GFG19

Guthries of Aberdeenshire and Inverness-shire, Scotland

GUTHRIE RESEARCH TREE: GFG19

LINEAGES ASSOCIATED WITH GFG19

Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland

Guthrie Family Group 19 (GFG19): The Donald Connection

Genetic Group: GFG19 Primary Locations: Aberdeenshire & Inverness-shire, Scotland Key Identifier: Shared Y-DNA ancestry between two distinct branches with the given name “Donald.”

Group Overview

Guthrie Family Group 19 represents a genetically distinct lineage of the Guthrie family that traces its roots to Northern Scotland. Unlike the primary Guthrie groups often associated with Angus (GFG1A) or the Borders/Ayrshire, GFG19 is firmly rooted in the Northeast and Highlands.

The defining characteristic of this group is the Y-DNA match between two lines:

  • Branch A: Traced to Aberdeenshire (Lowland/Northeast context).
  • Branch B: Traced to Inverness-shire (Highland context).

The shared use of the given name “Donald”—a name historically more common in the Gaelic-speaking Highlands than in the Lowland Guthrie heartlands—suggests a strong Highland connection for the group’s origin.

Historical Background: Northern Scotland (1750–1850)

To understand the lives of the GFG19 progenitors, it is essential to look at the dramatic changes occurring in Aberdeenshire and Inverness-shire during the mid-18th to mid-19th centuries.

Inverness-shire: The Highland Crisis

Branch B Context: The progenitor of this branch lived in the heart of the Highlands during a period of dismantling and upheaval.

  • Post-Culloden (1746+): After the Jacobite defeat, the British government actively dismantled the clan system. The traditional bond between a chief and his tenants was replaced by a landlord-tenant relationship.
  • The Clearances: From 1760 to 1850, landlords began evicting tenant farmers to make way for large-scale sheep farming, which was more profitable. This forced many families from inland glens to coastal crofts or led them to emigrate entirely.
  • Migration: For a family in Inverness-shire, moving was often a necessity, not a choice. Many moved east toward the fertile lands of Moray and Aberdeenshire, or south to the industrial Lowlands, before eventually emigrating to Canada or Australia.

Aberdeenshire: The Age of Improvement

Branch A Context: Aberdeenshire offered a different landscape, bridging the Highlands and the Lowlands.

  • Agricultural Revolution: In the mid-1700s, the “Run Rig” system of communal farming was replaced by enclosed fields and longer leases. This “Age of Improvement” increased productivity but also displaced smaller cottars who could no longer afford the rent.
  • Economic Hub: Aberdeen city was booming due to the textile, paper, and eventually the granite industries. It acted as a magnet for Highlanders (like those from Inverness) seeking work.
  • Stability: While the Highlands suffered from the Clearances, Aberdeenshire was relatively more stable, though not immune to the poverty that drove emigration in the mid-1800s.

Genealogical Analysis & Origin Theories

Theory 1: The Highland Origin

The presence of the name Donald is significant. In the 1700s, “Donald” (Domhnall) was a quintessential Highland name, whereas Lowland Guthries favored names like James, John, William, and Alexander.

  • Hypothesis: The common ancestor of GFG19 likely originated in the Highlands (Inverness-shire or nearby Ross-shire). Branch B remained in the Highlands, while Branch A migrated east into Aberdeenshire—a common migration route known as “coming down from the hills” for work in the rich farmlands of the northeast.

Theory 2: The Soldier or Tradesman

Military service was a common reason for movement between these counties. The 89th Regiment of Foot (Gordon Highlanders) and other units recruited heavily in these areas during the Napoleonic Wars. A progenitor could have moved from Inverness to Aberdeen after discharging from service.

Research Challenges

  • Patronymics vs. Surnames: In the Highlands, surnames were not always fixed until the late 1700s. A “Donald Guthrie” might have been known locally by a patronymic (e.g., “Donald Mac-Ian”) in earlier records.
  • Commonality of Names: Differentiating between multiple men named Donald Guthrie in census records requires strict attention to occupation and witness names on baptismal records.

Branch Summary & Comparison Chart

GUTHRIE-MATTHEW

Donald Guthrie and Mary Matthew married in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1778 and raised a family of nine children including three sonsL John, James, and William. Our tester descends via John Guthrie whose son Robert was a merchant tailor. Robert and the majority of his family left Scotland for Canada. Some time was spent in Montreal, Quebec, but they eventually settled in Ontario.

