Gordons and Smiths at Minmore, Auchorachan, and Upper Drumin in Glenlivet

THE GORDONS IN GLENLIVET.
rpHE Gordons of (more correctly in) Minraore form part of a
large group of the house of Gordon in the district of Glenlivet ;
the name given to the southern part of the parish of Inveravon, which
runs right across Banffshire, from Aberdeenshire on the south-east to
Elginshire on the north-west. The group consists broadly of the
families in Achnarrovv, Auchorachan, Clashnoir, Inchnacape, Lettoch,
Min more, Mofirsh, Tomnachlaggan, Tomnavoulin, and Tullochallum,
with Croughly in the adjoining parish of Kirkmichael.
The associations between Glenlivet and the Gordon family have
been long and intimate. To begin with, Glenlivet is associated with
the battle of 1594, in which the Earl of Huntly signally defeated
Argyll. To this day the Marquis of Huntly bears the title of Lord
Gordon of Strathavon and Glenlivet, created for his ancestor, the 4th
Marquis, in 1660 ; and the district belongs to the Duke of JRichmond
and Gordon. As such, it retains much of the character of feudal
times. In the Glenlivet district his Grace owns 4275 acres, divided
into 234 holdings of under 50 acres each, and rented on an average at
12s 8d an acre. The interesting point brought out before the
Committee on Small Holdings is that in many cases the families on
these holdings have been there for "hundreds of years."
The fact is unfortunate for the genealogist, because it is chiefly
through land owning, and not mere tenancy, that one can trace a
family record. Another great obstacle to the family historian is to be
found in the fact that many of these Glenlivet families are Catholics,
and consequently they are often unrepresented in the parish register,
which frequently proved a disability to those men who went soldiering
and applied to the War Office for pensions.
The families in the group mentioned differed considerably in
social importance, some being mere crofters and others farmers on a
large scale, and some being almost independent of the noble family from
whom they held their lands. To this set the Gordons who dwelt in
MimiDre belonged. Unfortunately many of their records were
destroyed when Drimnin House, in Argyllshire— where the Minmore
family is naw represented — was burned to the grounl; but we know
enough from other sources to ba able to piece their history together.
Minmore Castle is now a ruin, and on the adjoining site stands the
famous Glenlivet Distillery, belonging to the family of Smith-Grant,