Family of Gordon in Griamachary, in the parish of Kildonan

6 The Griamachary Gordons.
much - beloved wife, Besey Sutherland,
who departed this life upon 22nd January,
1837, aged 82 years
The Rev. Archibald Black Scott, writing to me
from the manse at Helmsdale in September, 1898,
said that a mutilation in the middle of the bot-
tom part of the inscription shows where the
miners sharpened their picks when in the
"seventies" Ki id onan Church was turned into a
miners' bothy. The mark is about the only re-
minder of the men who washed the sands of the
Kildonan river for gold. An " A " below "aged "
is the effort of some "prentice" hand to imitate
the sculptor — very likely one of the miners.
Adam Gordon, in the words of Sage was the
father of a "throng family." He had four sons
and two daughters.
1. John Gordon, 2nd Queens, who carried on
the line.
2. Adam Gordon was the second, not the fourth
son, as the memorial in St Donan Church
implies, and must have been born in 1783.
His career is sketched by himself in an
extremely useful record of military services,
which a War Office Circular of 1828 called
forth (Record Office, No. 759, G. 1.) Adam
'listed as a lad of 18 in the 93rd Sutherland
Highlanders, in the raising of which his
father's influence had, it is said, been asked,
as he was a man of mark in his district,
but old Griamachary did not like his own
son entering the ranks. Adam served
eleven years in the 93rd, first as a private
and then as a sergeant. Probably through
the influence of his brother John, he
obtained a commission in the Cape Regi-
ment as ensign, June I, 1812, and became
lieutenant June 9, 1814. He was placed on
half-pay January 1, 1817. He married on
April 28, 1823. at Kildonan, where he
resided during the next five years. When
asked by the War Office circular letter of
October 22, 1828, if he would rejoin, he
replied that " he was desirous of service if
his services were required." His name
does not appear in the army lists after
1 832. He returned afterwards to the Cape.
He says he had one son,
Adam Gordon, born Jannary 4, 1824.