Gordons in Sutherland, including the Embo family

THE GORDONS OF EMBO.
The Gordons of Embo represent the third
landed line descended from Adam Gordon, Dean
of Caithness, the first laird being the third son of
John Gordon of Drummoy, who was the Dean's
third son.
The estate of Embo lies in the parish and
near the town of bornoch. Curiously enough,
there is a tribe in the region of Mount Kenya, in
the East Africa Protectorate which is called the
Embo, and is riescribtd by Sir Charles Eliot in
his admirable book on the Protectorate (p. 75.)
The name of the Sutherland estate appears
variously as "Embo," "Emboli, 1 ' " Eaynbo,"
" Eambo," " Embow," and even " Umbo."
The history of Embo goes a long way back.
Sir William Fraser in his " Sutherland Book '
states (p. 14) that it was the scene of an encounter
between the men of 8utherland and the Nor-
wegians. It was held by the Gordons fr^m the
sixteenth century down to 1835, when the second
Duke of Suther and, in his omniverousness for
land, added it by purchase to his colossal hold-
ings To this day, however, there is still a
baronet "of Embo," namely Sir Home fceton
Gordon. He has, however, no issue, and as
there is not a single male heir in existence
it is highly probabe that the baronetcy, which
was created in 1631, will become extinct.
The history of the Embo Gordons is full of ob-
scurities, from their origin, which has been inter-
preted in two different ways, down to the lost
wills of the late baronet and his father. The
various peerages cal the 4th baronet "William,"
whereas he was rea ly John, and they mix him up
with Sir Wil.iam Gordon of Invergordon. I do
not pretend to have solved all these mysteries,
and, therefore I offer this contribution to the
history of the house in a tentative way, for
definitiveness is the most difficult of all aspira-
tions in dealing with genealogy. The following
tab e, however, may be given as a probably
correct account of their descent on the male side: —