Guthrie of Memus
Meet the Guthries of Memus
The traditional story of William Guthrie of Memus appears deceptively simple. He belonged to the principal Guthries of Guthrie, succeeded his brother Alexander in the lands of Guthrie, and was later described in published pedigrees as leaving “no male issue.” That final statement can no longer be accepted as a literal description of William’s family.
Contemporary evidence now identifies Alexander Guthrie as the eldest son of William Guthrie of Memess. The same record names Annas Guthrie as William’s daughter. A second record from 1631/32 again describes Alexander as William’s eldest son. Whatever ultimately became of the Memus family, William was therefore neither childless nor without male issue.
The most important change is not simply the discovery of another name in the pedigree. The surviving documents show that William of Memus had a family whose children were largely lost from later genealogical accounts. Alexander and Annas can presently be treated as documented children. Other evidence points toward additional sons, but those relationships require a different level of caution.
William’s place in the succession to Guthrie itself is much clearer. On 7 October 1615, he was served male heir to Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk, his brother-german, in the principal Guthrie inheritance. The service establishes the brother-to-brother succession directly and explains William’s appearance thereafter among the holders of Guthrie.
The newly reconstructed household may extend farther. Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ identifies the Rev. James Guthrie of Stirling as a son of William Guthrie of Memes and brother of Alexander. That statement is important, but the underlying record on which the identification was based has not yet been independently examined.
A different evidence trail leads to Robert Guthrie in Danzig, or Gdańsk. A published account of a 1662 record identifies Robert as a son of William Guthrie of “Minus,” near Forfar, and Fenton. The corresponding archival unit has now been located in the State Archives in Gdańsk, but it is not digitized and the original document has not yet been examined. Robert is therefore presented on this profile as a possible son, not as a proved member of the family.
This profile does not attempt to force every surviving clue into a finished pedigree. Instead, it distinguishes between relationships stated directly in contemporary records, identifications preserved by later sources, and possible relationships that still require verification. Alexander and Annas are documented children of William. Rev. James Guthrie and Robert Guthrie are presented as possible sons because meaningful evidence trails exist for both, but neither relationship will be treated as proved until the underlying evidence can be independently verified.
Records capable of resolving these questions will be identified in the Most Wanted Documents section, together with their repository, archival reference, access information, and an explanation of exactly what each record could add to the family reconstruction.
The result is a different kind of Memus pedigree from the one preserved in older family histories. Rather than ending with William, the documentary trail opens outward into a household whose extent is only now becoming visible. This page follows that evidence from the succession at Guthrie to the lands of Memus, William and Isabella Fenton, their documented children, and the unresolved question of whether other prominent seventeenth-century Guthries belonged to the same family.
The Family at a Glance
The Memus family can no longer be represented by the traditional formula that William Guthrie left no male issue. Contemporary records establish two of William’s children directly, while separate evidence trails identify two additional men who may also belong in his household. The family structure below deliberately shows those different levels of evidence.
William belonged to the principal Guthrie family. A later service of heir identifies Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk as William’s father.
William’s brother-german and predecessor in the principal lands of Guthrie.
Served male heir to his full brother Alexander in 1615 and thereafter appears as William Guthrie of that Ilk.
The central Memus household
Isabella Fenton is securely documented as William’s wife in the property records surrounding the later alienation of Guthrie. William continued to be associated with Memus even after succeeding to the principal Guthrie estate.
A 1630 bond explicitly describes Alexander as the eldest son of William Guthrie of Memess. A second record from 1631/32 again calls him William’s eldest son. He also appears with the territorial designation fiar of Memus.
The same 1630 bond identifies Annas Guthrie as daughter of William Guthrie of Memess. Her appearance beside Alexander provides direct evidence for more than one child in William’s household.
Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ identifies the prominent Covenanter minister James Guthrie as a son of William Guthrie of Memes and a brother of Alexander. The identification is significant, but the underlying evidence cited for that relationship has not yet been independently examined.
A published account of a 1662 Gdańsk record identifies Robert Guthrie as son of William Guthrie of “Minus,” near Forfar, and Fenton. The corresponding archival file has now been located, but no digital image is presently available.
The records presently cited for Alexander and Annas identify William as their father but do not themselves name their mother. Isabella Fenton was William’s documented wife, but this profile does not assign maternity to individual children unless the surviving evidence supports it. The published Gdańsk evidence for Robert specifically associates his mother with the surname Fenton, but that statement still awaits examination of the original record.
William Guthrie of Memus had at least two directly documented children, including a son who was expressly called his eldest son. Rev. James Guthrie and Robert Guthrie may expand that household further, but they remain provisional placements. The old statement that William simply left “no male issue” therefore cannot describe the family revealed by the surviving contemporary records.
The Place: Memus
Memus lies in Angus, north-east of Kirriemuir, within the historic parish of Tannadice. Today the name belongs to a small rural settlement, but seventeenth-century records describe lands of Memas / Memus. When William Guthrie and his family used Memus as a territorial designation, they were identifying themselves with those lands rather than simply with the later village as we know it today.
Tannadice, historically in Forfarshire and now within Angus.
