GORDON, William in Delmore ²

   Other names for William were GORDON, William in Achmoir ³ and GORDON, William in Dalmore.⁴

   User ID: P260.

  General Notes:

"Alexander Gordon had also two natural, or perhaps 'handfasted' sons, George of Tombae and William of Delmore, who were legitimised by a charter issued at Perth on 24th June 1553 under the Great Seal, where we learn that 'the Queen gave letters of legimation to William Gordon and George Gordon, natural sons (bastardis filiis naturalibus) of Alexander Gordon of Straithowin.' It will be noticed that William is given first, whereas the 'Balbithan MS.' gives him second. It is much more likely, however, that William was the elder, as he got the lands of Delmore under the shadow of the paternal castle of Drumin, whereas Tombae. lay further to the east, probably on much less fertile land, as compared to Delmore, which was watered by the Avon and the Livet."

from Caterans of Inveraven




"Delmore MS. - A Genealogical Account of the Family of Gordon and their Cadets, with a note of their Lives and Fortunes.

William Gordon of Delmore (fl. 1553-1604), son of Alexander (who was the second son of the third Earl of Huntly), is said to have spent his leisure hours in writing a history of the Gordons, which about the middle of the eighteenth century was in the possession of James Man, a historian resident in Aberdeen. The history, of which no trace has since been discovered, is thus described by Man (Gordon's Scots Affairs, i., p. xxxii.). ' There is little in it but mere genealogy till we come to 1630 ; and the rest of it has been engrossed, almost word for word, by Spalding in his Memoirs. So there needs nothing more to be said of it, only it goes a little further than Spalding into the year 1645.' ' The whole of it could not have been written by William as he did not live so long.' (The Croughly Book, by Capt. G. H. B. Gordon, 1895, pp. 59, 60). He was the ancestor of the Gordons of Croughly."

from Appendix to Preface ⁵

William married Isabel GRANT.¹ (Isabel GRANT was born about 1545.)

  Marriage Notes:

"William Gordon in Delmore [which is quite close to Drumin Castle, near the junction of the Avon and the Livet, but on the opposite side of the latter, four miles north-west of Tombae. The name to-day is given to a double cottage near to the stone where Dr Chalmers preached to the people at the Disruption, not far from Inveraven U.F. Church. The name, however, seems to have originally belonged to a ruined steading a quarter of a mile nearer Drumin. At one place, one version of the ' Balbithan MS.' calls William 'in Achmoir.' The Privy Council Register notes (1st series, vol. vii. p. 67) a William Gordon 'in Dalmoir' in 1605. William of Delmore wrote 'A genealogical account of the family of Gordon and their cadets, with a note of their lives and fortunes.' It was in the possession of James Man, the Aberdeen historian, but all trace of it has been lost. Man says there was ' little in it but mere genealogy till we come to 1630,' but that would have made it intensely interesting]. He married Isabel Grant and was killed by ' some of the Clan Chattan in Dellmoir.' He had four sons"

from The Caterans of Inveraven ¹