Guthrie Resource Sketches
from
Individuals and Family Clusters
mentioned in
Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ

Working Methodology

These Guthrie Research Sketches are intended to reconstruct individuals and family groups from the surviving evidence rather than simply repeat older published pedigrees.

Numbered territorial designations such as “6th of Kincaldrum” or “8th of Guthrie” do not appear in the original records. They are modern constructs used by historians and genealogists to distinguish successive men of the same name and reduce conflation. In these sketches, the numbering represents the best current reconstruction of the succession and may be revised if new evidence requires it.

Evidence is weighed according to its source and proximity to the events described. Contemporary records take precedence over later genealogical compilations, while early biographies, family traditions, and published pedigrees remain valuable when their limitations are recognized.

The sketches distinguish between:

• Documented fact — directly supported by contemporary or near-contemporary evidence.
• Reconstruction — an identification or relationship supported by multiple records but not stated explicitly in a single source.
• Tradition or later pedigree — information preserved by biographies, family histories, heraldic works, or other later compilations.
• Hypothesis — a plausible interpretation proposed for further research.

Older pedigrees are therefore treated as evidence, not authority. Their compilers sometimes had access to records now difficult to locate, but they were also limited by the sources and research tools available in their own time. Where contemporary records conflict with an established pedigree, the pedigree must remain open to revision.

The goal is not to force every record into an inherited family structure, but to show what is known, what is probable, what remains uncertain, and why.

John Guthrie, Bishop of Moray
(c.1577–1649)
^{Individual Research Sketch}

Identity and Overview

John Guthrie, Bishop of Moray, was a seventeenth-century Scottish minister, prelate, royalist, and later laird of Guthrie. He was a son of Patrick Guthrie, goldsmith of St Andrews, and Margaret Raitt, and belonged to the Hiltoun branch of the wider Guthrie family. His career took him from parish ministry in Angus to Perth and Edinburgh and ultimately to the bishopric of Moray. In 1636 he acquired the lands and barony of Guthrie from his kinsman Peter Guthrie.

His genealogical importance is greater than his ecclesiastical career alone would suggest. Several of his children can be independently documented, and his daughter Bathiah Guthrie married Francis Guthrie of Gagie, who became 12th of Guthrie; their descendants carried on the main Guthrie of that Ilk line. The bishop’s family therefore forms an important bridge between the earlier holders of the barony and the later Guthries of Guthrie.

Genealogical Profile

John Guthrie married Nicolas or Nicholas Wood. An original record of their marriage has not yet been identified. Their daughter Bathiah’s baptism in 1623 establishes that they were married by that date.

Nicolas Wood died at Guthrie on 2 July 1645. Her brother-in-law, Rev. JWGuthrie, minister of Arbirlot, recorded the event in his diary:

“2 July 1645 in ye evening being wednesday my brother his wyff, Nicolas Wood, dyed in Guthrie, and was buried 4 July in ye Ile of ye Kirk of Guthrie. Pretious in ye sight of ye Lord is the death of his saints.”

She was therefore buried on 4 July 1645 in the aisle of the Kirk of Guthrie.

The presently documented or strongly supported children of John Guthrie and Nicolas Wood include:

• John Guthrie, minister of Keith and Duffus. He married Anna Innes on 26 December 1626. They had at least one daughter, Nicolas Guthrie. John died at Guthrie on 8 June 1643.
• Patrick Guthrie, identified in a 1631 record as the bishop’s second son. He also appears with his brothers in later records connected with Moray and Aberdeen.
• Andrew Guthrie, identified as the bishop’s third son. He joined the Royalist forces of the Marquis of Montrose and was executed for treason at St Andrews on 20 January 1646.
• Margaret Guthrie, whose 1628 marriage contract identifies her as a daughter of John, Bishop of Moray. She married David Collace, minister of Kinneddar and Drainie.
• Nicola/Nicolas Guthrie, who married Joseph Brodie, minister first at Keith and later at Forres. Their marriage contract identifies her as a daughter of the bishop.
• Bathiah/Bethia Guthrie, baptised at Edinburgh on 27 July 1623, daughter of Mr John Guthrie and Nicolas Wood. She married Francis Guthrie of Gagie on 4 May 1647. Through this marriage the Guthrie estate ultimately passed into the Gagie branch, and their descendants continued the principal Guthrie of that Ilk line.

A daughter named Lucretia Guthrie appears in later pedigrees, but her identity is not presently supported by the same quality of evidence as the daughters listed above and requires separate consideration.

John Guthrie also had a brother of particular importance to this research: Rev. Jey Guthrie, minister of Arbirlot. James’s surviving diary provides unusually direct evidence for the deaths of both the bishop and his wife.

Four years after Nicolas Wood’s death, James recorded:

“My brother Mr Jhonne Guthrie late Bishop of Murray, dyed in Guthrie on tuesday 23. August at 10 hours 1649. He was buried beside his wyff. I closed his eyes.”

This contemporary account establishes that Bishop John died at Guthrie on 23 August 1649, and that he was buried beside Nicolas Wood in the family burial place at the Kirk of Guthrie.

Career and Historical Context

John Guthrie graduated M.A. at St Andrews in 1597 and became reader at Arbroath that year. He was admitted minister of Kinnell in 1599, translated to Arbirlot in 1603, then to Perth in 1617, and later to St Giles, Edinburgh.

He was elevated to the bishopric of Moray in the 1620s. During the following years he participated in national ecclesiastical and parliamentary affairs and became closely associated with the royal episcopal establishment.

His support for royal church policy brought him into conflict with the Covenanters. The Glasgow Assembly deposed him in 1638. After resistance at Spynie, he was captured in 1640 and imprisoned in Edinburgh. He was later released under restrictions and eventually retired to Guthrie.

His ecclesiastical career is important for identifying him in the records, but for genealogical purposes his acquisition of the Guthrie estate and the subsequent marriages of his children are of greater long-term significance.

Places and Properties

St Andrews — associated with his parental family and university education.

Kinnell and Arbirlot, Angus — his early parish ministries.

Perth and Edinburgh — later ministerial appointments.

Moray and Spynie — center of his episcopal career and the political and religious conflict that resulted in his deposition and imprisonment.

Guthrie, Angus — the ancestral estate he acquired in 1636, the place where Nicolas Wood died in 1645, and where Bishop John himself died in 1649. Both were buried at the Kirk of Guthrie, with James Guthrie’s diary stating explicitly that the bishop was buried beside his wife.

John did not inherit Guthrie directly through the immediately preceding lairdly succession. The estate had passed through a complicated series of transactions before Peter Guthrie conveyed the barony to Bishop John. He is therefore counted in the Guthrie Genealogy reconstruction as 11th of Guthrie.

The succession continued through his daughter Bathiah Guthrie, whose husband Francis Guthrie of Gagie became 12th of Guthrie. Their descendants carried forward the principal Guthrie of that Ilk line.

Fasti Evidence

The Fasti entries collectively provide evidence for:

• Career: Ministerial service at Kinnell, Arbirlot, Perth and Edinburgh, followed by the bishopric of Moray.
• Marriage: Nicolas Wood.
• Children: Several sons and daughters who appear independently in Fasti or in records associated with other ministers.
• John: His son became minister of Keith and Duffus.
• Andrew: His son was executed for treason at St Andrews.
• Family connections: The marriages of the bishop’s daughters link the Guthries with the Collace, Brodie and Gagie families.
• Estate: His later possession of Guthrie connects his family directly with the continuing succession of the barony.

The individual Guthrie Entries preserve the fuller wording and context of the Fasti references and need not be repeated here.

Evidence Beyond Fasti

Several independent records considerably strengthen the reconstruction of Bishop John’s family.

Nicolas Wood’s death and burial are documented by an eyewitness family source. Rev. James Guthrie recorded that his brother’s wife Nicolas Wood died at Guthrie on 2 July 1645 and was buried on 4 July in the aisle of the Kirk of Guthrie. This provides a precise death and burial date where later pedigrees generally give only an approximate year.

Margaret Guthrie is securely documented. A 1628 marriage contract between David Collace and Margaret Guthrie specifically identifies her as a daughter of John, Bishop of Moray.

Nicola Guthrie is likewise securely documented. Her 1631 marriage contract with Joseph Brodie identifies her as a daughter of the bishop.

Patrick and Andrew’s positions among the sons are independently indicated. Patrick is described as the bishop’s second son and Andrew as his third son in contemporary records.

Andrew’s parentage is independently confirmed by records surrounding his prosecution and execution for treason.

Bathiah’s parentage is supported by her 1623 baptismal record, naming Mr John Guthrie and Nicolas Wood. Her later marriage to Francis Guthrie of Gagie became genealogically crucial because their descendants continued the Guthrie of that Ilk line.

The bishop’s death is precisely documented by his brother’s diary. Rev. James Guthrie recorded that Bishop John died at Guthrie on Tuesday, 23 August 1649 at ten o’clock, that he was buried beside his wife, and that James personally closed his brother’s eyes.

Taken together, the two diary entries establish a particularly intimate piece of family history: Nicolas Wood died and was buried at Guthrie in July 1645; Bishop John survived her by four years and was buried beside her in August 1649.

Research Analysis

• The Margaret–Lucretia Question
  • Margaret Guthrie is documented as a daughter of Bishop John through her 1628 marriage contract with David Collace.
  • The status of Lucretia Guthrie is much less certain.
  • Later genealogical accounts sometimes list Lucretia as a daughter of the bishop and, in some cases, appear to place her where contemporary evidence identifies Margaret. The Collace family itself also contains a Lucretia Collace, creating an obvious possibility for later confusion.
  • At present the evidence supports the following conclusions:
    • Margaret Guthrie — Documented.
    • Lucretia Guthrie — Unproven as a separate daughter of Bishop John.
  • Lucretia should therefore not be substituted for Margaret as David Collace’s wife. Whether she was another daughter of Bishop John or entered later pedigrees through conflation remains an open question.

Research Note — James Guthrie, Minister of Stirling

Later genealogies and some modern biographies have claimed that Rev. James Guthrie, minister of Stirling, was a son of Bishop John Guthrie.

No documentary evidence has been identified that establishes that relationship.

Some early accounts describe James as possibly a son of a laird of Guthrie, but they do not identify Bishop John specifically, and several lairds belong to the relevant chronological period. The statement therefore cannot legitimately be converted into a specific father-son relationship with the bishop.

Fasti also preserves a different proposed ancestry for James Guthrie. That evidence should be examined in detail when James receives his own Research Sketch.

For the purposes of Bishop John’s genealogy, James Guthrie of Stirling should not be included among his children unless independent documentary evidence is discovered.

Conclusions & Open Questions

John Guthrie’s immediate family can be reconstructed substantially better from contemporary records than from the inconsistent pedigrees frequently repeated online. His wife Nicolas Wood and children John, Patrick, Andrew, Margaret, Nicola and Bathiah can presently be identified with varying degrees of contemporary documentary support.

The diary of his brother James adds unusually personal contemporary evidence to that reconstruction. It records Nicolas Wood’s death at Guthrie on 2 July 1645 and burial at the Kirk of Guthrie on 4 July, followed four years later by Bishop John’s death there on 23 August 1649 and burial beside his wife.

The most significant genealogical consequence of the family lies with Bathiah Guthrie. Her marriage to Francis Guthrie of Gagie united the bishop’s connection to the barony with the Gagie male line, and their descendants carried on the principal Guthrie of that Ilk succession.

Several questions remain:

• Can an original marriage record or contract for John Guthrie and Nicolas Wood be located?
• Is there primary evidence proving Lucretia Guthrie was a separate daughter of the bishop?
• Can the descendants of Margaret Guthrie and David Collace be reconstructed sufficiently to determine how the name Lucretia entered the Collace/Guthrie tradition?
• Can the descendants of Nicola Guthrie and Joseph Brodie be more fully documented?
• What became of Patrick Guthrie after his appearances in the records of the 1630s?
• What evidence originally generated the later claim that James Guthrie of Stirling was a son of Bishop John?

The last question belongs primarily in James Guthrie’s own Research Sketch.

Sources and Cross-References

• Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ — relevant Guthrie Entries for Bishop John Guthrie and members of his family.
• National Records of Scotland, GD188 — Records of the Guthrie Family of Guthrie, including marriage-contract material for Margaret and Nicola Guthrie.
• Records of the Parliaments of Scotland — Bishop John’s public career and the proceedings involving his son Andrew.
• Diary of Rev. James Guthrie, Minister of Arbirlot — contemporary accounts of the deaths and burials of Nicolas Wood in July 1645 and Bishop John Guthrie in August 1649.
• Guthrie Genealogy — Guthries of Guthrie, Guthrie of Gagie, and associated Special Collections and Research & Resources material.
• Related future sketches: The Guthries of Guthrie — Family Cluster Research Sketch; James Guthrie, Minister of Stirling — Individual Research Sketch.

William Guthrie, Minister of Fenwick
(c.1620–1665)
^{Individual Research Sketch}

Identity and Overview

William Guthrie, minister of Fenwick, was a Scottish Covenanter minister and religious writer best remembered as the author of The Christian’s Great Interest. Born at Pitforthie in Angus about 1620, he was the eldest son of James Guthrie of Pitforthie and Janet Lyon of Easter Ogil.

William’s family identity is sometimes misrepresented because later writers assumed that the Pitforthie Guthries were a cadet branch of the Guthries of Guthrie. The documented paternal line instead leads through Kingennie. William’s father, James Guthrie, belonged to the Kingennie family before acquiring Pitforthie. No direct paternal-line connection between the Kingennie Guthries and the Guthries of that Ilk has yet been established.

William nevertheless probably did possess Guthrie-of-Guthrie ancestry through his mother. Janet Lyon’s mother was reportedly a daughter of a Guthrie of Guthrie. William and his siblings therefore appear to have combined paternal descent from Kingennie with a separate maternal descent from the Guthries of that Ilk.

William’s own family is unusually well documented. One genealogical fact is especially important: he left no surviving sons. Any demonstrated descent from William Guthrie and Agnes Campbell must therefore pass through one of their two surviving daughters, Agnes Guthrie or Mary Guthrie.

Genealogical Profile

William married Agnes Campbell in August 1645. She was a daughter of David Campbell of Skeldon in Ayrshire, described in the early memoir of William as belonging to a remote branch of the Loudoun family.

They had six known children:

• Margaret Guthrie, baptised 12 April 1648 at Fenwick; died 7 July 1649.
• Agnes Guthrie, baptised 14 September 1651 at Fenwick; married Matthew Miller of Glenlee in 1671 and had a substantial family.
• William Guthrie, baptised 21 August 1653; died 5 April 1655.
• Mary Guthrie, born or baptised 8 July 1655; married Rev. Patrick Warner, minister of the Church of Scotland, in December 1681. At least three children are presently known.
• Elizabeth Guthrie, baptised 30 July 1656; died 8 February 1658.
• John Guthrie, baptised 9 September 1658; died about 13 June 1662.

Only Agnes and Mary survived to adulthood.

The early memoir independently confirms the essential structure of this family, stating that William and Agnes had six children but that only two daughters survived him. It identifies one daughter as the wife of Miller of Glenlee and the other as the wife of Rev. Patrick Warner.

Therefore, any legitimate descent from William Guthrie of Fenwick must proceed through:

Agnes Guthrie → Matthew Miller of Glenlee

or

Mary Guthrie → Rev. Patrick Warner

There is presently no documented surviving male Guthrie line descending from William himself.

Family of Origin

William was the eldest son of James Guthrie of Pitforthie and Janet Lyon of Easter Ogil.

James had been born into the Kingennie Guthrie family. His father, William Guthrie of Kingennie, sold Kingennie before his death. James later married Janet Lyon, widow of John Wemyss of Pitforthie. Janet’s daughters by her Wemyss marriage succeeded as heirs, and James subsequently acquired Pitforthie from them.

The full acquisition of Pitforthie and the large family of James Guthrie and Janet Lyon belong more appropriately in the future Kingennie–Pitforthie Family Cluster Research Sketch.

Their children included several sons besides William:

• Andrew Guthrie
• David Guthrie, later documented as holder of Pitforthie
• Robert Guthrie, who studied for the ministry and was licensed to preach but whose poor health prevented him from taking charge of a parish
• Alexander Guthrie, minister of Stracathro
• John Guthrie, minister of Tarbolton and Barnweil

James and Janet also had five daughters. The eldest Jonet/Janet Guthrie and youngest Jean Guthrie have frequently been conflated in later trees. They were separate daughters. Jonet/Janet married William Rait, minister of Monikie and Dundee, who later became associated with the lairdship of Pitforthie.

The old memoir understates the size of William’s sibling group and should therefore be used cautiously for detailed family reconstruction.

William, James Guthrie of Stirling, and the “Cousin” Tradition

William Guthrie and Rev. James Guthrie, minister of Stirling, are repeatedly described as relatives in early biographical sources.

The 1720 memoir states that William studied philosophy at St Andrews under James Guthrie, later minister of Stirling, and says:

“The scholar being the master’s relation…”

Robert Traill’s separate account is more specific, referring to Stirling as the place where William’s:

“own cousin, grave Mr James Guthrie, was minister…”

These early accounts are strong evidence that a kinship tradition genuinely existed. They do not, however, establish the exact degree or route of relationship.

The frequent description of the two men as cousins has encouraged later genealogists to assume that they shared a recent paternal Guthrie ancestor and that William therefore belonged to the main Guthrie-of-Guthrie male line.

The available evidence does not justify that conclusion.

William’s documented paternal ancestry is:

Kingennie → James Guthrie of Pitforthie → William Guthrie of Fenwick

No direct paternal connection between the Kingennie family and the Guthries of Guthrie has yet been proved.

A plausible route for genuine cousinship exists instead through William’s mother. Janet Lyon of Easter Ogil was reportedly the daughter of James Lyon of Easter Ogil and a woman who was herself a daughter of Guthrie of that Ilk. If correct, William carried Guthrie-of-Guthrie ancestry through his maternal grandmother.

This may explain why William and James of Stirling were regarded as relatives without requiring William’s paternal Kingennie line to be a cadet of Guthrie of Guthrie.

The difficulty is that James Guthrie of Stirling’s own parentage remains unresolved. Early biographies sometimes describe him as a son of a laird of Guthrie, but do not identify which laird. Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ provides a more specific proposed ancestry with a citation that still requires examination.

For now the safest conclusion is:

William Guthrie of Fenwick and James Guthrie of Stirling were regarded by early writers as relatives and specifically as cousins, but the exact genealogical relationship has not yet been demonstrated. Their cousinship should not be treated as proof that William belonged paternally to the Guthries of Guthrie.

Education and Ministry

William studied at the University of St Andrews, where he pursued philosophy under James Guthrie, later minister of Stirling.

After taking the degree of Master of Arts, William studied divinity under Samuel Rutherford. He was licensed to preach in August 1642.

Soon afterward he left St Andrews and became governor or tutor to the eldest son of the Earl of Loudoun. This placed him in Ayrshire.

William preached at Galston on a preparation day before communion, where members of the newly erected parish of Fenwick heard him. They were sufficiently impressed to choose him as their minister.

He was ordained at Fenwick on 7 November 1644 and became the first minister of the new parish.

Ministry and Personality

The surviving memoirs provide an unusually vivid picture of William’s personality.

He was remembered as:

• cheerful and witty in conversation;
• capable of combining humor with ministerial gravity;
• physically active despite recurring health problems;
• fond of fishing, fowling, and playing upon the ice;
• musically gifted, with a strong, clear and melodious voice;
• particularly effective at communicating with ordinary parishioners.

His recreation apparently became part of his pastoral method. Biographical accounts describe him meeting people informally while fishing or participating in country sports and gaining access to individuals who might otherwise have avoided formal contact with their minister.

His ministry at Fenwick developed an unusually strong following. Later accounts describe people travelling considerable distances to hear him preach, and his congregation resisted efforts to have him translated to larger and more prestigious charges.

William also participated actively in wider church affairs. Although strongly committed to the Covenanting cause, biographers portrayed him as comparatively moderate in personal temperament and resistant to unnecessary factionalism.

The Christian’s Great Interest

William’s lasting literary reputation rests upon The Christian’s Great Interest, a practical theological work centered on assurance of salvation and the individual Christian’s relationship with Christ.

The early memoir emphasizes that this was essentially his only genuine published work.

Other sermons circulated under William’s name after his death, sometimes compiled from defective notes taken by hearers. His widow, Agnes Campbell, reportedly issued a public warning against such unauthorized and inaccurate publications.

The Christian’s Great Interest, by contrast, achieved wide circulation. It was reprinted repeatedly and translated into several languages.

Its popularity helps explain why William became one of the most recognizable members of the Pitforthie family—and also why unrelated Guthries have so often been attached to his pedigree.

Removal from Fenwick

After the Restoration and the re-establishment of episcopal government, William remained at Fenwick longer than many ministers who opposed the new settlement.

His political connections and the esteem in which he was held by influential men apparently delayed action against him.

Ultimately, however, Archbishop Alexander Burnet ordered his removal.

On 24 July 1664, William was suspended from exercising his ministry, the church of Fenwick was declared vacant, and an armed party was used to enforce the sentence.

The surviving account portrays William as firmly rejecting the ecclesiastical authority behind the decision while at the same time preventing his congregation from resisting violently.

He continued living in the Fenwick manse for more than a year.

Pitforthie and the Estate Question

William’s relationship to Pitforthie requires particular care because later biographies simplify a much more complicated legal history.

As the eldest son of James Guthrie of Pitforthie, William was the natural heir. His ministry, however, kept him primarily in Ayrshire rather than Angus.

A later memoir says William was so determined to devote himself to the ministry that he “gave up” his paternal estate to the one brother who had not entered clerical life.

Contemporary property records show that the legal situation was more complicated.

On 9 August 1653, the lands of Pitforthie were apprised from Mr William Guthrie, minister at the New Kirk of Kilmarnock, both for himself and because he had been charged to enter heir to his deceased father James Guthrie. The proceeding involved a substantial debt to Robert Arbuthnott.

Arbuthnott subsequently assigned the decree to William’s younger brother David Guthrie.

On 27 July 1655, the Protector formally granted to:

David Guthrie, lawful son of the deceased James Guthrie of Pitforthie, his heirs and assignees

the lands and manor-place of Pitforthie.

The legal sequence was therefore approximately:

James Guthrie of Pitforthie dies
→ William, as eldest son, is treated as heir
→ 1653: Pitforthie is judicially apprised from William in connection with the Arbuthnott debt
→ the decree is assigned to David Guthrie
→ 1655: David receives the formal grant of Pitforthie.

This record should take precedence over the later memoir’s simplified statement that William merely “made over” the estate to a brother.

David remained alive for decades afterward. His testament dative and inventory were recorded at Brechin on 23 October 1695, where he is explicitly styled David Guthrie of Pitforthy.

He therefore cannot have been the unnamed brother whom the memoir says died in the summer of 1665.

The Brother Who Died in 1665

The early memoir states that William had placed his paternal estate in the hands of a brother and that:

this brother died in the summer of 1665, making William’s presence in Angus necessary for the ordering of family or estate affairs.

The identity of that brother is unresolved.

It was not David Guthrie, because David survived until 1695. Contemporary legal evidence also shows that David had been formally granted Pitforthie in 1655.

Andrew Guthrie is a possible candidate for the unnamed brother who died in or about 1665 and may have had some practical role in managing estate affairs. However, no legal document has yet been found transferring ownership of Pitforthie to Andrew.

The safest interpretation is therefore that the memoir may have confused or compressed practical estate managementwith legal ownership.

The exact role played by Andrew, and the reason William’s presence at Pitforthie became necessary in 1665 despite David’s continued ownership, remain open questions for the Kingennie–Pitforthie Family Cluster investigation.

Final Illness, Death, and Burial

After the death of the unnamed brother in the summer of 1665, William and Agnes travelled from Ayrshire to Angus because William’s presence was required for family or estate affairs connected with Pitforthie.

William was already subject to chronic health problems. While in Angus he was struck by a severe combination of ailments, described in the memoir as including gravel, gout, and violent heartburn.

After an illness of approximately eight to ten days, he died on:

Wednesday, 10 October 1665, in the afternoon

at the home of his brother-in-law:

Rev. Lewis Skinner, minister at Brechin.

The memoir states that William was in his forty-fifth year.

He was buried in the church at Brechin:

“under Pitforthy’s desk.”

That detail is genealogically significant because it associates his burial directly with the Pitforthie family’s pew or burial area within the church.

Places and Properties

Pitforthie, Angus — William’s birthplace and paternal estate.

Kingennie, Angus — ancestral seat of his paternal Guthrie line before his father’s acquisition of Pitforthie.

St Andrews — university education and theological study.

Fenwick, Ayrshire — principal ministry from 1644 until his removal in 1664.

Brechin, Angus — place of his final illness and death.

Brechin church/cathedral — burial place, beneath the Pitforthie desk.

