John Anderson, the grandson of Martha, the eldest daughter of Samuel and Jenny D. Esler.