GORDON, Alexander of Birkenburn ¹

   Another name for Alexander was GORDON, Alexander of Perslie.¹

   User ID: C590.

  General Notes:

"The Balbithan MS. describes at page 15 Alexander Gordon as the 'Laird of Lesmoir's second son,' and at page 43 as the third son. The latter statement (given also in the 1600 Gordon MS.) is the correct one. The family arms are given in the Lyon Register as those of the 'representer of the second son and first cadet ' of Lesmoir ; but in the accompanying pedigree the order in which the sons of James of Lesmoir are given is 'George of Lesmoir, James of Creichy, Alexr. of Birkenburn'. This order is also given by the charter of 1546, by which John Carnegie of Kinnaird conveyed the lands of Erlesfield to James Gordon of Lesmoir and Margaret Ogilvy his [second] spouse, and the heirs male of their bodies ; whom failing, 'to James Gordon and his heirs ; whom failing, to Alexander Gordon of Perslie,' i.e., to James of Crichie and Alexander of Birkenburn."

from Birkenburn ¹

  Research Notes:

BIRKENBURN

"Birkenburn, in the parish of Keith, is a small property about two and a half miles south-east of Keith, Banffshire, and not far from the old castle of Pitlurg, and was originally owned by the Bishops of Moray. It was held by two distinct branches of the family of Gordon,... ...Birkenburn was leased in the first instance to Adam Gordon of Ferrar. He was son of Adam, first Earl of Sutherland, who was the second son of the second Earl of Huntly... ...The second set of Gordons\emdash cadets of Lesmoir\emdash held Birkenburn from 1557 till 1763, when Magdalen Gordon, who had married the Rev. John Stuart, surrendered the lands to her son John Stuart. They were sold to Lord Seafield in 1824."

from Birkenburn ¹

Alexander married Margaret GORDON, daughter of George GORDON 2nd of Cairnborrow and Katharine GORDON.¹ (Margaret GORDON was born about 1530.)

  Marriage Notes:

"Alexander Gordon married (1) Margaret Gordon (Balbithan MS., I5, 33), eldest daughter of George Gordon of Cairnburrow. She had first married Michael Abernethy, son of Lord Saltoun, by whom she had a daughter, who married her third husband's younger brother, John Gordon of Leichestoun. Her second husband was Adam Gordon of Ferrar, who got Birkenburn in 1547, and who was killed at Pinkie in 1547. The 1600 Gordon MS. calls her Isobel, and the Reg. Episc. Moraviensis (p. 395) makes her Christina."

from Birkenburn ¹

Alexander next married Beatrix GORDON, daughter of Sir James GORDON 3rd of Abergeldie and Midmar and Janet LEITH co-heiress of Barnes.¹ (Beatrix GORDON was born about 1532 and died after 1588 ¹.)

  Marriage Notes:

"Birkenburn married (2) Beatrix, daughter of James Gordon, III. of Abergeldie, who was also killed at Pinkie. She had the liferent of the lands of Knock in Glenmuick in 1556, when she seems to have become the wife of Birkenburn; and was apparently alive in 1588 (House of Gordon, i. (78); Records of Aboyne, pp. 80, 222). The 1600 Gordon MS. calls her Catherine and the Reg. Episc. Moraviensis (p. 396) makes her Janet, and relict in 1570, but this is probably an error, arising from the prior occurrence of this name in the same deed."

from Birkenburn ¹