Fasti Evidence

The Fasti entries collectively provide or reinforce:

• Parentage: William was a son of James Guthrie of Pitforthie.
• Education and ministry: His training and clerical career culminating in the ministry of Fenwick.
• Marriage: Agnes Campbell.
• Family: Children consistent with the surviving parish records.
• Church conflict: His removal from Fenwick after the Restoration.
• Death: At Brechin in October 1665.
• Burial: At Brechin.
• Wider family connections: Numerous ministers within the Pitforthie family.

The detailed source wording remains in the individual Fasti Guthrie Entries.

Evidence Beyond Fasti

The Fenwick parish registers give strong independent evidence for William and Agnes Campbell’s six children and demonstrate that four died young.

The 1720 memoir independently confirms that there were six children and that only two daughters survived William. It identifies the surviving daughters by their husbands, Miller of Glenlee and Patrick Warner.

The memoir also preserves detailed testimony concerning William’s education, ministry, personality, wife, death and burial.

Robert Traill’s account independently calls James Guthrie of Stirling William’s “own cousin.” The earlier memoir more cautiously calls James William’s “relation.”

The Great Seal record of 1655 provides the controlling legal evidence for the disposition of Pitforthie and identifies David Guthrie as a lawful son of James Guthrie of Pitforthie.

The 1695 Brechin testament of David Guthrie of Pitforthy proves that David survived long beyond 1665 and eliminates him as the brother whose death reportedly brought William back to Angus that year.

Research Analysis

• No Surviving Male Line from William Guthrie of Fenwick
  • This is one of the most important genealogical conclusions concerning William.

• His two known sons were:
  • William Guthrie (1653–1655) — died in infancy or early childhood.
  • John Guthrie (1658–1662) — died in childhood.
  • Neither survived to adulthood.

• The only children who outlived William were:
  • Agnes Guthrie, wife of Matthew Miller of Glenlee.
  • Mary Guthrie, wife of Rev. Patrick Warner.

Therefore:

William Guthrie of Fenwick left no documented surviving male Guthrie line.

Modern pedigrees that make later surname-bearing Guthries descendants of William through a son should therefore be treated with particular caution.

Descendants of William certainly may survive through Agnes and Mary, but those are female-line descents.

Researchers seeking surviving paternal-line descendants of this Pitforthie family must instead investigate William’s brothers and their descendants.

Pitforthie Was Not Proven to Be a Paternal Cadet of Guthrie of Guthrie

The 1720 memoir describes William as the eldest son of the laird of Pitforthie and calls that family:

“a cadet of the old family of Guthrie.”

This statement demonstrates that such a tradition existed by the early eighteenth century, but it should not be accepted as proven pedigree evidence.

The documentary reconstruction shows that William’s father James Guthrie of Pitforthie was formerly James Guthrie of Kingennie.

No direct paternal connection between Kingennie and the Guthries of Guthrie has yet been documented.

William did, however, reportedly carry Guthrie-of-Guthrie ancestry through his maternal grandmother.

The distinction is therefore:

Paternal line — Kingennie/Pitforthie

Reported maternal ancestry — Guthrie of Guthrie through Janet Lyon

The later description of Pitforthie as a cadet branch may reflect genuine kinship memory without accurately describing the paternal genealogy.

The “Cousin” Relationship with James Guthrie of Stirling

Early biographers establish that William and James were regarded as relatives, and Robert Traill explicitly calls James William’s cousin.

What they do not establish is how the two men were related.

Because William’s paternal ancestry is Kingennie and his reported Guthrie-of-Guthrie ancestry is maternal, the cousin relationship cannot presently be used as proof that William belonged to the main Guthrie-of-Guthrie paternal line.

The problem cannot be resolved until the ancestry of James Guthrie of Stirling is examined independently.

That investigation belongs in James’s own Research Sketch.

Conclusions & Open Questions

William Guthrie of Fenwick is one of the best-documented seventeenth-century members of the Kingennie–Pitforthie family. His education, ministry, personality, marriage, children, writings, removal from office, final illness, death and burial can all be reconstructed in considerable detail.

The principal genealogical conclusions are:

• William was the eldest son of James Guthrie of Pitforthie and Janet Lyon of Easter Ogil.
• His paternal ancestry belongs to the Kingennie/Pitforthie line, not to a documented male-line descent from Guthrie of Guthrie.
• A separate Guthrie-of-Guthrie connection is reported through his maternal grandmother.
• William and James Guthrie of Stirling were regarded by early writers as relatives or cousins, but their exact relationship remains unresolved.
• William and Agnes Campbell had six known children.
• Only Agnes and Mary survived to adulthood.
• William left no surviving male Guthrie line.
• The legal disposition of Pitforthie passed through a 1653 apprising and a formal 1655 grant to his brother David Guthrie.
• David survived until 1695, so he was not the brother whose death reportedly brought William back to Angus in 1665.
• The identity and exact estate role of that unnamed brother remain unresolved.

Questions for later investigation include:

• Was Andrew Guthrie the brother who died in 1665?
• What practical role, if any, did Andrew play in the management of Pitforthie?
• What happened to the children and descendants of David Guthrie and Margaret Livingston?
• How and when did William Rait, husband of Janet Guthrie, become associated with the lairdship of Pitforthie?
• Can the descendant lines of Agnes Guthrie and Matthew Miller and Mary Guthrie and Patrick Warner be traced further?
• What exact relationship connected William Guthrie of Fenwick to James Guthrie of Stirling?

Several of those questions belong more appropriately in the forthcoming Kingennie–Pitforthie Family Cluster Research Sketch.

Sources and Cross-References

• Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ — relevant entries for William Guthrie of Fenwick and members of the Pitforthie family.
• Fenwick parish registers — baptisms and deaths of William and Agnes Campbell’s children.
• Select Biographies, Vol. II, Wodrow Society, 1847 — “Memoirs of the Life and Character of Mr William Guthrie,” written in 1720, together with accounts by Robert Wodrow and Robert Traill.
• The Christian’s Great Interest — William’s principal authenticated published work.
• Letters and biographical material associated with Samuel Rutherford.
• Register of the Great Seal of Scotland under the Commonwealth, A.D. 1652–1659, Charter 450 — legal disposition of Pitforthie to David Guthrie.
• Brechin Commissary Court, CC3/3/8 — testament dative and inventory of David Guthrie of Pitforthy, 23 October 1695.
• Guthrie Genealogy — Kingennie–Pitforthie and associated Fasti, Great Seal, parish register, and genealogical research.
• Related future sketches: The Guthries of Kingennie and Pitforthie — Family Cluster Research Sketch; James Guthrie, Minister of Stirling — Individual Research Sketch.

James Guthrie, Minister of Stirling
(c.1612–1661)
^{Individual Research Sketch}

Identity and Overview

Rev. James Guthrie, minister first at Lauder and later at Stirling, was a prominent seventeenth-century Presbyterian minister and one of the best-known Covenanter martyrs. He was executed at Edinburgh on 1 June 1661 after conviction for treason.

His public career is extensively documented, but his parentage remains unresolved. Early biographies repeatedly describe him as a son of a laird of Guthrie, yet they do not securely identify which laird. Later genealogies have often supplied a father without contemporary proof.

Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ appears to preserve a more specific claim involving William Guthrie of Memus. The underlying cited document has not yet been accessible for review, so that relationship remains unverified. However, recent contemporary records show that one major objection to the claim — the assertion that William of Memus had no male issue — is incorrect.

James married Jane Ramsay and had two documented children, William Guthrie and Sophia Guthrie. His son William died young in 1674. No surviving male Guthrie line from James is presently documented.

Fasti Evidence

The Fasti entries provide or reinforce:

• Career: Ministry at Lauder and Stirling and James’s prominence in the Presbyterian church.
• Political and religious context: His role in the Covenanting controversies and eventual execution in 1661.
• Family and ancestry: A more specific proposed connection to William Guthrie of Memus than is usually found in the early biographies.
• Source problem: The evidence cited by Fasti for that ancestry has not yet been independently examined.

The ancestry claim should therefore be treated as specific and potentially important, but not yet verified.

Family

James was born about 1612, although no secure baptismal record has yet been identified.

He married Jane Ramsay, associated with the Ramsays of Shielhill.

Their documented children were:

• William Guthrie, born about 1656–1657; died at Edinburgh on 14 April 1674.
• Sophia Guthrie, who survived her father but whose later life remains uncertain.

Jane Ramsay survived James and continued to suffer consequences from his political and religious position. She and Sophia were involved in later government proceedings connected with prohibited Covenanter literature. Jane died in 1673and was buried at Greyfriars, Edinburgh.

James’s son William Guthrie is particularly important genealogically because later family trees often transform him into an ancestor of unrelated Guthrie lines. The Edinburgh death record identifies him as the son of the late Rev. James Guthrie of Stirling. He died while still a young man, and no wife or children have been documented for him.

Therefore:

There is presently no documented surviving male-line descent from James Guthrie of Stirling.

Any possible living descendants would have to be sought through Sophia Guthrie, unless new evidence identifies other children.

Career and Historical Highlights

James studied at the University of St Andrews, where he became a regent and taught philosophy.

He entered the ministry at Lauder and later became minister at Stirling. During the 1640s and 1650s he became increasingly prominent in national church affairs and was closely identified with the Protester wing of the divided Kirk.

After the Restoration of Charles II, James became a target of the new government. Parliamentary proceedings culminated in his conviction for treason and execution at the Cross of Edinburgh on 1 June 1661. His body was buried at Greyfriars, while his head was displayed at the Netherbow Port.

The details of his trial and religious career are well documented elsewhere; for this sketch, their main genealogical significance is that his execution left a widow and two young children whose later histories can be studied independently.

Research Analysis

Parentage

James’s parentage is the central unresolved problem.

Early biographies repeatedly describe him as a son of a laird of Guthrie, but this wording is too imprecise to identify a father. Several men occupied or were associated with the Guthrie estate during the relevant period, and later writers often treated “the laird of Guthrie” as though only one candidate existed.

No contemporary record reviewed so far directly names James’s father.

Alexander Guthrie, 6th of Guthrie

Alexander Guthrie, 6th of Guthrie, married Jean Leighton of Ulishaven. The documented succession indicates that he left no male issue, and the estate passed to his brother William Guthrie of Memus.

For that reason, Alexander is not a credible father for James unless new evidence overturns the surviving succession evidence.

Bishop John Guthrie of Moray

Modern online pedigrees frequently identify John Guthrie, Bishop of Moray, as James’s father.

No documentary evidence reviewed in this project supports that relationship. The bishop’s children can be substantially reconstructed from contemporary records, and James does not appear among them.

Bishop John also did not acquire the Guthrie estate until long after James’s birth. A later statement that James was a “son of the laird of Guthrie” therefore cannot simply be converted into “son of Bishop John Guthrie.”

That identification should be considered unsupported.

William Guthrie of Memus

Fasti apparently connects James specifically with William Guthrie of Memus.

Later genealogical literature, including Burke’s nineteenth-century pedigree, states that William had “no male issue.”Contemporary records now directly contradict that statement.

A bond dated 28 October 1630, NRS GD205/22/48, identifies:

• Alexander Guthrie, eldest son of William Guthrie of Memess.
• Annas Guthrie, daughter of William.

The Forfar sasine index independently confirms Alexander as fiar of Memus and son of William Guthrie thereof, and identifies:

• Isobel Fenton as William’s wife.
• Agnes/Anne Ogilvie as Alexander’s wife.

A damaged 1641 record, NRS GD205/22/60A, further describes the deceased Alexander Guthrie, fiar of Memis, as father of another Guthrie whose forename is obscured.

The sasine index may also preserve the next generation in John Guthrie of Easter Memus, whose mother is named as Anna Ogilvie and whose wife was Elizabeth Lyon. This makes John a strong candidate to have been a son of Alexander and Anne Ogilvie, although that identification still requires direct confirmation.

The important conclusion is clear:

William Guthrie of Memus did have male issue.

His son Alexander was specifically called his eldest son, which leaves open the possibility of younger sons.

The later statement that William had no male issue should therefore no longer be used as evidence against the possibility that James Guthrie of Stirling was one of his sons.

At present:

William Guthrie of Memus is a serious and chronologically plausible candidate for James’s father, particularly because Fasti apparently cites evidence for the relationship. Direct documentary proof naming James as his son has not yet been found.

The Burke Pedigree Error

Burke’s Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry states that William Guthrie of Memys had no male issue and was succeeded by his cousin David Guthrie.

The first statement is demonstrably incorrect because contemporary records name William’s son Alexander.

It is possible that a later compiler inferred the absence of sons from the eventual disposition of the Guthrie estate. That reasoning would be unsafe. William had collateral male relatives available and nevertheless sold or conveyed the estate to David Guthrie of Kincaldrum, a more distant kinsman.

The later ownership of Guthrie therefore cannot be used as proof that William lacked sons.

Relationship to William Guthrie of Fenwick

Early biographical evidence establishes that James Guthrie of Stirling and Rev. William Guthrie of Fenwick were regarded as relatives.

William’s early memoir calls James his “relation.”

Robert Traill is more specific and calls James William’s “own cousin.”

This is strong evidence for a real family connection, but it does not establish the route of that relationship.

William of Fenwick’s documented paternal ancestry belongs to the Kingennie–Pitforthie family. No direct paternal connection between Kingennie and the Guthries of Guthrie has yet been proved.

William of Fenwick did, however, reportedly descend from the Guthries of Guthrie through his mother Janet Lyon of Easter Ogil, whose mother was said to be a daughter of Guthrie of that Ilk.

If James ultimately proves to belong to the Memus branch, the cousin relationship may have operated through this maternal connection.

Until James’s parentage is established, the exact degree of cousinship remains unknown.

The safest conclusion is:

James Guthrie of Stirling and William Guthrie of Fenwick were regarded by early writers as relatives and specifically as cousins, but their exact genealogical relationship has not yet been demonstrated. The cousinship should not be used as proof that the Kingennie/Pitforthie family belonged paternally to the Guthries of Guthrie.

A Separate James Guthrie Associated with Memus

The Forfar sasine index contains an entry for:

James Guthrie in Ludgintone of Memus — spouse Janet Lyon.

This appears likely to refer to James Guthrie of Kingennie/Pitforthie and Janet Lyon of Easter Ogil, although the original sasine should be examined before the identification is considered proved.

This record is a useful warning against assuming that every James Guthrie associated with Memus belonged to William of Memus’s immediate family.

No Documented Male-Line Descendants

James and Jane Ramsay had two presently documented children:

• William Guthrie
• Sophia Guthrie

William died at Edinburgh on 14 April 1674, apparently before marriage or issue.

Therefore:

No surviving paternal Guthrie line from Rev. James Guthrie of Stirling is presently documented.

Modern pedigrees that make later surname-bearing Guthries descendants of James through his son William require independent evidence and should not be accepted on repetition alone.

Any surviving descent from James would presently have to be sought through Sophia Guthrie, whose later fate remains unknown.

Conclusions & Open Questions

James Guthrie’s public life is well documented, but his ancestry remains unresolved.

What can presently be considered established or strongly supported is:

• James was born about 1612.
• Early biographies associated him with a laird of Guthrie, but did not securely identify his father.
• Bishop John Guthrie of Moray is not documented as his father.
• Alexander Guthrie, 6th of Guthrie, is contradicted as a likely father by evidence that he left no male issue.
• Fasti apparently connects James with William Guthrie of Memus.
• The later claim that William of Memus had no male issue is demonstrably false.
• William had an eldest son, Alexander Guthrie, and a daughter, Annas Guthrie.
• Alexander himself appears to have had issue.
• James could chronologically have been a younger son of William of Memus, but direct proof has not yet been found.
• James and William Guthrie of Fenwick were regarded by early writers as relatives and specifically as cousins.
• James married Jane Ramsay.
• Their documented children were William and Sophia Guthrie.
• William died young in 1674, with no documented wife or children.
• No surviving male Guthrie line from James is presently documented.

The principal remaining questions are:

• What exact source does Fasti cite for James’s connection to William Guthrie of Memus?
• Can the original Forfar sasines identify additional children of William and Isobel Fenton?
• Was James one of William’s younger sons?
• Can John Guthrie of Easter Memus be conclusively identified as the son of Alexander Guthrie and Anne Ogilvie?
• What became of Sophia Guthrie?
• How exactly were James Guthrie of Stirling and William Guthrie of Fenwick related?

These questions should remain open rather than being resolved through assumptions derived from later pedigrees.

Sources and Cross-References

Related future Family Cluster Research Sketches: The Guthries of Guthrie and The Guthries of Kingennie and Pitforthie.

Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ — entries for James Guthrie at Lauder and Stirling and the unresolved ancestry citation.

Records of the Parliaments of Scotland — James’s political activity, prosecution, forfeiture, and execution.

Early biographies and Covenanter histories describing James as a son of a laird of Guthrie.

Ladies of the Covenant — Jane Ramsay and the family after James’s execution.

Edinburgh Old Parish Registers — death record of William Guthrie, son of the late Rev. James Guthrie of Stirling, 14 April 1674.

NRS GD205/22/48, 28 October 1630 — bond naming Alexander Guthrie, eldest son of William Guthrie of Memess, and Annas Guthrie, daughter of William.

NRS GD205/22/60A, November 1641 — brieve concerning deceased Alexander Guthrie, fiar of Memis, father of another Guthrie.

Index to the Particular Register of Sasines for the Sheriffdom of Forfar, 1620–1700 — William Guthrie of Memus, Isobel Fenton, Alexander Guthrie, Anne/Agnes Ogilvie, John Guthrie of Easter Memus, and associated references.

Burke, John, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland (1845–46) — source for the later, contradicted statement that William Guthrie of Memys had no male issue.

Guthrie Genealogy — BIO: Rev. James Guthrie.

Related Individual Research Sketch: William Guthrie, Minister of Fenwick.

Thomas Guthrie, D.D., Minister
(1803–1873)
^{Individual Research Sketch}

Identity and Overview

Rev. Thomas Guthrie, D.D., born at Brechin, Angus, on 12 July 1803, was a prominent nineteenth-century Scottish minister and social reformer. He died at St. Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, England, on 24 February 1873.

For genealogy, Thomas is especially valuable because he wrote about his own family origins. His autobiography, together with material later added by his sons, preserves a personal account of the Guthrie family of Brechin and Menmuir.

Thomas specifically stated that his paternal ancestry did not descend from the historic Guthries of that Ilk.

That family tradition has now been independently supported by Y-DNA testing. Direct paternal descendants from three separate branches of Thomas’s ancestral family share closely matching Y-DNA profiles and form Guthrie Family Group 17 (GFG17).

The result is unusually strong because it brings together:

• Thomas Guthrie’s own family testimony,
• documentary reconstruction through parish and other records,
• and modern Y-DNA evidence from multiple independent male-line branches.

Fasti Evidence

The Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ entries document Thomas Guthrie’s clerical career and family background and also connect him to several other Guthrie references in the series.

For genealogical purposes, the most important point is that Thomas’s prominence should not lead to an assumed connection with the landed Guthries of Guthrie simply because he shared the surname and lived in Angus.

His own testimony rejects that descent, and the genetic evidence now supports him.

Immediate Family

Thomas was the son of:

David Guthrie
born 9 May 1761 at Knowhead, Menmuir; died 12 March 1824 at Brechin

and

Clementina Cay
born 1764; died 1842.

David Guthrie became a merchant and banker and was active in Brechin civic life. He served as a bailie and later as Provost of Brechin.

Thomas was the twelfth child and sixth son of David Guthrie and Clementina Cay.

He married Anne Burns on 6 October 1830.

Their children included:

• David Kelly Guthrie (1831–1896)
• Christina Guthrie (1833–1895)
• James Guthrie (1835–1920), Royal Bank agent
• Patrick Guthrie (1836–1925), bank agent
• Clementina Guthrie (1839–1880)
• Annie Guthrie (1841–1922)
• Thomas Guthrie (1843–1900)
• Alexander Guthrie (1846–1934)
• Charles John Guthrie (1849–1920), later Lord Guthrie
• Helen Guthrie (1851–1883)
• John Guthrie (1853–1855)

Documented Paternal Ancestry

Thomas’s paternal line can presently be reconstructed as follows:

Thomas Guthrie, D.D. (1803–1873)
son of

David Guthrie (1761–1824)
merchant, banker, and Provost of Brechin
married Clementina Cay
son of

John Guthrie (c.1733–1820)
tenant farmer at Knowhead, Menmuir
married Helen Wyllie
son of

David Guthrie, baptised 31 March 1683
associated with Kincraig
wife presently unidentified
son of

David Guthrie (c.1650–after 1732)
tenant farmer associated with Cookston and Balbirnie Mill
married Janet Stewart.

This takes Thomas’s documented paternal ancestry into the seventeenth century.

David Guthrie and Janet Stewart — Earliest Identified Couple

The earliest securely reconstructed couple in Thomas’s paternal line is:

David Guthrie, tenant farmer
and
Janet Stewart.

Their recorded children include:

• John Guthrie, baptised 20 April 1682
• David Guthrie, baptised 31 March 1683
• Jean Guthrie, baptised 21 December 1684
• Alexander Guthrie, baptised 26 May 1687
• Janet Guthrie, baptised 5 January 1690
• Isobell Guthrie, baptised 13 December 1692
• James Guthrie, baptised 12 December 1696
• Marie Guthrie, baptised 15 February 1700
• another James Guthrie, baptised 11 March 1701
• Elizabeth Guthrie, baptised 7 May 1703
• Robert Guthrie, baptised 13 January 1705

David was associated with Cookston and later Balbirnie Mill.

By 1727 he was apparently considering leaving his existing holding for a smaller farm. Later evidence places him in the Menmuir area, apparently living with one or more of his sons.

This family is especially important because Y-DNA evidence now connects descendants of three separate sons back to this common paternal line.

The Line Through David Guthrie of Kincraig

Thomas’s direct ancestral line proceeds through:

David Guthrie, baptised 31 March 1683 at Brechin.

He is later associated with Kincraig.

His son is identified as:

John Guthrie, farmer at Knowhead, Menmuir.

The identity of David of Kincraig’s wife remains unknown.

This is one of the principal documentary gaps in the pedigree.

John Guthrie of Knowhead and Helen Wyllie

John Guthrie, born about 1733, became a tenant farmer at Knowhead in Menmuir.

He married Helen Wyllie, probably about 1754.

Their known children included:

• Alexander Guthrie
• Margaret Guthrie
• John Guthrie
• David Guthrie, later Provost of Brechin and father of Thomas
• George Guthrie
• Isobel Guthrie
• Thomas Guthrie
• James Guthrie
• Charles Guthrie
• Robert Guthrie
• Jean Guthrie

John died at Menmuir on 1 October 1820, reportedly aged about 87.

His estate later generated settlement and testamentary material.

The descent from John and Helen to Thomas is well supported. The more difficult question lies one generation earlier, in identifying John’s father with complete documentary certainty.

The Culloden Horse Story

Thomas preserved a family story about an ancestor whose farm horses escaped being pressed into military service during the Duke of Cumberland’s movement toward Culloden in 1746.

The story is valuable as family tradition, but its genealogical details require caution.

Thomas becomes somewhat vague when discussing the earliest generations, and at least one biographical retelling appears to confuse which David Guthrie belonged to the episode.

The anecdote should therefore be retained as a genuine family tradition while the identity of the specific ancestor remains subject to documentary verification.

Other Sons of David Guthrie and Janet Stewart

The significance of David Guthrie and Janet Stewart extends well beyond Thomas’s direct line.

Their son:

Alexander Guthrie, baptised 26 May 1687, later appears at Balfour in Menmuir and married Anne Ker in 1716.

Their son Alexander Guthrie, baptised at Menmuir in 1721, was later associated with Mains of Balhall and married Jean Wyllie.

Another son of David and Janet:

Robert Guthrie, baptised 13 January 1705,

was associated with Bogside, Craigtown, and Glenmoy.

Descendants of both the Alexander and Robert branches have contributed Y-DNA tests to the Guthrie DNA Project.

Y-DNA Evidence — Guthrie Family Group 17

The Guthrie DNA Project identifies this family as Guthrie Family Group 17 (GFG17).

The project has Y-DNA results from three independently documented paternal branches descending from sons of David Guthrie and Janet Stewart:

• a direct male-line descendant of their son Robert Guthrie;
• a direct male-line descendant of their son Alexander Guthrie;
• and a direct male-line descendant of their son David Guthrie, through Rev. Thomas Guthrie, D.D. and Anne Burns.

The tested lines correspond to separate documentary branches that diverged in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Their closely matching Y-STR profiles form the same genetic group.

This provides strong genetic corroboration that the three branches descend from the same paternal Guthrie family.

It is especially significant because the testers do not all descend from Thomas himself. The Alexander and Robert branches separated from Thomas’s direct line many generations earlier.

The DNA evidence therefore reinforces the broader reconstruction back to David Guthrie and Janet Stewart.

Andrew Lindsay Guthrie and a Later GFG17 Branch

One later documented member of the broader GFG17 family was:

Andrew Lindsay Guthrie (1859–1926),

born at Cortachy, Angus, son of John Guthrie, farmer, and Marjory “May” Lindsay.

He married Margaret Ann Edward in 1903 and had several children, including sons Andrew Lindsay, Douglas, Edward, and Lindsay Guthrie.

