Any Gordon and/or Fife Historians? Fife Gordon of Huntly DNA connections?

[akAdie]

Long story short, I hit a brick wall in my family history research and have been unable to find any records or information (even with names/birth years) prior to my 3rd great-grandparents around 1840. Up until this point, the family is well-documented.

The surname Adie (or Eadie), is a diminutive of Adam, Adamson, Addison. They're from Fife, living in Dysart/Gallatown/Sinclairtown and most of my relatives living on Rosslyn St. My 3rd gg John Adie was born c. 1821 or 1822 d. 1905 Dysart (Tea Merchant and News Agent). There is no baptismal record despite his older half-siblings baptised Dysart 1814-1819 and none for his younger siblings. His father was John/William Adie (Baker, Potter) born c. 1795 d. 1833 Dysart (death recorded and buried with William Horn, unknown connection) and Agnes Baillie d. 1864 Dysart (widow of David Burnett d. May 1821 Dysart).

My 3rd gg had a very long obituary in 1905 in the Fife newspaper that I have a copy of. It includes many clues like vaguely mentioning his involvement as a young boy in the Reform Bill Act agitation of 1832, holding offices at Union Lodge and Apron Society charity organizations, and being a violinist who cherished his 100+ year-old violin "carved by a French prisoner".
Despite these unique clues, none have helped confirm who his father was or where he came from.

My dad and I have taken autosomal DNA (Ancestry and 23 & me) testing his Y-DNA with FTDNA (Y-111). In addition I input all results into other database like MyHeritage and hoped by doing all of this I would be able to use matches to find a connection. Each test came back the same, neither of us matching with anyone of a similar surname or even any Adams/Adamsons. For Y-DNA, it only matched others at 12 markers with 710 matches.

For both autosomal and Y, most of the surname matches were: Brock, Gordon, Drummond, Brodie, Campbell, Lockhart, Seton, Irvine, Sutherland, Sinclair, Maxwell, Littlejohn/Little, Stuart, Elliot, Allan, Lellan, Duff, Duncan, Laurence/Lawson, Tudor, Throne, Crawford, Shepherd, Baillie, and Grant.

I am fully aware that at 12 markers, the Y-DNA matches are pretty much useless in tracing recent ancestry. But the same surnames are present in the autosomal matches and had identical common ancestors.

Adie/Eadie/Adam/Adamson is a known sept of Gordon, aka not necessarily a relation. Some histories indicate Adam/Adie line branches from an earl of Huntly (Seton) It is spelled "Adae" or "Adae de Gordon" in some 15th/16th century documents of land and titles.

For the Gordon autosomal matches, all descend from Huntly and share common recent ancestors:
1. Charles Gordon 1st Earl of Aboyne b. 1638 (via John 3rd Earl of Aboyne via John of Glentanner b. 1728 and Charles 4th of Aboyne b. 1725)
2. Ludovick Lewis Gordon of Enzie 3rd Marquess of Huntly b. 1626 (via George 4th Marquess of Huntly)
3. John 14th Earl of Sutherland b. 1609 (via John Lord Strathnavar b. 1632 and George 15th Earl of Sutherland b. 1633)

It appears that most descendants of these lines made their way south to Dundee others to Edinburgh/Leith. Some married daughters of Duff and Earl of Kinghorn, which would certainly result in a Fife connection. Other than marrying into these families, is there any other significant Gordon connection to the area? Rosslyn St and Gallatown seem to be historically linked with the Sinclair family, another surname prevalent in our DNA matches, but I have failed to find association both genealogically or historically.

The most local Gordon connection to my family is a James Ogilvie Gordon b. 1842 Dysart and wife Helen Bruce Stanhouse, he and his family living at 242 Rosslyn, mine at 164 and a separate family of Boswell Adam Gordon b. 1775 Kinghorn but from a different part of Fife.

I've been attempting to educate myself as much as possible on the history of the area as well as the families hoping to solve this mystery. Was it common to use more than one surname during the 19th century? I figured by this time, they were well-established. Is there anything that sticks out in the surname list mentioned above, the ones most common in our DNA results? Or any of the clues/facts shared of my ancestors? Considering the long-term family connection with Rosslyn street, is there any way to dig deeper into the history of the land that could help guide me?

If this theory of a Gordon connection is possible, it would help explain why there is no trace of the family prior to the mid 1800's and why my father and I have not matched DNA with any Adie/Adamson on any test or database. If it turns out to be true, assuming the family would have descended from an Aboyne or Sutherland, is there a particular family prevalent to Fife/Edinburgh during this time that would be worth looking into? Are there any records of known illegitimates who took different surnames for this reason? Could this be a result of a family member who was involved in rebellions, changing surnames to avoid association?

