3B-3: William Guthrie
Guthrie Family Group 3 · Branch B
William Guthrie & Susan Good
Harperland · Fairlie Mains · Dundonald · Whithorn
William, son of William Guthrie and Ann Hunter, was baptized at Dundonald on 31 October 1791. His son James, born to Susan Good in January 1814, carries the documented Branch B paternal DNA line. The register names William as James’s father and records his sponsorship at the baptism.
Susan Good’s earlier daughter, also Susan, must be considered separately: her baptism leaves her father unnamed, while her later death-register transcription identifies Allan Galt.
The Family at a Glance
William Guthrie · baptized 1791–1856
- Parents
- William Guthrie and Ann Hunter.
- Baptism
- 31 October 1791, Dundonald, 590/10/197.
- Work
- Farmer; later recorded as an annuitant.
- Marital status
- Unmarried in his death record.
- Death
- 26 March 1856, Drummieholm, aged 64; burial at Dundonald reported in the death transcription.
Susan Good
- Residence
- Fairlie Mains at the children’s baptisms.
- Parents and dates
- Not established.
- Children
- Susan, born 27 April 1812; James, born 30 January 1814.
- Relationship to William
- Mother of his son James; no marriage between them is established.
Her absence from an identified later census is not evidence that she had died.
| Child / family connection | Birth / Baptism | Marriage & Later Life |
|---|---|---|
| James Guthrie · son of William and Susan | Born 30 January 1814; baptized 21 March 1814 | Married Isabella McIntyre, 8 December 1843; eight children; died 21 April 1889, Corwar, Outon, Whithorn. |
| Susan · daughter of Susan Good and, according to her death record, Allan Galt | Born 27 April 1812; baptized 21 March 1814 | Married Archibald Dyet, then Charles Arthur; died 2 July 1881. Included for the shared maternal history, not as William’s daughter. |
James Guthrie & Isabella McIntyre · eight children
James and Isabella married on 8 December 1843 following proclamation on 18 November. Their family moved through Dundonald, Kilmarnock and Riccarton before settling in the Whithorn district. James died at Corwar, Outon, on 21 April 1889. The death entry’s reported age of 73 differs from the 1814 birth, which implies 75. The corrected register describes a sudden natural death, probably paralysis. Isabella died in 1902.
| Child | Dates | Marriage & Later Life |
|---|---|---|
| William Guthrie | 1844–1878 | Married Annie Pettener Arnall; children; England. |
| John Guthrie | About 1847–1930 | Married Margaret Cunningham Kellie; no children documented. |
| James Miller Guthrie | 1849–1904 | Married Maggie Nicol Broadfoot; no children documented. |
| Alexander Guthrie | About 1851–after 1861 | Later life untraced; census absence is not a death date. |
| Archibald Guthrie | 1855–1924 | Married Jane Elizabeth Harrison; children; Canada. |
| Robert Guthrie | 1857–1920 | Married Catherine Rebecca Rolleston / McCassey; children; New Zealand; documented DNA line. |
| Janet Guthrie | 1859–1932 | Married William Muir; children; publican. |
| Thomas Guthrie | 1861–1949 | Married Helen Park Dunn; children; chemist. |
Susan Good’s daughter Susan · the Dyet and Arthur households
Susan married Archibald Dyet at Irvine on 31 July 1836. Their daughters were Mary and Ann. After Archibald’s reported death in 1843, Susan and Charles Arthur entered the proclamation process at Irvine on 12 May 1844. That date should not be presented as a separately proved ceremony date.
The Arthur family included James, Daniel, Janet, John, Susan, Isabella and Margaret. Susan died at Dreghorn on 2 July 1881, a widow, aged 69. The legacy page’s transcription of statutory death entry 589/30 names Allan Galt, master joiner, and Susan Good as her parents; John Boyd, son-in-law, was the informant. The original death image has not been directly checked in this update, so the identification remains attributed to that transcription.
Guthrie DNA Project Participation
| Family line | Y-DNA | Big Y | Autosomal |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Guthrie → Robert Guthrie (1857–1920) | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Susan → Arthur → Calderwood · maternal comparison line | N/A | N/A | ✓ |
✓ = participation documented for this line and test; — = none documented in the reviewed project material; N/A = no applicable direct paternal line or no known descendants. A dash does not mean that no descendant has ever tested.
Historical Highlights
The two baptisms on the same Dundonald register page are central to this family. Susan and James were both baptized on 21 March 1814, although Susan was almost two years older. The wording distinguishes their paternal evidence: James’s entry names William Guthrie junior at Harperland, while Susan’s does not supply her father’s name.
