The ongoing traditional Clan Gunn Chief line - Alastair Gunn
For the footnoted version see www.academia.edu/49523601/The_ongoing_traditional_Clan_Gunn_Chief_line
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This text is really about the senior descendants of Coroner Gunn as there was never a ‘Clan Gunn’ and so there was never a ‘Clan Gunn Chief’ but I am using the terms ‘Clan Gunn’ and ‘Clan Gunn Chief’ to deal with a key issue in which some believe.
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This text is really about the senior descendants of Coroner Gunn as there was never a ‘Clan Gunn’ and so there was never a ‘Clan Gunn Chief’ but I am using the terms ‘Clan Gunn’ and ‘Clan Gunn Chief’ to deal with a key issue in which some believe.
Part One – Introduction and the Bloomingdale line
It is time to properly assess the issue of Clan Gunn Chief.
The problem is simple – with the death of Chief William Gunn on 24 July 1779 and the death of his younger brother Morrison no later than very soon after the end of the Great Siege of Gibraltar in February 1783 (but I suspect earlier given the lack of evidence to support Morrison being in the military at that time and place) we have a time of 24 July 1779 to say March 1783 for the end of the direct Clan Gunn Chief line.
So, who was the most senior member of the Clan Gunn alive at that time who could be clan chief and how does that proceed to the current time? It is not just the question of who was the senior Clan Gunn as the person also has to fulfil certain Lord Lyon legal requirements to be Clan Chief and these include –
Given the death of Chief William and Morrison the position of Chief of the Clan Gunn reverted to the most senior of the Gunn siblings eligible to inherit from the father of William and Morrison namely Chief Alexander Gunn of Badenloch and Wester Helmsdale. These siblings were -
I shall discuss these siblings in order.
The Bloomingdale line
But before discussing the siblings of Chief Alexander Gunn there is the question of the Gunn USA Bloomingdale line which according to the Clan Gunn 1822 Tree – the earliest known - descended from George Gunn a supposed younger brother of Chief Donald Crotach Gunn. This idea is echoed in other Gunn history such as on pages 166 and 269 of Mark Rugg Gunn’s book Clan Gunn. The reason this idea of Chief Donald Crotach Gunn having a younger brother moved into mainstream Clan Gunn history was that the 1822 Tree author, William Gunn, was encouraged to write the Tree by, amongst others, the Reverend Sage, a later expert on Clan Gunn history so this 1822 idea was then magnified by Sage’s writings and influence. The problem is that George was not the younger brother of ‘Chief’ Donald Crotach Gunn.
It is time to properly assess the issue of Clan Gunn Chief.
The problem is simple – with the death of Chief William Gunn on 24 July 1779 and the death of his younger brother Morrison no later than very soon after the end of the Great Siege of Gibraltar in February 1783 (but I suspect earlier given the lack of evidence to support Morrison being in the military at that time and place) we have a time of 24 July 1779 to say March 1783 for the end of the direct Clan Gunn Chief line.
So, who was the most senior member of the Clan Gunn alive at that time who could be clan chief and how does that proceed to the current time? It is not just the question of who was the senior Clan Gunn as the person also has to fulfil certain Lord Lyon legal requirements to be Clan Chief and these include –
- In the period up to 11 May 1870 the senior person of a clan must have personal loyalty to the British Royal Family or that person could not become a clan chief. Importantly, if one inherited the position of most senior member of a clan up to 11 May 1870 but did not have such loyalty then that line was disqualified for all time. If one inherited on or after 12 May 1870 the loyalty issue did not matter due to a change in the British law.
- One must hold the clan surname – certainly if a married woman was the only inheritor or the most senior of only female inheritors then she could revert to her maiden name and be Chief of the Clan. Dame Flora MacLeod is a recent example. If one had lost the Clan surname for generations then that person would not be considered as Chief.
- It is possible for the Clan Gunn Chief title to inherit through the female line.
- All must be born from legal marriages.
Given the death of Chief William and Morrison the position of Chief of the Clan Gunn reverted to the most senior of the Gunn siblings eligible to inherit from the father of William and Morrison namely Chief Alexander Gunn of Badenloch and Wester Helmsdale. These siblings were -
- George Gunn of Corrish
- Esther Gunn
- Lt. Col. William Gunn
- Margaret Gunn
I shall discuss these siblings in order.