Contemporary succession evidence describes the lands of Memas in the barony of Tannadice.
Memus lies within the inland Angus landscape between Kirriemuir, Cortachy and Tannadice, with Forfar farther to the south-east.
The wider map explains where Memus sits within Angus. The close-up allows us to narrow our attention to the lands themselves and to understand why “of Memus” became a meaningful territorial designation for William Guthrie and his family.
This distinction matters because the documentary evidence does not describe a separate Barony of Memus. Instead, William’s inheritance is specifically described as the lands of Memas within the barony of Tannadice.
The clearest surviving evidence for William’s legal connection to Memus comes from a service of heir recorded among the Forfarshire Retours. William Guthrie of that Ilk was served heir to Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk, his father, in:
“terris de Memas in baronia de Tannadyce”
— the lands of Memas in the barony of Tannadice.
This is especially important because it shows that Memus did not come to William merely as a residence or refuge after the later sale of Guthrie. He inherited the Memas lands from his father.
That inheritance helps explain William’s two overlapping territorial identities. After the death of his brother Alexander, William had been served male heir to the principal estate of Guthrie on 7 October 1615 and accordingly appears as William Guthrie of that Ilk. Memus, however, was another inherited family property. By 1630 contemporary records again identify him specifically as William Guthrie of Memess.
The territorial identity did not disappear with the seventeenth-century Guthries. Later Airlie estate papers preserve a series concerning the lands of Balgillo, Memus and Murthill in the Barony and Parish of Tannadice, covering the period 1680–1826.
Those records reinforce the terminology already found in William’s 1622 retour: Memus was treated as a recognizable body of lands within Tannadice.
Memus, Memas, Memess — Why So Many Spellings?
Early-modern Scottish records did not use standardized spelling. The place associated with William and his family appears in several forms in the surviving documentary and published evidence.
The 1622 retour uses Memas; the 1630 bond uses Memess; another Brechin record has been read as Mamus. Later usage settled on the modern form Memus.
The 1662 Gdańsk evidence trail for Robert Guthrie uses the form “Minus.” Because that record also associates Robert with William Guthrie and Fenton and places the family near Forfar, “Minus” is a strong candidate for a continental rendering or transcription of Memus. The original archival document has not yet been examined, so that spelling remains part of the evidence still awaiting verification.
William’s association with Memus was not simply a secondary label adopted after he ceased to hold Guthrie. The 1622 service of heir shows that he inherited the lands of Memas directly from his father, while the 1615 retour separately records his succession to his brother in Guthrie.
The two estates therefore represent two different strands of William’s inheritance. Understanding that distinction helps explain why the same man can appear in the records as of that Ilk and later again as of Memus without requiring two different William Guthries.
Memus & Guthrie
William’s story involves two different landed inheritances. In 1615 he succeeded his full brother in the principal estate of Guthrie. In 1622 he was separately served heir to his father in the lands of Memas. The records therefore allow us to distinguish his succession within the family from the later transfer of the estate itself.
This distinction becomes essential when explaining why Guthrie did not pass to William’s son Alexander. Older summaries could make the change of ownership look like the natural consequence of William leaving no male heir. The legal record shows something quite different.
William was served male heir to Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk, his brother-german, in the principal lands and rights of Guthrie.
The inheritance included the old Kirkton or mains, the mill, Teiltoun, Eastertoun alias Haltoun, Milnetoun, rights connected with the collegiate church, common pasture in Montreathmont, and the superiority of Langlands.
An instrument of sasine placed David Guthrie of Kincaldrum in specified Guthrie lands including Heughhead, Mylnetoun, Eastertoun and Kirktoun of Guthrie.
The transaction proceeded under charters granted by William Guthrie of that Ilk with the consent of Isabella Fenton, his spouse. David’s involvement with Guthrie therefore began several years before the final sale.
While already holder of the principal Guthrie estate, William was separately served heir to Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk, his father, in the lands of Memas in the barony of Tannadice.
The record demonstrates that Memus was an inherited property in its own right and not simply a territorial designation adopted after William later sold Guthrie.
On 10 September 1629, William Guthrie of that Ilk, with the consent of Isabella Fenton his spouse, sold the principal Guthrie estate irredeemably to David Guthrie of Kincaldrum.
Crown confirmation followed on 24 July 1630.
William obtained the principal estate through brother-to-brother succession in 1615.
He later conveyed that estate to the Kincaldrum branch by sale.
William was separately served heir to his father in Memas in 1622.
After the sale of Guthrie, records again identify the family by the territorial style of Memus / Memess.
What Did William Sell in 1629?
The Great Seal confirmation preserves a substantial description of the principal Guthrie estate conveyed to David of Kincaldrum. Among the lands and rights included were:
- the principal or dominical lands of Guthrie;
- the old Kirkton or mains;
- the tower and manor place;
- the grain mill;
- Teiltoun;
- Eastertoun / Haltoun;
- Mylntoun;
- rights connected with the collegiate church;
- common pasture in Montreathmont.
Hiltoun and Langlands were excluded from the principal transfer. Their separate legal histories should therefore not be folded automatically into the later ownership of the core Guthrie estate.