GUTHRIE-CLARK

Donald Guthrie and Grace (or Grizel) Clark were married before 1800. Their three children, Alexander, Hugh (or Evan), and Margaret were all born in Inverness-shire. Both sons were “Coach-Hirers”. Our tester’s ancestor, Hugh Guthrie, and family, left Scotland in 1853, boarding a ship in Liverpool, the Emma Fields. Hugh, his wife Catherine Macgregor, and their two youngest daughters, were among 42 of 440 passengers who died on the journey after they were ravaged by disease. Their only son, Donald Guthrie, and two daughters survived the voyage. From New York, they headed north to Montreal, Quebec and then to Ontario.

Donald Guthrie, Q.C., M.P. P. (Queen’s Counsel, Member of Provincial Parliament, a title used specifically for elected representatives in the Ontario Legislative Assembly, the provincial parliament of Ontario, Canada.) A son of Hugh Guthrie and Catherine Macgregor, he was born on 8 May 1840 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Upon settling in Toronto, Donald secured a position as a clerk and worked his way up into a managing clerk position for a firm of barristers. Guthrie became a partner in that firm, and eventually its chief barrister. After passing his examinations with distinction, he was created Queen’s Counsel by the Lieut.-Governor of Ontario and by the Governor-General of Canada, October 1885. His distinctions in the profession and its social networks continued, when in 1876 he was elected a member of the House of Commons, as a representative for South Wellington. He was reelected several times. Guthrie married Eliza Margaret McVicar, in Montreal, on 17 Dec 1863.
Source: A Cyclopeadia of Canadian Biography. Family History Books. Ancestry.com

Guthrie Family Group: GFG-19
Haplogroup: R1B – M269 (Not Confined by Big-Y)

YDNA Matches: 2
Kit 42462: Aberdeen: Donald Guthrie / Mary Matthew > John Guthrie / Jean Clark > Robert Guthrie / Margaret Milne > Robert James Guthrie / Catherine Broomfield (GGP)

Kit 1023529: Inverness: Donald Guthrie / Grace Clark > Hugh (or Evan) Guthrie / Catherine Magregor > Donald Guthrie QC, MPP / Eliza Margaret McVicar (GGP)

Autosomal DNA Kits:
B651305: Inverness: Donald Guthrie / Grace Clark > Hugh (or Evan) Guthrie / Catherine Magregor > Donald Guthrie QC, MPP / Eliza Margaret McVicar (GGP).

MAP: Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland. Attribution: Jrockley, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Scotlands People:
Church Registers – Births & Baptisms, Banns & Marriages, Deaths & Burials. (1553 – 1855)
Statutory Registers – Births, Marriages, Deaths (1855 to Present)
Census Returns for Scotland – 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, 1921

BOOK: A Cyclopeadia of Canadian Biography. Family History Books. Ancestry.com.

LIST: New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 – Passenger list of the Emma Fields arriving in New York from Liverpool, England on 17 Nov 1853.

MARRIAGE RECORDS: Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967 – Marriage record of Donald Guthrie and Eliza Margaret McVicar on 17 Dec 1863 at Presbyterian Crescent in Montreal. Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968[database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2008. Original data: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin.

RECORDS: Ontario, Canada Marriages, 1801-1928. Ancestry.com and Genealogical Research Library (Brampton, Ontario, Canada). Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1826-1943 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Ontario, Canada, Select Marriages. Archives of Ontario, Toronto.

RECORDS: Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947. Ancestry.com. Ontario, Canada, Deaths and Deaths Overseas, 1869-1952 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Archives of Ontario. Division Registrar Vital Statistics Records, 1858-1930. MS 940, reels 5-10, 16, 21, 26-27. Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Archives of Ontario. Registrations of Deaths, 1869-1942 (MS 935, reels 1-694), Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Archives of Ontario. Registrations of Ontario Overseas Deaths, 1939-1947. MS 944, reels 1-11. Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

RECORDS: U.S. Federal Census Records. 1800 – 1950. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

BURIALS: U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

DEATH RECORDS: Web: Missouri, Death Certificates, 1910-1962. Ancestry.com. Missouri, U.S., Death Certificates, 1910-1971 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Missouri Death Certificates. Missouri Secretary of State. http://www.sos.mo.gov/records/archives/archivesdb/deathcertificates/: First accessed 24 August 2014.

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