The Bloomingdale line
But before discussing the siblings of Chief Alexander Gunn there is the question of the Gunn USA Bloomingdale line which according to the Clan Gunn 1822 Tree – the earliest known - descended from George Gunn a supposed younger brother of Chief Donald Crotach Gunn. This idea is echoed in other Gunn history such as on pages 166 and 269 of Mark Rugg Gunn’s book Clan Gunn. The reason this idea of Chief Donald Crotach Gunn having a younger brother moved into mainstream Clan Gunn history was that the 1822 Tree author, William Gunn, was encouraged to write the Tree by, amongst others, the Reverend Sage, a later expert on Clan Gunn history so this 1822 idea was then magnified by Sage’s writings and influence. The problem is that George was not the younger brother of ‘Chief’ Donald Crotach Gunn.
Being part of the 1822 Tree showing, bottom right, Donald Crotach and his supposed brother George whose line goes to the left with the Reverend Gunn of Bloomingdale New York about centre. The right-hand side is the Clan Gunn Chief line.
I have no problem with the links shown between William, son of Elizabeth, daughter of William (being the author of the Tree) and the Reverend Alexander Gunn of Bloomingdale. The relationship between the two is close and practically living memory. What is wrong is the placement of George as younger brother to ‘Chief’ Donald Crotach Gunn. George was a close cousin of Donald’s, not a younger brother.
To explain why George was not Donald Crotach’s younger brother is simple. Firstly, the years don’t work on the Tree’s names. Donald’s dates are definitely about 1642-1708[i] which means his supposed younger brother George had to be born after him, say 1645. George (according to the Tree) had two sons the first was Alexander, who had a son George who was father of the Rev. Alexander Gunn of Bloomingdale New York, USA. Given the first George’s approximate birth year of 1645 then his son Alexander had to be born around 1675 and Alexander’s son George needed to be born around 1700 as we ned a new generation every twenty-five years or so. But many documents associated with the Rev. Alexander Gunn of Bloomingdale line clearly give his father George dates of 1760 to 1797. That’s a sixty-year gap between an expected year of birth and the actual year of birth. Something is wrong. So, George, on these years cannot be a younger brother of Chief Donald Crotach Gunn given an acceptance of the names on the Tree.
There is another reason why George could not be the younger brother of Chief Donald Crotach Gunn. Chief John Gunn of Killernan (being Chief Donald Crotach’s oldest brother) borrowed two thousand Scottish merks from George Gunn of Borroble by 1679 – a huge amount as in 1718 four thousand Scottish merks bought you the wadset of the Estate of Wester Helmsdale. This George Gunn of Borroble is, as already mentioned, traditionally accepted[ii] as the younger brother of Chief Donald Crotach Gunn. Now Borrobol was a property linked to the Chief of the Clan Gunn over some generations – at times it was a sort of ‘next in line’ farm for the eldest son of the Chief to have a first home and at other times for the immediately younger brother of the Chief to have his family. It was certainly holding these roles by the mid-1600s. It wasn’t the place the youngest of a family lived in and George was the supposed youngest.
If one accepts the traditional idea that the George Gunn of Borroble was the younger brother of Donald Crotach then one needs to believe that George Gunn was somehow in charge at Borroble (why not his older brothers?) and somehow earned a huge amount of money even though he had to be born a decade or so after his supposed eldest brother Chief John Gunn of Killernan. That’s impossible. Firstly, if Borroble had been available to the family then an older brother would have had the estate. George, if somehow he had lived at Borroble, would not have had the time to generate such money. He also could not have married into money as, being the supposed youngest brother, he had no ‘prospects.’ As well, if George was the younger brother of Chief Donald Crotach why would his oldest brother Chief John have borrowed money from him? Chief John would have just reasserted family control of Borroble and sold[iii] the Estate to pay his debts. So, the debt owed is a further reason why Donald Crotach did not have a younger brother George of Borroble.
But the debt issue disappears as a problem once it is realised that George Gunn of Borroble was actually first cousin to Chief John Gunn of Killernan and so George had his own independent wealth, the Borroble Estate.[iv] In other words, George was the eldest son of John Gunn in Navidale of Borroble, younger brother of Chief Alexander Gunn of Killernan and later Navidale and not the younger brother of Chief Donald Crotach Gunn.
There are also other reasons why George of Borrobol was not the younger brother of ‘Chief’ Donald Crotach Gunn including the age of Donald Crotach’s mother.
