3B-4: Ann Guthrie

Ayrshire family album honoring the Hunter and McClure households

Guthrie Family Group 3 · Branch B

Ann Guthrie & George Johnston

Harperland · Redburn Cottage · Eglinton estate · Ayrshire

View in Guthrie Research Tree →

Ann Guthrie, daughter of William Guthrie and Ann Hunter, married George Johnston, factor to the Earl of Eglinton. Their seven children grew up at Redburn within the estate community. Ann’s life ended in 1835, but the family continued through the Johnston, Moffat and Allan households.

The Family at a Glance

Ann Guthrie · baptized 1794–1835

Parents
William Guthrie and Ann Hunter.
Baptism
24 February 1794, Dundonald, 590/10/204.
Marriage
17 January 1820, Dundonald; proclamation recorded at Kilwinning on 15 January.
Death
Reported 28 January 1835, Redburn Cottage, Irvine; the original newspaper notice remains unexamined.

George Johnston · 1790–1864

Parents
Robert Johnston and Ann Anderson.
Birth / baptism
24 / 27 October 1790, Cullen.
Work
Factor to the Earl of Eglinton, based at Redburn.
Second marriage
Jane Smith, 14 June 1836, Kilmarnock.
Death
15 March 1864 at Redburn; son George was the informant.

Children of Ann Guthrie & George Johnston

Child Birth / Baptism Marriage & Later Life
Ann Johnston Born 12 November; baptized 22 November 1820 Married James Moffat, 6 July 1839; six children. Died 14 December 1861.
George Johnston Born 5 May; baptized 20 May 1822 Named as informant on his father’s 1864 death record; later life not established.
Jacobina / Jabina Elisabeth Johnston Born 10 May; baptized 9 June 1825 Married William Wylie Allan, 1 August 1848; two daughters. Died 6 June 1861.
William Johnston Born 11 August; baptized 31 August 1826 Died 6 January 1850 at Redburn.
Robert Johnston Born 4 August; baptized 26 August 1828 Recorded as a clerk in his father’s 1851 household; later life untraced.
John Johnston Born 4 June; baptized 12 July 1830 Recorded in 1841; later life untraced.
Andrew Wyllie Johnston Born 19 November 1831; baptized 2 January 1832 Died 10 September 1854 at Redburn; the notice’s age differs from the birth record.
Ann Johnston & James Moffat · six children

Ann Johnston married the engineer James Moffat on 6 July 1839. He died on 17 June 1849, aged 32. The widowed Ann and her children appear within the Redburn family network. Ann died of tuberculosis at Redburn on 14 December 1861 and was buried at Saltcoats. The 1851 year in an inscription transcription conflicts with her later census presence and the December 1861 newspaper evidence; it is not adopted.

  • Ann Moffat (1840–1922), unmarried.
  • John Moffat (1841–after 1861), later life untraced.
  • Georgina Moffat (1843–1921), unmarried.
  • James Moffat (1845–after 1861), later life untraced.
  • Patrick David Moffat (1846–1868), unmarried.
  • Janet Moffat (1849), later life untraced.

The earlier hub’s “no children” statement is superseded by these family records.

Jabina Elisabeth Johnston & William Wylie Allan

Jabina married William Wylie Allan, a physician, at Redburn on 1 August 1848, with entries in Kilwinning and East/New Kilpatrick. William died in 1852. Jabina died of tuberculosis on 6 June 1861, aged 36; her nephew Patrick Moffat was present.

Their daughters were Jabina Elizabeth Allan (1849–1917), who remained unmarried and lived in England, and Amelia Stanley Allan (1851–1928), who married the clergyman Hugh George Watt and had children. The birth date used here for their mother is 10 May 1825, supported by the baptismal transcription, rather than the older 15 May reading.

George Johnston & Jane Smith · the second household

George’s second marriage belongs after Ann Guthrie’s death. Kilwinning records proclamation on 12 June 1836; the Kilmarnock record gives the marriage on 14 June. Jane’s parents are not established here, and the family account reports her death before the 1841 census.

Their daughter Mary Johnston was born on 26 December 1836. She married Thomas Braithwaite at Redburn on 11 February 1864 and died at Deanfield on 29 April 1865. Their son Charles Smith Johnston was born on 5 March 1838, baptized on 30 March and died at Girvan on 29 September 1851. These children are part of George’s family but are not descendants of Ann Guthrie.

Guthrie DNA Project Participation

Family line Y-DNA Big Y Autosomal
Ann Johnston → Moffat N/A N/A —
Jabina Johnston → Allan / Watt N/A N/A —
Other Johnston children 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

Ayrshire plough and harvest notes

George Johnston’s career placed the family within the management and social life of the Eglinton estate. His work included the practical affairs of tenants, land and improvements. The later accounts of his career describe an earlier connection with Alexander Nimmo’s engineering work in Ireland, service to the estate from about 1817, and a long association with Ardrossan and local institutions.

Redburn remained a family center after Ann’s death. Adult children and grandchildren returned there during widowhood and illness, while George continued his estate work and later retirement.