This later branch helps illustrate the continued survival of the GFG17 paternal line in Angus long after Thomas Guthrie’s own branch had become nationally prominent.

Not the Guthries of Guthrie

Thomas’s own statement that his family did not descend from the Guthries of that Ilk is now supported by genetic evidence.

The Brechin–Menmuir paternal line represented by Thomas belongs to GFG17.

Accordingly:

The paternal line of Rev. Thomas Guthrie, D.D., is not a branch of the Guthries of Guthrie.

This conclusion concerns the direct male Guthrie line. It does not exclude the possibility of female-line, marital, or other collateral relationships between the families.

Career and Historical Highlights

Thomas studied at the University of Edinburgh and entered the ministry of the Church of Scotland.

He later became nationally known in Edinburgh as a preacher, reformer, and advocate for the education and welfare of impoverished children.

He was especially associated with the Ragged School movement and became an important figure in the Free Church of Scotland.

His public achievements made him one of the best-known Guthries of the nineteenth century, but for this Research Sketch the more important feature is the unusually valuable genealogical testimony preserved in his autobiography and family papers.

Research Analysis

The broad structure of Thomas’s paternal ancestry is now strong.

The most secure generations are:

Thomas Guthrie
→ David Guthrie and Clementina Cay
→ John Guthrie and Helen Wyllie.

The preceding generation through David Guthrie of Kincraig is also well supported, although the identity of his wife remains unresolved.

The earlier family of David Guthrie and Janet Stewart is supported by a substantial cluster of parish baptisms and by the later appearance of their sons and descendants in Menmuir and neighboring Angus parishes.

The Y-DNA evidence significantly strengthens this reconstruction because three separate paternal branches converge genetically.

The principal uncertainty therefore lies not in whether Thomas belonged to the broader Brechin–Menmuir family, but in refining the earliest documentary generations and identifying the ancestry of David Guthrie, husband of Janet Stewart.

Conclusions & Open Questions

The evidence presently supports the following conclusions:

• Thomas Guthrie was born at Brechin in 1803, son of David Guthrie and Clementina Cay.
• His paternal grandparents were John Guthrie of Knowhead and Helen Wyllie.
• His paternal great-grandfather was David Guthrie, associated with Kincraig.
• His paternal 2x-great-grandparents were David Guthrie and Janet Stewart, associated with Cookston and Balbirnie Mill.
• Thomas personally stated that his paternal family did not descend from the Guthries of that Ilk.
• Modern Y-DNA evidence supports that statement.
• The family belongs to Guthrie Family Group 17.
• Matching Y-DNA profiles come from descendants of three separate sons of David Guthrie and Janet Stewart: David, Alexander, and Robert.
• Thomas’s autobiographical recollections are extremely valuable but should not automatically override contemporary records when he becomes vague about the earliest generations.
• The Culloden horse story should remain identified as family tradition until the specific ancestor involved can be securely identified.

Principal questions remaining include:

• Who was the wife of David Guthrie of Kincraig?
• Can the Kincraig-to-Knowhead link be further strengthened by estate, kirk-session, sasine, or testamentary records?
• Which David Guthrie was actually the subject of the 1746 Culloden horse story?
• Can the ancestry of David Guthrie, husband of Janet Stewart, be pushed securely back another generation?
• Are additional documentary branches of GFG17 identifiable in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Angus?

Sources and Cross-References

• Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ — entries relating to Rev. Thomas Guthrie, D.D., and members of the Brechin Guthrie family.
• Autobiography of Thomas Guthrie, D.D., together with biographical material completed by his sons.
• Scotland Old Parish Registers — Brechin, Menmuir, Cortachy, and neighboring Angus parishes.
• Census and civil-registration records for Thomas Guthrie and later generations.
• Settlement and testamentary records concerning John Guthrie of Knowhead.
• Records concerning David Guthrie, merchant, banker, bailie, and Provost of Brechin.
• Guthrie DNA Project — Guthrie Family Group 17 (GFG17), including tested paternal descendants through the David, Alexander, and Robert branches of the family of David Guthrie and Janet Stewart.
• Related future Research Sketch: The Brechin–Menmuir Guthries / Guthrie Family Group 17.

Alexander Guthrie, 8th of Kincaldrum
(d. c.1633)
^{Individual Research Sketch}

Identity and Overview

Alexander Guthrie, 8th of Kincaldrum, was the eldest son and heir of David Guthrie, 7th of Kincaldrum, and Katherine Blair. He belonged to the last generation of the Guthrie family to hold the old barony of Kincaldrum, which had been in the family since the fifteenth century. (Guthrie Genealogy)

Alexander married Mariote (Marion) Graham, daughter of Sir William Graham, 4th of Claverhouse, and Agnes Lundy. Their marriage contract was made in October 1615. The Red Book of Scotland cites archival reference C2/60/75for that marriage, although the precise record has not yet been located in the online NRS catalogue.

Alexander died about 1633, apparently without surviving issue, and predeceased his father. His death was followed by David Guthrie’s sale of the barony of Kincaldrum, ending the family’s nearly two-century association with the property. (Guthrie Genealogy)

Fasti Evidence

The Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ references involving this generation are particularly important because Alexander and his father occur during the complicated transfer of lands associated with both Kincaldrum and the barony of Guthrie.

Career data are not relevant to Alexander, who was a landed heir rather than a minister. The genealogically significant points are:

• Alexander was the son and heir of David Guthrie of Kincaldrum.
• He was associated with his father in transactions involving the Guthrie estate.
• His generation belongs to the period in which the Kincaldrum branch became directly involved in the succession and disposition of the Guthrie lands.

The individual Fasti entries preserve the source-specific details; the purpose here is to place those references within Alexander’s reconstructed family and property history.

Family

Alexander’s parents were:

David Guthrie, 7th of Kincaldrum
and
Katherine Blair.

His known sibling was:

• Elizabeth Guthrie

Alexander’s paternal grandparents were:

Alexander Guthrie, 6th of Kincaldrum
and
Alice Douglas of Glenbervie.

His father David was therefore the heir of a long-established Kincaldrum branch which had repeatedly transferred lands to the next generation during the lifetime of the preceding holder. (Guthrie Genealogy)

Alexander married:

Mariote / Marion Graham

daughter of:

Sir William Graham, 4th of Claverhouse
and
Agnes Lundy of Balgony.

The Red Book of Scotland places their marriage contract in October 1615 and cites C2/60/75.

No children of Alexander and Mariote are presently documented.

Why “8th of Kincaldrum”?

The numbered designation requires explanation because the original records did not number the successive Guthrie proprietors of Kincaldrum. “8th of Kincaldrum” is a modern genealogical identifier used to distinguish Alexander from the numerous other men of that name.

Alexander certainly appears as fiar and heir of Kincaldrum.

His father David had himself received the lands and barony of Kincaldrum from his own father during that father’s lifetime. On 22 July 1593, Alexander, 6th of Kincaldrum, granted the whole lands and barony to his son David; the transaction was subsequently confirmed under the Great Seal. (Guthrie Genealogy)

The same pattern appears in the next generation. Under Alexander’s 1615 marriage arrangements, David was bound to put Alexander in fee of the barony of Kincaldrum.

Alexander therefore did not have to survive his father in order to acquire a legal interest in the estate or to be styled territorially from it.

The designation 8th of Kincaldrum is consequently retained as the best current reconstruction of the succession. It should not be interpreted as a claim that Alexander inherited only after his father’s death. In this family, the fee could pass to the next generation while the elder generation remained alive and continued to exercise substantial rights over the property.

Marriage into the Grahams of Claverhouse

Alexander’s marriage connected the Kincaldrum family with the Grahams of Claverhouse.

Mariote Graham was a daughter of Sir William Graham, 4th of Claverhouse, by his first wife, Agnes Lundy. The Graham pedigree in The Red Book of Scotland lists:

“Mariote Graham, m. Alexander Guthrie of Kincaldrum”

with a marriage contract dated to October 1615.

The source citation given there, C2/60/75, remains an important research target. An exact-reference search of the current NRS online catalogue has not produced the item, so the original archival record has not yet been examined.

Until it is located, Red Book provides a useful secondary citation, but the details of the contract should not be expanded beyond what that source actually establishes.

The Kincaldrum Line

Alexander belonged to a reconstructed succession beginning with the Guthrie acquisition of Kincaldrum in 1446:

Alexander Guthrie, 1st of Kincaldrum
→ David Guthrie, 2nd of Kincaldrum / 1st Baron Guthrie
→ Alexander Guthrie, 3rd of Kincaldrum / 2nd Baron Guthrie
→ Alexander Guthrie, 4th of Kincaldrum
→ David Guthrie, 5th of Kincaldrum
→ Alexander Guthrie, 6th of Kincaldrum
→ David Guthrie, 7th of Kincaldrum
→ Alexander Guthrie, 8th of Kincaldrum

The earliest identified holder, Alexander, acquired Kincaldrum from the Wemyss family in 1446. The branch subsequently became closely intertwined with the main Guthrie of Guthrie family. (Guthrie Genealogy)

The numbering is a modern reconstruction, not terminology found in the original charters, sasines, or contracts. It is used here primarily to prevent conflation between successive Alexanders and Davids.

Connection with the Barony of Guthrie

Alexander’s father David was not merely laird of Kincaldrum.

During the early seventeenth century he became involved in the ownership and disposition of the barony of Guthrieitself.

The traditional published pedigree has sometimes represented this as a straightforward hereditary succession after the failure of the main male line. The actual land transactions are more complicated.

The surviving records show David holding interests in lands within the barony of Guthrie by the early 1620s. His son Alexander participated with him in later conveyances.

This is an important distinction: ownership, succession, wadset, fee, and territorial styling need not describe exactly the same legal situation.

For that reason, the relationship between the Kincaldrum branch and the Guthrie estate should be reconstructed transaction by transaction rather than forcing the evidence into the simplified succession sequence found in later pedigrees.

Transactions with Patrick Guthrie

David and Alexander were involved in a series of transactions with Patrick Guthrie, David’s brother.

The reconstructed sequence includes:

• 1624: two wadsets involving portions of the barony of Guthrie.
• 22 May 1629: a further transaction covering the whole barony of Guthrie, including the patronage of the kirk.
• 1633: an absolute disposition of the barony to Patrick Guthrie.

These transactions show that Alexander was not merely an incidental son mentioned in a pedigree. He possessed a legal interest sufficient for his consent or participation to matter in dealings with the property.

That strengthens his identification as the fiar and next generation of Kincaldrum.

A Chronological Problem in the 1633 Evidence

There is an unresolved chronological issue which should not be smoothed over.

The reconstructed Kincaldrum history indicates that Alexander died before his father and that his death prompted David to sell Kincaldrum to Sir John Blair of Balgillo on 29 November 1633. (Guthrie Genealogy)

Yet a later account of the Guthrie transaction says that on 12 December 1633 the barony of Guthrie was irredeemably disponed by:

“David and Alexander, his son”

to Patrick Guthrie.

Taken literally, those statements cannot both describe Alexander personally executing transactions on those respective dates.

Several explanations are possible:

• the date assigned to Alexander’s death may be imprecise;
• the 29 November transaction may refer to arrangements made before his death but completed afterward;
• the 12 December disposition may legally recite an earlier agreement in which Alexander had participated;
• or a later published account may have compressed several stages of the conveyance into a single statement.

At present this should remain an open documentary problem, not be resolved by assumption.

The original instruments surrounding both November–December 1633 transactions deserve examination.

Sale of Kincaldrum

Following Alexander’s death, his father David sold the barony of Kincaldrum to Sir John Blair of Balgillo in 1633. (Guthrie Genealogy)

This effectively ended the Guthrie family’s direct possession of Kincaldrum after nearly two hundred years.

The sale is sometimes capable of being misunderstood as evidence that the family simply ran out of heirs.

Alexander’s death without known issue was certainly important, but the wider documentary record shows a family simultaneously restructuring property, debts, wadsets, and interests in both Kincaldrum and Guthrie.

The end of the Kincaldrum tenure should therefore be understood within that broader financial and legal context.

Did Alexander Leave Children?

No children of Alexander and Mariote Graham are presently documented.

Later pedigrees generally describe him as dying without issue, and no contrary primary evidence has yet emerged.

This should nevertheless be expressed carefully:

No issue of Alexander Guthrie and Mariote Graham has presently been identified.

That is preferable to assuming that a nineteenth-century pedigree has conclusively proved a biological absence of children. Recent research on other Guthrie families has already demonstrated how easily an old “no male issue” statement can be overturned by contemporary records.

If Alexander had surviving lawful heirs, however, their absence from the later property succession would require explanation.

Research Analysis

Alexander is a good example of why this project distinguishes modern pedigree numbering from contemporary identity.

He died before his father, which could tempt a researcher to remove him entirely from the numbered succession. But the surviving family pattern and the 1615 marriage arrangement indicate that this would oversimplify the legal history.

Alexander was:

• eldest son and heir of David Guthrie;
• certainly fiar of Kincaldrum;
• the intended recipient of the barony in fee;
• married as the Kincaldrum heir into the Graham family of Claverhouse;
• and sufficiently vested in family property to participate in transactions concerning the Guthrie estate.

The designation 8th of Kincaldrum therefore remains useful and defensible as a reconstructed genealogical identifier while leaving open the precise date and form of his infeftment.

Conclusions & Open Questions

The present evidence supports the following reconstruction:

• Alexander Guthrie was the eldest son of David Guthrie, 7th of Kincaldrum, and Katherine Blair.
• He married Mariote/Marion Graham, daughter of Sir William Graham, 4th of Claverhouse, and Agnes Lundy.
• Their marriage contract dates from October 1615.
• The contract required David to put Alexander in fee of the barony of Kincaldrum.
• Alexander was therefore certainly fiar and heir of Kincaldrum.
• The modern designation 8th of Kincaldrum is retained as the best current reconstruction of the territorial succession.
• Alexander participated with his father in transactions involving the barony of Guthrie.
• He died about 1633, before his father.
• No children are presently documented.
• Following his death, David sold Kincaldrum to Sir John Blair of Balgillo.
• The apparent conflict between Alexander’s death and the December 1633 disposition naming “David and Alexander, his son” remains unresolved.

Principal research questions are:

• Can the original C2/60/75 marriage record be located and examined?
• Was Alexander actually infeft in Kincaldrum following the 1615 contract, and if so, when?
• In contemporary documents, when does he appear as “of Kincaldrum,” “younger of Kincaldrum,” or “fiar of Kincaldrum”?
• What exactly happened between the November and December 1633 transactions?
• Can Alexander’s date of death be narrowed from contemporary evidence?
• Is there primary evidence explicitly stating that Alexander and Mariote died without issue?

Sources and Cross-References

• Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ — Guthrie entries concerning the Kincaldrum/Guthrie family and associated property relationships.
• The Red Book of Scotland, Vol. 4 — Graham of Claverhouse pedigree; Mariote Graham married Alexander Guthrie of Kincaldrum; citation C2/60/75.
• National Records of Scotland — records concerning Kincaldrum, Guthrie, wadsets, sasines, charters, and dispositions.
• Register of the Great Seal of Scotland — confirmations of Kincaldrum and related land transactions.
• Guthrie Genealogy — Guthrie of Kincaldrum, including the reconstructed succession and property chronology. (Guthrie Genealogy)
• Guthrie Genealogy — Guthrie of Guthrie, for the overlapping main-line succession and barony transactions. (Guthrie Genealogy)
• Future Family Cluster Research Sketch: The Guthries of Kincaldrum.
• Related Family Cluster Research Sketch: The Guthries of Guthrie.

Guthries of Guthrie
^{Family Cluster Research Sketch}

The Guthries of Guthrie are best understood not as a simple father-to-son succession, but as a territorial family whose lands and designation repeatedly passed through sons, grandsons, brothers, cadet branches, sales, dispositions, and marriage settlements. The numbered sequence used here—1st of Guthrie, 2nd of Guthrie, and so forth—is a modern identification system. Contemporary records do not number the lairds. The numbering is useful for distinguishing men with repeated names, especially Alexander, David, John, and William, but it should never be mistaken for evidence of an uninterrupted biological succession.

The historical line associated with the lands of Guthrie begins securely with David Guthrie of Kincaldrum, who received a charter of the lands of Guthrie in 1465. Earlier Guthries certainly existed, including members of David’s own family and other Guthrie lineages, but the origins of the surname and the relationship among those earliest families remain speculative.

Genealogical Profile

The working succession is:

Alexander Guthrie, 1st of Kincaldrum
→ David Guthrie, 1st of Guthrie / 2nd of Kincaldrum
→ Alexander Guthrie, 2nd of Guthrie / 3rd of Kincaldrum
→ grandson Andrew Guthrie, 3rd of Guthrie after the deaths of Alexander and his son David at Flodden
→ Alexander Guthrie, 4th of Guthrie
→ Alexander Guthrie, 5th of Guthrie
→ Alexander Guthrie, 6th of Guthrie
→ brother William Guthrie of Memys, 7th of Guthrie
→ sale to distant cousin David Guthrie, 7th of Kincaldrum / 8th of Guthrie
→ disposition to his brother Patrick Guthrie, 9th of Guthrie
→ son Peter Guthrie, 10th of Guthrie
→ sale to John Guthrie, Bishop of Moray, 11th of Guthrie
→ settlement through daughter Bathiah Guthrie and her husband Francis Guthrie of Gagie, 12th of Guthrie
→ their son John Guthrie, 13th of Guthrie.

This sequence alone demonstrates why the numbered lairds cannot be read as a straightforward paternal pedigree.

David Guthrie, 1st of Guthrie / 2nd of Kincaldrum

David Guthrie was already a prominent royal servant and landholder before acquiring Guthrie. His career included service as royal treasurer, comptroller, clerk of rolls, ambassador, captain of the guard, sheriff, and eventually Lord Chief Justice of Scotland.

His principal known land transactions include:

• acquisition of the barony of Loure and associated lands;
• 25 March 1465 — Great Seal charter of the lands of Guthrie following resignation by David, Earl of Crawford;
• 7 May 1467 — grant involving the east side of Cottoune of Innerpeffer;
• 14 September 1468 — royal licence to build a tower or fortalice at Guthrie;
• several 1472 transactions involving Inverpeffer and Loure;
• 1473 — Crown charter involving Balnabreich;
• by 23 August 1474 he was deceased, when his son Alexander received sasine as heir.

David reportedly married twice. Burke identifies his first wife as an unnamed daughter of Sir Thomas Maule of Panmure and states that there was no issue of that marriage. His second wife was Janet Dundas, daughter of Sir Archibald Dundas and Agnes Borthwick.

Known children associated with the second marriage are:

• Alexander Guthrie, his heir;
• Elizabeth Guthrie, who married Alexander Maule.

David also had a recognized natural son:

• Malcolm Guthrie, to whom he granted Balnabreich in 1472.

The parentage of David himself remains less certain than older pedigrees imply. His prominence before acquiring Guthrie makes the earlier history of the Kincaldrum family particularly important, but that origin has not yet been reconstructed securely.

Alexander Guthrie, 2nd of Guthrie / 3rd of Kincaldrum

Alexander succeeded his father in 1474 and expanded the collegiate church founded by David.

Older pedigrees identify Margaret Lyon of Glamis as his wife and mother of his children. That chronology is no longer satisfactory. Margaret Lyon was contracted in marriage to James Rynd in 1495 and was still identified as his widow in 1500. Her later association with Alexander therefore cannot account for children who were already adults or nearly adult by the early sixteenth century.

Alexander must have had an earlier unidentified wife.

This distinction matters because his descendants through that earlier marriage include the lines that later separated into Guthrie and Kincaldrum branches.

Alexander and his eldest son David Guthrie were both killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. The territorial succession then skipped a generation.

The Split Between Guthrie and Kincaldrum

After Flodden, the lands of Guthrie passed to Alexander’s grandson:

Andrew Guthrie, 3rd of Guthrie, son of the deceased David.

Meanwhile, the Kincaldrum line continued through another son of Alexander:

Alexander Guthrie, 4th of Kincaldrum, whose descendants retained Kincaldrum.

This early division is critical because the Kincaldrum branch would later return to the possession of Guthrie more than a century afterward.

Andrew Guthrie, 3rd of Guthrie

An instrument of sasine dated 15 May 1514 names Andrew Guthrie as son and heir of the deceased Sir Alexander Guthrie of Guthrie and restores him to the lands of Guthrie.

Genealogically, Andrew was Alexander’s grandson, but the legal language treats him as heir of the deceased laird. This is a useful reminder that terms such as “son and heir” or similar formulae in property records may reflect legal succession rather than the exact biological generation unless the context is examined carefully.

Andrew married Christian Gardyne of Gardyne.

His known heir was:

• Alexander Guthrie, 4th of Guthrie.

Andrew later resigned the lands and barony in favor of this son.

Alexander Guthrie, 4th of Guthrie and Isobel Wood

Alexander married Isobel Wood.

His 1582 testament is one of the strongest genealogical records for the family and names or supports the following children:

• Alexander Guthrie, heir, later 5th of Guthrie;
• William Guthrie of Ravensbie, Eastertown, later 1st of Gagie;
• James Guthrie, mariner and burgess of Dundee;
• Gabriel Guthrie, Provost and Parson of Guthrie;
• Elizabeth Guthrie;
• Margaret Guthrie.

There was also an illegitimate son named Alexander Guthrie.

That duplicate name is important. Records describing an “Alexander Guthrie, son of Alexander Guthrie of Guthrie” cannot automatically be assigned to the legitimate heir. Identification requires contextual evidence such as fiar, eldest son, heirship, property, spouse, or office.

William’s later charter evidence securely places him as brother-german of the succeeding Alexander and therefore as a son of Alexander 4th and Isobel Wood.

William founded the Gagie branch, which would eventually return to the principal succession through Francis Guthrie.

Alexander Guthrie, 5th of Guthrie and Agnes Falconer

Alexander married Agnes Falconer of Halkerton, daughter of Sir Alexander Falconer and Elizabeth Douglas, on 15 April 1567.

He remained sufficiently connected to the Crown to be appointed one of the twenty-five gentlemen pensioners required to attend James VI.

The traditional pedigree substantially under-represents his sons. Current evidence supports:

• Alexander Guthrie, later 6th of Guthrie;
• William Guthrie of Memys, later 7th of Guthrie;
• Samuel Guthrie, litster, merchant and burgess of Edinburgh;
• Hercules Guthrie, merchant and burgess of Edinburgh;
• Henry Guthrie, burgess of Montrose;
• John Guthrie.

The Edinburgh apprenticeship records explicitly identify both Samuel and Hercules as sons of Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk, making them secure additions to the family group.

John’s placement is strengthened by the 1615 testament of his brother Alexander, 6th of Guthrie, which names John and William as brothers.

No daughters of Alexander and Agnes have yet been verified.

Alexander Guthrie, 6th of Guthrie

Alexander married Jean Leighton of Ulishaven.

Their known child was:

• Emma Guthrie.

Alexander’s testament, written in 1615, names his wife Jean, daughter Emma, and brothers John and William. No surviving male heir is known.

His later life is poorly documented, probably in part because of the large number of contemporary Guthries named Alexander.

At Alexander’s death, the succession passed laterally to his brother:

William Guthrie of Memys.

William Guthrie of Memys, 7th of Guthrie

William married Isabella Fenton on an unknown date.

Older published pedigrees, especially Burke and those dependent upon him, state that William had “no male issue.” That assertion is demonstrably incorrect.

A contemporary NRS record dated 28 October 1630, GD205/22/48, identifies:

• Alexander Guthrie, eldest son of William Guthrie of Memess;
• Annas Guthrie, daughter of the said William.

The words “eldest son” necessarily imply at least one additional son.

A further record, GD205/22/60A, dated 1641, concerns the deceased Alexander Guthrie, fiar of Memis, father of another Guthrie whose forename is obscured by damage. It is highly likely, though not yet proved beyond doubt, that this is the same Alexander.

William therefore had documented male issue.

This correction materially changes the question of the parentage of Rev. James Guthrie, Minister of Stirling. Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ identifies William of Memys as a possible father. James was born about 1612, when William was probably in his early forties if born soon after his parents’ 1567 marriage. The chronology is entirely plausible.

The claim is not yet proved, but the former objection that William supposedly had no sons can no longer be used against it.

William sold the lands of Guthrie to his distant cousin David Guthrie of Kincaldrum. The sale was confirmed by the Crown on 24 July 1630.

A major unresolved question is William’s identity and territorial designation after this sale. If he retained Memys, he may have reverted to the style William Guthrie of Memys, but no secure post-sale record has yet been located.

Isabella Fenton is similarly elusive. The sasine index documents her as William’s spouse, including references at S.1 VIII.51 and 254, but her parentage, marriage date, and later life remain unidentified.

Return of Guthrie to the Kincaldrum Branch

The purchaser of Guthrie was:

David Guthrie, 7th of Kincaldrum, later 8th of Guthrie, who also appears associated with Memys and Kincreich.

His most recent common ancestor with William of Memys was Alexander Guthrie, 2nd of Guthrie / 3rd of Kincaldrum, through Alexander’s unidentified earlier wife.