So, who was the George from whom comes the Reverend Alexander Gunn of Bloomingdale line? It’s possible he was a Borrobol Gunn but that doesn’t readily work. To explain - we have ‘Chief’ Donald Crotach alive c. 1641-c. 1708 so George would have been of the same generation giving
Which gets us back to the earlier problem of not having enough generations to fill the years – here, for example, the one hundred and twenty year gap between the births of the first George and George 1760-1797 means something is very wrong.
Finally, I do not know who the George was from whom descends the Reverend Alexander Gunn of Bloomingdale’s line but I suspect it’s from the Borrobol line in some way or other. That lack of definition doesn’t matter – what does matter is that the Bloomingdale Gunn line definitely doesn’t descend from a younger brother of Chief Donald Crotach Gunn so in Clan Gunn Chief terms this line is not relevant.
It is also worth noting that the Reverend Alexander Gunn was born in Digby, Nova Scotia Canada on 13 August 1784, before the town was even formally settled or surveyed. There is a ‘Muster Roll of Discharged Officers and Disbanded Soldiers and Loyalists Town of Digby’ for 29 May 1784[v] which records a George Gunn (father of the Reverend Alexander) as an Assistant Quarter Master for the Hessian Service. The Hessian Service is the military force of the German State of Hesse, in other words George Gunn owed loyalty not to the British Crown at the time the Clan Gunn Chief position became vacant and, as such, he lost the ability to be Clan Gunn Chief – and consequently so did his descendants.[vi]
So, the Reverend Alexander Gunn of Bloomingdale New York’s line, which is ongoing, is of an unclear origin. The descendants are certainly disbarred from being a clan chief even if their line was clear. Overall, the Bloomingdale line is an interesting sideline of Gunn genealogy but has no relevance to ‘Clan Gunn Chief’ issues.
Part Two – The George Gunn of Corrish line
The potential descendants of George of Corrish, the next most senior Gunn to Chief Alexander Gunn of Badenloch and later Wester Helmsdale, has caused much confusion over many, many years including with me. However, the 1822 Clan Gunn Tree made by William Gunn of Reay makes the line clear – it records Donald and Alexander as descendants of George of Chorish.
I have no problem with the links shown between William, son of Elizabeth, daughter of William (being the author of the Tree) and the Reverend Alexander Gunn of Bloomingdale. The relationship between the two is close and practically living memory. What is wrong is the placement of George as younger brother to ‘Chief’ Donald Crotach Gunn. George was a close cousin of Donald’s, not a younger brother.
To explain why George was not Donald Crotach’s younger brother is simple. Firstly, the years don’t work on the Tree’s names. Donald’s dates are definitely about 1642-1708[i] which means his supposed younger brother George had to be born after him, say 1645. George (according to the Tree) had two sons the first was Alexander, who had a son George who was father of the Rev. Alexander Gunn of Bloomingdale New York, USA. Given the first George’s approximate birth year of 1645 then his son Alexander had to be born around 1675 and Alexander’s son George needed to be born around 1700 as we ned a new generation every twenty-five years or so. But many documents associated with the Rev. Alexander Gunn of Bloomingdale line clearly give his father George dates of 1760 to 1797. That’s a sixty-year gap between an expected year of birth and the actual year of birth. Something is wrong. So, George, on these years cannot be a younger brother of Chief Donald Crotach Gunn given an acceptance of the names on the Tree.
There is another reason why George could not be the younger brother of Chief Donald Crotach Gunn. Chief John Gunn of Killernan (being Chief Donald Crotach’s oldest brother) borrowed two thousand Scottish merks from George Gunn of Borroble by 1679 – a huge amount as in 1718 four thousand Scottish merks bought you the wadset of the Estate of Wester Helmsdale. This George Gunn of Borroble is, as already mentioned, traditionally accepted[ii] as the younger brother of Chief Donald Crotach Gunn. Now Borrobol was a property linked to the Chief of the Clan Gunn over some generations – at times it was a sort of ‘next in line’ farm for the eldest son of the Chief to have a first home and at other times for the immediately younger brother of the Chief to have his family. It was certainly holding these roles by the mid-1600s. It wasn’t the place the youngest of a family lived in and George was the supposed youngest.