Family Timeline

  1. 1794

    Ann baptized at Dundonald, 24 February.

  2. 1820

    Marriage to George Johnston, 17 January.

  3. 1820–1831

    Births of seven children in the first marriage.

  4. 1835

    Ann’s death reported on 28 January at Redburn Cottage.

  5. 1836–1838

    George’s marriage to Jane Smith and births of Mary and Charles.

  6. 1856

    Presentation to George marked his long estate service.

  7. 1861–1864

    Deaths of daughters Jabina and Ann in 1861, and George in 1864.

Estate service and the later tributes

The legacy page preserves substantial obituary and historical material about George. These accounts credit him with administrative skill, practical estate knowledge and contributions to local public life. A presentation in 1856 included £800 and a silver epergne. He retired with continued salary and residence, according to the contemporary tributes.

John Fullarton’s history of the Eglinton and Winton family, a letter in the life of Robert Pollok, and the newspaper tributes provide different perspectives on this career. They belong alongside the family registers, while generalized estate history and portraits of the earl remain contextual sources rather than evidence of a Guthrie relationship.

Explore the Research

DNA & the Family Line

A female Guthrie line does not transmit the Guthrie Y chromosome. Autosomal comparisons may be useful when tied to a documented descendant path; no new participation is inferred from the family’s presence in a tree.

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.

Ann’s death notice: the source chain

The reported date, 28 January 1835, is cited in the separate 2019 “GFG3 Theories—Part 1” article under Ann, rather than in the old hub’s source list. The trail leads to Walter W. Clearie’s newspaper extracts, published as Airshire News, volume 5, 1831–1840, by Troon & Ayrshire Family History Society in 2017, 115 pages. The Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society catalog gives shelf location S/AYR/CLE.

This is the title of a compilation, not the name of the original newspaper. The original paper, issue and notice have not been located with the access available. The reported death is retained with that limitation; no unsupported quotation from an unseen notice is supplied.

Family records that correct earlier summaries

The first daughter Ann had six Moffat children. Son George was alive to report his father’s death in 1864. Son Robert appears as a clerk in the 1851 household. These records supersede earlier statements that the children were untraced at earlier dates.

The witness list for Ann Johnston’s baptism refers to two Mr. and Mrs. William Guthrie couples and other relatives. It should not be used to assign both couples to particular relationships without checking the exact entry and the family context. Andrew Wyllie Johnston’s reported death-notice age is not used to replace his recorded 1831 birth.

George’s estate

The legacy account cites confirmation on 2 May 1864, with Ayr records SC6/46/2 and SC6/44/31. The estate papers may clarify surviving children, grandchildren and the household after the deaths of Ann Moffat and Jabina Allan.

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 590/10/204: Ann Guthrie’s baptism, 24 February 1794.
  • Marriage entries: Dundonald 590, p. 105/182, 17 January 1820; Kilwinning 599, p. 174/294, proclamation 15 January.
  • Cullen OPR: George Johnston, born 24 and baptized 27 October 1790, parents Robert Johnston and Ann Anderson.
  • Kilwinning births: Ann p. 7; George p. 16; Jabina p. 28; William p. 33; Robert p. 40; John p. 50; Andrew p. 57. Second marriage children Mary p. 70 and Charles p. 79.
  • Jabina–Allan marriage: Kilwinning 599, p. 249, and East/New Kilpatrick 500, p. 298, 1 August 1848.
  • George Johnston’s death: Kilwinning 599/42, 15 March 1864; Mary Braithwaite’s marriage 599/5 and death 599/48, 1864–1865.
  • Newspaper citations retained in the family research: William’s death, 11 January 1850; Charles’s death, 4 and 8 October 1851; Andrew’s death, 16 September 1854; Ann Moffat’s death, 24 December 1861; George’s 1864 obituaries. Exact title and issue should accompany any newly obtained image.
  • Walter W. Clearie extracts, Airshire News, vol. 5, 1831–1840 (Troon & Ayrshire FHS, 2017), 115 pp.; source of the reported Ann Guthrie Johnston death.
  • Portrait formerly cited as “by George Sanders”: contextual image of the Earl of Eglinton, not a portrait of George Johnston; malformed legacy hyperlink not retained.

Research links

Most Wanted Documents
Record to verify Why it matters
Original death notice for Ann Guthrie Johnston Obtain the Clearie extract or original 1835 newspaper notice, preserving newspaper title, date, page and exact wording.
Johnston and Moffat later lives Trace John Johnston, Robert Johnston, George Johnston after 1864, and John, James and Janet Moffat beyond their last verified records.
Family estate papers Read George’s full 1864 will and inventory to test relationships and identify surviving beneficiaries.

The Branch B hub explains the project’s provisionally accepted earlier generations and the wider DNA comparison.

Rich blue shawl and family keepsakes

Continue the Family’s Story

The Redburn records show a family extending across three generations and two marriages. Keeping those households distinct allows the Johnston, Moffat and Allan stories to retain their proper places in Branch B.

Researched & Curated by Ann Guthrie