Gordons in Forfarshire

The Gordons in Forfarshire
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'HE Gordons have had the " guidin' o't " in
a great many places, but they have never
managed to find a very firm footing in
Forfarshire. It is very significant that
scarcely one of them figures in the invaluable
"Services of Heirs" between lf)45 and 1S00,
with the exception of the family of Kincal-
drum, descendants of the notorious Gordons of
Gight. Another good test is to he found in the
Commissariot of Brechin. Down to ISOO, it
contains only 18 Gordons, of whom five unquestion-
ably came from the North. Indeed, it may be
stated as a fair generalisation that nearly all the
Gordons in Forfarshire have hailed from the
North. The only family which has gained terri-
torial importance, namely the well-known spinners
of Montrose and Arbroath, descend from an
Aberdeen skipper, though they spread themselves
out in the lands of Ashludie in Forfarshire, Tarvie
and Uonavourd in Perthshire, and Threave in
Kirkcudbright.
The following notes do not pretend to be a
complete inventory of the Gordons in Forfarshire.
They are simply a rough and ready hand-list
of those who appear in printed sources of
information, plus a few transcribed from Parish
Registers by the late Mr D. S. R. Gordon, of
Edinburgh, who claimed a descent from the family
in Ardmeanach, in Glenmuick, Aberdeenshire, and
in the parish of Lethnot, Forfarshire.