If one accepts the traditional idea that the George Gunn of Borroble was the younger brother of Donald Crotach then one needs to believe that George Gunn was somehow in charge at Borroble (why not his older brothers?) and somehow earned a huge amount of money even though he had to be born a decade or so after his supposed eldest brother Chief John Gunn of Killernan. That’s impossible. Firstly, if Borroble had been available to the family then an older brother would have had the estate. George, if somehow he had lived at Borroble, would not have had the time to generate such money. He also could not have married into money as, being the supposed youngest brother, he had no ‘prospects.’ As well, if George was the younger brother of Chief Donald Crotach why would his oldest brother Chief John have borrowed money from him? Chief John would have just reasserted family control of Borroble and sold[iii] the Estate to pay his debts. So, the debt owed is a further reason why Donald Crotach did not have a younger brother George of Borroble.
But the debt issue disappears as a problem once it is realised that George Gunn of Borroble was actually first cousin to Chief John Gunn of Killernan and so George had his own independent wealth, the Borroble Estate.[iv] In other words, George was the eldest son of John Gunn in Navidale of Borroble, younger brother of Chief Alexander Gunn of Killernan and later Navidale and not the younger brother of Chief Donald Crotach Gunn.
There are also other reasons why George of Borrobol was not the younger brother of ‘Chief’ Donald Crotach Gunn including the age of Donald Crotach’s mother.
So, who was the George from whom comes the Reverend Alexander Gunn of Bloomingdale line? It’s possible he was a Borrobol Gunn but that doesn’t readily work. To explain - we have ‘Chief’ Donald Crotach alive c. 1641-c. 1708 so George would have been of the same generation giving
- George of Borrobol say c.1640-c.1700 who had
- Alexander who had
- George 1760-1797 who had
- The Reverend Alexander Gunn
Which gets us back to the earlier problem of not having enough generations to fill the years – here, for example, the one hundred and twenty year gap between the births of the first George and George 1760-1797 means something is very wrong.
Finally, I do not know who the George was from whom descends the Reverend Alexander Gunn of Bloomingdale’s line but I suspect it’s from the Borrobol line in some way or other. That lack of definition doesn’t matter – what does matter is that the Bloomingdale Gunn line definitely doesn’t descend from a younger brother of Chief Donald Crotach Gunn so in Clan Gunn Chief terms this line is not relevant.
It is also worth noting that the Reverend Alexander Gunn was born in Digby, Nova Scotia Canada on 13 August 1784, before the town was even formally settled or surveyed. There is a ‘Muster Roll of Discharged Officers and Disbanded Soldiers and Loyalists Town of Digby’ for 29 May 1784[v] which records a George Gunn (father of the Reverend Alexander) as an Assistant Quarter Master for the Hessian Service. The Hessian Service is the military force of the German State of Hesse, in other words George Gunn owed loyalty not to the British Crown at the time the Clan Gunn Chief position became vacant and, as such, he lost the ability to be Clan Gunn Chief – and consequently so did his descendants.[vi]
So, the Reverend Alexander Gunn of Bloomingdale New York’s line, which is ongoing, is of an unclear origin. The descendants are certainly disbarred from being a clan chief even if their line was clear. Overall, the Bloomingdale line is an interesting sideline of Gunn genealogy but has no relevance to ‘Clan Gunn Chief’ issues.
Part Two – The George Gunn of Corrish line
The potential descendants of George of Corrish, the next most senior Gunn to Chief Alexander Gunn of Badenloch and later Wester Helmsdale, has caused much confusion over many, many years including with me. However, the 1822 Clan Gunn Tree made by William Gunn of Reay makes the line clear – it records Donald and Alexander as descendants of George of Chorish.
Thi entry The 1822 Tree records on the left (Chief) Alexander of Badenloch + George of Chorish + Col William, 7th McKeamish (7th McKeamish refers to Chief Alexander of Badenloch). On the right is Donald and Alexander descendants of George and Chirish
That’s it, two sons for George of Corrish and with no issue shown from them. So, given the 1822 Clan Gunn tree is the earliest known it is also the most likely to be accurate as it is closest to the time of George of Corrish.
