GORDON, Margrat

  General Notes:

"VII. PRESBYTRIE OF STRATHBOGIE.

1. PAROCH OF DUMBENNAN.
A LIST of POLL ABLE PERSONES within the PAROCHIN of DUMBENNAN, taken up be John Gordon of Knockespock and Mr. William
Gordon at the Milne of Abachy, Commissioners appoynted for the said Parioch, and be William Gordon of Westseat, Clerk and Collector nominut be them for that effect.......

Margrat Gordon, ane widow ther, her poll is 6
Andrew Jopp, Taylor, her sone, his poll, with the generall poll, is 12 "

from 1696 Poll of Aberdeenshire
Note:
1]It was not uncommon for widows in Scotland to revert to their maiden surname on the death of their spouse.
2]'Dumbennan', with Kinnoir, was the earlier name for the parish of Huntly. ¹

  Research Notes:

WHICH MARGARET GORDON?

The family to which Margaret Gordon belonged seems not yet to have been identified. However this extract may offer a pointer at least:

"John Gordon, III. of Law and I. of Wardhouse. (Son of II. : died 1740.)
He died in August, 1740 (according to the inventory of his goods). One of the items mentioned in the inventory after his death was '1,000 merks contained in a bond of May 25, 1721, to Andrew Jopp, merchant in Insch.'"

from House of Gordon

The Gordons of Law and Wardhouse were a branch of the Terpersie, or Dalpersie, Gordons. They in turn were cadets of the House of Lesmoir or Lesmore. Knockespock, Auchlyne, Barnes and Badenscoth Gordons were a part of this family too. Terpersie, from the Gaelic 'Tir preasach', is situated in the parish of Tullynessle.
Bulloch writes:
"Terpersie originally belonged to the Bishops of Aberdeen and to a branch of the family of Forbes. Indeed it lay in the Forbes country, being nearly surrounded by the lands of Lord Forbes and others of his name. It and Knockespock became a sort of outpost of the Gordons, in proximity to Druminor, formerly Castle Forbes."
The Battle of Tillyangus, in the parish of Clatt, took place in 1571 between the Gordons and the Forbes, and thereafter there was some intense effort, not always successful, to reduce the level of tension and hostility between the two family groups.
The Gordons of Terpersie "came to grief", as Bulloch puts it, in the Jacobite period, the last laird was executed and his son was exiled to Jamaica.

So Margaret Gordon may have come from this general family of Gordons. It is a speculative assessment as yet, and it is not to say that this Margaret Gordon was 'high-born', but it seems fairly likely that she may have belonged in some way to this group of Gordons. The 1696 poll certainly has her living in the geographical area where the family were dominant.

It is interesting that a later Andrew Jopp, advocate in Aberdeen and founder of the Society of Advocates in the city, who was a great-grandson of this Margaret Gordon, was linked with the Terpersie Gordon family in his professional capacity. Bulloch states that:
"On January 20, 1806, Andrew Jopp, advocate, Aberdeen, gave in her will. She is described as Margaret Gordon, 'residing in Aberdeen, relict of the deceased John Lindsay, late of Madras'."
The later Margaret Gordon was one of the daughters of the sixth and last Laird of Terpersie, Charles Gordon who was executed in 1746. ²

Margrat married James JOPP Feuar of Insch, Aberdeenshire. (James JOPP Feuar of Insch, Aberdeenshire was born about 1622 ³ and died in August 1672 ³.)