This is one of the most important corrections made by the Memus research. Contemporary evidence now proves that Alexander Guthrie was William’s eldest son. The transfer of the principal Guthrie estate to David of Kincaldrum therefore cannot be explained by saying William died without male issue.
William sold Guthrie. His family and the ownership history of the estate then followed different paths.
Later genealogies commonly call William the 7th of Guthrie and David of Kincaldrum the 8th. Those numbers are useful modern genealogical shorthand, but they should not imply that David inherited from William. Contemporary evidence shows that David’s possession arose from purchase.
William Guthrie & Isabella Fenton
The surviving records tell us much more about William Guthrie’s property position than about the personal lives of William and his wife. Even so, Isabella Fenton is not merely a name supplied by a later pedigree. She appears with William in contemporary legal transactions concerning the lands of Guthrie.
Those documents securely establish the marriage while also showing Isabella participating in transactions that ultimately transferred the principal Guthrie estate to the Kincaldrum branch.
William belonged to the principal Guthrie family and succeeded his full brother Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk in 1615. He was subsequently served heir to his father, another Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk, in the lands of Memas in 1622.
The combination of those two services explains his unusual place in the family: William held the principal Guthrie inheritance while also possessing the separate lands from which his later of Memus designation derived.
Isabella Fenton appears directly in the property evidence as William Guthrie’s spouse. Her consent accompanied William’s conveyances affecting the Guthrie estate.
The records presently assembled establish her marriage securely, but they do not yet establish her parents or earlier ancestry. This profile therefore does not attach Isabella to a Fenton family without further evidence.
On 24 April 1621, an instrument of sasine recorded David Guthrie of Kincaldrum receiving possession of specified lands of Guthrie.
The sasine proceeded under charters and precepts granted by William Guthrie of that Ilk, with the consent of Isabella Fenton his spouse.
This provides direct contemporary evidence that William and Isabella were married by 1621.
The decisive conveyance was executed on 10 September 1629. William, again with the consent of Isabella Fenton his spouse, sold the principal Guthrie estate irredeemably to David Guthrie of Kincaldrum.
The Crown confirmed the transaction on 24 July 1630.
Isabella’s appearance in these transactions matters. A wife’s consent in a seventeenth-century Scottish land transaction could be necessary where her marital or liferent rights might otherwise affect the conveyance. Her presence in the deeds therefore places her directly within the documented history of the estate rather than leaving her dependent upon later genealogical tradition.
The documents do not, however, tell us everything we would like to know about her. They establish who her husband was; they do not yet establish her parents, birthplace, marriage date, or the complete history of her own property interests.
Isabella, Isobel, Issobell — Which Name Should We Use?
Early-modern records regularly vary the spelling of personal names. William’s wife appears in modern transcriptions and published records as forms including Isabella, Isobel and Issobelle / Issobel. The surname likewise appears as Fenton and Fentoun.
These spelling differences do not require separate women. The property context consistently identifies the woman concerned as William Guthrie’s spouse.
This profile uses Isabella Fenton in narrative prose while preserving the spelling of individual records when the original or published wording is being discussed.
A Brechin Commissary Court deed-index entry previously identified in this project appears to associate William Guthrie, son of Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk, with Isobel Fenton.
If the underlying deed confirms that reading, it may provide another useful link between William’s parentage and his marriage. The original deed or a sufficiently complete transcription has not yet been examined, so the entry is retained here as a research lead rather than documentary proof.
Isabella was William’s documented wife, but the records presently identifying Alexander and Annas as William’s children name their father rather than their mother. For that reason, this profile does not automatically describe Alexander and Annas as Isabella’s children without qualification.
The later Gdańsk evidence concerning possible son Robert Guthrie is particularly interesting because it separately associates his mother with the surname Fenton. That evidence will be examined in the section devoted to Robert.
The Children of William Guthrie of Memus
The surviving evidence does not yet give us a complete list of William Guthrie’s children. It does, however, establish much more than the traditional pedigree allowed. Two children can presently be named from contemporary records: Alexander Guthrie and Annas Guthrie.
Two additional men have significant evidence connecting them to the same household. Rev. James Guthrie of Stirling is explicitly called William’s son and Alexander’s brother by a later ecclesiastical source citing a 1659 sasine. Robert Guthrie, who appeared in Danzig / Gdańsk in 1662, is identified in a published archival abstract as the son of a William Guthrie of “Minus” near Forfar and a Fenton mother.
Because those last two relationships have not yet been independently verified from their underlying original records, both men are shown here as possible sons.
A bond dated 28 October 1630 explicitly identifies Alexander Guthrie as the eldest son of William Guthrie of Memess. A Brechin record of 1631/32 again describes Alexander as William’s eldest son.
By November 1641 Alexander was dead. A National Records of Scotland catalogue entry describes a brief of inquest for lands held by the deceased Alexander Guthrie, fiar of Memis.
Annas appears in the same 1630 bond that identifies Alexander. The record describes her directly as daughter of William Guthrie of Memess.
Her husband, children and later life have not yet been securely reconstructed. She remains important in her own right, however, because her documentary appearance proves that William’s household included at least one daughter as well as a son.
Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ makes an unusually specific genealogical statement, identifying James as “son of William G. of Memes and brother of Alexander G. of Memes.”
The editors cite the General Register of Sasines, Second Series, 30 April 1659. That underlying sasine has not yet been independently examined for this project.
The identification is therefore substantial evidence, but it is not yet treated as contemporary proof.
A published transcription of a 1662 Danzig record identifies Robert Guthrie as son of the “noble” William Guthrie of “Minus,” near Forfar, and “Elis. Fenton.” Henry Guthrie, a merchant at Danzig, is named as witness.
The modern Polish archive catalogue independently contains an individual 1662 unit for “Guthrie, Robert – pasamonik, Minus – Szkocja.” No scans are presently available online.
The combination of place, father and Fenton mother makes Robert a serious candidate for the Memus household, but the original archival file must be examined before the relationship is promoted to documented status.
Alexander’s description as William’s eldest son is decisive evidence that William had a son. It therefore disproves any literal statement that William left no male issue.
The phrase should not, however, be stretched beyond the record. “Eldest son” does not by itself prove that a younger son was then living or even that another son existed. James and Robert must stand or fall on the evidence identifying each of them, not on an inference drawn from Alexander’s designation.
Whatever the eventual fate of the Memus line, William’s family did not end with William himself. Alexander and Annas are directly documented children. James and Robert may reveal a still broader family, but their placement remains provisional.
The appropriate correction is therefore not to replace one rigid pedigree with another. It is to reconstruct the household one relationship at a time, according to the strength of the surviving evidence.
Isabella Fenton is William’s documented wife, but the contemporary record naming Alexander and Annas identifies William as their father without naming their mother. Their maternity is therefore not stated directly in that evidence.
Robert’s evidence is different: Fischer’s published transcription specifically gives his mother as “Elis. Fenton.” That wording is preserved here exactly rather than silently changing the given name to Isabella or Isobel. Examination of the original Gdańsk file may show whether the published abbreviation reflects the source accurately and whether Robert can securely be connected with William’s documented wife.
Alexander Guthrie of Memus
Alexander is the most securely documented child of William Guthrie of Memus. The surviving records do more than merely place him somewhere in William’s family: they explicitly call him William’s eldest son and later identify him territorially as fiar of Memis.
A bond preserved among the Inverquharity papers identifies Alexander Guthrie as the eldest son of William Guthrie of Memess. The same record names Annas Guthrie as William’s daughter.
This is the key contemporary document overturning the old claim that William left no male issue.
A second Brechin record again describes Alexander as the eldest son of William Guthrie of Mamus / Memus.
The independent repetition is valuable because the relationship does not depend upon a single surviving reference.
By November 1641 Alexander was deceased. A surviving brief of inquest concerns lands held by the deceased Alexander Guthrie, fiar of Memis.
The document is described as damaged. Its survival is nevertheless important because it connects the same Alexander with the territorial succession at Memus and establishes an upper limit for his death.
In Scottish landholding terminology, fiar refers to the person holding, or vested with, the fee of property, often while another person retained a liferent or other continuing interest. In family records it frequently marks the man positioned in the landed succession.
Alexander’s style as fiar of Memis therefore fits naturally with his earlier description as William’s eldest son. It shows that his connection with Memus was not merely genealogical: Alexander himself had a documented landed interest there.
The term should not be translated automatically as “laird” or used to prove that William was already dead. It describes Alexander’s legal relationship to the property more precisely than either assumption would.
- Alexander was a son of William Guthrie of Memus.
- He was specifically William’s eldest son.
- He was living in 1630 and 1631/32.
- He held a legal interest in Memus and was styled fiar of Memis.
- He was deceased by November 1641.
- Alexander’s exact birth date.
- The identity of his wife, if married.
- A complete and documented list of his children or heirs.
- His exact date of death.
- The full succession of the Memus lands immediately after him.
Later seventeenth-century records show that Guthries continued to be associated with Memus. In 1680, John Guthrie of Easter Memus granted a bond involving James Guthrie in Lodgeingtoun, his brother, and James’s wife Janet Lyon.
This later sibling pair is important because it demonstrates that a Guthrie household remained connected with Eastertoun of Memus. What has not yet been proved is the generational bridge between these men and Alexander, fiar of Memis.
They should therefore not yet be presented as Alexander’s sons. The possibility belongs in the continuing reconstruction of the Memus succession.
Alexander’s significance is greater than his relatively small documentary footprint might suggest. He provides direct proof that William Guthrie of Memus had a male heir within his own family, and his later style as fiar demonstrates that the Memus landed succession continued into the next generation.
What happened after Alexander’s death remains less clear. That is a question of later succession and descendants, not evidence that William himself lacked sons.
Possible Sons: James & Robert Guthrie
Alexander and Annas can be placed in William Guthrie’s family from contemporary records. James Guthrie and Robert Guthrie require more careful treatment. Neither man is being added to the pedigree simply because his name, age or circumstances seem to fit.
