The Farm, Huntly                                                18th. Decr. 1889. Dear Sir,                 I have yours of the 16th., & am glad to have any fragments of information, or any suggestions which may come to be useful. In my present paper I can only touch very slightly the family history of the Lesmoir Gordons, 1st. because I have not room, & 2nd because I have not certain information to warrant a full account of them. Neither I nor anyone else has reliable sources of information, & a great deal that is written on the subject is little better than conjecture. All the pedigrees of the branch families are very uncertain, especially when they come up near to their parent stem ; & the effort has always been to claim relationship with the “Jock & Tam Gordons” as the pure stock. Now as to Lady Ann Stewart1 who in Douglas peerage is said to be the widow of Sir Robert Gordon of Pitlurg – 1st. The Gordons did not acquire Pitlurg until about 50 years after she married Lesmoir, & 2nd. there was no “Sir Robert” in that branch of the family for nearly a century after. These two points I can prove absolutely. As to her being the widow of Barclay of Gartly – I know only 9 barons of Gartly & these I have fished out of old charters as there is no family history to draw upon. It is possible I may have missed any of them, but if so it is because the name does not appear in official writing. Taking my list as approximately correct, there is only one Barclay whose widow she could have been, & if she was so, then she must have been 60 or 70 years of age when she astonished the Laird of Lesmoir by presenting him with a son & heir. The accounts are so contradictory, & again so ill with authentic documents, that any opinions I form just now may require correction. Mean- time as I have opportunity I will keep the matter in view, & may chance on further light from some quarter or other. There is no mystery about the Royal Arms on old Castles though why they should have been on Lesmoir I do not know. All Crown Vassals placed the Royal Arms in the place of honour, generally above the principal doorway. The Craig family held of the Crown, but Lesmoir held of the Earls of Huntly, & paid 20H2 Scots of feu duty. Lady Ann Stewart however might have been entitled to use the Royal Arms in some form.3 I don’t know if I sent you some notes of mine about Craig, but you will find them in the accompanying Report. They are very slight – only intended to serve as a guide to the members of the Northern Institute when visiting there. The Craig family are alive & flourishing, there being 11 children in the family when I was there. My paper will be out immediately after the meeting of the Field Club about the middle of Jany. It is complete except what I have to say about Lesmoir, & that I am Keeping open till the last moment. On Friday I hope to have a hunt in the University Library & may get further help. Wm. Leiper Esq Helensburgh } Yours Very truly Jas Macdonald

Notes

¹ This is the lady who, according to certain family sources, was a sister to King James V of Scotland; James Macdonald has nothing to say on that particular subject, either way.

² This figure is clearly a capital letter ‘H’ but why that should have been an abbreviation for ‘pounds’ is unclear.

³ There are two ways to approach this interesting observation. Firstly, it may be taken as confirming the hypothesis concerning Lady Ann’s alleged royal status; alternatively, it could be seen as explaining it away. See also James Macdonald to William Leiper, 28 March 1890

James Macdonald to William Leiper