GFG7
Guthrie Genealogy
Guthrie Family Group 7
Ayrshire · Ireland · America · Australia
Five branches share a paternal DNA connection, with family stories reaching from Ayrshire and Ireland to America and Australia. Follow the records, explore the origin theories, and help discover where these families meet.
Open the GFG7 Research Tree →Origin Theories
These are working investigations drawn from family traditions, published accounts, records, and DNA clues. Each offers a connection to explore and a question that further research may answer.
Parish records & DNA · Branches A & E
The Guthries of Prestwick
John Guthrie and Betty Logan lived in the Vennel of Prestwick. Branch A research follows earlier men named John at the same location, using parish entries to reconstruct the preceding generations.
Branch E’s proposed ancestry leads to another Prestwick household: John Guthrie, a bailie who died in 1769, and Jane or Jean Dunlop. Could the two families connect within these earlier Ayrshire generations?
Help investigate: compare baptismal witnesses, occupations, property, wills, and burgh records. Look for a record naming the relationship between the households.
Follow the two Prestwick trails
Branch A’s reconstruction identifies John, husband of Betty Logan, with the John born in 1761 to an earlier John in the Vennel. The children’s records call Betty’s husband John Junior. Earlier parish entries provide further candidates to investigate.
Branch E’s proposed line follows Robert Guthrie and Barbara Brown back toward the bailie’s son Robert, baptized in 1760. That early identification and the later Guthrie–Burrows identity question should remain attached to the evidence supporting them.
The shared paternal DNA and Ayrshire records make this a promising search. They do not yet identify the ancestor connecting Branches A and E.
Follow John & Betty’s records →
Follow the Guthrie–Burrows investigation →
Published origin story · Branch D
Adam Guthrie & Niall MacGuthrie
In Leaves from the Family Tree, Tennessee researcher Penelope Johnson Allen described Adam Guthrie as a descendant of Niall MacGuthrie of Ireland. The story reaches into the medieval pedigree associated with Brefney and the O’Reilly family.
How did Allen connect Adam to that earlier family? Finding the source behind her account could open a new direction for this branch’s Irish research.
Help investigate: share a copy of the article, its source notes, related correspondence, or family papers identifying Adam’s parents and Irish home.
The Irish story & the missing generations
The published story can be compared with John O’Hart’s Irish Pedigrees, which is cited in the existing GFG7 research. The essential missing piece is a documented chain of generations from Adam back to the proposed family.
Adam’s Irish birthplace is itself reported in family tradition; a county and birth record have not been identified. Another version says he spent time in Scotland before crossing the Atlantic.
The Ayrshire branches give us Scottish relatives to investigate. Their DNA connection does not establish where the earlier common ancestor lived or settle the direction of migration between Scotland and Ireland.
Proposed parents & a possible brother · Branch B
Who Were Daniel Guthrie’s Parents?
Many trees name William Guthrie and Nancy Bussell as the parents of Daniel Guthrie, later of Lawrence County, Indiana. The original source for that connection has not been found.
Laurence R. Guthrie also proposed that Daniel was a brother of Hugh Guthrie of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. Their appearances in Pennsylvania records offer another lead.
Help investigate: trace the earliest source for the Guthrie–Bussell claim and compare Daniel and Hugh in tax, land, military, and estate records.
Correspondence, surname clues & Jane’s identity
The branch study links to about 140 pages of correspondence between the author of American Guthrie and Allied Families and Daniel’s descendants. The study reports no Guthrie–Bussell parentage claim in those letters.
Bussell, Bissell, and Bessell family connections remain worth exploring. Autosomal matches involving more than one Guthrie Family Group could come through that family or another shared ancestor; they do not establish Daniel’s parents.
Daniel’s wife is identified as Jane on her gravestone. Her frequently assigned maiden name, Flinn, remains unconfirmed. Several of their children married Flinns, including Daniel Jr., who married Frances “Fannie” Flinn.
Migration & a possible parent · Branches B & C
Was Samuel the Arkansas Connection?
William Guthery and Elizabeth Copeland of Benton County, Arkansas, may connect to Daniel’s family through his son Samuel Guthrie and wife Judith Carter.
Samuel moved from Virginia to Arkansas. William and possible brothers Thomas and John were Virginia-born farmers living near one another in Benton County in 1850. Their locations and ages make Samuel a candidate to investigate.
Help investigate: compare Samuel’s Scott County, Virginia, court records with Washington and Benton County land, probate, and household records. Can a document name William as his son?
Clues connecting Virginia & Arkansas
Benton County was formed from Washington County in 1836, so earlier records for the same area may be filed under Washington. Samuel’s household appears there in the 1830 census.
The Branch B study identifies a Scott County chancery case, Stewart vs. Guthrey, as another place to follow Samuel and Judith’s family.