Each has a specific documentary trail connecting him with William Guthrie of Memus / Memes. Those trails are strong enough to justify showing both men in the developing family reconstruction, but the original records needed to convert either relationship into fully documented status have not yet been examined.
James Guthrie became one of the best-known Scottish ministers of the Covenanting period. His prominence also produced a large body of later biography, and descriptions of his ancestry have not always agreed.
The most important evidence for the Memus connection appears in Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ, Volume VIII, page 393. Unlike the broad tradition that James was simply the son of a laird of Guthrie, Fasti gives an exact father and brother.
“JAMES GUTHRIE, son of William G. of Memes and brother of Alexander G. of Memes.”
The importance of that statement is obvious. We independently know from contemporary evidence that William Guthrie of Memus really did have an eldest son Alexander. The family configuration described by Fasti therefore fits a household that can now be shown to have existed.
Fasti is a later ecclesiastical compilation, not a contemporary record of James’s birth. More importantly, its editors cite an underlying source: General Register of Sasines, Second Series, 30 April 1659.
Until that sasine is examined and its exact kinship wording confirmed, the Memus parentage should remain provisional.
Robert’s evidence comes from an entirely different direction. Scottish migration carried many merchants and craftsmen to the Baltic, and records of citizenship and legitimate birth survive among the municipal papers of Danzig, now Gdańsk, Poland.
In 1903, Ernst Ludwig Fischer published an abstract identifying Robert Guthrie as the son of the “noble” William Guthrie of “Minus,” not far from Forfar, and “Elis. Fenton.” Henry Guthrie, merchant at Danzig, was named as witness.
The combination is striking: William Guthrie + a Fenton mother + “Minus” near Forfar. It closely resembles the documented William Guthrie of Memus and Isabella / Isobel Fenton household.
The Polish occupational term pasamonik places Robert in the passementerie or textile-trimmings trade — work involving such goods as braid, cord, lace, ribbon or fringe.
Fischer’s publication gives a remarkably specific parentage, and the modern Gdańsk catalogue confirms that a 1662 Robert Guthrie from “Minus – Scotland” has an individual file.
The original file itself has not yet been viewed. We therefore do not yet know whether Fischer was abstracting a Scottish birth-brief, a sworn declaration before the Danzig magistrates, another family certificate, or a combination of records.
- Recover the General Register of Sasines entry dated 30 April 1659.
- Determine whether it explicitly names William of Memes as father.
- Determine whether it explicitly identifies Alexander as James’s brother.
- Preserve the complete property and kinship context rather than relying only upon the later Fasti summary.
- Obtain the complete 1662 Gdańsk archival file.
- Verify Robert’s father’s exact name and territorial style.
- Verify the mother’s name exactly as written in the original.
- Determine what testimony Henry Guthrie of Danzig supplied and whether his own relationship to Robert was stated.
Neither James nor Robert should yet be inserted into the Memus pedigree without qualification. But neither is a speculative name chosen merely because he was a Guthrie living at the right time.
James has an explicit published father-and-brother identification tied to a specific sasine. Robert has an explicit published father-and-mother identification tied to a specific surviving archival file. Both evidence trails are traceable and testable.
For that reason, this profile presents each man as a possible son of William Guthrie of Memus while preserving a clear boundary between promising evidence and documentary proof.
Family & Property Timeline
The Memus story becomes much clearer when the family and property records are read together. William first succeeded his brother at Guthrie, later proved his separate inheritance in Memus, sold the principal Guthrie estate, and continued with a family that included at least two documented children.
The later entries for James and Robert are intentionally marked differently because their proposed relationships to William still depend upon original records that have not yet been examined.
William Guthrie of that Ilk was served male heir to Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk, his brother-german, in the principal lands and rights of Guthrie.
This directly establishes the brother-to-brother succession and explains William’s appearance thereafter as holder of the principal Guthrie estate.
An instrument of sasine placed David Guthrie of Kincaldrum in specified parts of the Guthrie estate, including Heughhead, Mylnetoun, Eastertoun and Kirktoun of Guthrie.
The transaction proceeded from William Guthrie of that Ilk with the consent of Isabella Fenton, his spouse.
William was separately served heir to Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk, his father, in the lands of Memas in the barony of Tannadice.
The record proves that Memus was a paternal inheritance independent of William’s later succession to his brother at Guthrie.
William, with the consent of Isabella Fenton his spouse, conveyed the principal Guthrie estate irredeemably to David Guthrie of Kincaldrum.
This was a sale, not a hereditary succession caused by failure of William’s male line.
The Crown confirmed the earlier conveyance of the principal Guthrie estate to David Guthrie of Kincaldrum.
William’s family thereafter continued to appear under the territorial designation of Memus / Memess.
A bond identifies Alexander Guthrie as the eldest son of William Guthrie of Memess and Annas Guthrie as William’s daughter.
This is the decisive evidence demonstrating that the traditional statement that William left “no male issue” cannot be read literally.
A Brechin record again styles Alexander as the eldest son of William Guthrie of Mamus / Memus, independently reinforcing the relationship already found in 1630.
A damaged brief of inquest concerns lands held by the deceased Alexander Guthrie, fiar of Memis.