The letter by William Gunn which accompanied his Tree and was sent to the Reverend Gunn of Bloomingdale, New York, (see Part One) needs to be considered in the context of the extinction of the Corrish Gunn line. It says, in part -
Your letter bearing date 14th Oct. 1817 was gladly received by Mr Robert Gunn, Minister of Latheron, Caithness Shire, who took it into great consideration (he sent for me) and after a long conversation gave me a letter, dated the 18th Feby 1818, wrote and signed by his own hand and also by Mr Alexander Sage, Minister of Kildonan, and Mr David MacKay, Minister of Reay demanding of me to give you the particulars of your forefathers and native country…
In other words, William Gunn was considered the most expert person to make such a Tree by significant people including the Reverend Sage (as mentioned, a later Gunn expert) and the Reverend Robert Gunn who is important in his own right in Clan Gunn Chief genealogy as he is a Mulbuie Gunn. (The Reverend Robert’s father was Adam Houstry Mulbuie Gunn – but more importantly the Reverend Robert’s uncle was the John who married Margaret Gunn the youngest sibling of Chief Alexander Gunn of Badenloch and Wester Helmsdale. More on that in Part Four.) The key point of the letter that it was an appeal to the Reverend Gunn of Bloomingdale to move to Scotland to become Clan Gunn Chief (technically impossible but William Reay did not know that – again, see Part One) which shows that William Gunn believed that other senior lines had died out including the descendants of George Gunn of Corrish. Margaret Gunn (Part Four) did not matter to him as she did not count in his eyes as she was, obviously, a female.
So, the earliest known Clan Gunn Tree shows that George Gunn of Corrish had two sons but with no issue from them. As well, the letter which accompanied the Tree supports that these sons did not have descendants which means the George of Corrish line is extinct.[i]
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There has been immense fuss made about a potential George of Corrish descent line but this fuss developed many decades after the 1822 Tree. The problem has been caused by people firstly not knowing about the 1822 Tree (and letter) and secondly, I suspect, by people being confused between the Corrish Gunns and the MacHeorish Gunns. George Gunn of Corrish was the start of one line and George Gunn of Borrobol (again see Part One) was the start of the MacHeorish line.[ii] Given limited literacy in the Highlands up to around the mid-1860s and consequent reliance on oral tradition it is important to recognise that Corrish and MacHeorish are very similar in sound. The consequent potential for confusion is obvious, especially given the limited number of first names used over the generations. Both the Corrish Gunns and the MacHeorish Gunns were also closely related to the traditional Clan Gunn Chief line which helped the confusion.
To explore this confusion. The 1822 Tree just does not have any useful similarity to the 1868 / 1870 and New Hebrides Clan Gunn Trees (they all share just one Alexander as a son of George of Corrish) however the 1868 / 1870 and New Hebrides Trees show a remarkable similarity in the supposed descendants of George of Corrish. These Trees I suspect had the help of the Reverend Gunn of Watten[iii] based on the amount of Gunn Watten detail in them. But remember these 1868 / 1870 and New Hebrides Trees are a generation, at least, after the 1822 Tree.
In the following genealogy detail in normal font is from the New Hebrides Tree, detail in normal font and bold is also in the 1868 /1870 Trees. Detail in bold and italics is just from the 1868 /1870 Trees. These Trees show –
George of Corrish
There is an easily traceable line on the internet[iv] for Alexander Gunn with wife Ann and son William and so on – and the linked Tree can readily be found on ‘Ancestry.’ The years, though, are awkward – the birth date for Alexander given on the internet site is circa 1755 - but George of Corrish, his supposed father, has to be born around 1645. That’s an impossibly large gap. So, this supposed Corrish genealogy fails – it has to be descent from some other line, perhaps MacHeorish. There are interesting illegitimacy aspects in this genealogy which goes with the reputation of this supposed ‘Corrish’ line.[v]
The internet line becomes Canadian – the Reverend Alexander Gunn of Bloomingdale (see Part One) was probably a MacHeorish Gunn and was born in Canada. And, certainly, definite Borrobol (MacHeorish) Gunns were part of the Red River Settlement in Canada. Many not MacHeorish Gunns obviously went to Canada as well but having extended family in a country might help relatives migrate.
I cannot prove the MacHeorish / Corrish confusion but it certainly works as a possible explanation for the problem of George of Corrish’s supposed descendants.
SUMMARY. The earliest known Clan Gunn Tree was made in 1822 and it indicates that George Gunn of Corrish had two children and no issue is shown for them. The letter which went with this Tree requested the Reverend Gunn of Bloomingdale (not of the Corrish line) to go to Scotland to claim the Clan Gunn Chief title so implying that the sons of George of Corrish died without issue.
The George Gunn of Corrish line is extinct and it has no relevance in any Clan Gunn Chief discussion.