William’s descendants match GFG7, but his placement as Samuel’s son—and the proposed sibling relationship with Thomas and John—still needs supporting evidence.
A family story revisited · Branch E
From Guthrie to Burrows: Who Was Robert?
The Australian family preserved a story of Guthrie ancestry and children taking the Burrows surname. Y-DNA connects the tested Burrows line with GFG7. Records suggest a more complicated story involving Kate Symonds and Robert Guthrie, an Ayrshire-born tailor.
The working theory identifies this Robert with the man later called Robert John Burrows. Can records connect those two identities directly?
Help investigate: family journals, certificates, letters, and London newspaper reports may clarify the name change. Descendants of Robert’s siblings or other children could also provide useful family and DNA comparisons.
What led to this identification?
Robert Guthrie, son of John Guthrie and Elizabeth McCartney, married Kate’s sister Florence in London in 1888. Kate’s first recorded marriage was to William Charles Henry Montague Burrows.
The later children’s records use the Burrows name. A marriage record for Kate’s son William James identifies his father as Robert Guthrie, a tailor. These details led to the proposed identification of Robert Guthrie with Robert John Burrows.
No marriage record for Kate and Robert has been located in the branch study. The circumstances of the change of surname and Robert’s death remain under investigation. The older Dundee and Guthrie Castle versions of the story are retained in the family study for comparison.
Most Wanted Documents
- Prestwick family connections: records linking the Vennel households to the family of John Guthrie, bailie, and Jane or Jean Dunlop.
- Adam’s Irish origins: records naming his parents or home, and the source behind Penelope Johnson Allen’s Niall MacGuthrie account.
- Daniel’s parents: the earliest source for William Guthrie and Nancy Bussell, or a record identifying a different family.
- The Arkansas connection: evidence naming William, Thomas, or John as children of Samuel Guthrie and Judith Carter.
- The Guthrie–Burrows identity: family papers or official records connecting Robert Guthrie the tailor with Robert John Burrows.
Please include the source, where you found it, and any information about who preserved it. A different version of a family story is welcome, too.
Explore the Branches
Each family study brings together the children, historical records, research questions, and DNA findings for that branch. Look for Guthrie, Guthery, Guthry, Guttery, and Guttry when following the older records.
Branch A
John Guthrie & Betty Logan
Prestwick & Ayr, Scotland · Tasmania & Victoria, Australia
The family of John and Betty can be followed through their son Charles Guthrie, an Ayr brewer born in 1789. Several of Charles’s children settled in Australia, providing the group with a family line leading back to Ayrshire.
Explore John & Betty’s family →Names to look for in this family
John and Betty’s children include twins Margaret and Agnes, Betty, and Charles. Charles’s family includes children of his marriages to Mary Miller and Agnes Smith.
The Australian story includes Hugh Miller Guthrie and his brothers and sister. Their Scottish parish entries help lead the investigation back to the Vennel of Prestwick.
Branch B
Daniel Guthrie & Jane
Pennsylvania · Virginia · Kentucky · Indiana & Arkansas
Daniel’s family appears in Pennsylvania records before moving south and west. Several sons helped establish the family in Lawrence County, Indiana, while Samuel’s line went to Arkansas. Daniel’s parents and Jane’s maiden name remain open questions.
Explore Daniel & Jane’s family →Follow the children & their migrations
The family study follows Mary, Hugh, Samuel, Ann, Sarah, Daniel, William, John, and Patience. It also discusses whether Mary may have been a child of an earlier marriage.
The Flinn families appear repeatedly through marriages and migration. Keep each couple together when tracing the Indiana households and the relatives who remained in Virginia or moved elsewhere.
Branch C
William Guthery & Elizabeth Copeland
Virginia · Benton County, Arkansas
William was born in Virginia about 1809 and raised his family in Arkansas. Nearby Guthery households and the migration of Samuel Guthrie’s family provide leads toward his missing parents.
Explore William & Elizabeth’s family →Households & names under review
Follow possible brothers Thomas and John alongside William’s household. Thomas and John later appear in Texas, giving their descendants another trail to explore.
Copeland is the name retained in the branch heading, supported by nearby families and an estate connection, but Elizabeth’s maiden name still needs confirmation. The study also examines conflicting census entries for the children, including Mary “Polly.”
Branch D
Adam Guthrie & Mary Anderson
Reported Irish origins · Virginia · Tennessee · Kentucky
Adam’s records follow a family through the Virginia frontier, the territory that became Tennessee, and Cumberland County, Kentucky. Land, wills, and changing county boundaries help distinguish this household from other men named Adam Guthrie.
Explore Adam & Mary’s family →Follow the family through its records
Adam’s 1825 will names James, George, Thomas, Polly, and Nancy. Its August 1827 probate certificate provides a date by which he had died, rather than an exact date of death.