Alexander’s death by this date marks the first major break in the documented Memus succession. The exact identity of his heir or heirs is not yet securely reconstructed.
Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ later identified Rev. James Guthrie of Stirling as son of William Guthrie of Memes and brother of Alexander Guthrie of Memes, citing a General Register of Sasines entry dated 30 April 1659.
The cited sasine has not yet been independently examined, so this event records the source trail, not a proved parent-child relationship.
The Covenanter minister Rev. James Guthrie of Stirling was executed at Edinburgh. His proposed placement as William’s son remains provisional, but the possibility would connect the little-known Memus household with one of the best-known Guthries of the seventeenth century.
A published abstract identifies Robert Guthrie as son of the “noble” William Guthrie of “Minus,” near Forfar, and “Elis. Fenton.”
The corresponding archival unit has now been located in the State Archives in Gdańsk. Its modern catalogue title identifies Robert as a pasamonik from “Minus – Scotland.”
John Guthrie of Easter Memus appears in a charter of confirmation involving James Guthrie in Lodgeingtoun, his brother, and James’s wife Janet Lyon.
The record confirms that a Guthrie family remained associated with Memus later in the century. What remains unresolved is whether John and James descend directly from Alexander Guthrie, fiar of Memis.
The timeline makes the central correction especially clear. William’s sale of Guthrie and the continuation of William’s own family were separate events. The principal estate passed to David of Kincaldrum by purchase, while William’s son Alexander continued as fiar of Memus.
The unresolved part of the story begins after Alexander. Later evidence may connect Memus with Rev. James Guthrie, Robert Guthrie in Gdańsk, and the later Guthries of Easter Memus, but those relationships must still be reconstructed from their own records rather than filled in by assumption.
What the Evidence Changes
The newly assembled evidence changes several parts of the traditional Guthrie story at once. Most importantly, it separates the fate of the principal estate of Guthrie from the fate of William Guthrie’s own family.
Earlier pedigrees could make those two stories appear to be the same: William supposedly left no male issue, and Guthrie therefore passed elsewhere. The surviving records show that this explanation is too simple.
William of Memus was said to have left “no male issue.”
In 1630, Alexander Guthrie was explicitly described as the eldest son of William Guthrie of Memess.
That single relationship is enough to reject a literal reading of “no male issue.” The same record also names Annas Guthrie as William’s daughter, revealing a household largely absent from the later pedigree tradition.
David Guthrie of Kincaldrum followed William because William’s male line had failed.
William and Isabella Fenton sold the principal Guthrie estate irredeemably to David of Kincaldrum.
The property transfer was therefore a transaction between branches of the family, not proof that William had no heir.
David’s later place in the numbered succession of the lairds reflects possession of the estate. It should not be mistaken for a direct hereditary succession from William.
William became “of Memus” only after disposing of the principal estate of Guthrie.
In 1622 William was served heir to his father Alexander in the lands of Memas.
Memus was therefore not simply William’s post-Guthrie residence. It belonged to an earlier strand of his inheritance and existed alongside his possession of the principal Guthrie estate.
William’s descendants were effectively absent from the principal family narrative.
Alexander was not only William’s eldest son but later fiar of Memis.
Alexander therefore occupied a real place in the landed succession of Memus. By November 1641 he was dead, but the family story did not disappear merely because later genealogies failed to preserve it.
James Guthrie of Stirling was often said to be the son of a laird of Guthrie, but his father was uncertain.
Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ specifically identifies him as son of William of Memes and brother of Alexander of Memes.
This does not yet prove the relationship. But the discovery that William really did have an eldest son named Alexander makes the Fasti statement substantially more significant than it appeared when William was believed to be childless.
The cited 30 April 1659 sasine now becomes one of the highest-priority documents for resolving James’s ancestry.
The Memus household appeared to fade from view after William and Alexander.
A 1662 Danzig / Gdańsk evidence trail identifies Robert Guthrie of “Minus” as son of William Guthrie and a Fenton mother.
The combination of William + Fenton + a place rendered “Minus” near Forfar makes Robert a serious candidate for the Memus family.
His placement remains provisional until the surviving Gdańsk file can be examined, but the record opens an entirely new geographic direction for the family’s history.
By 1680 the records again show a Guthrie household at Easter Memus: John Guthrie of Easter Memus and his brother James Guthrie in Lodgeingtoun.
Their presence makes continued family occupation or descent plausible, but the generation connecting them to Alexander, fiar of Memis has not yet been proved.
This is an important distinction. Territorial continuity is a research clue; it is not by itself a pedigree.
The discovery of William’s children does not give us permission to fill every remaining gap. We do not yet have a securely documented complete list of William’s children, a proved wife and descendants for Alexander, or primary confirmation that either Rev. James Guthrie or Robert Guthrie was William’s son.
Nor can the later Guthries of Easter Memus yet be inserted into Alexander’s descendant line simply because they held land at Memus. Those questions remain open and are carried forward into the research sections that follow.
William Guthrie inherited Memus from his father and later succeeded his full brother at Guthrie. He and Isabella Fenton eventually sold the principal Guthrie estate to David of Kincaldrum. That sale did not mark the extinction of William’s family.
