Thomas Sinclair Gunn ‘Supplement 14’, 3.3.1903; mainly early Gunn history
REVIEW
This Supplement is probably of most interest to those chasing detail on very early Gunn history.
KEY PEOPLE / PLACES / IDEAS
· Gunn’s Table
· Clan Gunn Journal January 1891. ‘Twelve numbers of this quarterly journal appeared in London from January 1881 to October 1891 ... the editor E.S. Gunn head of the Metropolitan school of shorthand’.
· Helmsdale
· Caithness / Sutherland
· Gunn / Sutherland feuds; story of how Gunns ‘slew’ all the Sutherlands one time...
· Clan Gunn Journal points
o Gunn / Guineach means keen
o Andersons are the same race, as well as the Gallies
o Keith / Gunn battle ‘taken place in a retired part of Strathmore (later called) Alt-na-gaun’. 1478. Keiths ‘stripping the slain coroner of his sword, coat of mail, and brooch of office before they retired to the Sutherland’s friendly castle of Dilred .
o Halburg, Mid-Clyth, was the most ancient seat of the Chiefs, a fortress long thought impregnable
o The castles of the Gunns
o Lambaburgum or Bucholly Castle ... Freswick , is claimed as being that of Sweyn, ‘the grandfather of the founder of the clan’
o Sweyn... Orkneyings Saga ... Torfaeus ‘Orcades’ acquiring it through his second wife
o Gunn’s castle seven miles south of Wick ... Here Snaekoll Gunn and his son Olave first landed in Caithness, the father the builder of the castle
o ‘Halberry Castle near by was for 200 years the favourite residence of the chiefs...’
o ‘Kildonan castle in Sutherlandshire, now a heap of white stones, near Kinbrace railway station, was the hunting seat...’
o Lands occupied by the Gunns
o Olaus Rolfi, the father of Sweyn,, was in residence at Duncansby, as prefect over Caithness for the Norse Earls of Orkney and Caithness ... presumed he must have had land
o The coroner had the territory round Halberry castle, including as far as Achavanich
o His second son Robert had Braemore for a payment of black cattle to the Earl of Caithness, which he ultimately and successfully refused to pay to Earl John, who died in battle in 1529.
o The superiority, not the property, belonged to the Earls
o ‘right of burial round the ruins of St Magnus Hospital, Spittal, may not have come to the Gunns anciently. Williamson of Banniskirk who fell in the battle of Altimarch, Wick in 1680, was buried there, descended from the coroner’s son William Gunn.
o Cattaig, Halkirk, was held in tack by John Gunn the third son and his descendants till 1850. Dirlot also in later times, through the Braemore cadets had it in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries at intervals.
o Surname discussion (Bains, Whites, Wrights, Clarks, Gows, Smiths are claimed as possible Gunns ... too obscure and contradicted by facts ... Bains known to be Mackays’)
o Gunn dinner London 14 December 1889
o Dr Marcus Gunn described Dirlot ... a mile down river is Cattaig ‘leased by the Gunns for 600 years’... Kildonan the M’Hamish branch had its home and burial palce... old castle still to be seen at Helmsdale once belonged to the clan... rebuilt by Sir Alexander Gordon, brother of the historian, its proprietor, about 1615, Gordons owning it long previously ‘the pretended scene of the poisoning of Earl John Gordon, father of these two, by Isabella Sinclair (Mrs George Gordon), of the Dunbeath family, to secure the succession to her son of the earldom of Sutherland, a piece of malicious romance. It is not impossible it was once a Gunn home.
o The doctor declared he had a MS history, given to his father by the author, Rev. Alexander Gunn, Watten, which traced the clan back to 700. The original was the son of Olaf, Snaekoll his son ... he was reluctant for the MS to be seen by those ‘likely to make literary use of it’...
o Another article hints ‘that the cause of the Regent Murray’s hanging of Alexander Gunn, was that the regent’s wife was a Keith.