David had succeeded to Kincaldrum on 22 July 1593 and later received Great Seal confirmation of the family lands.

He married Katherine Blair in June 1594; sources give both 10 and 15 June.

Known children:

• Alexander Guthrie, fiar and later styled 8th of Kincaldrum;
• Elizabeth Guthrie.

The acquisition and redistribution of Guthrie was a process rather than a single event. By the 1620s David was already dealing in lands formerly held by William. He then transferred the barony toward his brother Patrick through wadset and later absolute disposition.

On 22 May 1629, David, with consent of eldest son Alexander, sold or wadset the barony of Guthrie to his brother-german:

Mr Patrick Guthrie, then a minister.

The disposition became absolute in December 1633.

David’s son Alexander predeceased him. David subsequently sold Kincaldrum to Sir John Blair of Balgillo on 29 November 1633.

Patrick Guthrie, 9th of Guthrie

Patrick became “of Guthrie” in December 1633.

He married Jean Blackwood.

Known children include:

• Peter Guthrie, later 10th of Guthrie;
• Nicholas/Nicolas Guthrie, associated with Pitmuies/Pitmules, who married David Ogilvy.

Pitmuies had belonged to Patrick by 1599 and was apparently given as part of his daughter’s marriage settlement.

Patrick’s succession illustrates another important distinction: he did not simply inherit Guthrie from his brother. His title arose from a sequence of financial and legal transactions culminating in absolute disposition.

Peter Guthrie, 10th of Guthrie

Peter succeeded his father Patrick.

On 24 May 1636, he sold the barony of Guthrie to:

Rt. Rev. John Guthrie, Bishop of Moray.

This transferred the estate into yet another collateral Guthrie branch.

John Guthrie, Bishop of Moray, 11th of Guthrie

Bishop John has a separate Individual Research Sketch and therefore needs only summary treatment here.

He married Nicolas Wood and had several children. His youngest known daughter was:

Bathiah/Bethia Guthrie, baptized in Edinburgh on 27 July 1623.

Bathiah’s eventual role in the succession was not based on primogeniture among the daughters. She was deliberately selected as the conduit through which the estate would continue.

Bathiah Guthrie and Francis Guthrie of Gagie

Bathiah married Francis Guthrie of Gagie on 4 May 1647.

Burke reports that Bishop John recorded the marriage in his diary:

“This day my daughter, Berthia, was married to Francis Guthrie, my adopted son.”

Burke is an intermediary source for the diary wording, but the legal arrangement behind it is now independently demonstrated.

RMS Volume 11, Charter 565, 4 March 1664, confirms an earlier charter granted by the deceased Bishop John Guthrie settling the lands and barony of Guthrie upon:

Francis Guthrie of Gagie and Betty/Bathiah Guthrie his wife, in conjunct fee, with succession:

1. to the male heirs of their bodies;
2. failing those, to Francis’s male heirs;
3. failing those, to Mr Patrick Guthrie, son of Bishop John, and his male heirs;
4. failing those, to Mr James Guthrie, minister at Arbirlot, and his male heirs;
5. finally to the male heirs whatsoever of Bishop John.

This is crucial evidence.

The estate did not simply “pass through a daughter” under an assumed general rule. Bishop John deliberately constructed the succession by charter, placing Francis and Bathiah first and establishing a sequence of male Guthrie substitutes.

Francis was already a Guthrie through the Gagie branch descended from William Guthrie of Ravensbie, younger son of Alexander Guthrie, 4th of Guthrie.

The settlement therefore reunited the territorial estate with an older cadet branch of the family.

Francis Guthrie, 12th of Guthrie

Francis became the effective successor under the settlement.

He and Bathiah had one known son:

• John Guthrie.

Francis died by 1665.

John Guthrie, 13th of Guthrie

John was served heir to his father Francis and continued the Guthrie succession.

From this point the territorial line again proceeds more conventionally through descendants of Francis and Bathiah.

Fasti Evidence

Across the Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ volumes, the principal genealogical value of the Guthries of Guthrie material includes:

• identification of Bishop John Guthrie and his clerical family;
• connections between Bishop John, his brother James of Arbirlot, and their children;
• the proposed identification of Rev. James Guthrie of Stirling as a son of William Guthrie of Memys;
• clerical references that help distinguish collateral Guthrie branches;
• confirmation of relationships that can be cross-checked against sasines, testaments, charters, and contemporary civic records.

The Fasti evidence is most useful when treated as one layer among the broader surviving documentary record rather than as a self-contained pedigree.

Evidence Beyond Fasti

The reconstruction depends heavily upon:

• NRS GD188/1/1, Writs of the Lands of Guthrie;
• Register of the Great Seal;
• sasines;
• Edinburgh and St Andrews Commissary Court testaments;
• Records of the Parliaments and Privy Council;
• Edinburgh burgess and apprenticeship registers;
• NRS GD205 family papers;
• charter and manuscript collections;
• later pedigrees such as Burke, used cautiously;
• The Red Book of Scotland;
• Guthrie Genealogy Special Collections and Research & Resources pages;
• the Guthrie Genealogy research tree.

Later pedigrees are valuable as guides, but several claims have now been contradicted by contemporary evidence.

Research Analysis

The most important conclusion from this cluster is that “Guthrie of Guthrie” describes a territorial succession, not a single uninterrupted father-to-son genetic lineage.

Several different mechanisms occurred:

• father to son;
• grandfather to grandson after an intervening heir died;
• brother to brother;
• sale to a distant cousin;
• wadset and disposition to a brother;
• inheritance from father to son;
• sale to another collateral Guthrie;
• settlement through a daughter and her Guthrie husband.

This non-linear structure makes conflation particularly easy.

The repeated use of the same given names further complicates reconstruction. In some generations there were even two sons named Alexander, one legitimate and one illegitimate. Territorial designations, heirship language, spouses, offices, and associated properties therefore matter more than the name alone.

Corrections to Traditional Pedigrees

Several traditional assumptions now require revision.

William Guthrie of Memys did have male issue.
The contemporary 1630 bond naming Alexander as his eldest son disproves Burke’s “no male issue” statement.

Margaret Lyon cannot be the mother of all children attributed to Alexander Guthrie, 2nd of Guthrie.
Her documented marriage and widowhood chronology requires an earlier unidentified wife.

The Gagie line belongs under Alexander Guthrie, 4th of Guthrie and Isobel Wood.
William Guthrie of Ravensbie / 1st of Gagie was their son, not a son of Andrew Guthrie and Christian Gardyne.

Samuel and Hercules Guthrie belong in the family of Alexander Guthrie, 5th of Guthrie.
Contemporary Edinburgh records explicitly call them sons of Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk.

The apparent female-line succession through Bathiah was a deliberate charter settlement.
RMS Charter 565 proves Bishop John arranged the estate for Francis and Bathiah and their male heirs.

DNA Context

No Y-DNA result presently proves the genetic profile of the historical Guthries of Guthrie.

Guthrie Family Group 1A is currently the strongest candidate because tested lineages include a direct paternal descendant of the Guthries of Craigie and an American Guthrie lineage descending from Patrick Guthrie and Agnes Foord. Their documented most recent common ancestral couple is James Guthrie, merchant, and Christian Scott.

The Y-DNA suggests a deeper common male ancestor compatible with the historical period of the Guthries of Guthrie, but there is not yet a tested male line whose documentary pedigree reaches a securely identified historical Guthrie of that Ilk.

It is therefore reasonable to infer that GFG1A may represent the genetic profile of the historical family, but this remains officially unproven.

Open Research Questions

Several major questions remain:

• Where did the Kincaldrum Guthries originate before Alexander Guthrie, 1st of Kincaldrum?
• Who was the unidentified earlier wife of Alexander Guthrie, 2nd of Guthrie / 3rd of Kincaldrum?
• Can the parentage and earlier life of David Guthrie, 1st of Guthrie, be established more securely?
• What became of the illegitimate Alexander Guthrie, son of Alexander, 4th of Guthrie?
• What became of Emma Guthrie, daughter of Alexander, 6th of Guthrie?
• Who were Isabella Fenton’s parents, and when did she marry William Guthrie of Memys?
• Can William Guthrie of Memys be identified after the 1630 sale of Guthrie?
• Who were William’s younger sons?
• Can the Fasti identification of Rev. James Guthrie of Stirling as William’s son be proved or disproved?
• Can the Eassie/Hiltoun and Colliston traditions be separated decisively from the principal Guthrie line where later pedigrees have conflated them?
• Can a documented male-line descendant of the historical Guthries of Guthrie eventually be identified for Y-DNA testing?

Conclusion

The surviving record reveals a family history considerably more complicated—and more interesting—than the conventional published pedigree.

The Guthries of Guthrie were not a single straight paternal chain. The estate moved repeatedly among related branches, sometimes through inheritance and sometimes through deliberate transactions. The Kincaldrum branch split from the principal line and later returned to it. The Gagie branch likewise separated from the main family and ultimately returned through the marriage of Francis Guthrie and Bathiah Guthrie.

The old pedigrees remain useful maps, but contemporary charters, sasines, testaments, civic records, and Great Seal confirmations increasingly show where those maps are incomplete or incorrect.

The goal of this reconstruction is therefore not to preserve the traditional numbered pedigree unchanged, but to identify which Guthrie actually appears in each surviving record, how that person was related to the others, and by what legal or genealogical mechanism the lands and designation of Guthrie passed from one holder to the next.

Yes. At this point we have enough to produce a useful sketch without pretending the parentage conflict is resolved. I would actually make that conflict the central genealogical feature of the sketch.

Henry Guthrie, Bishop of Dunkeld (c.1600–1676)
^{Individual Research Sketch}

Identity and Overview

Henry Guthrie was a seventeenth-century Scottish minister, churchman, and historian who served successively at Guthrie, Stirling, and Kilspindie before becoming Bishop of Dunkeld in 1665. He was born about 1600, apparently at Coupar-Angus, and died in 1676, before 20 December.

His paternal identity presents an important unresolved problem. Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ identifies him as a son of Henry Guthrie, minister of Bendochy, while George Crawfurd’s Life of Henry Guthry, prefixed to the 1748 edition of the bishop’s Memoirs, states that his father was Mr John Guthrie, minister at Coupar-Angus, a younger son of the family of Guthrie of that Ilk.

The two accounts cannot both be correct as written. Neither should presently be suppressed in favor of the other.

Fasti Evidence

Career Data

• Born about 1600.
• Educated at the University of St Andrews.
• M.A., 16 July 1620.
• Tutor and chaplain in the family of the Earl of Mar.
• Minister of Guthrie, by 1625.
• Translated to Stirling, 13 May 1632.
• Deposed by the Commission of Assembly, 14 November 1648, for malignancy.
• Reponed by the Synod, 12 July 1655.
• Admitted to Kilspindie, 7 April 1656.
• Appointed to the See of Dunkeld, 29 June 1665.
• Consecrated 24 August 1665.
• Died before 20 December 1676.

Family Claim

Fasti explicitly calls Bishop Henry:

“son of Henry G., min. of Bendochy”

and therefore treats the elder minister as his father.

The Bendochy entry provides considerably more information about that elder Henry. He had earlier been rector of Dunnichen, was presented to Collace in 1582, transferred to Bendochy in 1595, and also “had charge of Coupar-Angus for some time.” Fasti states that he married Elizabeth Small and had issue:

• James Guthrie, W.S.
• Henry Guthrie, Bishop of Dunkeld
• Elizabeth Guthrie, who married William Small.

Fasti cites Perth Sasine Secondary Register, i. 41, 296; vi. 483 for this family material. Those underlying sasines have not yet been inspected because the available digital images are restricted.

The Competing Crawfurd Pedigree

George Crawfurd’s Life of Henry Guthry, published with the 1748 edition of the bishop’s Memoirs, supplies a completely different paternal genealogy.

Crawfurd states that Bishop Henry:

• descended from the ancient family of Guthrie of that Ilk;
• was grandson of “another Alexander Guthry of that Ilk”;
• was son of Mr John Guthry;
• and that John was “a younger son of the family of Guthry, minister at Cowpar of Angus, where the bishop was born.”

Most importantly, Crawfurd attaches a source to the statement concerning John and Henry:

“Memorial of the Lives of the Bishops of Dunkeld, MS.”

Elsewhere in the same biography he cites the manuscript as being in his own possession.

Crawfurd’s account therefore cannot be dismissed simply as a nineteenth-century pedigree. It appeared in 1748 and was based, at least ostensibly, on an earlier manuscript concerning the bishops of Dunkeld.

Later biographies—including Chambers’ Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, Anderson’s Scottish Nation, and the Dictionary of National Biography—ultimately perpetuated this Crawfurd tradition rather than providing independent evidence for it.

Possible Guthrie-of-Guthrie Ancestry

Crawfurd does not merely say that Bishop Henry belonged generally to the Guthrie family. He supplies a three-generation construction:

Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk
↓
Mr John Guthrie, younger son; minister of Coupar-Angus
↓
Henry Guthrie, Bishop of Dunkeld

If Crawfurd’s pedigree is substantially correct, the strongest present candidate for the unnamed grandfather is Alexander Guthrie, 5th of Guthrie, husband of Agnes Falconer.

This identification is not proven, but it is chronologically attractive. Alexander 5th belongs to the appropriate generation to have had a younger son who entered the ministry and fathered Henry about 1600. His known family was also larger than traditional pedigrees once indicated.

The current Guthrie Genealogy reconstruction identifies Alexander 5th and Agnes Falconer as parents of Alexander 6th, William 7th, and Henry. (Guthrie Genealogy) More recent research has added two further sons from contemporary Edinburgh apprenticeship records:

• 16 March 1601 — Samuel Guthrie, son of Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk
• 26 March 1606 — Hercules Guthrie, son of Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk. (Guthrie Genealogy)

This demonstrates that the older published pedigrees omitted younger sons of this generation. Consequently, the absence of a son John from Burke and similar pedigrees is not, by itself, evidence that such a son did not exist.

No contemporary record has yet been found, however, explicitly identifying a John Guthrie as son of Alexander 5th and Agnes Falconer.

The Coupar-Angus Problem

One of the most interesting aspects of the conflicting accounts is that both lead back to Coupar-Angus.

Crawfurd says:

John Guthrie was minister there and Bishop Henry was born there.

Fasti says:

Henry Guthrie of Bendochy had charge of Coupar-Angus for a time and was Bishop Henry’s father.

Thus the birthplace tradition does not resolve the parentage problem. It is possible that both sources preserve correct knowledge of Henry’s association with Coupar-Angus while one has misidentified his father’s forename.

The surviving local ecclesiastical records unfortunately cannot settle the question. The relevant Meigle Presbyteryminutes begin only in 1659, long after Bishop Henry’s birth and the period in which either proposed father would have held the Coupar-Angus charge.

No baptism for Bishop Henry has been identified in the surviving Old Parish Registers. A broad search for Guthrie surname variants and Henry forenames produced several contemporary Guthries elsewhere, but none at Coupar-Angus with either John or Henry as father. This absence is inconclusive because surviving OPR coverage for the period is incomplete.

Henry Guthrie of Bendochy and Elizabeth/Elspit Small

The Fasti reconstruction presents Elizabeth Small as wife of the elder Henry Guthrie and then lists James, Henry the bishop, and Elizabeth as his children.

An Old Parish Register marriage found during this investigation complicates that presentation:

17 May 1618 — Kettins — Henry Guthrie and Elspit Small.

If the groom was the minister of Bendochy, Elspit/Elizabeth Small was almost certainly a later wife, because Bishop Henry was already about eighteen years old. Moreover, Fasti states that the elder Henry’s daughter Elizabeth Guthrie married William Small in 1601, seventeen years before this marriage.

The 1618 groom has not been independently proved to be the Bendochy minister, so the identification remains tentative. Nevertheless, the chronology warns against assuming that Elizabeth/Elspit Small was mother of all the children Fasti places in the elder Henry’s household.

It also demonstrates why the underlying Perth sasines need eventually to be examined. Fasti may have combined several separate relationships into one compact family statement.

Career and Historical Highlights

Crawfurd’s Life and Henry’s own Memoirs agree well with Fasti on his adult identity and career.

After studying arts and divinity at St Andrews, Henry entered the household of the Earl of Mar as tutor or chaplain. Crawfurd says Mar’s recommendation secured Henry’s presentation to Stirling.

Henry subsequently became deeply involved in the church politics of the Covenanting period. Although initially subscribing the Covenant, he adopted a more moderate position than many of his contemporaries. His support for the Engagement ultimately contributed to his deposition in 1648.

During his period away from regular ministry he studied the Church Fathers and ecclesiastical history. He returned to ministerial service in the 1650s and eventually accepted episcopal government after the Restoration.

He was appointed Bishop of Dunkeld in 1665 and served until his death in 1676.

His principal surviving work is the Memoirs of Henry Guthry, first printed in London in 1702. The 1748 Glasgow edition is especially valuable genealogically because it contains George Crawfurd’s Life of the Author.

The Memoirs as Genealogical Evidence

Henry’s own Memoirs provide surprisingly little direct information about his family.

They do, however, demonstrate his personal involvement in the events he describes and distinguish him clearly from other contemporary Guthries. He mentions:

• John Guthrie, Bishop of Moray
• Andrew Guthrie, Bishop John’s son
• James Guthrie
• other Guthries involved in seventeenth-century church affairs

without describing any of them as his own relatives.

This absence does not prove that no relationship existed, but it provides no support for attempts to connect prominent clerical Guthries merely because they shared the surname.

No wife or children of Bishop Henry have yet been established from the sources examined for this sketch.

Research Analysis

The parentage dispute currently consists of two substantive but conflicting evidence traditions.

Fasti / Bendochy reconstruction

Henry Guthrie, minister of Bendochy
possibly husband of Elizabeth/Elspit Small
↓
Henry Guthrie, Bishop of Dunkeld

Strengths:

• explicit statement of parentage;
• the elder Henry demonstrably belonged to the appropriate clerical and geographic environment;
• he also served Coupar-Angus;
• Fasti cites specific Perth sasine registers for the family.

Weaknesses:

• the sasines have not been personally examined;
• it is not yet known whether they explicitly call the bishop son of the Bendochy minister;
• the apparent 1618 Henry Guthrie–Elspit Small marriage complicates Fasti’s presentation of the household.

Crawfurd / Guthrie-of-Guthrie reconstruction

Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk
↓
Mr John Guthrie, younger son, minister of Coupar-Angus
↓
Henry Guthrie, Bishop of Dunkeld

Strengths:

• precise pedigree rather than a vague family claim;
• published in 1748, considerably closer to Henry’s lifetime than later Victorian biographies;
• Crawfurd cites a manuscript Memorial of the Lives of the Bishops of Dunkeld;
• the Guthrie-of-Guthrie generation represented by Alexander 5th is now known to have contained younger sons omitted from traditional pedigrees.

Weaknesses:

• the cited manuscript has not been located or independently examined;
• no contemporary record has yet been found for Mr John Guthrie, minister of Coupar-Angus;
• no record yet identifies John as a son of Alexander 5th and Agnes Falconer;
• surviving ministerial reconstructions instead identify Henry of Bendochy with the Coupar-Angus charge.

At present, neither pedigree should be stated as proven.

Conclusions & Open Questions

Established

• Henry Guthrie was born about 1600.
• Coupar-Angus is the traditional and plausible place of birth.
• He graduated M.A. at St Andrews on 16 July 1620.
• He served at Guthrie, Stirling and Kilspindie.
• He became Bishop of Dunkeld in 1665.
• He died in 1676, before 20 December.
• George Crawfurd and Fasti give different fathers for him.

Probable or plausible

• Crawfurd’s unnamed Alexander grandfather could chronologically be Alexander Guthrie, 5th of Guthrie, husband of Agnes Falconer.
• If so, the proposed Rev. John would belong among the younger sons of that generation.
• The discovery of Samuel and Hercules as previously omitted sons shows that such an omission from traditional pedigrees is entirely possible.
• The 1618 Henry Guthrie–Elspit Small marriage may belong to the Bendochy minister and may represent a later marriage.

Unresolved

1. Do Perth Sasine Secondary Register i.41, i.296, or vi.483 explicitly identify Bishop Henry as son of the minister of Bendochy?
2. Who exactly was Mr John Guthrie, minister of Coupar-Angus, in Crawfurd’s source?
3. Can John be documented as a younger son of Alexander 5th and Agnes Falconer?
4. What became of Crawfurd’s manuscript Memorial of the Lives of the Bishops of Dunkeld?
5. Was the Henry Guthrie who married Elspit Small at Kettins on 17 May 1618 the minister of Bendochy?
6. Who was Bishop Henry’s mother?
7. Did Bishop Henry marry or leave children? None have yet been documented in the sources examined.

Sources and Cross-References

• Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ, Bendochy entry — elder Henry Guthrie, his career, Coupar-Angus service, wife and reported children.
• Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ, Bishops of Dunkeld — Bishop Henry’s parentage as given by Fasti and his career chronology.
• George Crawfurd, “The Life of Henry Guthry, Late Bishop of Dunkeld,” prefixed to The Memoirs of Henry Guthry, Glasgow, 1748.
• Henry Guthry, Memoirs, London 1702; Glasgow editions 1747/1748.
• William Anderson, The Scottish Nation.
• Chambers/Thomson, A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen.
• Thomas Finlayson Henderson, Dictionary of National Biography, “Guthrie, Henry.”
• Guthrie Genealogy, Guthrie of Guthrie family reconstruction. (Guthrie Genealogy)
• Guthrie Genealogy, AGAF Mysteries — Samuel and Hercules Guthrie, sons of Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk. (Guthrie Genealogy)
• OPR marriage, Henry Guthrie / Elspit Small, Kettins, 17 May 1618, Scotland’s People.
• Perth Sasine Secondary Register i.41, i.296, vi.483 — cited by Fasti but not yet examined.

James Guthrie, Minister of Kirkpatrick-Irongray, and Family
^{c.1673/74–1756
Family Cluster Research Sketch
Kirkpatrick-Irongray, Kirkcudbrightshire}

Identity and Overview

James Guthrie was a Church of Scotland minister whose documented career is centered on Kirkpatrick-Irongray in Kirkcudbrightshire. Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ reports that he received his M.A. from Edinburgh on 28 June 1690, was licensed 17 May 1694, and ordained minister of Kirkpatrick-Irongray on 13 September 1694. He died 25 June 1756, “probably in his eighty-third year,” suggesting a birth about 1673–1674.

The surviving evidence establishes a substantial clerical career of more than sixty years but does not presently identify his parents or connect him securely with another documented Guthrie family.

This distinction is important because two Guthrie ministers are associated with Irongray in historical sources:

• John Guthrie of Irongray, the seventeenth-century Covenanter minister and field preacher, ejected after the Restoration and dead by 1669.
• James Guthrie of Kirkpatrick-Irongray, ordained in 1694 and the subject of this sketch.

No evidence discovered during this investigation demonstrates a familial relationship between the two men.

Fasti Evidence

The Fasti entry provides the basic framework for James Guthrie’s life and family:

Career Data

• M.A., Edinburgh — 28 June 1690
• Licensed — 17 May 1694
• Ordained at Kirkpatrick-Irongray — 13 September 1694
• Died — 25 June 1756
• Described as having probably been in his eighty-third year
• Referred to as a “Father of the Church”

Family Connections

Fasti cautiously states that James:

“is believed to have married” a daughter of Biggar of Barbuie.

Her personal name is not supplied, and she reportedly died before 1744.

Four children are named:

James Guthrie
Apprenticed as a Writer to the Signet in 1738.

George Guthrie
Named as a son, but no occupation or marriage has yet been established from the records examined.

Janet Guthrie
Married James Crocket/Crockat, of Holywood parish.

Mary Guthrie
Married Rev. Archibald Lawson, minister of Kirkmahoe.

The cautious wording concerning James’s wife needs to be preserved. At present, she should not be assigned a specific Biggar father without further evidence.

The Kirkpatrick-Irongray Kirk Session

The surviving Kirk Session volume CH2/1343/1, Minutes, 1691–1700, provides unusually useful contemporary evidence for the beginning of James Guthrie’s ministry.

The earlier pages document the parish immediately before his arrival. James first appears as minister in the session minutes on 16 September 1694, only three days after the ordination date supplied by Fasti.

The entry opens substantially:

“Irongray Church September ye 16 1694
Post preces sederunt Mr James Guthrie minister…”

He thereafter repeatedly appears presiding with the elders over ordinary session business.

This evidence independently corroborates the Fasti chronology and places Guthrie physically at Irongray almost immediately following his ordination.

The minutes reveal the normal range of responsibilities of a late seventeenth-century parish minister and kirk session: poor relief, discipline, Sabbath observance, examinations of alleged fornication and irregular marriage, appointments of elders and officers, collection and distribution of church funds, and communication with the presbytery.

They also demonstrate that James Guthrie became embedded very quickly in the local ecclesiastical community rather than merely holding the parish nominally.

The Biggars of Barbuie

The proposed identification of James Guthrie’s wife as a daughter of Biggar of Barbuie is intriguing because the surname is independently present in the contemporary Irongray records.