Part Three – Esther Gunn and Lieutenant-Colonel William Gunn
The next two siblings of Chief Alexander Gunn of Badenloch and later Wester Helmsdale, in probable order of seniority, were Esther Gunn and Lieutenant-Colonel William Gunn.
Esther (Bessie?) was alive 1723[vi] and perhaps married Donald Mackay of Skerray.[vii] The following is from Robert Mackay’s History of the House and Clan of Mackay[viii] - ‘Donald Mackay of Skerray (who had sasine in his father’s lands 17th May 1723) married Esther daughter of Donald Gunn … issue a daughter married to John Mackay of Moudale,[ix] issue George who emigrated to America, Major Donald Mackay of Eriboll;[x] Lieutenant William; and four daughters all mentioned in the Clan Aberach branch.’ Many descendants are known[xi] and are readily traceable on genealogical websites.
But pages 257-259 of The Book of Mackay by Angus Mackay disagree and provide a different wife for Donald Mackay of Moudale with the same children as for Esther, which therefore rejects all Gunn descent from this line. So, Esther Gunn may have had a daughter with surname Mackay but then again she may not have had that daughter.
Either way Esther would not have had Gunn surnamed children for so many generations that she is irrelevant for Clan Gunn Chief purposes.
Lieutenant-Colonel William Gunn 1695-1768 served in the Dutch Scotch Brigade. I believe Lord Lyon some years ago declared this family ineligible to be Clan Gunn Chief due to the lack of loyalty to the British Crown. As well, his descendants have not held the surname Gunn for many generations which I suspect would also have been a problem if they had been loyal to the British Crown.
This line is also irrelevant for Clan Gunn Chief purposes.
Part Four – Margaret Gunn
The senior descent line for Margaret Gunn the daughter of ‘Chief’ Donald Crotach Gunn follows, the first number indicates the approximate generation from the Coroner / Crowner Gunn. I have removed those who have died without issue or who married and lost the surname Gunn. The names in bold are, given the invalidity of other possible lines, the de facto Chiefs of the Clan Gunn following the death of Chief William Gunn 24 July 1779 and his brother Morrison around then, but no later than March 1783 –
10. Margaret GUNN (c. 1708- ). Was she alive when William and Morrison died?
Sp. John Houstry Dunbeath Kinbrace GUNN[xii] ( -1780).
11. Alexander Osclay GUNN (1752-1820).[xiii] Only known child.
Sp. Barbara WEIR (WHEIR) (1760-1833).
12. Catherine Osclay GUNN (c. 1782/7-1870). The eldest child.[xiv]
Sp. Donald Braehour and Brawlbin GUNN[xv] (1765-1861).
13. John GUNN (1808-1885). (Eldest child)
Sp. Catherine Gunn in CAMPSTER (1817-1871).
14. Alexander GUNN (1859-1945).
15. Andrew M. GUNN 1893-1970 (Canada).
15. Marion Ellen GUNN (unmarried) 1899-1975.
This line became ‘Gunn extinct’ with Marion’s death on 26 August 1975 and reverted to Barbara Braehour Gunn, the second child of Catherine Osclay Gunn and Donald Braehour and Brawlbin Gunn
13. Barbara Braehour GUNN (1810-1844). Second child.
Sp. Alexander Bualchork and Brawlbin GUNN (1789-1847).
14. Donald GUNN (1832-1901). Eldest son. And so on down the line…
On 26 August 1975, being the day the previous line became ‘Gunn extinct,’ the senior descendant of the immediately above Donald Gunn to have the surname Gunn through the generations was Jack Alexander Gunn 1921 - 2016 who then became the de facto Clan Gunn Chief. His line continues, including with me.
A lot more proof is available to support this line, but that will come at another time.
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This entry is my current 3 July 2021 position on the ongoing Clan Gunn Chief line and so people should treat my earlier comments on this issue with care.
That’s it, two sons for George of Corrish and with no issue shown from them. So, given the 1822 Clan Gunn tree is the earliest known it is also the most likely to be accurate as it is closest to the time of George of Corrish.
