Margaret Gordon was a daughter of Charles Gordon, VI of Terpersie, and Margaret Gordon. Her exact year of birth has yet to be established but she was a child at the time of the second Jacobite rebellion and shared in the misadventures of her younger sister, Helen Gordon, in which they narrowly avoided summary execution by the Duke of Cumberland’s troops as ‘rebels’ brats’.

Margaret, who was admitted as one of the creditors on her father’s forfeited estate, was the wife of John Lindsay of Madras. According to Internet sources, the marriage of John Lindsay and Margaret Gordon was recorded on 3^rd November 1764 at Saint Martin In The Fields, Westminster, London.

John and Margaret had at least one daughter, Margaret, whose christening is recorded in the Gartly Parish Register, dated 18^th August 1765:

Margaret Daughter lawful to Mr Lindsay & Mrs Margaret Gordon daughter to Terperfie was baptizd the above day before these witts Hary Gordon in Comrie Mrs Margt Gordon of Terperfy.

It has to be doubted that the younger Margaret, or any siblings she may have had, survived beyond 1805, as none are mentioned in the elder Margaret’s Last Will and Testament, either as beneficiaries or in any other capacity.

Bulloch (p. 131) asserts that Margaret survived her husband and on 20^th January 1806 was living in Aberdeen but the latter part of this statement is inaccurate. This was the date on which confirmation proceedings were heard; the will had been subscribed at Aberdeen on 29^th June 1805, on which occasion the testatrix was styled ‘Margaret Gordon residing in Aberdeen relict of the deceased John Lindsay late of Madras’.

Mrs Lindsay’s Testament Testamentary and Inventory indicates that she had died during ‘January last’, i.e. 1806. The actual date is left blank but from the date of the confirmation proceedings, it must be taken that she died at some time prior to the 20^th of the month.

Testamentary Writings

The Last Will and Testament of Margaret Lindsay MS Gordon, written by the Reverend Roger Aitken, was subscribed by the testatrix at Aberdeen on 29^th June 1805, before witnesses:

Thomas Spark bookseller in Aberdeen, and James Forsyth apprentice to Mefsrs. Angus and Son booksellers also in Aberdeen

Inventory

The said Executors with and under the foregoing protestations Gave up, granted, and confefsed, That the said Margaret Gordon otherwise Lindsay had which be- longed to her at the time of her death Two pounds sterling being part of One hundred pounds sterling contained in a Bill drawn by the said defunct on and accepted by John Henderson Esquire of Caskiebain: Item two pounds sterling being part of Twelve pounds twelve shillings sterling contained in Peter Wemyfs of Craighall his accepted Bill to the said defunct: Item One hundred and Fifty pounds three shillings and sixpence sterling being the balance of the principal sum and interest contained in a Bill drawn by the said defunct on and accepted by Lieutenant Colonel Robert William Duff of Fetterefso, dated the twenty third of June Eighteen hundred and four and payable on the twentieth of June thereafter.

Beneficiaries

To Elizabeth Catanach, daughter of George Catanach;

the sum of Thirty four pounds sterling, together with all my clothes, and whole household furniture ; except my mulberry striped satin gown

The mulberry striped satin gown was bequeathed to Margaret Catanach, another of George Catanach’s daughters and relict of the Reverend George Gibb, who had been an Episcopal Clergyman in Turriff, together with the sum of £20.

To Isobel Catanach, a third daughter of George’s, married to William Mellis, manufacturer in Huntly, was bequeathed £20.

Charlotte Catanach, the fourth and final member of the Catanach sisterhood mentioned here, married to ‘John Stewart in Newmill’, was likewise bequeathed £20.

Catharine Gordon, widow of John Leslie, lately a merchant in Aberdeen, was also bequeathed £20. Catharine’s precise identity is yet to be established; most likely she was another of the testatrix’s nieces. It may be surmised that she was the daughter of one of Mrs Lindsay’s brothers, probably Henry or Charles.

Provision was also made for ‘Roger, Elizabeth, Anne and Isabella Catharine Aitkens, Children of the Reverend Roger Aitken residing at Broadford, near Aberdeen’; they were bequeathed £5 each. Note, however, that clerical carelessness is at work here. It is understood from a letter written on the children’s behalf by their father to George Catanach on 8^th August 1806, that Elizabeth and Anne, listed here separately, were one in the same, Elizabeth-Ann; Isabella-Catharine ought likewise to be hyphenated.

To the Reverend Roger Aitken himself was bequeathed ‘my Gold ring containing some of the hair of his deceased wife’; it is therefore known that he was a widower by 1805. It is provisionally understood that Roger’s wife was Isabella Catharine Cheyne; the fact that the testatrix possessed such a keepsake suggests that the departed Mrs Aitken had been someone close to her and it may be that the two ladies were cousins.

‘Lastly, Miss Joan Wilson daughter of the deceased James Wilson Esq^r. of Finzeach’ was also to receive £5. Neither this lady nor her late father are otherwise known.

The pecuniary legacies, generally, were directed to be paid at the first term of Whitsunday or Martinmas after the testatrix’s death, with interest to cover the period during which they remained unpaid. However, those in favour of Margaret Wemyss and her children, and of Isobel and Charlotte Catanach, were subject to a reservation. Those legacies, amountng to a total value of £120, were to be laid out at interest and the proceeds paid to ‘George Catanach and his present wife my sister during their lives and to the survivor of them’. The sister in question was Helen Gordon. At the first term of Whitsunday or Martinmas following the death of the longer liver of George and Helen, these legacies were directed to be paid to the beneficiaries in question if still in life, otherwise to their heirs.

The executors were further directed to deliver the non-pecuniary articles mentioned within one month of the testatrix’s death.

The final provision was that any residue after payment of the legacies was bequeathed to the executors equally between them. It is unlikely that this last direction was ever carried out, since in the event there proved to be a deficiency in the sums realised.

Executors