Contemporary evidence proves that William had an eldest son, Alexander, and a daughter, Annas. Alexander continued the landed connection as fiar of Memis. Additional evidence may ultimately place Rev. James Guthrie of Stirling and Robert Guthrie of Gdańsk in the same household.
The family that older pedigrees effectively allowed to disappear has therefore re-emerged in the records — not yet as a finished pedigree, but as an increasingly well-defined seventeenth-century Guthrie family whose history can now be investigated on its own terms.
Open Questions
The Memus reconstruction has corrected several important parts of the older pedigree, but it has also exposed new gaps. The most useful way forward is not to fill those spaces with assumptions, but to identify precisely what is known, what remains uncertain, and what kind of record could settle the question.
1. Who Was the Mother of Alexander and Annas Guthrie?
Isabella Fenton is securely documented as William Guthrie’s wife by 1621 and again in 1629. Alexander and Annas are securely documented as William’s children.
The records presently naming Alexander and Annas do not identify their mother. A marriage contract, sasine, testament, birth record or family settlement might establish whether Isabella was their mother.
2. Did Alexander Guthrie of Memus Marry and Leave Children?
Alexander was William’s eldest son, later fiar of Memis, and deceased by November 1641.
His wife, marriage contract, children and exact successor have not yet been securely identified. The damaged 1641 brief may be especially important for reconstructing the next generation.
3. Are the Later Guthries of Easter Memus Alexander’s Descendants?
By 1680, John Guthrie of Easter Memus and James Guthrie in Lodgeingtoun, his brother, appear together in a Memus land transaction.
No record yet bridges John and James directly back to Alexander, fiar of Memis. Their presence at Memus is suggestive, but territorial continuity alone cannot prove descent.
4. Was Rev. James Guthrie of Stirling a Son of William of Memus?
Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ explicitly identifies James as son of William Guthrie of Memes and brother of Alexander Guthrie of Memes.
The underlying General Register of Sasines, Second Series, 30 April 1659 has not yet been examined. Its exact wording is the critical next step.
This question is particularly important because Alexander is now independently documented as William’s eldest son. The family configuration printed in Fasti therefore aligns with a household that contemporary evidence proves actually existed.
5. Was Robert Guthrie of Danzig / Gdańsk a Son of William of Memus?
Fischer’s published abstract calls Robert the son of William Guthrie of “Minus,” near Forfar, and “Elis. Fenton.” A matching 1662 archival unit survives in Gdańsk.
The original file has not been digitized or examined. It may confirm the exact place-name, parentage, testimony and the role of Henry Guthrie, merchant at Danzig.
6. Who Was Henry Guthrie, Merchant at Danzig?
Fischer names Henry Guthrie, merchant at Danzig, as witness in Robert’s 1662 record. His presence could be genealogically important.
Henry might have been a relative, business associate, fellow Scot, or simply a witness acceptable to the authorities. Until the original record is examined, his relationship to Robert and to the Memus family should remain entirely open.
A Henry Guthrie was present in Danzig in 1662 and was named in connection with Robert’s parentage record.
Merchant records, burgess registers, Scottish birth-briefs, wills, business partnerships or the complete 1662 file could identify Henry more precisely.
7. What Became of Annas Guthrie?
Annas is directly documented as William Guthrie of Memess’s daughter, but her subsequent life has not yet been securely traced.
She was living and named in the family record of 28 October 1630.
A marriage contract, tocher settlement, sasine, testament or later record naming a husband could reveal not only Annas’s own descendants but additional information about her brothers.
8. When Did William and Isabella Die?
William and Isabella are securely documented together in the 1620s, but their exact deaths have not yet been established from a testament, burial entry or succession record.
This matters because the dates could clarify when Alexander’s status as fiar changed, whether William survived Alexander, and how the later Memus succession developed.
9. Why Did the Older Pedigrees Say “No Male Issue”?
The documentary evidence now makes a literal statement that William had no sons untenable. What remains uncertain is how the error entered the later pedigree tradition.
Several explanations remain possible:
- the compiler simply lacked the Memus family records;
- Alexander’s line may have failed later and that outcome was compressed backward onto William;
- failure to succeed to the principal estate of Guthrie may have been confused with failure of male issue;
- a later pedigree may have focused only on the line that retained or recovered the territorial estate.
None of those explanations should be selected as fact without evidence. The important correction is narrower: William himself demonstrably had a son.
These unresolved questions do not weaken the reconstruction already established. The documented relationships remain firm: William → Alexander and William → Annas.
What remains open is the size of the household, the next generation after Alexander, and whether the evidence for James and Robert can be raised from strong research leads to documented relationships. Those are precisely the kinds of questions for which targeted archival records can make a decisive difference.
Most Wanted Documents
Some unanswered questions can be narrowed to a specific surviving record. This list identifies the documents most likely to confirm, correct or extend the present Memus pedigree.
Inclusion here does not mean that the record is lost. In several cases the exact archival item has already been located, but its contents have not yet been available for examination. The purpose of this section is to preserve the trail so that future research can resume from a known target rather than begin again.