The kirk-session minutes name William Biggar and James Biggar, and by 1696 specifically identify William Biggar in Barbuie.

This gives the Fasti tradition an important geographical context: a Biggar family associated with Barbuie was indeed present within James Guthrie’s immediate parish environment during the early years of his ministry.

It does not, however, prove that William or James Biggar was his father-in-law. No entry located in the 1691–1700 session volume names Guthrie’s wife or describes either Biggar as his relative.

The evidence therefore supports:

Documented: Biggars of Barbuie were present in James Guthrie’s parish.

Reported by Fasti: James Guthrie is believed to have married a daughter of Biggar of Barbuie.

Not yet established: her given name, her father’s identity, or the precise Biggar pedigree.

James Guthrie, Son

The elder son James Guthrie is identified in Fasti as having been apprenticed as a Writer to the Signet in 1738.

This is significant because it places one branch of the minister’s family within Scotland’s professional legal community rather than within the ministry.

No sufficiently secure marriage, death, or later career record has yet been identified for him during this investigation.

He should not presently be confused with the various other eighteenth-century James Guthries appearing in Edinburgh legal records.

George Guthrie, Son

George Guthrie is named by Fasti as another son of the minister.

No securely attributable occupation, marriage, or children were found in the records examined for this sketch.

He therefore remains the least documented member of the immediate family.

Mary Guthrie and Rev. Archibald Lawson

Mary Guthrie married Rev. Archibald Lawson, minister of Kirkmahoe, establishing a second clerical household descending from James Guthrie.

The Kirkmahoe OPR provides particularly useful evidence because Mary is explicitly identified in connection with her father.

The marriage entry records:

“Mr Archd Lawson Minr here & Mrs Mary Guthrie…”

and dates the marriage 19 January 1752.

This creates a small but important discrepancy with Fasti, which gives 27 January 1752. Because the parish register is the contemporary primary record, 19 January 1752 should presently be preferred, with the Fasti date retained as a conflicting secondary date.

Children attributed by Fasti to Archibald Lawson and Mary Guthrie include:

Elizabeth Ann Lawson
John Lawson
Catherine Lawson
Janet Lawson
James Lawson
Susanna Lawson
Gilbert Lawson
Archibald Lawson
Mary Lawson

Two have now been independently confirmed in the Kirkmahoe OPR:

• Janet Lawson, daughter of Archibald Lawson and Mary Guthrie — 9 March 1758
• Susanna Lawson, daughter of “Mr Arch. Lawson Minr here & Mrs Mary Guthrie his spouse” — 26 September 1762

A later Fasti addition gives Mary Guthrie Lawson’s death as 4 March 1820.

This branch therefore provides the best presently documented descent from James Guthrie of Irongray.

Janet Guthrie and James Crocket

James’s daughter Janet Guthrie married James Crocket, whose surname appears in variant form as Crockat.

Two OPR entries relate to the marriage.

The Holywood register records the couple under 12 November 1763, apparently representing the proclamation or preliminary parish entry.

The Kirkmahoe record gives the actual marriage on 21 November 1763 and is genealogically more informative:

“James Crockat in the Parish of Holywood and Janet Guthrie daughter to Mr James Guthrie late Minr of Irongray were married.”

This is excellent primary evidence because it explicitly identifies Janet’s father.

The wording “late Minr of Irongray” is also consistent with James Guthrie’s death in 1756.

No baptisms attributable to children of James Crocket and Janet Guthrie were found in the OPR searches undertaken for this investigation. This does not demonstrate that they had no children; only that none were identified in the searched parish registers.

Wodrow’s Analecta — A Personal Glimpse of James Guthrie

The Special Collections material from Robert Wodrow’s Analecta provides something quite different from the institutional records: an anecdote apparently related personally by Mr Guthrie of Irongray.

Wodrow recorded it in 1712.

James described an extraordinary physical aversion associated with death. He said that he could not eat or drink in a place where he knew a corpse was present without immediately becoming sick.

He traced the reaction to childhood, when he was approximately six or seven years old. A landlord whom he “loved as a father” died while James was away. On returning, he was given bread, and while he was eating the women began preparing the corpse. The experience affected him so strongly that the reaction remained with him thereafter.

He also described a separate lifelong antipathy to swine’s flesh. Initially he could scarcely tolerate its sight or smell. As an adult he deliberately attempted to overcome the reaction by eating small amounts. He became ill during the first attempts but eventually succeeded sufficiently that he could tolerate and eat some pork.

This passage is valuable precisely because it tells us almost nothing conventional about genealogy. Instead it preserves an unusually intimate recollection of James’s childhood.

The description of the deceased man as his “landlord,” whom he loved as a father, is especially interesting. It might eventually provide a clue to the circumstances in which James was raised, but it cannot presently be converted into a statement about his parentage.

Property and the Kirk-holm

A later account of Kirkpatrick-Irongray records an important parish transaction connected with James Guthrie.

In 1750, Jean Biggar of Barbuie gave 500 merks Scots for the poor. The money was used to purchase from:

“Mr James Guthrie, then minister of the parish”

a small property adjoining the glebe called Kirk-holm.

The property subsequently produced rental income for poor relief.

This provides documentary evidence that James personally possessed property adjoining the church lands late in his life and that the continuing association between the parish and the Biggars of Barbuie survived well into his ministry.

Again, however, Jean Biggar’s presence does not by itself establish her relationship to Guthrie’s unidentified wife.

Chronology

Research Analysis

This family remains unusual among the Guthrie ministers examined so far because James Guthrie has a well-documented adult life but an almost completely undocumented ancestry.

His approximate birth date can be reconstructed from the age reported at death, but no baptism or parental identification has been located. The childhood anecdote preserved by Wodrow introduces an unidentified landlord who occupied an important paternal role in James’s early life, but it gives no biological family information.

The evidence for his wife is similarly incomplete. The claim that she was a daughter of Biggar of Barbuie is plausible in its local context because the Biggars of Barbuie occur directly in the contemporary Irongray records. Yet Fasti itself uses cautious language—“is believed to have married”—and no primary record located during this investigation identifies her by name.

Consequently, this family should presently stand as its own Guthrie family cluster, rather than being attached speculatively to one of the established Guthrie pedigrees.

There is also presently no evidence connecting James Guthrie with the earlier Covenanter minister John Guthrie of Irongray merely because both men became associated with the same parish.

Conclusions and Open Questions

James Guthrie can be reconstructed with considerable confidence from his university education onward. His long incumbency at Kirkpatrick-Irongray, beginning in 1694 and ending with his death in 1756, is independently supported by Fasti, contemporary kirk-session minutes, Wodrow, parish records, and later local historical evidence.

His immediate family can also be reconstructed in outline:

James Guthrie, minister of Kirkpatrick-Irongray
m. [unknown] Biggar?, reportedly a daughter of Biggar of Barbuie
│
├── James Guthrie — apprentice Writer to the Signet, 1738
├── George Guthrie — further history unknown
├── Janet Guthrie — m. 21 Nov 1763 James Crocket/Crockat, of Holywood
└── Mary Guthrie — m. 19 Jan 1752 Rev. Archibald Lawson, minister of Kirkmahoe

The principal unresolved questions are:

1. Who were James Guthrie’s parents?
2. Where was he born?
3. What was the name and exact parentage of his wife?
4. Which Biggar of Barbuie was her father?
5. What became of sons James and George?
6. Did Janet Guthrie and James Crocket leave surviving children?
7. Can any descendants through a direct male line eventually connect this Irongray family with a Guthrie DNA group?

For now, none of those questions should be answered by inference alone.

Sources and Cross-References

Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ — Kirkpatrick-Irongray entry for Rev. James Guthrie; later additions concerning his children and descendants.

National Records of Scotland / Scotland’s People — Kirkpatrick-Irongray Church of Scotland Kirk Session, Minutes, CH2/1343/1 (1691–1700).

Old Parish Registers — Kirkmahoe — marriage of Archibald Lawson and Mary Guthrie, 19 Jan 1752; baptisms of Janet Lawson, 1758, and Susanna Lawson, 1762; marriage of James Crockat and Janet Guthrie, 21 Nov 1763.

Old Parish Registers — Holywood — James Crocket and Janet Guthrie marriage-related entry, 12 Nov 1763.

Robert Wodrow, Analecta, Volume 2, p. 85 — “Mr Guthrie of Irongray and his peculiar antipathies,” recorded 1712.

New Statistical Account of Scotland — Kirkpatrick-Irongray — account of Jean Biggar of Barbuie’s 1750 benefaction and purchase of Kirk-holm from Rev. James Guthrie.

Guthrie Genealogy Special Collections — Wodrow’s Analecta — Guthrie entry for James Guthrie of Irongray.

Research status: Distinct family cluster; ancestry unresolved. No connection to another Guthrie family should presently be asserted.

George Guthrie, Minister of Barr and Oxnam, and Family

Family Cluster Research Sketch
Barr, Ayrshire & Oxnam, Roxburghshire | fl. 1689–1700

Identity and Overview

Rev. George Guthrie was a Church of Scotland minister who served first at Barr in Ayrshire and then at Oxnam in Roxburghshire during the years immediately following the Revolution Settlement.

No evidence located during this investigation identifies his parents, birthplace, or connection to any of the established Guthrie families currently represented in the Guthrie Research Tree.

His immediate family is known principally through Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ and is partly confirmed by contemporary parish and kirk-session records.

George married Elizabeth Tait, who survived him. Their known children were:

• William Guthrie, described by Fasti as their only son.
• Margaret Guthrie, who married William Brown of Lindsaylands and left documented children.

Fasti Evidence

Career Data

• Called to Barr, Ayrshire, in October 1689.
• Subsequently translated to Oxnam, Roxburghshire, after 4 August 1691.
• Member of the General Assembly in 1692.
• Known to have been living after 23 March 1698.
• His successor at Oxnam was Alexander Colden.

Family Connections

• Wife: Elizabeth Tait, who survived him.
• Son: William Guthrie, described as the couple’s only son.
• Daughter: Margaret Guthrie.
• Margaret was recorded for marriage to William Brown of Lindsaylands in 1718.

The family statements in Fasti cite the General Register of Sasines, vol. 108, p. 187, and the Edinburgh Marriage Register. The underlying sasine has not been available for examination during this investigation.

George Guthrie’s Death — New Evidence from the Oxnam Kirk Session

A particularly useful discovery was made in the surviving Oxnam Church of Scotland kirk-session account book, CH2/1232/2, beginning in 1700.

The very first page explains the change of ministry at Oxnam:

“The Church of Oxnam being destitute of ane Minister by Reason of the Decease of Mr George Guthrie late Incumbent…”

It then records the settlement and institution of Alexander Colden as minister on 8 May 1700.

This contemporary record establishes that George Guthrie had died, rather than resigned or been translated elsewhere, and narrows his death to:

after 23 March 1698 and before 8 May 1700.

The following pages of the account book were examined for references to George’s widow, estate, stipend arrears, or children, but no additional family information was identified.

This is nevertheless a significant improvement over the previously available chronology.

Elizabeth Tait

George’s wife is identified by Fasti as Elizabeth Tait, who survived him.

No OPR marriage record for George Guthrie and Elizabeth Tait was located, nor were baptismal entries found for their known children.

At present there is therefore no primary record available from the searches undertaken that identifies:

• Elizabeth’s parents,
• her place of origin,
• the date or place of her marriage,
• or her date of death.

The fact that Fasti cites the General Register of Sasines for this family suggests that the statement concerning Elizabeth may ultimately derive from a legal or property transaction rather than a parish register.

William Guthrie

William Guthrie is described by Fasti as the only son of George Guthrie and Elizabeth Tait.

No securely identifiable marriage, occupation, death, or descendants have been found for him.

Because of the frequency of the name William Guthrie during this period, none of the same-name men found elsewhere should be attached to this family without additional evidence.

His line therefore remains unresolved.

Margaret Guthrie and William Brown of Lindsaylands

George’s daughter Margaret Guthrie is much better documented.

The Edinburgh Old Parish Register contains an entry dated 16 February 1718 for:

William Brown of Lindsaylands, in Biggar parish, and
Margaret Guthrie, daughter of the deceased Mr George Guthrie, minister of Oxnam.

Margaret was then resident in the South Kirk parish of Edinburgh.

The original entry independently confirms three important facts:

1. Margaret was a daughter of Rev. George Guthrie of Oxnam.
2. George was already deceased by 1718.
3. Margaret married into the Brown family of Lindsaylands, associated with Biggar parish.

Because the register does not supply a separate later marriage date, 16 February 1718 is best treated as the marriage/proclamation record date rather than necessarily the date on which the ceremony occurred.

Children of Margaret Guthrie and William Brown

A Scotland’s People OPR search identified two children of William Brown and Margaret Guthrie:

James Brown
Born or baptized 5 November 1720
St Cuthbert’s, Edinburgh

George Brown
Born or baptized 20 March 1722
Edinburgh

These entries carry George Guthrie’s family securely into another generation.

The choice of George for their younger son’s name is compatible with the common Scottish practice of naming a child for a grandparent and would suit Margaret’s father, George Guthrie. This is suggestive only; the documented parentage is sufficient without relying on the naming pattern.

No additional OPR children of this couple were identified in the search performed.

Chronology

Research Analysis

George Guthrie remains difficult to place genealogically.

The investigation has not uncovered:

• his parents;
• his birthplace;
• his university education;
• his marriage record;
• baptismal records for William or Margaret;
• or evidence connecting him to one of the established landed or ministerial Guthrie families.

The surviving Oxnam record does, however, resolve an important question about the end of his career. George died while incumbent at Oxnam shortly before 1700, and the parish explicitly regarded his death as the cause of the vacancy filled by Alexander Colden.

Margaret’s Edinburgh record then independently verifies one portion of the family structure supplied by Fasti. Her marriage to William Brown of Lindsaylands and the OPR records of sons James and George provide a documented descendant line.

The son William remains unidentified beyond Fasti‘s statement that he was George and Elizabeth’s only son.

Given the evidence presently available, George Guthrie’s family should remain an independent Guthrie family cluster. There is insufficient evidence to associate him with the Guthries of Guthrie, another landed branch, or one of the other clerical Guthrie families.

Family Reconstruction

Rev. George Guthrie
Minister of Barr and later Oxnam
d. between 23 Mar 1698 and 8 May 1700
m. Elizabeth Tait, who survived him

│
├── William Guthrie
│ └── only son; further history presently unknown
│
└── Margaret Guthrie
    m. 1718 William Brown of Lindsaylands, Biggar parish
    │
    ├── James Brown, 1720
    └── George Brown, 1722

Conclusions and Open Questions

The principal unanswered questions are:

1. Who were George Guthrie’s parents?
2. Where and when was he born?
3. Who were Elizabeth Tait’s parents?
4. When and where did George and Elizabeth marry?
5. What became of their only son, William Guthrie?
6. Did William leave a male-line Guthrie family that might eventually be identifiable through documentary or DNA evidence?
7. Did Margaret Guthrie and William Brown have additional children beyond James and George?

These questions should remain open rather than be answered by attaching same-name individuals without documentary support.

Sources and Cross-References

Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ — entries for Barr and Oxnam; career and family information for Rev. George Guthrie.

National Records of Scotland / Scotland’s People — Oxnam Church of Scotland Kirk Session, Accounts (1700–1756), CH2/1232/2. Opening page states that Oxnam was vacant because of the death of Rev. George Guthrie and records Alexander Colden’s institution on 8 May 1700.

Edinburgh Old Parish Register of Marriages, parish 685/1, ref. 460/215 — William Brown of Lindsaylands and Margaret Guthrie, 16 February 1718; Margaret identified as daughter of the deceased Rev. George Guthrie, minister of Oxnam.

Edinburgh Marriage Register, 1701–1750, p. 62 — printed abstract of the Brown-Guthrie marriage entry.

Old Parish Registers — St Cuthbert’s, Edinburgh — James Brown, son of William Brown and Margaret Guthrie, 5 November 1720.

Old Parish Registers — Edinburgh — George Brown, son of William Brown and Margaret Guthrie, 20 March 1722.

General Register of Sasines, vol. 108, p. 187 — cited by Fasti for the family but not directly examined in this research.

Research status: Independent family cluster; parentage and broader Guthrie affiliation unresolved.

Alexander Guthrie, Minister of Terregles and Keir
^{_{Individual Research Sketch
Terregles, Kirkcudbrightshire & Keir, Dumfriesshire | fl. 1668–1717}}

Identity and Overview

Alexander Guthrie was a seventeenth-century Scottish minister whose career crossed the religious and political upheavals surrounding the Revolution Settlement of 1688–90 and extended into the period of the Jacobite rising of 1715.

Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ describes him as “of the family of Guthrie of Guthrie.” That statement is genealogically important, but no evidence has yet been located identifying his parents or demonstrating his exact place within the pedigree of the Guthries of Guthrie. The relationship should therefore be retained as a reported family affiliation rather than reconstructed as a specific line of descent.

Alexander graduated M.A. at St Andrews in 1668, was licensed after trials before the Presbytery of Forfar in 1675, became minister of Terregles in 1678, and was translated to Keir in 1681. He was removed from the established ministry at the Revolution Settlement in 1689 but remained active in the Episcopal ministry. By the early eighteenth century he was associated with an Episcopal meeting-house at Arbroath, and in 1717 the Presbytery of Arbroath formally deposed him.

His wife was Isobel Ross, widow of the Rev. Walter Mair of Kirkmahoe. Their known daughter Anne Guthrie died in 1760.

Fasti Evidence

Career Data

• M.A., University of St Andrews, 25 July 1668.
• Underwent trials before the Presbytery of Forfar and received a testimonial for licence, 7 April 1675.
• Ordained minister of Terregles, 1678.
• Translated and admitted to Keir, 1681.
• Outed from his charge in 1689 following the Revolution Settlement.
• Continued in Episcopal ministry after his removal from the established church.
• Associated with an Episcopal meeting-house at Arbroath in the early eighteenth century.
• Deposed by the Presbytery of Arbroath on 5 June 1717 for intrusion, participation in the recent rebellion, and contumacy.

Family Connections

• Described as “of the family of Guthrie of Guthrie.”
• Married Isobel Ross, widow of Walter Mair, minister of Kirkmahoe.
• Known daughter:
  • Anne Guthrie, died 1760.

Places

• Terregles — parish mainly in Kirkcudbrightshire, with portions associated with the burgh of Dumfries.
• Keir — parish in Dumfriesshire within the Presbytery of Penpont.
• Arbroath — Angus, where Alexander later appears in the Episcopal ministry.

Family and Relationships

Alexander Guthrie
m. Isobel Ross, widow of Rev. Walter Mair of Kirkmahoe
│
└── Anne Guthrie, d. 1760

No OPR marriage record has been located for Alexander Guthrie and Isobel Ross, nor has a baptismal record been found for Anne Guthrie.

Isobel’s previous husband can be independently placed in the documentary record. A testament dative and inventory for Walter Mair, late minister at Kirkmahoe, was recorded in the Dumfries Commissary Court on 8 April 1679, reference CC5/6/5.

The testament itself has not been purchased or examined. Its index entry nevertheless establishes that Walter Mair was deceased by the date of registration and provides a useful chronological marker for Isobel’s subsequent marriage to Alexander.

Because Alexander became minister of Terregles in 1678 and moved to Keir in 1681, c. 1679–1681 is a particularly plausible period for the marriage of Alexander Guthrie and Isobel Ross, although this remains an inference rather than a documented marriage date.

Career and Historical Context

Alexander’s clerical career began within the episcopally governed Church of Scotland of the Restoration period.

His move from Terregles to Keir in 1681 placed him in the Presbytery of Penpont. His ministry there became controversial. Fasti, drawing upon several cited ecclesiastical and contemporary sources, reports that he had been intruded into the parish against local opposition and that he informed against parishioners, resulting in fines.

The same account associates him with the dispatch of dragoons in circumstances that resulted in the deaths of four men at Irongray. Because the underlying sources have not been independently examined for this Research Sketch, these episodes should be understood as reported by Fasti from its cited authorities, rather than as independently verified here.

Alexander lost his established parish at the Revolution Settlement of 1689, when Presbyterian church government was restored and many Episcopal incumbents were displaced.

His clerical activity did not end there.

Evidence summarized in local ecclesiastical history identifies an Alexander Guthrie, formerly incumbent at Keir, serving an Episcopal congregation or meeting-house at Arbroath by about 1712. In 1715 he was reported for failing to pray for King George.

On 5 June 1717, the Presbytery of Arbroath formally deposed him for intrusion, accession to the recent rebellion, and contumacy.

This establishes that Alexander remained alive and ecclesiastically active at least until June 1717. His exact date and place of death remain unknown.

Contemporary and Archival Evidence

Several potentially relevant church records were identified during this investigation.

Terregles

A Scotland’s People Virtual Volumes place search currently shows no records linked directly with Terregles. This does not establish that no records survive; relevant material may instead be catalogued under presbytery, synod, or other archival series.

Keir Kirk Session

Scotland’s People identifies Keir Church of Scotland kirk session as lying within the Presbytery of Penpont and notes ministry there from the seventeenth century.

The only Virtual Volumes kirk-session material presently linked directly to Keir is:

• CH2/1206/1 — Minutes, 1834–1854

This is too late to assist with Alexander’s ministry.

Presbytery of Penpont

More promising records survive at presbytery level:

• CH2/298/1 — Penpont Presbytery Minutes, 1690–1706
• CH2/298/2 — Penpont Presbytery Minutes, 1714–1725

Both overlap periods relevant to Alexander’s post-Revolution career.

However, CH2/298/1 alone contains more than 300 manuscript images and is not readily searchable. A full page-by-page examination was considered disproportionate to the likely genealogical return and was therefore not undertaken.

These volumes remain potential future sources if a narrower event date or specific reference to Alexander can be identified.

The Guthrie of Guthrie Connection

The central genealogical question is Fasti’s statement that Alexander was:

“of the family of Guthrie of Guthrie.”

Nothing located during the present investigation contradicts that statement, but neither has an independent document been found that identifies Alexander’s father or places him within a specific generation of the Guthrie-of-Guthrie pedigree.

Comparison with the reconstructed main family does not reveal an obvious Alexander who can simply be equated with the minister.

That absence is significant but not disproof. The phrase “of the family of Guthrie of Guthrie” may indicate descent through:

• a younger son of the principal family;
• an established cadet branch;
• a collateral line no longer completely documented;
• or a family relationship known to Fasti’s compilers but not explicitly preserved in the surviving sources examined here.

It would therefore be misleading to attach Alexander to a particular laird or cadet branch solely on the strength of geographical proximity, chronology, or surname.

His eventual appearance at Arbroath in Angus is interesting because it returned him to the region most strongly associated with the Guthries of Guthrie and their cadet families. This may reflect family connections, but it might equally reflect opportunities within the Scottish Episcopal community. No documentary bridge has yet been found.

Same-Name Alexander Guthries

Particular care is required because several seventeenth-century men named Alexander Guthrie appear in Scottish records.

One potentially confusing individual was Mr Alexander Guthrie, minister at Stracathro.

A testament relating to:

Mr Alexander Guthrie, minister at Stracathro, and Magdalen Carnegy, his spouse

is dated 1663.

The combination of chronology and spouse makes this man unsuitable for identification with Alexander Guthrie of Terregles and Keir. The latter married Isobel Ross and remained active in the Episcopal ministry until at least 1717.

The Stracathro minister should therefore be treated as a separate Alexander Guthrie unless contrary primary evidence emerges.

No testament for an Alexander Guthrie obviously corresponding to the Terregles/Keir minister has been located. Following the 1663 Stracathro record, the next indexed Alexander Guthrie testament located in the search was not until 1755.

Research Analysis

Alexander Guthrie can be reconstructed with considerable confidence as a minister, but not yet as a member of a specific Guthrie pedigree.

His career is unusually well bounded:

The chronology also eliminates one important mistaken identity: the minister of Stracathro whose testament with Magdalen Carnegy belongs to 1663.

The family evidence is much weaker. Neither the OPR searches nor the testament indexes supplied Alexander’s parents. No record was located for his marriage to Isobel Ross or the baptism of their daughter Anne.

The St Andrews degree and Forfar Presbytery licence demonstrate that Alexander had connections with Angus before his move to southwest Scotland and long before his later appearance at Arbroath. That pattern is compatible with Fasti’sclaim of an Angus Guthrie-family origin, but it does not identify the precise branch.

Conclusions and Open Questions

Securely established

Alexander Guthrie:

• was educated at St Andrews;
• was licensed through the Presbytery of Forfar;
• ministered at Terregles and Keir;
• was removed from the established church in 1689;
• continued in Episcopal ministry;
• was active at Arbroath by the early eighteenth century;
• was deposed there in 1717;
• married Isobel Ross, widow of Walter Mair;
• had a known daughter Anne;
• and was described by Fasti as belonging to the family of Guthrie of Guthrie.

Probable / reconstructed

The marriage of Alexander Guthrie and Isobel Ross probably occurred after Walter Mair’s death and may plausibly fall between approximately 1679 and 1681.