George Anderson’s will names Adam as his son-in-law but does not name Adam’s wife. Her identification as Mary comes from the family reconstruction discussed in the branch study.
Branch E
The Guthrie–Burrows Family
Ayrshire, Scotland · London, England · Australia
The descendants of Kate Symonds preserved their Guthrie origins despite a change of surname. Follow the identity investigation in London and the Australian family of Robert John Guthrie-Burrows and Ella Maria Watson.
Explore the Guthrie–Burrows family →The journey to Australia
Robert John arrived in Australia aboard the Euripides in 1914. He and Ella Maria Watson married in 1918 and served as Salvation Army officers.
Their daughter Eva Burrows became the Salvation Army’s international leader. The family study follows Kate’s children, the name changes, and the proposed earlier Ayrshire ancestry.
What the DNA Tells Us
A Shared Paternal Line
Y-DNA connects tested descendants of the five branches. It gives us a reason to investigate their earlier families together, even when records use different spellings or a different surname.
The match does not supply the missing parents or establish that every branch descends from a particular named couple. Those connections still need family records and further comparisons.
More Branches, More Comparisons
Men who descend from these families through an unbroken father-to-son line can help through Y-DNA testing. Separately documented lines are especially useful for comparing the proposed connections.
For existing Y-DNA testers, a Big-Y upgrade may help show where branches separated. The December 2025 review had Big-Y representation from Branches D and E, leaving A, B, and C as important opportunities.
Choosing a DNA test →Open the Big-Y research snapshot · December 2025
- Broader paternal family: R1a–Z283
- The December 2025 project review places GFG7 within this part of the Y-DNA tree.
- Branches D & E: R-FTF24857
- The tested Adam Guthrie and Guthrie–Burrows lines shared this genetic branch. Their most recent common paternal ancestor was estimated to have been born around 1494.
- What remains to be discovered?
- The ancestor’s name, home, and the generations connecting him to the documented families. Results from the other branches could help refine the picture.
The date is a genetic estimate and may change as new results are added. This comparison describes the two branches represented in that review; it does not assign the same detailed result to every GFG7 tester.
Related Research & Family Stories
Letters from Daniel’s Descendants
The correspondence linked in the Branch B study may help trace earlier family knowledge and the sources behind later accounts.
Explore the FamilySearch collection →Follow the Ayrshire Records
Use Scotland’s parish registers, statutory records, censuses, and wills to compare the Prestwick families and later generations.
Visit ScotlandsPeople →A. B. “Bud” Guthrie
A descendant of Daniel and Jane’s family, the novelist won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Way West.
Explore Arts, Literature & Scholarship →General Eva Burrows
A daughter of the Guthrie–Burrows family, Eva served as the Salvation Army’s 13th General from 1986 to 1993.
Explore Public Service & Leadership →What Does Your Family Know?
A letter, family Bible, photograph, or well-sourced ancestral line may help answer one of these questions. Share what you have found, explain where your research stops, or suggest a family story for Guthrie Genealogy.
Share a discovery or contact Ann →
I am a descendant of the Guthrie-Flynn line and have been stumped trying to find parents for Daniel (and his brother Hugh).
Beyond that, Daniel’s story is compelling and seems to hold together. I do need to improve my skills though.
My great-grandmother was Goldie Gertrude Guthrie. She lived to be 101!
She had quite a life. She met my great-grandfather after his wife died in childbirth, leaving him alone with 5 daughters under the age of 6! After getting married, they tried homesteading in South Dakota (my Grandfather had stories of those days) but a drought forced them back to Iowa,
How does one go about researching Ayr (Scotland) genealogy short of traveling there?
Dana Jenner
Hi Dana,
You can start right here under the Research Tab. I have already collected a lot of Ayrshire information you can just download. Also be sure to use the links to get to my Guthrie Research tree on Ancestry (if you have access). Go to the Tree Search and Type in “Ayr (Strathclyde)” and that will get you to all of the collected Ayrshire families I have already gathered together.
My favorite place for Scottish research is the Scotland’s People site. They partner with the National Records of Scotland to provide original images and a ton of information. I suggest that you browse around the site to see what is available. Many of the records are have minimal transcriptions available on Ancestry, FindMyPast, etc. If you can narrow down the record you want, you’ll have a better chance of finding the right image to download. The Old Parish Church Records cover everything prior to 1855. Records in the 1600s are very, very difficult to make out. Some parishes document a lot of information, while others not so much. The Statutory Records have tons of information but only cover the years after 1855. Again, check my tree because I already have a lot of records transcribed there.
Am looking for parents of Alexandrew Nelson Guthrie 1810 Al – 1855 Tx married Pernina May. appreciate help.