The letter by William Gunn which accompanied his Tree and was sent to the Reverend Gunn of Bloomingdale, New York, (see Part One) needs to be considered in the context of the extinction of the Corrish Gunn line. It says, in part -
Your letter bearing date 14th Oct. 1817 was gladly received by Mr Robert Gunn, Minister of Latheron, Caithness Shire, who took it into great consideration (he sent for me) and after a long conversation gave me a letter, dated the 18th Feby 1818, wrote and signed by his own hand and also by Mr Alexander Sage, Minister of Kildonan, and Mr David MacKay, Minister of Reay demanding of me to give you the particulars of your forefathers and native country…
In other words, William Gunn was considered the most expert person to make such a Tree by significant people including the Reverend Sage (as mentioned, a later Gunn expert) and the Reverend Robert Gunn who is important in his own right in Clan Gunn Chief genealogy as he is a Mulbuie Gunn. (The Reverend Robert’s father was Adam Houstry Mulbuie Gunn – but more importantly the Reverend Robert’s uncle was the John who married Margaret Gunn the youngest sibling of Chief Alexander Gunn of Badenloch and Wester Helmsdale. More on that in Part Four.) The key point of the letter that it was an appeal to the Reverend Gunn of Bloomingdale to move to Scotland to become Clan Gunn Chief (technically impossible but William Reay did not know that – again, see Part One) which shows that William Gunn believed that other senior lines had died out including the descendants of George Gunn of Corrish. Margaret Gunn (Part Four) did not matter to him as she did not count in his eyes as she was, obviously, a female.
So, the earliest known Clan Gunn Tree shows that George Gunn of Corrish had two sons but with no issue from them. As well, the letter which accompanied the Tree supports that these sons did not have descendants which means the George of Corrish line is extinct.[i]
*****
There has been immense fuss made about a potential George of Corrish descent line but this fuss developed many decades after the 1822 Tree. The problem has been caused by people firstly not knowing about the 1822 Tree (and letter) and secondly, I suspect, by people being confused between the Corrish Gunns and the MacHeorish Gunns. George Gunn of Corrish was the start of one line and George Gunn of Borrobol (again see Part One) was the start of the MacHeorish line.[ii] Given limited literacy in the Highlands up to around the mid-1860s and consequent reliance on oral tradition it is important to recognise that Corrish and MacHeorish are very similar in sound. The consequent potential for confusion is obvious, especially given the limited number of first names used over the generations. Both the Corrish Gunns and the MacHeorish Gunns were also closely related to the traditional Clan Gunn Chief line which helped the confusion.
To explore this confusion. The 1822 Tree just does not have any useful similarity to the 1868 / 1870 and New Hebrides Clan Gunn Trees (they all share just one Alexander as a son of George of Corrish) however the 1868 / 1870 and New Hebrides Trees show a remarkable similarity in the supposed descendants of George of Corrish. These Trees I suspect had the help of the Reverend Gunn of Watten[iii] based on the amount of Gunn Watten detail in them. But remember these 1868 / 1870 and New Hebrides Trees are a generation, at least, after the 1822 Tree.
In the following genealogy detail in normal font is from the New Hebrides Tree, detail in normal font and bold is also in the 1868 /1870 Trees. Detail in bold and italics is just from the 1868 /1870 Trees. These Trees show –
George of Corrish
- Alexander Kildonan who married Anne Gunn Achinachiul.
- William in Aryclinay 1st son later in Newton Watten
- Donald Baniskirk
- Robert 93 Regiment
- William in Newton 1852
- Alexander in Reay
- William in Westfield 1st son
- Finlay
- Alexander
- Daniel
- David
- Donald
- Robert
- William in Aryclinay 1st son later in Newton Watten
- George
- Thomas
- William
- James or Alexander
- James all living 1812
There is an easily traceable line on the internet[iv] for Alexander Gunn with wife Ann and son William and so on – and the linked Tree can readily be found on ‘Ancestry.’ The years, though, are awkward – the birth date for Alexander given on the internet site is circa 1755 - but George of Corrish, his supposed father, has to be born around 1645. That’s an impossibly large gap. So, this supposed Corrish genealogy fails – it has to be descent from some other line, perhaps MacHeorish. There are interesting illegitimacy aspects in this genealogy which goes with the reputation of this supposed ‘Corrish’ line.[v]
The internet line becomes Canadian – the Reverend Alexander Gunn of Bloomingdale (see Part One) was probably a MacHeorish Gunn and was born in Canada. And, certainly, definite Borrobol (MacHeorish) Gunns were part of the Red River Settlement in Canada. Many not MacHeorish Gunns obviously went to Canada as well but having extended family in a country might help relatives migrate.