1. Robert Guthrie of “Minus” — Gdańsk File, 1662
Short reference: 300,60/2528
Catalogue title: “Guthrie, Robert – pasamonik, Minus – Szkocja”
Date: 1662
State Archives in Gdańsk, Poland
2. General Register of Sasines — 30 April 1659
Exact register volume and archival reference still to be identified.
3. Alexander Guthrie, Fiar of Memis — Damaged Brief of Inquest, 1641
November [1641]
Papers of the Ogilvy family of Inverquharity
4. Alexander as William’s Eldest Son — Brechin Record, 1631/32
23 February 1631/32
Brechin Commissary Court
5. William Guthrie & Isobel Fenton — Brechin Deed Index
Brechin Commissary Court
6. A Marriage or Settlement for Annas Guthrie
Historical research often pauses not because a question is unknowable, but because the decisive record is inaccessible, undigitized, damaged or not yet correctly identified. Recording these targets prevents that distinction from being lost.
As documents become available, they can be removed from this list and incorporated into the profile at the point where they change the evidence. Until then, the unanswered question and the record that may solve it remain linked together.
Sources & Further Research
This profile has been built from contemporary land, succession and family records wherever possible. Later genealogical and ecclesiastical sources are used when they preserve information not yet recovered from the originals, but those claims are identified separately rather than treated as equivalent evidence.
The most important result of that approach is the recovery of Alexander and Annas Guthrie as documented children of William Guthrie of Memus, while the proposed placements of Rev. James Guthrie and Robert Guthrie of Gdańsk remain open to further verification.
Primary & Near-Contemporary Scottish Records
Service of William Guthrie as male heir to Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk, his brother-german, in the principal estate and rights of Guthrie.
Instrument of sasine placing David Guthrie of Kincaldrum in specified lands of Guthrie under charters and precepts granted by William Guthrie of that Ilk with consent of Isabella Fenton, his spouse.
William Guthrie of that Ilk served heir to Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk, his father, in the lands of Memas in the barony of Tannadice.
Great Seal confirmation of the conveyance by William Guthrie of that Ilk, with consent of Issobelle Fentoun his spouse, of the principal Guthrie estate to David Guthrie of Kincaldrum. The underlying conveyance was dated 10 September 1629 and confirmed 24 July 1630.
Bond identifying Alexander Guthrie as eldest son of William Guthrie of Memess and Annas Guthrie as daughter of the said William.
Brechin Commissary Court record reported as again identifying Alexander as eldest son of William Guthrie of Mamus / Memus.
Damaged brief of inquest concerning lands held by the deceased Alexander Guthrie, fiar of Memis.
Charter of confirmation involving John Guthrie of Easter Memus, James Guthrie in Lodgeingtoun, his brother, and Janet Lyon, spouse of James.
Published Registers, Ecclesiastical Sources & Genealogical Evidence
Published abstracts of Scottish services of heirs, including the Forfarshire retours used to document William’s 1615 succession to his brother and his 1622 inheritance of Memas from his father.
Published Great Seal register containing charter 1616, confirming William and Isabella Fenton’s conveyance of the principal Guthrie estate to David Guthrie of Kincaldrum.
Identifies Rev. James Guthrie as: “son of William G. of Memes and brother of Alexander G. of Memes”, citing General Register of Sasines, Second Series, 30 April 1659.
Fischer’s published abstract identifies Robert Guthrie as son of the “noble” William Guthrie of Minus, near Forfar, and “Elis. Fenton.” Henry Guthrie, merchant at Danzig, appears as witness.
Gdańsk Archival Evidence
Full reference:
10/300/0/37.4/300,60/2528
Catalogue title:
“Guthrie, Robert – pasamonik, Minus – Szkocja”
Date: 1662
The modern archive catalogue independently confirms the survival of the Robert Guthrie file described in Fischer’s published work. No digital images are presently attached to the catalogue entry.
Guthrie Genealogy Research Collections
Searchable Guthrie Genealogy collection of NRS records used to compare Guthrie references across families, dates and properties.
Project hub for archival, manuscript and published Guthrie source material used during the reconstruction of the Scottish branches.
A citation does not automatically make every statement equally certain. Contemporary records directly naming a relationship carry more weight here than a later pedigree or biography repeating one. A later source may nevertheless be extremely valuable when it cites a specific earlier record that can still be located.
That is why Alexander and Annas are presented as documented children, while James and Robert remain possible sons. The evidence for the latter two is substantial and testable, but the decisive original documents have not yet been examined.
Records that have been identified but still need to be obtained, photographed, transcribed or verified are listed separately in Most Wanted Documents .
Keeping those targets separate from the source list prevents unresolved research leads from being mistaken for evidence already examined.
The Guthrie of Memus profile reflects the evidence currently available, not a claim that the family’s history is finished. Additional records may identify Alexander’s descendants, reveal the later life of Annas, confirm or reject the proposed James and Robert relationships, or uncover children not yet known.
When new evidence becomes available, the appropriate response will be to revise the reconstruction rather than preserve an older pedigree simply because it has been repeated for generations.