o Logan’s account of the clan... prevalence of English Gunns at Yarmouth ... especially Banbury ... America Parton’s ‘Life of Andrew Jackson ‘ referring to a General Gunn
o Gunns were 300 years in Orkney before coming to Caithness .. originally Norsemen
o Sir William Gunn ... was he a traitor to Charles 1 in Aberdeenshire, as a colonel in 1639... defeat at Bridge of Dee by the Covenanters, Sir James Sinclair of Murkle one of their colonels ... knowing how the cat jumps
o Coat of arms of the Gunns discussed.
o Latter half of the tenth century ... Dale ... Norseman called Madden ... three daughters Helga (eldest) was married to Hacon, Earl of Orkney, who was related to the Gunns, inasmuch as Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, was their common ancestor. Helga’s daughter Ingiborg was the wife of Olaf, king of the Hebrides, mother of Ranghild (?), the wife of Somerled of the Isles, and ancestors of various clans such as MacDougals, M’Donalds...
o Frankark, the 2nd daughter of Maddan, wa the wife of Liot Niding, son of the king of Man... lived for some time in Strathfleet in Sutherland ... ancestor of the M’Leods... Their daughter Steinvor, was the wife of Thorliot of Racwick... mother of Aulver Rosta ... ancestor of the Rosses.
o Thorleif, 3rd daughter ... married to Erik Strata, a noble Dane, who possessed a large portion of the east of Sutherland ... whose son Erik Slagbrillar, married Ingired,, only child of Roanld Earl of Orkney and was father of Ragnild, the mother of the first chief of the Clan Gunn in Caithness.
o Heimskringla, Orkneyinga Saga and ‘Orcades’ of Torfaeus being the sources of much of the above...
· Individual lives; W. M. Gunn LLD master in the High School Edinburgh, died 1851, elder Free St John’s Church, Rev. Robert Gunn Latheron 1775 wrote for the ‘Statistical Account of Scotland’ (he’s discussed in an earlier post) and Senator James Gunn, born Virginia 1739, died Louisville Kentucky 30 July 1801... Senator to the first Congress, was re-elected 1789 and voted for Washington as the seat of Government.’
This Supplement is probably of most interest to those chasing detail on very early Gunn history.
KEY PEOPLE / PLACES / IDEAS
· Gunn’s Table
· Clan Gunn Journal January 1891. ‘Twelve numbers of this quarterly journal appeared in London from January 1881 to October 1891 ... the editor E.S. Gunn head of the Metropolitan school of shorthand’.
· Helmsdale
· Caithness / Sutherland
· Gunn / Sutherland feuds; story of how Gunns ‘slew’ all the Sutherlands one time...
· Clan Gunn Journal points
o Gunn / Guineach means keen
o Andersons are the same race, as well as the Gallies
o Keith / Gunn battle ‘taken place in a retired part of Strathmore (later called) Alt-na-gaun’. 1478. Keiths ‘stripping the slain coroner of his sword, coat of mail, and brooch of office before they retired to the Sutherland’s friendly castle of Dilred .
o Halburg, Mid-Clyth, was the most ancient seat of the Chiefs, a fortress long thought impregnable
o The castles of the Gunns
o Lambaburgum or Bucholly Castle ... Freswick , is claimed as being that of Sweyn, ‘the grandfather of the founder of the clan’
o Sweyn... Orkneyings Saga ... Torfaeus ‘Orcades’ acquiring it through his second wife
o Gunn’s castle seven miles south of Wick ... Here Snaekoll Gunn and his son Olave first landed in Caithness, the father the builder of the castle
o ‘Halberry Castle near by was for 200 years the favourite residence of the chiefs...’
o ‘Kildonan castle in Sutherlandshire, now a heap of white stones, near Kinbrace railway station, was the hunting seat...’
o Lands occupied by the Gunns
o Olaus Rolfi, the father of Sweyn,, was in residence at Duncansby, as prefect over Caithness for the Norse Earls of Orkney and Caithness ... presumed he must have had land
o The coroner had the territory round Halberry castle, including as far as Achavanich
o His second son Robert had Braemore for a payment of black cattle to the Earl of Caithness, which he ultimately and successfully refused to pay to Earl John, who died in battle in 1529.