Unresolved

• Who were Alexander Guthrie’s parents?
• What precise branch of the Guthrie-of-Guthrie family did he represent?
• When and where did he marry Isobel Ross?
• Were there children other than Anne Guthrie?
• When and where did Alexander die?
• What original evidence lay behind Fasti’s statement that he belonged to the family of Guthrie of Guthrie?

Until evidence answers the first two questions, Alexander should not be assigned to a specific generation or cadet branch of the landed Guthrie family.

Sources and Cross-References

• Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ — entries for Alexander Guthrie at Terregles/Keir and associated references.
• University of St Andrews — M.A. record, 25 July 1668, as cited by Fasti.
• Presbytery of Forfar — testimonial for licence, 7 April 1675, as cited by Fasti.
• Kirkden Session Register — cited by Fasti.
• Arbroath Presbytery Register — cited by Fasti.
• MS Account of Ministers, 1689 — cited by Fasti.
• Rule, Second Vindication — cited by Fasti.
• National Records of Scotland / Scotland’s People, Walter Mair, late minister at Kirkmahoe, Testament Dative and Inventory, 8 April 1679, Dumfries Commissary Court, CC5/6/5.
• National Records of Scotland / Scotland’s People Virtual Volumes, Penpont Presbytery, CH2/298/1, Minutes 1690–1706.
• National Records of Scotland / Scotland’s People Virtual Volumes, Penpont Presbytery, CH2/298/2, Minutes 1714–1725.
• Guthrie Genealogy — Guthries of Guthrie / Guthrie of That Ilk Research Sketch and family research pages.

David Guthrie of Kair and Castletown
and Rev. Gideon Guthrie
^{_{Family Cluster Research Sketch
Halkerton, Castletown, Kair, Glenmuick & Fetteresso
17th–18th centuries}}

Identity and Overview

Brothers David Guthrie of Kair and Castletown and Rev. Gideon Guthrie belonged to the later Halkerton branch of the Guthrie family. They were sons of Henry “Harie” Guthrie of Halkerton/Castletown and Margaret Sibbald, daughter of David Sibbald of Kair.

Their generation marks an important transition in the family. The older territorial identity centered upon Halkerton, but financial pressures and property transfers in the preceding generation weakened the family’s hold upon that estate. Harie appears increasingly under the designation of Castletown, while his son David acquired the designation of Kair through the maternal Sibbald connection.

Both David and Gideon entered the ministry. David became minister of Glenmuick and died in 1697. Gideon later appeared at Glenmuick, served at Fetteresso, and remained active within the Episcopal church after the Revolution Settlement.

Gideon is especially important genealogically because he composed a family Monograph between 1712 and 1730, preserving near-contemporary information about his parents, grandparents, brother David, and the earlier Halkerton family.

Fasti Evidence

David Guthrie

• Born 1658.
• Son of Henry “Harie” Guthrie of Halkerton and Margaret Sibbald.
• Educated at Edinburgh; M.A. recorded by Fasti.
• Passed trials before the Presbytery of St Andrews and received a testimonial for licence on 19 April 1676.
• Admitted minister of Glenmuick on 11 December 1687.
• Active during the unsettled political conditions of 1688–89.
• Preached to the garrison at Abergeldie Castle on 3 November 1689.
• Died 15 November 1697.

Gideon Guthrie

• Born at Castletown of Fordoun, 24 May 1663.
• Brother of David Guthrie.
• Licensed by the Presbytery of the Mearns in 1688.
• Appeared at Glenmuick after David’s death and was described by Fasti as intruding there about May 1698.
• Later associated with Fetteresso and with continued Episcopal ministry.
• Died in 1732.

Immediate Family and Halkerton Background

The brothers were children of:

Henry “Harie” Guthrie of Halkerton / Castletown
b. 6 Jul 1637 – d. 11 Feb 1723
m. Margaret Sibbald, daughter of David Sibbald of Kair

Their known children included:

• David Guthrie, later of Kair and Castletown
• Gideon Guthrie, minister and family memorialist
• Margaret Guthrie
• Isobel Guthrie, died unmarried

Gideon’s own Monograph identifies his mother Margaret Sibbald as a daughter of Mr David Sibbald of Kair and Jean Auchmouty, daughter of Sir David Auchmouty of that Ilk. He identifies his father Harie as son of Gideon Guthrie of Halkerton and Kynneries and Agnes Junkin.

Because Gideon was writing about his own parents and grandparents, this portion of the pedigree carries substantially greater weight than a remote traditional genealogy.

Traditional Halkerton Pedigree

The traditional descent preserved for this branch runs:

Alexander Guthrie, 1st of Kincaldrum
m. Marjory Guthrie
↓
James Guthrie, 1st of Halkerton
↓
Patrick Guthrie of Halkerton
m. Janet Guthrie
↓
Alexander Guthrie of Halkerton
↓
Alexander Guthrie of Halkerton
m. Agnes Lindsay
↓
William Guthrie of Halkerton
m. Christian Moncour
↓
Alexander Guthrie of Halkerton
m. Isobel Guthrie
↓
Henry “Harie” Guthrie of Halkerton
m. Margaret Ogilvie
↓
Gideon Guthrie of Halkerton and Kynneries
m. Agnes Junkin
↓
Henry “Harie” Guthrie of Halkerton/Castletown
m. Margaret Sibbald
↓
David Guthrie of Kair and Castletown
and
Rev. Gideon Guthrie

The earlier generations should be regarded as a traditional and partially reconstructed pedigree unless individually supported by charters, retours, sasines, or other contemporary records.

The later line from Gideon of Halkerton/Kynneries through Harie and his sons is much better supported by near-contemporary family testimony and seventeenth-century legal evidence.

The Loss of Halkerton

Gideon’s Monograph provides an important explanation for the family’s changing territorial identity.

He described his grandfather, Gideon Guthrie of Halkerton and Kynneries, as a man whose ambitions exceeded his financial means. Gideon had served as a captain in the King’s forces and became deeply involved in public affairs. His debts eventually placed heavy pressure upon the family estate.

According to the Monograph, Harie joined his father in disposing of Halkerton, together with other interests including Tullows, Minnores, and Craichie Mill, in order to relieve those debts.

Independent property evidence supports this general account. By 1671, Harie appears as Henry Guthrie of Castletown, eldest lawful son of Gideon Guthrie, during transactions involving Halkerton.

The appearance of the Castletown designation therefore reflects a genuine shift in the family’s landed position rather than a simple alternative spelling of Halkerton.

The Sibbald Inheritance and Kair

The estate of Kair came into this Guthrie branch through the maternal line.

Margaret Sibbald, mother of David and Gideon, was a daughter of David Sibbald of Kair. Later sources describe her as daughter and heiress of that family.

David Guthrie subsequently appears as of Kair and Castletown.

A later family tradition explains that David succeeded to Kair following the death of his cousin Alexander Sibbald. Although the precise legal mechanism of succession has not been independently reconstructed here, the maternal Sibbald relationship is firmly established.

The chain of inheritance appears broadly to have been:

Sibbald of Kair
↓
Margaret Sibbald
m. Henry “Harie” Guthrie
↓
David Guthrie of Kair and Castletown
↓
later Guthrie heirs, including daughter Margaret

This maternal inheritance explains why a descendant of the Halkerton Guthries came to be identified territorially with Kair.

David Guthrie of Kair and Castletown

David Guthrie was born in 1658.

On 19 July 1683, the Arbuthnott parish register recorded his marriage to Margaret Arbuthnot, lawful daughter of Alexander Arbuthnot of Pitcarles.

The record styles him:

“Mr David Guthrie the younger, laird of Kair.”

This is particularly valuable because it demonstrates that David was already using the Kair designation in 1683.

The wording also suggests that he was regarded as the younger representative or heir of the Kair interest before full succession.

David later became minister of Glenmuick, where he served from 1687 until his death on 15 November 1697.

His ministry fell during a period of intense political and ecclesiastical instability. In 1689 he preached to the garrison at Abergeldie Castle, placing him directly within the local disturbances accompanying the Revolution period.

David Guthrie and Margaret Arbuthnot — Children

The surviving family and clerical sources identify a substantial family.

Children attributed to David and Margaret include:

• Henry Guthrie, served heir 30 June 1698
• Alexander Guthrie, born 1685, died young
• Harry Guthrie, said to have died aged fourteen
• Margaret Guthrie
• Anne Guthrie
• Jean Guthrie
• Isobel Guthrie

The printed Fasti list distinguishes Henry, who was served heir shortly after David’s death, from Harry, who died young.

This distinction should be retained provisionally, although the underlying retour and family sources should be consulted before treating the two as unquestionably separate sons.

No identifiable OPR baptismal entries were located for the known children of David Guthrie and Margaret Arbuthnot.

That absence should not be interpreted as evidence against the family reconstruction. The children are documented through other sources, including Fasti, family material, heirship evidence, and later marriages.

Margaret Guthrie and the Later Kair Succession

David’s daughter Margaret Guthrie is described in later family sources as an heiress of Kair.

She married William Stuart of Inchbreck.

Her position is important because it shows the Kair property or claim passing through a female Guthrie heir and then into the Stuart family.

This continued the pattern by which Kair itself had earlier entered the Guthrie family through Margaret Sibbald.

Rev. Gideon Guthrie

Gideon Guthrie was born at Castletown of Fordoun on 24 May 1663.

He received a university education and was licensed by the Presbytery of the Mearns in 1688.

Following David’s death, Gideon appeared at Glenmuick, where Fasti describes him as having intruded about May 1698.

His career thereafter reflects the unstable position of Episcopal clergy following the Revolution Settlement.

In 1700, Gideon entered the household of the Dowager Lady Marischal at Fetteresso Castle, serving as chaplain and tutor.

After her death he remained connected with the Marischal household and later accompanied a pupil connected with the Mackenzie family to Oxford.

In 1703, the Earl Marischal presented Gideon to Fetteresso, where he entered the charge in December of that year.

His later Episcopal activity ultimately brought him into conflict with Presbyterian church courts, and he was deposed in the early eighteenth century.

Gideon Guthrie and Anne Melville

Gideon married Anne Melville, daughter of Andrew Melville, minister of Morham.

Known children include:

• William Guthrie, born 7 Jan 1708
• Harry Guthrie, born 5 Jan 1709
• Margaret Guthrie, born 13 Sep 1711, died 7 Aug 1715
• Isobel Guthrie, born 3 May 1713, died 14 Sep 1714

Anne died 7 February 1727.

Gideon died 14 December 1732 and was buried in the Canongate churchyard.

His two surviving sons became notable in their own right.

William Guthrie (1708–1770) became a historian and geographical writer.

Harry Guthrie (1709–1794) became an Edinburgh lawyer and writer and was associated with Jacobite sympathies.

Harry’s death in 1794 marked the extinction of this particular male line.

Gideon Guthrie’s Monograph

Between 1712 and 1730, Gideon composed a family Monograph preserving recollections of his ancestry and family history.

For genealogical purposes, this source should be divided into two evidentiary levels.

Statements concerning:

• his parents;
• grandparents;
• brother David;
• the Sibbald family;
• the loss of Halkerton;
• his own career and immediate family

have considerable value because Gideon wrote as a member of the family and within living memory of the events.

Statements concerning much earlier generations should still be tested independently against charters, retours, sasines, and other contemporary records.

The Monograph is therefore neither simply “tradition” nor automatically definitive. It is best treated as near-contemporary family testimony, especially strong for Gideon’s immediate ancestry.

Property and Legal Evidence

The broader Guthrie Genealogy Special Collections provide independent support for portions of the Halkerton pedigree.

A service of heir dated 8 November 1606 records Henry Guthrie of Halkerton as heir to Alexander Guthrie of Halkerton, his father, in fractional lands of Hiltoun of Guthrie within the barony of Guthrie.

This provides direct father-son property evidence for an earlier generation of the branch.

Later retour material also records Halkerton succession in the seventeenth century and confirms that the estate history was more complicated than a simple uninterrupted father-to-son descent.

These records support the need to distinguish the documented later family from the more traditional reconstruction of the earlier generations.

Testament Searches

Targeted Scotland’s People searches were carried out for the principal territorial designations associated with the family.

A search for Halkerton/Halkertoun located only:

• Alexander Guthrie of Halkertoun, testament testamentar and inventory, 18 Feb 1578, Edinburgh Commissary Court, CC8/8/6
• William Guthrie of Halkertoun in Angus, testament dative and inventory, 6 Jun 1583, Edinburgh Commissary Court, CC8/8/12

No later Halkerton-associated testament was identified for Harie, David, or Gideon.

Additional searches found:

• no Guthrie testament associated with Castletown
• no Guthrie testament associated with Kair
• no Guthrie testament associated with Glenmuick
• no relevant early Guthrie testament associated with Fetteresso

The only Fetteresso result located was an unrelated nineteenth-century testament for Isabella Guthrie in 1895.

The absence of probate records in these searches should be treated as negative evidence only.

OPR Evidence

The strongest parish-register record found for this family is the marriage of:

David Guthrie and Margaret Arbuthnot — 19 July 1683, Arbuthnott

The original entry identifies David as the younger laird of Kair and Margaret as lawful daughter of Alexander Arbuthnot of Pitcarles.

No identifiable baptismal entries were located for their known children.

This uneven survival or recording of clerical families in parish registers is not unusual, but no specific reason for the absence of the Guthrie children’s entries has been established.

Chronology

Research Analysis

This cluster demonstrates how easily territorial surnames can obscure the actual mechanism of inheritance.

David Guthrie was not “of Kair” because Kair belonged anciently to the Halkerton Guthries. The estate entered his immediate family through his mother Margaret Sibbald.

Likewise, the family’s movement away from the designation of Halkerton was not simply stylistic. Gideon’s own account connects it with the financial difficulties of his grandfather and the sale of the old family properties.

The later designations Castletown and Kair therefore document a real generational transition.

The evidence also illustrates the value of combining source types:

• Fasti preserves ministerial careers and family relationships.
• The Arbuthnott OPR establishes David’s marriage and territorial designation.
• Retours document inheritance.
• Property material clarifies the loss of Halkerton.
• Gideon’s Monograph supplies first-hand family testimony.
• Negative testament and OPR searches define the limits of surviving indexed evidence.

The traditional Halkerton pedigree remains useful, but it should not be presented as equally proven at every generation.

Conclusions and Open Questions

Securely established

• David and Gideon were brothers.
• Their parents were Henry “Harie” Guthrie and Margaret Sibbald.
• Margaret Sibbald belonged to the family of Kair.
• David used the designation of Kair by 1683.
• David married Margaret Arbuthnot on 19 July 1683.
• David ministered at Glenmuick and died 15 November 1697.
• Gideon followed a clerical career in the Episcopal tradition.
• Gideon later served at Fetteresso.
• Gideon wrote a family Monograph between 1712 and 1730.
• The family’s later territorial identity shifted away from Halkerton toward Castletown and Kair.

Probable / well-supported reconstruction

• David’s Kair designation resulted from maternal Sibbald inheritance.
• The sale of Halkerton reflected genuine financial pressure in Gideon of Halkerton/Kynneries’ generation.
• Margaret Guthrie, daughter of David, carried the Kair inheritance into her marriage with William Stuart of Inchbreck.

Unresolved

• The exact legal sequence by which David succeeded to Kair.
• Whether Fasti’s Henry and Harry, sons of David, were definitely two separate children.
• The exact birth or baptismal dates of several of David’s children.
• The complete documentary proof for every generation of the traditional Halkerton pedigree.

Sources and Cross-References

• Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ — David Guthrie and Gideon Guthrie entries.
• Gideon Guthrie, A Monograph Written 1712 to 1730.
• Guthrie Genealogy — Guthrie of Halkerton.
• Guthrie Genealogy — Retours / Services of Heirs.
• Scotland’s People, OPR Marriage, David Guthrie and Margaret Arbuthnot, 19 July 1683, Arbuthnott, reference 250/10/184.
• Scotland’s People, testament searches for Halkerton/Halkertoun, Castletown, Kair, Glenmuick, and Fetteresso.
• Edinburgh Commissary Court, Alexander Guthrie of Halkertoun, CC8/8/6.
• Edinburgh Commissary Court, William Guthrie of Halkertoun in Angus, CC8/8/12.
• Guthrie Research Tree and associated family reconstruction.

Patrick Guthrie, 9th of Guthrie
Minister and Subprincipal of King’s College
^{_{Individual Research Sketch
King’s College, Aberdeen
Kinbattock; Logie-Buchan; Guthrie, Angus
fl. 1602–1633/35}}

Identity and Overview

Patrick Guthrie, 9th of Guthrie, combined an unusually substantial academic and clerical career with eventual possession of the ancestral Barony of Guthrie.

He was a younger son of Alexander Guthrie of Kincaldrum and Alice Douglas of Glenbervie, and a brother of David Guthrie, through whom the main Guthrie succession had descended.

Patrick did not begin life as heir to the Guthrie estate. Instead, he spent approximately seventeen years as a Regent and later Subprincipal of King’s College, Aberdeen, before entering the ministry. He became minister of Kinbattock in 1619 and of Logie-Buchan in 1626.

Beginning in 1624, his elder brother David Guthrie and David’s eldest son Alexander began transferring interests in the Barony of Guthrie to Patrick. The process culminated in an absolute disposition of the barony in December 1633.

Patrick therefore became 9th of Guthrie, despite the continued existence of the senior Kincaldrum line from his elder brother.

He remained identified as minister of Logie-Buchan while acquiring the estate and appears to have continued in active ministry until near his death.

His wife appears in contemporary records as Jean Blak, while a highly plausible Aberdeen marriage record names Jeane Blakburne. The frequently repeated surname Blackwood has not been independently verified.

Their securely identified son was Peter Guthrie, who succeeded as 10th of Guthrie.

Fasti Evidence

Career Data

Patrick Guthrie appears in Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ as:

• associated with King’s College, Aberdeen;
• minister of Kinbattock/Towie from 1619;
• translated to Logie-Buchan in 1626.

At Towie/Kinbattock he is described as Patrick Guthrie of that ilk, providing an important link between the minister and the landed Guthrie family.

His clerical career continued alongside his later acquisition of the Barony of Guthrie.

Academic Career at King’s College

Patrick’s university career is documented in Peter John Anderson’s Officers and Graduates of University & King’s College, Aberdeen.

He first appears among the Regents as:

Mr Patrick Guthrie — subscribed 19 May 1602.

His subsequent academic record was substantial.

As Senior Regent, Patrick was responsible for graduating classes in:

• 1602–03
• 1606–07
• 1610–11
• 1614–15
• 1618–19

By the Visitation of 1619, he was serving as Subprincipal.

That same year he left the university for the ministry of Kinbattock, while Mr William Forbes appears to have taken the next entering class.

Patrick’s academic chronology can therefore be reconstructed as:

His documented King’s College career lasted approximately seventeen years.

Ministry at Kinbattock and Logie-Buchan

Patrick was promoted from King’s College to the ministry of Kinbattock, also called Towie, in 1619.

He remained there until 1626, when he was translated to Logie-Buchan.

The New Statistical Account of Scotland for Logie-Buchan, published in 1845 by Rev. George Cruden, states that its list of ministers was compiled chiefly from the surviving Presbytery of Ellon registers.

It records:

• Mr Patrick Guthrie — 1626
• Mr William Seton — 1635

The same account specifically notes that Patrick had also been Subprincipal of King’s College, further confirming the identity of the university academic with the Logie-Buchan minister.

Contemporary property records continue to style Patrick minister of Logie-Buchan as late as 12 December 1633.

There is therefore no evidence that he resigned the ministry when he became laird of Guthrie.

His ministerial career appears to have lasted from 1619 until his death or shortly before it, with William Seton succeeding him by 1635.

Marriage: Jean Blak or Jeane Blakburne

Patrick’s wife requires some care because her surname appears differently in later and contemporary sources.

A National Records of Scotland catalogue entry dated 14 January 1628, reference GD137/1842, concerns a 4,000-merk bond owed by the Earl of Moray to:

Mr Patrick Guthrie, minister at Kimbethok, and Jean Blak his spouse.

This is direct contemporary evidence naming Patrick’s wife as Jean Blak.

A highly plausible earlier marriage record occurs in the Aberdeen OPR:

14 June 1613 — Patrik Guthrie and Jeane Blakburne

The identification is compelling because Patrick was continuously associated with King’s College in Aberdeen at this date.

The later 1628 record gives the same husband’s forename, the same wife’s forename, and the surname form Blak, which may represent an abbreviated or shortened form of Blakburne/Blackburne.

The 1613 marriage is therefore a strong candidate for Patrick’s own marriage, although the two surname forms have not yet been conclusively demonstrated to represent the same woman.

Later genealogical sources frequently call Patrick’s wife Jean Blackwood, but no contemporary record located during this investigation uses that form.

For this Research Sketch she is therefore best recorded as:

Jean Blak, probably Jeane Blakburne

with Blackwood noted only as a later genealogical form.

A Possible Blackburn Family Connection

The surname Blakburne is potentially interesting because Peter Blackburn was a prominent ecclesiastical figure in the Aberdeen environment during Patrick’s academic career.

Patrick’s only securely identified son was named Peter Guthrie.

This raises the possibility that the name Peter reflected a connection with the Blackburn family.

However, naming patterns alone cannot establish parentage, and no record has been found proving that Jeane Blakburne was a daughter or other relative of Peter Blackburn.

The possibility should therefore remain a research hypothesis only.

Acquisition of the Barony of Guthrie

Patrick did not inherit the Barony of Guthrie through the ordinary senior male succession.

The estate had descended through his elder brother David Guthrie and David’s son Alexander Guthrie.

Beginning in 1624, David and Alexander transferred interests in the estate to Patrick.

The sequence recorded in the surviving family and property material is:

1624
David Guthrie, with consent of his eldest son Alexander, wadset portions of the Barony of Guthrie to his brother Mr Patrick Guthrie, minister of Kembothock, initially in connection with substantial sums of money.

22 May 1629
David and Alexander wadset the whole Barony of Guthrie, including the patronage of the kirk, to Patrick, now styled minister of Logie-Buchan. The arrangement remained redeemable.

12 December 1633
David and Alexander made the disposition absolute and irredeemable, transferring the barony outright to Patrick.

Patrick consequently became 9th of Guthrie.

The transaction is genealogically valuable because the records themselves identify Patrick as:

• brother of David Guthrie;
• minister first at Kinbattock and later Logie-Buchan;
• and recipient of the Barony of Guthrie.

They therefore provide a documentary bridge between Patrick’s academic, clerical, and landed identities.

An Unusual Succession

Patrick’s acquisition of Guthrie is noteworthy because his elder brother David Guthrie and David’s son Alexander were still living.

Patrick did not succeed because the senior branch became extinct.

Instead, the barony passed to him through a series of financial/property transactions culminating in the 1633 absolute disposition.

This distinction matters when reconstructing the numbering of the Guthrie lairds.

Patrick became 9th of Guthrie through acquisition from the senior branch, not because he was the genealogical heir male of his brother.

Peter Guthrie, 10th of Guthrie

Patrick’s securely documented son was Peter Guthrie.

A service of heir dated 24 May 1636 records Peter as heir to:

Mr Patrick Guthrie, minister of the Word of God at the church of Logie-Buchan, his father

in the lands formerly constituting the Barony of Guthrie.

This is direct evidence establishing:

Patrick Guthrie → Peter Guthrie

and linking Patrick once again to both Logie-Buchan and the landed estate.

Peter therefore became 10th of Guthrie.

No wife or children have yet been securely identified for Peter.

He later transferred the Barony of Guthrie to Bishop John Guthrie, who became the 11th of Guthrie.

Chronology

Patrick’s death therefore occurred after 12 December 1633 and before 24 May 1636, probably close to the end of his Logie-Buchan ministry.

Mistaken Identity: Patrick Guthrie of Pitmoweis

Patrick, 9th of Guthrie, has sometimes been conflated with Patrick Guthrie of Pitmoweis/Pitmuies.

The surviving records demonstrate that they were different men.

Patrick Guthrie of Pitmoweis belonged to an established Pitmoweis family and was already active as a landed man during the later sixteenth century.

His testament testamentar and inventory was recorded in the St Andrews Commissary Court on 24 January 1618, reference CC20/4/6.

The Pitmoweis testament and associated research identify children including:

• Thomas Guthrie, eldest son
• James Guthrie, second son
• Elspeth Guthrie
• Nicholas Guthrie

Patrick of Pitmoweis was therefore dead by January 1618.

At that very period, the future Patrick, 9th of Guthrie, was still an active Regent at King’s College and would not leave the university for Kinbattock until 1619.

The two men cannot be identical.

This distinction also removes Nicholas Guthrie, later associated with David Ogilvy and Pitmuies, from the family of Patrick, 9th of Guthrie.

Mistaken Identity: Patrick Guthrie, Goldsmith of St Andrews

A second and even more persistent genealogical error concerns Patrick Guthrie, goldsmith of St Andrews.

The goldsmith was the father of John Guthrie, later Bishop of Moray.

Numerous derivative family trees incorrectly label Bishop John’s father as:

Patrick Guthrie, 10th of Guthrie

He was not.