William later shared an annuitant household at Struthers with his brother James. His son James became a farmer, and subsequent generations carried the family to England, Canada and New Zealand.
Family Timeline
-
1791
William baptized at Dundonald, 31 October.
-
1812
Susan Good’s daughter Susan born, 27 April.
-
1814
James born 30 January; both children baptized 21 March.
-
1843
James married Isabella McIntyre, 8 December.
-
1851
William and brother James appear as annuitants at Struthers.
-
1856
William died at Drummieholm, 26 March.
-
1881 / 1889
Susan Arthur died in 1881; James Guthrie died in 1889.
Explore the Research
DNA & the Family Line
Kit 319359 is recorded in the James–Robert line at Y-111 and Family Finder. Kits 402163 and 632008 are recorded with Family Finder in the same extended lineage. A Big Y test for these kits is not established in the reviewed material.
The check mark for the Susan–Arthur–Calderwood line reflects the legacy autosomal participation of kit B882221. It does not assign Susan to William as a daughter. Her reported father Allan Galt makes this a separate comparison through Susan Good and potentially other shared ancestors. Test matches must be interpreted through their actual descent paths.
Participation summary based on the reviewed branch material, 6 November 2026. Current kit levels and SNP placements require the project’s current results; no new test is inferred from a haplogroup label.
What the original baptism page says
Dundonald OPR 590/10/270, manuscript page 143, directly records Susan’s birth on 27 April 1812 and James’s on 30 January 1814. Both baptisms are dated 21 March 1814. Susan’s entry identifies her mother at Fairlie Mains, leaves the father’s name blank, and ends “her father being sponsor.” James’s entry names William Guthrie junior at Harperland and ends “his father being sponsor.”
Sponsorship confirms the wording of each entry; it does not make the unnamed father of Susan the same man named for James. The 1881 death transcription supplies the later identification of Allan Galt.
Possible later records for Susan Good
A Susanna Good–John Smith marriage at Irvine on 7 November 1823 and the death of a Susannah Smith at Troon on 16 October 1847, with interment on 19 October, are research candidates. They have not been connected securely to James’s mother and are not incorporated into her life dates.
James’s estate
The legacy probate account gives confirmation on 26 July 1889, an intestate estate of £2,722 17s. 4d., and sons John, at Airies Mill, Kirkinner, and James, at Corwar, Outon, as executors. The relevant record is SC19/41/18. It supports the later Whithorn household and provides a route to further family evidence.
Reading & Sources
The records below distinguish original entries, attributed transcriptions and later accounts. Linked repositories may require an account or subscription. A link is a locator, not a claim that every underlying image has been independently examined.
- Dundonald OPR 590/10/197: William’s baptism, 31 October 1791.
- Dundonald OPR 590/10/270, manuscript p. 143: Susan and James, baptized 21 March 1814; original image directly reviewed.
- William’s statutory death entry, 1856, Dundonald 590/11; legacy transcription.
- Susan Arthur’s statutory death entry, 2 July 1881, Dreghorn 589/30; legacy transcription names Allan Galt and Susan Good.
- Irvine OPR: Dyet–Good marriage, 31 July 1836; Arthur–Good proclamation, 12 May 1844, 595, p. 305/347.
- James Guthrie–Isabella McIntyre marriage, Dundonald, p. 131/461: proclamation 18 November and marriage 8 December 1843.
- James’s statutory death, 21 April 1889, Whithorn 900/15, with Register of Corrected Entries; estate SC19/41/18.
- 1851 census: William and James Guthrie, Struthers, Dundonald; family records and descendant research retained from the legacy page.
Research links
Most Wanted Documents
| Record to verify | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Susan Arthur’s original death entry | Check Dreghorn 589/30 to verify the transcription naming Allan Galt, and compare the informant’s evidence with any earlier records. |
| Susan Good’s later identity | Seek records connecting the 1823 marriage and 1847 burial candidates to the mother at Fairlie Mains. |
| Untraced family members | Follow Alexander, born about 1851, beyond 1861. Preserve an open later-life status until a matching record is found. |
The Branch B hub explains the project’s provisionally accepted earlier generations and the wider DNA comparison.
Continue the Family’s Story
The 1814 baptism page anchors James’s connection to William. Keeping Susan’s maternal family alongside it, with the different paternal evidence stated clearly, preserves both the family history and the meaning of the DNA results.
Researched & Curated by Ann Guthrie