Guthrie Family Group 6 – Branch B
JOHN GUTHRIE (1763 ENG – 1763 ENG)
of Northumberland, England

JOHN GUTHRIE

Parents: Adam Guthrie (c. 1740 ENG – after 1785 ENG) & Elizabeth Nesbit (m. 23 November 1761, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England)
Birth: 1763 (exact date unknown; estimated early 1763, positioned between siblings Adam b. 1762 and Frances b. ~1764)
Birth Location: Northumberland, England (presumed Berwick-upon-Tweed or immediate vicinity, consistent with parental residence and marriage location)
Death: 1763 (late April or early May)
Death Location: Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England
Burial: 2 May 1763 at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England (parish register explicitly lists him as son of Adam Guthrie)
Notes: No baptism or christening record has been located for John despite searches in available parish indexes and transcripts. This is not uncommon for the period, as not all infants were baptized promptly (or at all) if they died very young, or if records were incomplete/lost. John’s short life exemplifies the high infant and child mortality rates prevalent in 18th-century England, particularly in border towns like Berwick-upon-Tweed, where families faced challenges from disease, limited medical care, variable nutrition, and the economic pressures of a transitional agricultural/labor economy near the Scottish border.

FAMILY NOTES / HISTORY John Guthrie was the second known son (third child overall) of Adam Guthrie and Elizabeth Nesbit, part of Guthrie Family Group 6, Branch B. His parents had married on 23 November 1761 in Berwick-upon-Tweed, and the family appears to have been rooted in the Northumberland area during the early 1760s, with connections to nearby parishes such as Harbottle (where older brother Adam was born in 1762) and later Tweedmouth/Spittal. The family’s mobility within Northumberland reflects broader patterns of the era—laborers, agricultural workers, or those tied to the emerging coal and shipping economies along the Tyne and border regions often moved for work or family support networks.

John’s death in infancy, mere months after birth and before the arrival of sister Frances around 1764, occurred amid a sibling group that included at least seven known children.

Y-DNA Project Participants: N/A – died during infancy
Autosomal DNA Project Participants: N/A – died during infancy

Primary Sources

Primary sources are original records created at or near the time of the event, offering the most direct evidence. For short-lived infants like John, surviving documentation is often limited to burial entries (baptisms were frequently omitted or not performed if death occurred soon after birth).

• Berwick-upon-Tweed Parish Registers, Northumberland, England – Burial Records (1763): John Guthrie, son of Adam Guthrie, buried 2 May 1763. This entry explicitly names the father and confirms the location and approximate timing of death (late April/early May 1763). No mother or age is typically listed in such brief 18th-century burial notations. Original registers are held at the Berwick-upon-Tweed Archives (or available via microfilm at FamilySearch: Parish registers for Berwick-upon-Tweed, 1572–1924). Access: Digitized/indexed transcripts on major genealogy platforms (e.g., Ancestry.com or FindMyPast); original images may require archival visit or FHL film. Value: Direct evidence of existence, parentage, and death; nuances include potential under-recording of stillbirths or unbaptized infants and the absence of cause-of-death details. Limitations: Pre-civil registration; relies on clerical accuracy in a border parish with possible jurisdictional overlaps.
• Berwick-upon-Tweed Parish Registers – Marriage of Parents (1761): Adam Guthrie & Elizabeth Nesbit, married 23 November 1761. Provides chronological anchor confirming John’s legitimacy and placement in birth order. Same archival source as above.
• Sibling Baptism/Burial Records (various Northumberland parishes, 1762–1784): Contextual primary evidence from Harbottle, Berwick, Tweedmouth, etc., establishing family timeline and mobility (e.g., brother Adam’s 1762 baptism in Harbottle).