The actual succession was:

Patrick Guthrie, 9th of Guthrie
↓
Peter Guthrie, 10th of Guthrie
↓
barony sold/transferred to
John Guthrie, Bishop of Moray, 11th of Guthrie

Bishop John’s father, the St Andrews goldsmith, never held the Barony of Guthrie.

The shared name Patrick Guthrie and Bishop John’s later acquisition of the estate appear to have encouraged the erroneous merger of these separate men.

Three Contemporary Patrick Guthries to Keep Separate

These identities should not be merged.

Kirk-Session and Presbytery Records

The surviving Logie-Buchan kirk-session material currently available through Scotland’s People Virtual Volumes begins too late for Patrick’s ministry.

The earliest listed volume is:

• CH2/945/1 — Minutes, 1686–1688

followed by later seventeenth- and eighteenth-century volumes.

These records therefore cannot directly illuminate Patrick’s tenure.

The nineteenth-century New Statistical Account, however, states that its ministerial list was compiled chiefly from the older Presbytery of Ellon registers, providing useful indirect evidence for Patrick’s 1626 placement at Logie-Buchan and William Seton’s succession in 1635.

Research Analysis

Patrick Guthrie is an unusually well-documented example of a younger son whose career moved through three distinct spheres:

university → ministry → landed succession

His academic identity is securely established through the King’s College records.

His ministerial identity is securely connected to Kinbattock and Logie-Buchan.

The property records then explicitly identify that same minister as the brother of David Guthrie and recipient of the Barony of Guthrie.

There is therefore no need to infer that the academic, minister, and 9th laird were the same man: the surviving records themselves connect those identities.

The principal unresolved genealogical issue concerns his wife.

The traditional Jean Blackwood designation is weaker than the contemporary evidence.

The most defensible reconstruction is currently:

Patrick Guthrie
m. probably 14 Jun 1613, Aberdeen
Jeane Blakburne, apparently the Jean Blak documented as his spouse in 1628
│
└── Peter Guthrie, 10th of Guthrie

Further evidence would be required to identify Jean’s parents or demonstrate a relationship to Peter Blackburn.

Conclusions and Open Questions

Securely established

• Patrick Guthrie was a Regent and later Subprincipal of King’s College.
• His documented university career began by 1602.
• He became minister of Kinbattock in 1619.
• He became minister of Logie-Buchan in 1626.
• He remained styled minister there through December 1633.
• He was the brother of David Guthrie of the senior Kincaldrum/Guthrie line.
• David and David’s son Alexander transferred the Barony of Guthrie to Patrick through transactions beginning in 1624.
• The transfer became absolute in December 1633.
• Patrick became 9th of Guthrie.
• His son Peter Guthrie succeeded as 10th of Guthrie.
• Patrick of Pitmoweis was a different man.
• Patrick the St Andrews goldsmith was another different man and was never laird of Guthrie.

Strongly probable

• The Aberdeen marriage of Patrik Guthrie and Jeane Blakburne on 14 June 1613 belongs to this Patrick.
• The Jeane Blakburne of 1613 and Jean Blak, Patrick’s documented wife in 1628, were the same woman.

Unresolved

• Jean Blak/Blakburne’s parentage.
• Whether she had any connection to Peter Blackburn or his family.
• Whether Patrick and Jean had children other than Peter.
• Patrick’s exact date of death between December 1633 and May 1636.

Sources and Cross-References

• Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ — Patrick Guthrie entries for Kinbattock/Towie and Logie-Buchan.
• Peter John Anderson, Officers and Graduates of University & King’s College, Aberdeen, MVD–MDCCCLX.
• The New Statistical Account of Scotland, 1845, Vol. XII, Aberdeen — Parish of Logie-Buchan.
• National Records of Scotland, GD137/1842, 14 Jan 1628 — Mr Patrick Guthrie, minister at Kimbethok, and Jean Blak his spouse.
• Scotland’s People OPR Marriages, Aberdeen, Patrik Guthrie and Jeane Blakburne, 14 Jun 1613, parish 168/A, page 298.
• Guthrie Genealogy — Guthries of Guthrie.
• Guthrie Genealogy — Guthrie of Kincaldrum.
• Guthrie Genealogy — Retours / Services of Heirs.
• National Records of Scotland / Scotland’s People, Patrick Guthrie of Pitmoweis, Testament Testamentar and Inventory, 24 Jan 1618, CC20/4/6.
• Scotland’s People Virtual Volumes — Logie-Buchan kirk-session series, CH2/945.

Identity and Overview

Anna Guthrie, daughter of John Guthrie of Kinedward, enters the Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ evidence through her marriage to William Hunter. She was already the widow of Patrick Grant of Dunlugas when a marriage contract was made between Anna and Hunter on 27 December 1699.

The territorial designation attached to Anna’s father creates an obvious identification problem. During the same general period, a prominent Guthrie of King-Edward family was established in Aberdeenshire. That later family descended from the Guthries of Colliston, beginning with Sir Henry Guthrie, Knight Baronet, who acquired King-Edward interests in the seventeenth century.

The similarity between Kinedward and King-Edward makes it tempting to place Anna automatically within that baronet family. The combined chronological, testamentary, parish-register, property, and family evidence does not justify doing so.

The investigation instead establishes two distinct family groups:

1. John Guthrie of Kinedward and his daughter Anna, whose ancestry remains unresolved; and
2. the documented Colliston → King-Edward baronet family of Sir Henry, Sir John, and Sir Alexander Guthrie.

Anna’s chronology strongly suggests that she belonged to an earlier generation or collateral family relative to the children of the later Sir John Guthrie of King-Edward.

Fasti Evidence

Family Connections

• Anna Guthrie was identified as a daughter of John Guthrie of Kinedward.
• Anna was the widow of Patrick Grant of Dunlugas.
• She subsequently married William Hunter.
• William Hunter and Anna had sons including Alexander Hunter and John Hunter.

Marriage Data

• The marriage contract between William Hunter and Anna Guthrie was dated 27 December 1699.
• Because Anna was already Patrick Grant’s widow, her marriage to Grant necessarily occurred earlier.

Identity Significance

The 1699 date is important evidence in determining Anna’s generation. She had already completed one marriage before marrying William Hunter and therefore should not be casually equated with younger women of the later King-Edward baronet family.

John Guthrie of Kinedward

At present, John is securely known in this investigation principally through the identification of Anna as his daughter.

No evidence located in the completed Guthrie Genealogy mining pass or subsequent investigation securely identifies him as:

• Sir Henry Guthrie of King-Edward;
• Sir John Guthrie of King-Edward, who died in 1722;
• a son of either man;
• or another specifically documented member of the Colliston pedigree.

His designation should therefore be preserved as it appears in the source:

John Guthrie of Kinedward

It should not be silently expanded to “Sir John,” “Baronet,” or assigned a place within the later King-Edward succession.

Anna Guthrie

Anna’s known family history is:

John Guthrie of Kinedward
│
└── Anna Guthrie
    ├── m. (1) Patrick Grant of Dunlugas
    └── m. (2) William Hunter — marriage contract 27 Dec 1699

No identifiable OPR marriage entry was found for Anna Guthrie and Patrick Grant, nor were identifiable OPR birth/baptism records located for children of that couple in the searches performed.

This negative search does not demonstrate that no marriage or children existed. It establishes only that no identifiable OPR records were located during the present investigation.

Anna’s status as Patrick Grant’s widow by December 1699 nevertheless provides important chronological evidence. Even without a known birth date, she must have reached marriageable age sufficiently early to marry Grant, lose him, and enter a second marriage by the end of 1699.

She therefore belongs chronologically well before the younger generation of the later King-Edward baronets.

The Colliston Family Acquires King-Edward

The later Guthrie family securely associated with King-Edward descended from the Guthries of Colliston.

Henry “Harie” Guthrie of Colliston and Jean Lindsay were parents of Sir Henry Guthrie, who was initially associated with Colliston.

Property evidence documents the family’s transition toward King-Edward.

A royal grant dated 27 January 1672 conveyed to:

Sir Henry Guthrie, Knight Baronet, and Barbara Urquhart, his spouse

the lands of Fisherie, the mill of King-Edward, and half the lands of Dunlugas, property previously associated with the Urquhart family.

A surviving contemporary heraldic record from 1672 styles him:

Sir Henrie Guthrie of King Edward, Knight & Baronet.

This is direct contemporary evidence that Sir Henry had adopted the territorial designation of King Edward by 1672.

Henderson’s Aberdeenshire Epitaphs and Inscriptions likewise describes the 1672 grant and traces the subsequent King-Edward baronet family. (Internet Archive)

Sir Henry was later served heir in the older Colliston property, demonstrating that Colliston and King-Edward were successive territorial associations of the same man, rather than evidence of two unrelated Sir Henry Guthries.

The Dunlugas Connection

The 1672 grant is particularly interesting because it included half of Dunlugas.

That creates a noteworthy geographical and property overlap:

Sir Henry Guthrie + Barbara Urquhart
→ Fisherie / King-Edward / part of Dunlugas

while:

John Guthrie of Kinedward
→ daughter Anna Guthrie
→ married Patrick Grant of Dunlugas

The recurrence of Dunlugas makes a relationship between these networks possible and justified further investigation.

It does not, however, prove a blood relationship between Anna and the later baronets.

The 1672 Guthrie acquisition derived in substantial part through the Urquhart property interest, whereas Anna’s connection to Dunlugas came through her marriage to Patrick Grant. The surviving evidence does not establish that Anna’s father John obtained the designation “of Kinedward” through the same succession.

The Dunlugas overlap should therefore be retained as context and a possible clue, not converted into evidence of descent.

Sir Henry Guthrie of King-Edward

The later family can be reconstructed separately.

Sir Henry Guthrie, Knight Baronet of King-Edward
son of Henry “Harie” Guthrie of Colliston and Jean Lindsay

m. (1) Barbara Urquhart
m. (2) Jonet/Janet Wallace, 27 January 1687

The evidence investigated during this sketch shows that Sir Henry was already “of King Edward” in 1672 and that the acquisition was associated with his first wife, Barbara Urquhart.

Henderson reports that Sir Henry died between 1692 and 1694, survived by his second wife Janet Wallace. His son Johnsucceeded to the baronetcy. (Internet Archive)

This also corrects an important potential reconstruction error: Sir John should not be assumed to have been a son of Jonet Wallace merely because she was Sir Henry’s later wife.

Sir John Guthrie of King-Edward

Sir Henry was succeeded by Sir John Guthrie of King-Edward.

The surviving Aberdeen Commissary Court material provides unusually strong family evidence.

NRS: Aberdeen Commissary Court, CC1/6/3

Sir John’s testament was made on 3 August 1722.

The associated inventory states that he died during August 1722. The Scotland’s People index date should therefore not be interpreted as his actual date of death.

The testament names:

• Mrs Anne Guthrie, his “eldest daughter of my first marriage”;
• Anne’s husband, William Burnet of Campfield;
• Mrs Mary Forbes, Sir John’s present spouse;
• and younger children including Catherine, Jean, Christian, Mary, and Alexander Guthrie.

The record also contains extensive evidence concerning Ludquharn, which had become an important center of Sir John’s property and household.

Henderson independently identifies Sir John’s first wife as Agnes Robertson, reports a son Charles and several daughters by that marriage, and identifies Mary Forbes as his second wife. Henderson assigns Alexander, Catherine, Jean, Christian, and Mary to the second marriage. (Internet Archive)

The 1725 Testament Dative

NRS: Aberdeen Commissary Court, CC1/6/6

A second probate proceeding was necessary because debts belonging to Sir John had been omitted from the original testament.

The record identifies:

Dame Mary Forbes
as the relict of Sir John Guthrie

and as tutrix dative to:

Sir Alexander Guthrie, now of Kingedward

whom the document explicitly identifies as the son of the deceased Sir John Guthrie.

This establishes at primary-record level:

• Mary Forbes survived Sir John;
• Alexander Guthrie was Sir John’s son;
• Alexander had succeeded to the King-Edward designation by 1725;
• Alexander was still under legal guardianship.

The original testament had been confirmed through Thomas Forbes of Gavel, executor testamentar.

The 1737 Eik

NRS: Aberdeen Commissary Court, CC1/6/18

The eik of 14 July 1737 again identifies:

Sir Alexander Guthrie of Kingedward

as executor dative to:

Sir John Guthrie of Kingedward, his father.

The father-son relationship and succession are therefore independently repeated years after the original probate proceedings.

Guthrie Genealogy’s Retours / Services of Heirs material also records the later family’s inheritance relationships involving Kingedward and Colliston. (Guthrie Genealogy)

Anne Guthrie, Daughter of Sir John

Sir John’s daughter Anne Guthrie is especially important because she might otherwise be confused with the earlier Anna Guthrie.

Sir John’s own testament calls her:

“my eldest daughter of my first marriage.”

A surviving Kincardine O’Neil OPR marriage entry provides direct confirmation of her identity.

On 23 October 1711, at King Edward:

William Burnet, younger of Campfield, married
Mrs Ann Guthrie, daughter to Sir John Guthrie of Kingedward.

Their family is then visible in the OPR birth/baptism records at Kincardine O’Neil:

• Mary Burnet — recorded 22 July 1712
• Margaret Burnet — recorded 4 September 1713
• Anne Burnet — recorded 11 October 1714
• John Burnet — recorded 5 April 1716
• Elisabeth Burnet — recorded 31 May 1723

The individual OPR entries should be checked before treating these dates specifically as birth rather than baptism dates.

Two Different Women: Anna Guthrie and Anne Guthrie

The investigation provides strong evidence that the two women should never be merged.

Anna Guthrie

• daughter of John Guthrie of Kinedward
• married first Patrick Grant of Dunlugas
• was already Patrick’s widow
• marriage contract with William Hunter dated 27 December 1699

Anne Guthrie

• daughter of Sir John Guthrie of Kingedward
• explicitly his eldest daughter of his first marriage
• married William Burnet, younger of Campfield
• marriage recorded 23 October 1711
• children documented beginning in 1712

Anna Guthrie was therefore entering her second marriage twelve years before Anne Guthrie married William Burnet.

Their husbands, marital histories, and chronologies are completely different.

Anna Guthrie Grant Hunter ≠ Anne Guthrie Burnet.

Chronology

The first three events are placed first deliberately because they concern the unresolved Anna/John family and demonstrate why chronological comparison is essential.

Family Reconstruction

Unresolved Kinedward Family

John Guthrie of Kinedward
│
└── Anna Guthrie
    ├── m. (1) Patrick Grant of Dunlugas
    └── m. (2) William Hunter — contract 27 Dec 1699
        ├── Alexander Hunter
        └── John Hunter

No documented ancestral connection to the Colliston-derived baronet family has been established.

Colliston → King-Edward Baronets

Henry “Harie” Guthrie of Colliston
m. Jean Lindsay
│
└── Sir Henry Guthrie, Bt., of King-Edward
    m. (1) Barbara Urquhart
    │
    └── Sir John Guthrie, Bt., of King-Edward, d. Aug 1722
        m. (1) Agnes Robertson
        │
        ├── Charles Guthrie, died young
        ├── Anne Guthrie, eldest daughter
        │   └── m. William Burnet of Campfield
        └── additional daughters
        
        m. (2) Mary Forbes
        │
        ├── Sir Alexander Guthrie
        ├── Catherine Guthrie
        ├── Jean Guthrie
        ├── Christian Guthrie
        └── Mary Guthrie
    
    m. (2) Jonet/Janet Wallace

The placement of Sir John under Barbara Urquhart rather than Janet Wallace accords with Henderson’s reconstruction and with the chronology of Sir Henry’s marriages; primary evidence for Sir John’s maternity would still be desirable. Henderson is a later secondary source and should not be treated as equivalent to the surviving probate and parish records. (Internet Archive)

Research Analysis

The principal problem was whether John Guthrie of Kinedward, father of Anna, could be identified with or incorporated into the later Colliston-derived King-Edward family.

The investigation does not support such an identification.

The strongest evidence is chronological.

Anna was already a widow entering a second marriage in 1699. She therefore belongs to an adult generation established before that date.

By contrast, Anne Guthrie, the documented daughter of Sir John Guthrie of Kingedward, married William Burnet in 1711 and began having recorded children in 1712. Sir John’s own 1722 testament identifies this Anne as his eldest daughter of his first marriage.

The two women therefore occupy distinctly different family positions.

The evidence also eliminates any possibility that the designation alone can solve the problem. “Kinedward” and “King-Edward” refer to the same general territorial environment, but a territorial designation does not by itself establish descent.

Sir Henry Guthrie of Colliston acquired the documented King-Edward property interest in 1672 through a transaction involving Barbara Urquhart and lands formerly associated with the Urquharts. His acquisition included half of Dunlugas.

Anna’s first husband was Patrick Grant of Dunlugas, creating an intriguing overlap between the two networks. Nevertheless, no record located during this investigation states that Anna’s father John was Sir Henry’s father, brother, son, cousin, predecessor, or other kinsman.

Three possibilities remain:

1. John Guthrie of Kinedward belonged to an earlier Guthrie family associated with the locality before or alongside Sir Henry’s acquisition.
2. John was a collateral relative of the Colliston Guthries whose relationship has not yet been documented.
3. His territorial designation arose from a property or tenancy interest independent of the later baronet succession.

At present there is insufficient evidence to choose securely among them.

The appropriate genealogical conclusion is therefore not to construct a bridge.

Conclusions and Open Questions

Securely established

• Anna Guthrie was a daughter of John Guthrie of Kinedward.
• Anna married Patrick Grant of Dunlugas.
• She was Patrick’s widow before her second marriage.
• Her marriage contract with William Hunter was dated 27 December 1699.
• No identifiable OPR marriage or child records for Anna and Patrick Grant were found in the searches performed.
• The later King-Edward baronet family descended from the Guthries of Colliston.
• Sir Henry Guthrie was documented as of King Edward by 1672.
• Sir John Guthrie of Kingedward died in August 1722.
• Sir John’s testament names Anne Guthrie as his eldest daughter of his first marriage.
• That Anne married William Burnet of Campfield in 1711.
• Anne Guthrie Burnet and Anna Guthrie Grant Hunter were different women.
• Sir Alexander Guthrie succeeded his father Sir John in the later King-Edward family.

Probable / supported by secondary evidence

• Sir John’s first wife was Agnes Robertson.
• His second wife Mary Forbes was mother of Alexander, Catherine, Jean, Christian, and Mary.
• Sir John was a son of Sir Henry’s first marriage to Barbara Urquhart, rather than his later marriage to Janet Wallace.

Unresolved

• The parentage and ancestry of John Guthrie of Kinedward, father of Anna.
• Whether John was related to the Colliston-derived Guthries.
• The precise nature of John’s connection with Kinedward.
• Whether the recurring Dunlugas association reflects kinship, property relationships, social connections, or coincidence.
• The date of Anna’s first marriage to Patrick Grant.
• Whether Anna and Patrick had children identifiable from surviving non-OPR records.

Final assessment:
The evidence does not justify attaching John Guthrie of Kinedward and his daughter Anna to the later Colliston-derived King-Edward baronet pedigree. Anna’s status as a widow entering a second marriage in 1699 places her in an earlier chronological position than Sir John’s documented daughter Anne, and primary records prove that Anne had an entirely different marital history. John of Kinedward may represent an earlier or collateral Guthrie associated with the same territorial network, but until documentary evidence supplies the bridge, his ancestry should remain unresolved.

Sources and Cross-References

• Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ — William Hunter entry; identifies Anna Guthrie, her father John Guthrie of Kinedward, her widowhood from Patrick Grant of Dunlugas, and the 27 Dec 1699 marriage contract.
• National Records of Scotland / Scotland’s People — Sir John Guthrie of Kingedward, Testament Testamentar & Inventory, Aberdeen Commissary Court, CC1/6/3.
• National Records of Scotland / Scotland’s People — Sir John Guthrie of Kingedward, Testament Dative & Inventory, Aberdeen Commissary Court, CC1/6/6, 1725.
• National Records of Scotland / Scotland’s People — Sir John Guthrie of Kingedward, Eik, Aberdeen Commissary Court, CC1/6/18, 1737.
• National Records of Scotland / Scotland’s People — Kincardine O’Neil OPR marriage entry for William Burnet, younger of Campfield, and Mrs Ann Guthrie, daughter of Sir John Guthrie of Kingedward, married 23 Oct 1711.
• National Records of Scotland / Scotland’s People — Kincardine O’Neil OPR birth/baptism entries for children of William Burnet and Anne/Ann Guthrie, 1712–1723.
• National Records of Scotland — 1672 heraldic record for Sir Henrie Guthrie of King Edward, Knight & Baronet.
• Henderson, John A. Aberdeenshire Epitaphs and Inscriptions: With Historical, Biographical, Genealogical, and Antiquarian Notes. Aberdeen, 1907, pp. 427–428. (Internet Archive)
• Guthrie Genealogy — Guthrie of Colliston and associated Research & Resources material.
• Guthrie Genealogy — Retours / Services of Heirs. (Guthrie Genealogy)
• Guthrie Genealogy — Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ Special Collection.

James Guthrie, Minister of Urquhart,
and the Elgin Guthrie Family
^{_{Family Cluster Research Sketch
Elgin & Urquhart, Moray | fl. 1589–1647}}

Identity and Overview

James Guthrie, minister of Urquhart, was educated at the University of St Andrews, graduated M.A. in 1589, was admitted to the ministry at Urquhart in 1595, and died in 1647.

Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ describes him as probably a son of Alexander Guthrie, burgess of Elgin. The present investigation substantially strengthens that identification.

A surviving testament of Alexander Guthrie, burgess of Elgin, names James as his eldest son. Independent Elgin records subsequently show a James Guthrie among the burgesses of Elgin in 1591, followed by repeated appearances of Mr James Guthrie, minister at Urquhart, within the Elgin civic and clerical network in 1606 and 1616.

No single record located in this investigation explicitly calls the minister “James Guthrie, son of Alexander Guthrie, burgess of Elgin.” The identification should therefore remain a corroborated reconstruction, but the combined evidence is strong.

Fasti Evidence

Career Data

• Educated at St Andrews University.
• M.A., 1589.
• Admitted minister of Urquhart in 1595.
• Died 1647.

Family Connections

Fasti identifies James as:

• probably a son of Alexander Guthrie, burgess of Elgin;
• husband of Margaret Douglas;
• father of children including Robert Guthrie and Margaret Guthrie.

The reported connection to the Elgin burgess family warranted testing against the surviving burgh and testamentary evidence.

Alexander Guthrie, Burgess and Bailie of Elgin

Alexander Guthrie was an established member of the Elgin burgh community decades before James entered the ministry.

In March 1560/61, The Records of Elgin names Alexander Guthrie in Elgin among eight Elgin burgesses involved in proceedings before the Lords following a violent confrontation.

By 4 October 1574, Alexander had risen to civic office. The Elgin Burgh Court was held before John Annand, provost, Alexander Guthrie and Thomas Young, bailies.

Alexander was therefore not simply resident in Elgin. He was a burgess and municipal office-holder.

Alexander Guthrie’s Testament

Alexander Guthrie died in 1589. His testament testamentar and inventory was subsequently recorded in the Edinburgh Commissary Court:

NRS, CC8/8/22 — Alexander Guthrie, burgess of Elgin

The testament identifies:

• Jonet Innes, his spouse;
• James Guthrie, his eldest son;
• younger children including John, William, and Bessie/Elizabeth Guthrie.

James and Jonet were involved in the administration of Alexander’s estate.

The testament therefore establishes that Alexander Guthrie, burgess of Elgin, had an adult or near-adult eldest son named James in 1589.

That date is strikingly compatible with the future minister, who received his M.A. at St Andrews in the same year.

The Elgin Burgess James Guthrie

A further Elgin record supplies an important chronological bridge.

On 27 July 1591, the Register of the Privy Council material abstracted in The Records of Elgin names James Guthrieamong a large group expressly described as burgesses of Elgin.

This occurs:

• two years after Alexander Guthrie’s death;
• two years after the future minister received his M.A.;
• and four years before James Guthrie was admitted minister of Urquhart.

The record does not identify this burgess James as Alexander’s son or as the future minister. Nevertheless, it supplies a plausible intermediate stage between Alexander’s eldest son James in 1589 and Mr James Guthrie, minister of Urquhart from 1595.

James Guthrie, Minister of Urquhart, in the Elgin Records

The minister remained closely connected with Elgin after receiving the Urquhart charge.

On 15 September 1606, a bond concerning Alexander, Bishop of Moray, was subscribed at Elgin before:

• William Douglas, vicar of Elgin;
• Mr James Guthrie, minister at Urquhart;
• Mr William Clogie, preacher of God’s Word at Elgin.

The underlying Register of the Privy Council of Scotland confirms the same appearance.

A decade later, in 1616, James again appears in an Elgin municipal document. A contract concerning the town grammar school was witnessed by:

• Mr James Guthrie, minister at Urquhart;
• Mr David Philp, minister at Elgin;
• George Douglas, reader at Elgin.