I cannot prove the MacHeorish / Corrish confusion but it certainly works as a possible explanation for the problem of George of Corrish’s supposed descendants.
SUMMARY. The earliest known Clan Gunn Tree was made in 1822 and it indicates that George Gunn of Corrish had two children and no issue is shown for them. The letter which went with this Tree requested the Reverend Gunn of Bloomingdale (not of the Corrish line) to go to Scotland to claim the Clan Gunn Chief title so implying that the sons of George of Corrish died without issue.
The George Gunn of Corrish line is extinct and it has no relevance in any Clan Gunn Chief discussion.
Part Three – Esther Gunn and Lieutenant-Colonel William Gunn
The next two siblings of Chief Alexander Gunn of Badenloch and later Wester Helmsdale, in probable order of seniority, were Esther Gunn and Lieutenant-Colonel William Gunn.
Esther (Bessie?) was alive 1723[vi] and perhaps married Donald Mackay of Skerray.[vii] The following is from Robert Mackay’s History of the House and Clan of Mackay[viii] - ‘Donald Mackay of Skerray (who had sasine in his father’s lands 17th May 1723) married Esther daughter of Donald Gunn … issue a daughter married to John Mackay of Moudale,[ix] issue George who emigrated to America, Major Donald Mackay of Eriboll;[x] Lieutenant William; and four daughters all mentioned in the Clan Aberach branch.’ Many descendants are known[xi] and are readily traceable on genealogical websites.
But pages 257-259 of The Book of Mackay by Angus Mackay disagree and provide a different wife for Donald Mackay of Moudale with the same children as for Esther, which therefore rejects all Gunn descent from this line. So, Esther Gunn may have had a daughter with surname Mackay but then again she may not have had that daughter.
Either way Esther would not have had Gunn surnamed children for so many generations that she is irrelevant for Clan Gunn Chief purposes.
Lieutenant-Colonel William Gunn 1695-1768 served in the Dutch Scotch Brigade. I believe Lord Lyon some years ago declared this family ineligible to be Clan Gunn Chief due to the lack of loyalty to the British Crown. As well, his descendants have not held the surname Gunn for many generations which I suspect would also have been a problem if they had been loyal to the British Crown.
This line is also irrelevant for Clan Gunn Chief purposes.
Part Four – Margaret Gunn
The senior descent line for Margaret Gunn the daughter of ‘Chief’ Donald Crotach Gunn follows, the first number indicates the approximate generation from the Coroner / Crowner Gunn. I have removed those who have died without issue or who married and lost the surname Gunn. The names in bold are, given the invalidity of other possible lines, the de facto Chiefs of the Clan Gunn following the death of Chief William Gunn 24 July 1779 and his brother Morrison around then, but no later than March 1783 –
10. Margaret GUNN (c. 1708- ). Was she alive when William and Morrison died?
Sp. John Houstry Dunbeath Kinbrace GUNN[xii] ( -1780).
11. Alexander Osclay GUNN (1752-1820).[xiii] Only known child.
Sp. Barbara WEIR (WHEIR) (1760-1833).
12. Catherine Osclay GUNN (c. 1782/7-1870). The eldest child.[xiv]
Sp. Donald Braehour and Brawlbin GUNN[xv] (1765-1861).
13. John GUNN (1808-1885). (Eldest child)
Sp. Catherine Gunn in CAMPSTER (1817-1871).
14. Alexander GUNN (1859-1945).
15. Andrew M. GUNN 1893-1970 (Canada).
15. Marion Ellen GUNN (unmarried) 1899-1975.
This line became ‘Gunn extinct’ with Marion’s death on 26 August 1975 and reverted to Barbara Braehour Gunn, the second child of Catherine Osclay Gunn and Donald Braehour and Brawlbin Gunn
13. Barbara Braehour GUNN (1810-1844). Second child.
Sp. Alexander Bualchork and Brawlbin GUNN (1789-1847).
14. Donald GUNN (1832-1901). Eldest son. And so on down the line…
On 26 August 1975, being the day the previous line became ‘Gunn extinct,’ the senior descendant of the immediately above Donald Gunn to have the surname Gunn through the generations was Jack Alexander Gunn 1921 - 2016 who then became the de facto Clan Gunn Chief. His line continues, including with me.
A lot more proof is available to support this line, but that will come at another time.
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This entry is my current 3 July 2021 position on the ongoing Clan Gunn Chief line and so people should treat my earlier comments on this issue with care.