o The superiority, not the property, belonged to the Earls
o ‘right of burial round the ruins of St Magnus Hospital, Spittal, may not have come to the Gunns anciently. Williamson of Banniskirk who fell in the battle of Altimarch, Wick in 1680, was buried there, descended from the coroner’s son William Gunn.
o Cattaig, Halkirk, was held in tack by John Gunn the third son and his descendants till 1850. Dirlot also in later times, through the Braemore cadets had it in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries at intervals.
o Surname discussion (Bains, Whites, Wrights, Clarks, Gows, Smiths are claimed as possible Gunns ... too obscure and contradicted by facts ... Bains known to be Mackays’)
o Gunn dinner London 14 December 1889
o Dr Marcus Gunn described Dirlot ... a mile down river is Cattaig ‘leased by the Gunns for 600 years’... Kildonan the M’Hamish branch had its home and burial palce... old castle still to be seen at Helmsdale once belonged to the clan... rebuilt by Sir Alexander Gordon, brother of the historian, its proprietor, about 1615, Gordons owning it long previously ‘the pretended scene of the poisoning of Earl John Gordon, father of these two, by Isabella Sinclair (Mrs George Gordon), of the Dunbeath family, to secure the succession to her son of the earldom of Sutherland, a piece of malicious romance. It is not impossible it was once a Gunn home.
o The doctor declared he had a MS history, given to his father by the author, Rev. Alexander Gunn, Watten, which traced the clan back to 700. The original was the son of Olaf, Snaekoll his son ... he was reluctant for the MS to be seen by those ‘likely to make literary use of it’...
o Another article hints ‘that the cause of the Regent Murray’s hanging of Alexander Gunn, was that the regent’s wife was a Keith.
o Logan’s account of the clan... prevalence of English Gunns at Yarmouth ... especially Banbury ... America Parton’s ‘Life of Andrew Jackson ‘ referring to a General Gunn
o Gunns were 300 years in Orkney before coming to Caithness .. originally Norsemen
o Sir William Gunn ... was he a traitor to Charles 1 in Aberdeenshire, as a colonel in 1639... defeat at Bridge of Dee by the Covenanters, Sir James Sinclair of Murkle one of their colonels ... knowing how the cat jumps
o Coat of arms of the Gunns discussed.
o Latter half of the tenth century ... Dale ... Norseman called Madden ... three daughters Helga (eldest) was married to Hacon, Earl of Orkney, who was related to the Gunns, inasmuch as Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, was their common ancestor. Helga’s daughter Ingiborg was the wife of Olaf, king of the Hebrides, mother of Ranghild (?), the wife of Somerled of the Isles, and ancestors of various clans such as MacDougals, M’Donalds...
o Frankark, the 2nd daughter of Maddan, wa the wife of Liot Niding, son of the king of Man... lived for some time in Strathfleet in Sutherland ... ancestor of the M’Leods... Their daughter Steinvor, was the wife of Thorliot of Racwick... mother of Aulver Rosta ... ancestor of the Rosses.
o Thorleif, 3rd daughter ... married to Erik Strata, a noble Dane, who possessed a large portion of the east of Sutherland ... whose son Erik Slagbrillar, married Ingired,, only child of Roanld Earl of Orkney and was father of Ragnild, the mother of the first chief of the Clan Gunn in Caithness.
o Heimskringla, Orkneyinga Saga and ‘Orcades’ of Torfaeus being the sources of much of the above...
· Individual lives; W. M. Gunn LLD master in the High School Edinburgh, died 1851, elder Free St John’s Church, Rev. Robert Gunn Latheron 1775 wrote for the ‘Statistical Account of Scotland’ (he’s discussed in an earlier post) and Senator James Gunn, born Virginia 1739, died Louisville Kentucky 30 July 1801... Senator to the first Congress, was re-elected 1789 and voted for Washington as the seat of Government.’