This demonstrates that James’s relationship with Elgin was not incidental or confined to his youth. He remained part of the town’s clerical and civic network for at least two decades after becoming minister of Urquhart.

The Douglas Connection

Fasti identifies James’s wife as Margaret Douglas, associated with the family of Alexander Douglas, minister of Elgin and later Bishop of Moray.

The Elgin records independently document the prominence of this Douglas clerical family.

In 1599, The Records of Elgin names:

• Mr Alexander Douglas, minister at Elgin;
• George Douglas, minister;
• Mr Gavin Douglas;
• Archibald Douglas;

within the same extended family network.

In 1603, Alexander Douglas is again explicitly styled minister at Elgin, with brothers George, Hew, John, Gavin, and Archibald Douglas identified.

James Guthrie’s documented association with members of this Elgin clerical circle is compatible with the reported marriage to Margaret Douglas.

However, no primary record examined during this investigation explicitly states either:

• that Margaret Douglas was James Guthrie’s wife, or
• that she was the daughter of Alexander Douglas.

Those relationships should therefore remain attributed to Fasti / later genealogical reconstruction unless a marriage contract, testament, parish record, or comparable contemporary source is located.

Family Reconstruction

The evidence currently supports the following working reconstruction:

Alexander Guthrie, burgess and bailie of Elgin, d. 1589
m. Jonet Innes
│
├── James Guthrie, eldest son
│   very probably identical with
│   Mr James Guthrie, Minister of Urquhart, d. 1647
│   m. Margaret Douglas — reported by Fasti
│   │
│   ├── Robert Guthrie
│   └── Margaret Guthrie
│
├── John Guthrie
├── William Guthrie
└── Bessie / Elizabeth Guthrie

The younger children of Alexander are included because they are named in the testamentary evidence, but they do not require separate Research Sketches unless later evidence warrants them.

Chronology

Research Analysis

Fasti’s statement that James Guthrie was “probably son of Alexander G., burgess of Elgin” can now be evaluated against independent evidence.

The case in favor consists of several mutually supporting elements.

1. Exact name and generation

Alexander’s testament names an eldest son James in 1589.

2. Educational chronology

The future minister received his M.A. at St Andrews in 1589, showing that he was already an educated young adult at precisely the time Alexander’s eldest son appears in the testament.

3. Elgin continuity

A James Guthrie, burgess of Elgin, appears in 1591.

4. Ministerial chronology

The future minister entered Urquhart in 1595, only four years after the Elgin burgess appearance.

5. Continued Elgin association

The minister himself is explicitly documented in Elgin in 1606 and 1616.

Taken together, these facts create a coherent progression:

Alexander’s eldest son James
→ James Guthrie, Elgin burgess
→ Mr James Guthrie, minister of Urquhart

The weakness is equally clear: none of the later records explicitly identifies the minister as Alexander’s son.

The most appropriate evidence classification is therefore:

Corroborated Reconstruction — strongly supported, but not proven by a single explicit bridging record.

Conclusions and Open Questions

Securely established

• Alexander Guthrie was a burgess of Elgin by 1560/61.
• He served as a bailie of Elgin in 1574.
• His spouse was Jonet Innes.
• His testament names James as his eldest son.
• Alexander also had younger children John, William, and Bessie/Elizabeth.
• James Guthrie, the future minister, received his M.A. at St Andrews in 1589.
• A James Guthrie was a burgess of Elgin in 1591.
• James Guthrie became minister of Urquhart in 1595.
• Mr James Guthrie, minister at Urquhart, is independently documented at Elgin in 1606 and 1616.
• James died in 1647.

Strongly supported reconstruction

• James Guthrie, minister of Urquhart, was the eldest son of Alexander Guthrie, burgess and bailie of Elgin, and Jonet Innes.

Reported by Fasti / still requiring stronger primary confirmation

• James married Margaret Douglas.
• Margaret belonged to the family of Alexander Douglas, minister of Elgin and later Bishop of Moray.
• Known children included Robert Guthrie and Margaret Guthrie.

Open questions

• Can a surviving record explicitly identify the minister as son of Alexander Guthrie, burgess of Elgin?
• Can James’s marriage to Margaret Douglas be documented through a marriage contract, testament, parish register, sasine, or other contemporary source?
• Can Margaret’s exact parentage within the Douglas family be independently established?
• Can Robert and Margaret Guthrie be further traced through primary records?

Final assessment:
The surviving testament and Elgin civic records substantially strengthen Fasti’s tentative parentage. Although the decisive one-line bridge has not been found, the combined chronological and geographical evidence makes it highly probable that James Guthrie, minister of Urquhart, was the eldest son of Alexander Guthrie, burgess and bailie of Elgin, and Jonet Innes. The identification should be preserved as a strong corroborated reconstruction rather than an absolute documentary fact.

Sources and Cross-References

• Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ, Volume VI — Urquhart entry for James Guthrie.
• National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh Commissary Court — Testament Testamentar and Inventory of Alexander Guthrie, burgess of Elgin, CC8/8/22, recorded 1590.
• Cramond, William. The Records of Elgin, Volume I. Aberdeen: University of Aberdeen, 1903. The volume identifies itself as a University of Aberdeen publication compiled by William Cramond.
• The Records of Elgin — Alexander Guthrie among Elgin burgesses, 1560/61.
• The Records of Elgin — Alexander Guthrie serving as bailie, 1574.
• The Records of Elgin — James Guthrie among burgesses of Elgin, 1591.
• The Records of Elgin / Register of the Privy Council of Scotland — Mr James Guthrie, minister at Urquhart, witness at Elgin, 1606.
• The Records of Elgin — 1616 Elgin grammar-school contract witnessed by Mr James Guthrie, minister at Urquhart.
• The Records of Elgin — Alexander Douglas and the wider Douglas clerical family in Elgin.

Identity and Overview

Rev. William Gallety Guthrie was born 25 November 1865 at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, the son of Alexander Guthrie, slater, and Ann Whyte or White. His statutory birth record identifies his parents and records their marriage at Peterhead on 24 August 1857.

William married Maria Ann Peters on 19 September 1888. He was initially employed as an elementary teacher and was living at Corse Schoolhouse, Coull, in the 1891 census. By 1901 he was minister at Logie-Buchan, living at the manse with his wife and children. He subsequently served at Glass, where he remained in 1923 and where he died on 21 May 1942, aged 76. He was buried in Glass Parish Churchyard.

Fasti Evidence

Career Data

• Minister of Logie-Buchan and later Glass.
• His clerical identification can now be connected securely with the Peterhead family of Alexander Guthrie and Ann Whyte.
• Contemporary census and civil records independently establish the identity behind the Fasti ministerial entry.

Family

William married Maria Ann Peters, daughter of William Peters and Margaret Peters, in 1888.

Their known children include:

• Annie Whyte Guthrie, born c. 1889
• Albert John Guthrie, born 1891; died during the First World War
• Alexander Guthrie, born c. 1894
• Margaret Isobel Guthrie, born c. 1895
• Elizabeth Paton Gloag Guthrie, born c. 1899

The 1891 and 1901 censuses document the developing household and confirm William’s transition from schoolteacher to minister.

Family Reconstruction

William’s paternal ancestry can be reconstructed securely for several generations from statutory registers, censuses and Old Parish Registers.

1. Alexander Guthrie and Ann Whyte

William’s father, Alexander Guthrie, was born about 1831–1832 at Monquhitter, Aberdeenshire. In 1841 he was living with Isobel Guthrie, aged about 45. By 1851 he was an apprentice slater at Methlick. He married Ann Whyte at Peterhead on 24 August 1857.

Alexander subsequently became a successful master slater. The 1871 census records him at 6 St Peter Street, Peterhead, employing seven men and two boys; in 1881 he was described as a master slater employing six men and one boy and the household address was identified as St Peter’s Street, “Gutherie’s Buildings.”

Alexander died at Peterhead on 27 June 1881. His death registration identifies his parents as William Guthrie, labourer, deceased, and Isabella Guthrie, maiden surname Cumming/Cumine, deceased. His estate, valued at £881 10s. 6d., was confirmed at Aberdeen on 10 October 1881 to his widow, Ann White or Guthrie.

Alexander and Ann had a considerably larger family than the surviving census snapshots suggest. Statutory birth and death indexes identify children including:

• Jane Findlay Guthrie, 1859–1861
• Alexander Guthrie, 1860–1861
• Isabella Guthrie, 1862–1862
• William Gallety Guthrie, 1865–1942
• Ann Whyte Guthrie, 1866/67–1878
• Alexander John Guthrie, born 1869
• Mary Guthrie, 1871–1874
• Margaret Cummin Guthrie, 1873–1874
• Thomas A. S. Guthrie, born 1875; died 1935 in Ontario, Canada
• Peter Duthie Guthrie, 1877–1964
• Samuel Guthrie, 1879–1879

The death records are important because they distinguish daughters who disappeared between censuses from similarly named surviving children.

2. William Guthrie and Isobel Cumine

Alexander was a son of William Guthrie and Isobel Cumine.

William and Isobel married at Monquhitter on 2 December 1824. The surviving OPR identifies both as being in that parish. Known sons include:

• William McLeod Guthrie, baptized 17 August 1828
• Alexander Guthrie, born/baptized in 1832

William Guthrie died at Monquhitter on 20 November 1834. The parish record describes him as “William Guthrie fishmonger Cuminestown.”

Isobel survived him and appears with the young Alexander in the 1841 census. She died in 1855, aged 64.

3. Walter Guthrie and Isobel Stevenson

William Guthrie was baptized at Monquhitter on 9 January 1774, son of Walter Guthrie.

The family can be followed backward from Monquhitter to Cullen. Walter Guthrie and Isobel Stevenson had their earlier children in Cullen, Banffshire, where Walter was specifically described in the 1764 and 1766 baptismal entries as a linen weaver. By 1768 the family had moved to Cuminestown in Monquhitter.

Known children identified in the parish registers include James, Thomas, Alexander, Joseph, William, George, another Joseph, Walter and Jean. The Monquhitter baptismal format normally names only the father, but witnesses occasionally included members of the Stevenson family, supporting continuity with the Cullen household.

Walter died at Cuminestown in October 1797, aged about 70. His surviving monumental inscription describes him as a manufacturer and praises his industry, integrity and medical skill.

4. James Guthrie of Craighead and Elspet Kemp

A Cullen baptism dated 3 September 1727 establishes Walter as the son of James Guthrie of Craighead and Elspet Kemp.

James Guthry and Elspet Kemp married at Cullen on 17 March 1719. Crucially, the original marriage entry describes both parties as “in Craighead.” Craighead was a recognized locality “hard by Cullen.”

Their seven documented children were:

• Thomas Guthrie — 1720
• Jannet Guthrie — 1721
• John Guthrie — 1723
• William Guthrie — 1725
• Walter Guthrie — 1727
• Alexander Guthrie — 1730
• Margaret Guthrie — 1735

This establishes the ancestral line from Rev. William Gallety Guthrie back to a documented Guthrie household at Craighead in 1719.

Research Analysis

The connection between Rev. William Gallety Guthrie and the Cullen–Cuminestown family is well supported. It does not depend upon an online family tree. Each generational bridge can be supported by contemporary OPR, statutory, census or death evidence:

William Gallety Guthrie
→ Alexander Guthrie & Ann Whyte
→ William Guthrie & Isobel Cumine
→ Walter Guthrie & Isobel Stevenson
→ James Guthrie of Craighead & Elspet Kemp.

The ancestry should presently stop with James Guthrie of Craighead.

Three plausible James Guthrie baptisms occur in Banffshire within an appropriate age range for the man marrying in 1719:

• James, son of Alexander Guthrie — Fordyce, 22 Jan 1693
• James, son of Thomas Guthrie — Cullen, 27 Aug 1693
• James, son of John Guthrie — Cullen, 17 Feb 1694

The two Cullen candidates have the stronger geographical case, but neither baptism identifies the child with Craighead. No evidence currently proves which, if any, was the later husband of Elspet Kemp.

The Craighead designation may eventually prove decisive. Kemp families were already associated with Craighead in the Cullen records, and the surviving Cullen Kirk Session minutes span the relevant period. Until evidence connects one of the candidate baptisms directly with Craighead, assigning parents to James would be premature.

A separate online pedigree extending this family into much earlier Guthrie lines therefore cannot presently be accepted as established genealogy.

DNA Evidence

This family has at least one participant in the Guthrie DNA Project represented by autosomal DNA testing, but there is presently no Y-DNA representative for the direct paternal line.

Because the documented male line extends through William Gallety Guthrie, Alexander Guthrie, William Guthrie, Walter Guthrie and James Guthrie of Craighead, a qualifying patrilineal male descendant would be particularly valuable. Y-DNA could potentially determine whether this Cullen–Cuminestown family belongs to an already established Guthrie Genetic Family or represents a separate paternal lineage.

Conclusions & Open Questions

The principal genealogical achievement of this reconstruction is the identification of Rev. William Gallety Guthrie as a descendant of the Guthries of Craighead, Cullen, rather than an isolated nineteenth-century clerical Guthrie.

The documented ancestry currently reaches James Guthrie and Elspet Kemp of Craighead, married in 1719. Their parentage remains unresolved.

The most useful remaining avenues are the Cullen Kirk Session records, particularly CH2/1113/2–4, and records specifically associating Guthries with Craighead before 1719. These could distinguish between the competing 1693–1694 James Guthrie baptismal candidates.

Sources and Cross-References

• Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ — entries for Rev. William Gallety Guthrie, Logie-Buchan and Glass.
• National Records of Scotland / ScotlandsPeople — Old Parish Registers for Cullen and Monquhitter; statutory births, marriages and deaths for Peterhead and related districts.
• Scotland Census records, 1841–1901.
• Scotland, National Probate Index — Alexander Guthrie, Peterhead, confirmation 10 October 1881.
• Cullen Church of Scotland Kirk Session — CH2/1113/1–8; particularly CH2/1113/2, CH2/1113/3 and CH2/1113/4 for the Craighead problem.
• Collections for a History of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff — identification of Craighead “hard by Cullen.”
• Monumental inscription for Walter Guthrie of Cuminestown.
• Commonwealth War Graves material relating to Albert John Guthrie.
• Ann’s Ancestors and Guthrie Research Tree.
• Guthrie DNA Project — autosomal representation; no known Y-DNA representative for this paternal line.

Identity

Andrew Guthrie was a late seventeenth-century Church of Scotland minister whose career began at Edrom in Berwickshire and ended at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. Contemporary parish, legal, and testamentary records allow his immediate family to be reconstructed with unusual confidence, although his own parentage remains unresolved.

The evidence strongly identifies him with Mr Andrew Guthrie of Edinburgh, husband of Jonet/Jannet Learmont, whose children were baptized there immediately before his ordination. One of those baptismal records, dated only weeks before Andrew entered the ministry at Edrom, explicitly describes him as a “preacher of the Gospell.”

A baptism at Anstruther Wester in 1657 provides a strong candidate for his birth, but the identification has not been proved.

Fasti Evidence

Career Data

• Ordained minister of Edrom, Berwickshire, 10 October 1690.
• Called to Peterhead on 17 July 1698.
• Translated and admitted there 19 April 1699.
• Demitted the charge 30 September 1720.
• Died in May 1722.
• Fasti states that he married and had Thomas, “only son,” citing the Aberdeen testamentary records.

The Aberdeen Commissary Court records clarify that wording: Thomas was Andrew’s only surviving lawful son and nearest of kin when Andrew’s estate was confirmed after his death.

Marriage and Family

Andrew married Jonet/Jannet Learmont at Edinburgh on 3 June 1684.

The Edinburgh Old Parish Registers identify four children:

• Catharin Guthrie, baptized 9 April 1685.
• Helen Guthrie, baptized 29 March 1686.
• Thomas Guthrie, baptized 28 July 1689 at St Cuthbert’s.
• David Guthrie, born 18 August and baptized 22 August 1690.

The original baptismal records repeatedly style Andrew “Mr.”

Catharin’s baptism places the family within an educated Edinburgh circle. Witnesses included Mr Charles Kay, minister at South Leith, along with professional men including a stationer and writers.

Helen’s 1686 baptism provides a particularly valuable relationship clue: Mr Charles Kay, minister at South Leith, is explicitly described as Andrew Guthrie’s cousin.

David’s 1690 baptism is the decisive occupational record. It identifies the father as:

“Mr Andrew Guthrie preacher of the Gospell”

and was recorded only about seven weeks before Andrew Guthrie was ordained minister at Edrom.

Taken with the marriage, successive Edinburgh baptisms, clerical associations, and Andrew’s ordination chronology, this provides compelling evidence that the Edinburgh husband of Jonet Learmont was the later minister of Edrom and Peterhead.

Contemporary Evidence at Edrom

Andrew’s transition from Edinburgh preacher to parish minister is unusually well documented.

The National Records of Scotland holds GD158/413, two letters from Andrew Guthrie, minister at Edrom, dated at Edinburgh on 14 and 20 March 1691. They concern banns of marriage between George Home of Comar(g)len and Margaret Primrose and include extracts of proclamations at Edrom and Edinburgh.

This places the newly ordained Edrom minister back in Edinburgh only months after his ordination and strongly reinforces the identification with the Edinburgh Andrew Guthrie family documented there through August 1690.

A second item, GD158/1077, dated 13 November 1693, records Andrew Guthrie, minister at Edrom, writing from Edrom concerning payment of his stipend.

Peterhead and Testamentary Evidence

Andrew later moved north to Peterhead, where he remained until his demission in 1720.

His estate is recorded in the Aberdeen Commissary Court.

12 December 1723 — CC1/6/4, Testament Dative and Inventory

The record identifies the deceased as:

Mr Andrew Guthrie, Minister of the Gospel at Peterhead

and names:

Mr Thomas Guthrie, only lawful son to the defunct.

Thomas was confirmed as executor dative and nearest of kin to his father.

26 June 1729 — CC1/6/10, Eik

The supplementary estate record again identifies Mr Thomas Guthrie as executor of his deceased father, Mr Andrew Guthrie, Minister of the Gospel at Peterhead.

These records explain Fasti’s description of Thomas as Andrew’s “only son.”

The Edinburgh OPR proves that Andrew also had a younger son, David Guthrie, born in 1690. David therefore apparently died before his father or otherwise did not survive to participate in the estate. Thomas was the only surviving lawful son in 1723.

Andrew’s son Thomas can be followed into the next generation, although only the essentials are necessary here.

Thomas Guthrie of Blackhouse

The evidence identifies him as Thomas Guthrie of Blackhouse, in the Peterhead area.

An NRS Court of Session record, CS271/25454, dated 8 June 1732, concerns Thomas Guthrie of Blackhouse and tenants involved in rights to the moss called the Camoss and commonty.

Peterhead OPRs explicitly identify several children of Mr Thomas Guthrie of Blackhouse, including:

• Helen Guthrie, baptized 1726.
• Janet Guthrie, baptized 1728.
• Andrew Guthrie, baptized 1732.

Thomas married Elizabeth Ogilvie, lawful daughter of Collector John Ogilvie, in 1725.

His daughter Janet Guthrie married Ernest Mearns in Banff in 1749 and was explicitly described as the daughter of Mr Guthrie of Blackhouse.

A remarkable delayed estate proceeding in 1782, Aberdeen Commissary Court CC1/6/49A, identifies Janet’s daughters Mary, Janet, and Margaret Mearns as great-granddaughters of the deceased Mr Andrew Guthrie, sometime minister of the Gospel at Peterhead.

This later record independently confirms the descent:

Andrew Guthrie
→ Thomas Guthrie of Blackhouse
→ Janet Guthrie
→ Mary, Janet, and Margaret Mearns

The same 1782 proceeding concerned a debt originally due to Andrew under a bond granted by the deceased William, Earl of Marischal, dated 18 December 1711.

Possible Parentage

Andrew’s parents have not been proved.

The strongest candidate found during this investigation is:

Andrew Guthrie, baptized 2 August 1657 at Anstruther Wester, Fife, son of Mr David Guthrie and Margaret Adams.

The chronology is excellent. A child born in 1657 would have been about thirty-three years old when ordained at Edrom in October 1690.

A Scotland-wide OPR search for Andrew Gut* births during the plausible period 1650–1670 produced only one actual Andrew Guthrie entry: this Anstruther Wester baptism. The other result belonged to the unrelated surname Gutcher.

The original Anstruther register identifies the father as Mr David Guthrie, not simply David Guthrie. David and Margaret Adams had a substantial documented family at Anstruther Wester:

• Coline Guthrie — 1654
• David Guthrie — 1656
• Andrew Guthrie — 1657
• Margaret Guthrie — 1658
• Agnes Guthrie — 1661
• Susanna Guthrie — 1663
• Johne Guthrie — 1664

David is repeatedly styled “Mr.”

This combination of chronology, rarity of the name in the surviving OPRs, the father’s status, and the Fife background makes the 1657 Andrew a strong candidate for the future minister.

It is nevertheless not sufficient to establish the identification.

No surviving record yet found explicitly calls the minister:

son of Mr David Guthrie and Margaret Adams of Anstruther Wester.

The Charles Kay Cousin Clue

The strongest independent clue to Andrew’s ancestry is the 1686 baptism of his daughter Helen, which explicitly calls Mr Charles Kay, minister at South Leith, Andrew’s cousin.

Charles Kay appears very probably to be the man baptized 22 April 1649 at Ferry Port on Craig, Fife, son of:

James Kay and Margaret Carstorphine.

His South Leith burial records that he died 17 November 1719 in the seventieth year of his age, fitting the 1649 baptism closely.

No direct Guthrie–Kay or Guthrie–Carstorphine marriage has been found that explains the cousin relationship.

Kay and Carstorphine families were both present in the broader Fife/Anstruther region, so the relationship could have passed through an earlier female line, the Adams family, or a more distant kinship concealed by surname changes. The seventeenth-century term “cousin” also need not imply modern first-cousin status.

For the present, Charles Kay’s stated relationship is valuable evidence of Andrew’s kinship network but does not prove the proposed Anstruther parentage.

Earlier Anstruther/Kirkcaldy Possibility

A further speculative possibility concerns Andrew’s candidate father, Mr David Guthrie.

The only plausible indexed Fife OPR baptism found for an earlier David Guthrie is:

David Guthrie, baptized 30 November 1619 at Kirkcaldy, son of James Guthrie and Bessie Leith.

Chronologically, this man could be the Mr David Guthrie who married Margaret Adams at Anstruther in 1653. He would have been about thirty-four at marriage.

Again, however, no record has been found linking the Kirkcaldy child directly with the later Anstruther man.

Accordingly, James Guthrie and Bessie Leith should not presently be presented as Andrew the minister’s grandparents. They belong only to a possible earlier reconstruction.

Research was deliberately stopped at this point rather than extending a chain based chiefly upon the scarcity of surviving OPR entries.

Research Assessment

The investigation has substantially clarified Andrew Guthrie’s identity and family while leaving his parentage appropriately unresolved.

Established or strongly corroborated

• Andrew Guthrie was ordained at Edrom in 1690 and later ministered at Peterhead.
• He was the same Mr Andrew Guthrie, husband of Jonet/Jannet Learmont, whose family was recorded in Edinburgh between 1685 and 1690.
• Immediately before his ordination he was explicitly described as a “preacher of the Gospell.”
• Rev. Charles Kay of South Leith was his cousin.
• Andrew’s only surviving lawful son was Thomas Guthrie, later identifiable as Thomas Guthrie of Blackhouse.
• The family can be followed securely through later descendants by testamentary evidence.

Strong hypothesis

Andrew may be the Andrew Guthrie baptized 2 August 1657 at Anstruther Wester, son of Mr David Guthrie and Margaret Adams.

Unproved

The parentage of Rev. Andrew Guthrie remains undocumented. The proposed identification with the Anstruther child should therefore be preserved as a strong candidate rather than incorporated into the pedigree as established fact.

Sources

• Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ, entries for Edrom and Peterhead.
• National Records of Scotland, Old Parish Registers:
  • Edinburgh and St Cuthbert’s baptisms of the children of Andrew Guthrie and Jonet/Jannet Learmont.
  • Anstruther Wester baptism of Andrew Guthrie, 2 Aug 1657, son of Mr David Guthrie and Margaret Adams.
  • Ferry Port on Craig baptism of Charles Kay, 22 Apr 1649.
  • Peterhead baptisms of the children of Thomas Guthrie of Blackhouse.
  • Banff marriage of Janet Guthrie and Ernest Mearns.
• NRS GD158/413 — letters from Andrew Guthrie, minister at Edrom, 14 and 20 Mar 1691.
• NRS GD158/1077 — Andrew Guthrie, minister at Edrom, 13 Nov 1693.
• NRS CS271/25454 — Thomas Guthrie of Blackhouse, 8 Jun 1732.
• Aberdeen Commissary Court:
  • CC1/6/4 — Testament Dative and Inventory of Mr Andrew Guthrie, 1723.
  • CC1/6/10 — Eik to the testament of Mr Andrew Guthrie, 1729.
  • CC1/6/49A — delayed inventory concerning the estate of Andrew Guthrie and his great-granddaughters, 1782.