Andrew Guthrie

Andro[1] Guthrie was one of ten children born to James Guthrie of Pitforthie and Jean[2] Lyon, eldest daughter of James Lyon, the 6th Laird of Ogil; and his wife, a daughter of Guthrie of that Ilk (Lyon, 1734). Andro was the second child and also the second son, and baptised 8 February 1622 (Scotland's People, 1622).

The manuscript belonging to (Lyon, 1870) clearly demonstrates the link between the Guthrie of Pitforthie family and Guthrie of that Ilk. Leaving links to Guthrie Castle aside the Guthrie of Pitforthie family consisted of 6 sons and 4 daughters baptised (or born)[3] over a sixteen year period (O'Neill, 2025).

It is my contention that Andro Guthrie, baptised 8 Feb 1622 in Brechin (Scotland's People, 1622), died young or in infancy or before attaining adulthood[4]. Whilst it is easy to make the facts fit the narrative, I would still contend that Andrew did not reach adulthood and died before 1655 (before David succeeds to the title). If this is the case, then the following is an explanation that accurately accounts for the position taken by almost all sources and references regarding the Guthrie sons even though most authors do not name them in their evidence.

Although Andro appears in the Brechin Baptismal Register of 1622, he is not to be found in either the Marriage Register or the Death Register. In fact, broadening the search in Scotland’s People to include the whole of Scotland, not restricting the search by year and missing out his first name to avoid any confusion with Andrew, does not find Andro Guthrie, bap 1622.

Searching in Scotland’s People using the criteria in Figure 1 where any surname beginning with GUT; and with a forename beginning with AND; filtering the results with MALE; only searching between the years 1620 to 1630; and a parents name containing JAMES; and not restricting the search to any County or Parish; should return all matches for an ANDREW GUTHRIE or ANDRO GUTHRIE (which is what I want) but bearing in mind that other spellings of the surname (eg GUTHREY) may also be returned – this also applies to the forename.

The result of the Figure 1 search is in Figure 2.

The results returned are “gold dust” in that only a single result is found meaning it should be easy for me to reconcile. And indeed, in this instance, it is. The next step is to repeat the search in both the Marriage and Death Registers.

On searching the Death Register only one entry is found using those criteria – an Andrew Taylor Guthrie who died in Dundee in 1850. Clearly well outside my target years. As I don’t know anything else about Andro I will consult both Marriage and Death Registers on my next trip to the Angus Archives and then report back here.

[1] Andro aka Andrew.

[2] Jonet aka Janet aka Jean.

[3] From 1855 the State required records of Birth, Marriage and Death to be recorded. Prior to this the Church kept records of Baptism, Marriage and Burial. Depending upon the point in time an event happens then it may be, for example, a Birth or a Baptism and these can be a number of years apart.

[4] Once I have more solid facts, I will update this post.

References

Lyon, W., 1734. Lyon of Ogil. Claughton: s.n.

Lyon, W. F. K., 1870. Lyon of Ogil. London: s.n.

O'Neill, A. C., 2025. Guthrie of Pitforthie. [Online]
Available at: https://mylifeswork.net/guthrie-of-pitforthie
[Accessed 8 May 2025].

Scotland's People, 1622. Birth Record of Andrew Guthrie. Edinburgh: OPR Births 275/00 0010 0019.