For whatever reason, it would leave about 100 years between 1700 and 1800 to tie together, a branch off or cutting a tie with the main family. Is there anyone from associated families or who experienced a similar situation,  with personal knowledge or idea of how it would result in an eventual  surname morph? Anything historically significant that I am missing?

[Forfarian]

Adie/Eadie/Adam/Adamson is a known sept of Gordon, aka not necessarily a relation

Oh dear, that hoary old chestnut.

Yes, it is true that there were Adam/Adams/Adamson/Addison/Adie/Eadie/Eddison etc etc etc families belonging to or affiliated to Clan Gordon.

What it does not mean is that every family bearing a surname that is a patronymic based on the gven name Adam is associated with Clan Gordon.

Adam is a biblical name, and a few moments' reflection will tell you that there must have been Adams, and therefore sons of Adam, all over Christendom, and equally obviously, that not all can have been descended from Clan Gordon.

Unfortunately the Brigadoon industry has seized on the Gordon link and promoted it along the lines of 'If your name is Adamson (or variants) your tartan is Gordon'.

In your particular case, if the DNA links your particular Adamsons (or variants) to the Gordons of Huntly, well and good. But don't get hung up on the supposed clan connection if they don't.

And I believe that the Gordons originated in the Borders before they moved north to Aberdeenshire, so it may be that there are related people who are not descended from the ones who were in Aberdeenshire.

[akAdie]

As mentioned above, my prior knowledge was that Adie/Adam was a sept of Gordon and did not believe there to be any genealogical relationship, hence my statement of "no necessary relation" in the portion you have quoted. I knew very little about the clan when I first began research because (despite being incorporated in my surname's history) it was irrelevant to me in my search of recent ancestral connections.

Both autosomal and Y-DNA testing failed to match us with others of Adie/Eadie/Adamson.

I listed the most common surnames found in both our DNA results plus the 3 most common ancestral relationships of the Gordon matches. The list of surnames include many different families and clans, all I know is that none are Adie or Adam. Therefore, my concern of a name change is valid, (certainly not unheard of) and the possibility must be considered.

My only hope is that by sharing the details about my family and the outcome after extensive DNA testing, that the combination sticks out to someone somewhere who can help me make sense of it all!

[jennywren001]

Is your John the one who married Rebecca? If so an Agnes Baillie married a David Burnett in 1814...in 1841 a young David Burnett is living with Agnes and her children have you followed through on him?The John Adie married to Rebecca is a 'callendar worker' in 1881 showing aged 58...when does he become a newsagent?

[akAdie]

Hi! Thanks for your reply. Yes, this is my ancestor, John Adie 1821/1822-01 Apr 1905. In 1841, 1851, 1861, and 1871 his occupation was weaver. In 1881 he was listed as a callender worker, in 1891 news agent and tea merchant, and 1901 as news agent.

His mother was Agnes Dryburgh Baillie, widow of David Burnet who died May 1821. She had 4 children with David (married 1814 S. Leith & Dysart) then had an additional 5 Adie children with John Adie Sr. There aren’t baptismal records for any Adie children and no Adie/Baillie marriage record. Agnes is named “Margaret” on some children’s death certs and her spouse John is referred to both as John and “William”.

He is the ancestor I cannot trace. He died 29 Nov 1833, Dysart buried with William Horn (unknown connection), occupation recorded as both a potter and baker. Agnes Baillie’s parents were Alexander Baillie and Margaret Page Dryburgh. John Jr. married Rebecka Smith Thomson Forker Aug 1844 and had 9 children.


None of the family members have led me to any new information unfortunately :/

[jennywren001]

Ah, OK she is the Agnes who married a David Burnett not the one who married a John Grant. Sorry, a bit confused with the multiple Agnes Baillie's around.

[RWJE]

Thanks for this. Very interested in your DNA testing. If you have done Y111 have you joined the Eadie name page on FTDNA? If you have not yet joined we would be glad to have you. My Eadie's have been in Northern Ireland since around the start of the plantation. I have completed BIGY 700 and my DNA mainly matches Campbells - I have no Gordon matches at all. The matches with the Campbells seem to be around the 1400 date for the mutation so if you are getting Campbell matches it would be really interesting to compare notes. You will have seen the Campbell Eadie marriage in the Red Book of Scotland I assume? If you Google Campbell of Smiddiegreen it will allow you to view this - http://redbookofscotland.co.uk/campbell-of-smiddiegreen Smiddiegreen is near St. Andrews. St.Andrews is where Andro Aedie was pricipal of the Theological college there before getting thrown out for his association with George Montgomery who he visited in Ireland in 1606. They married into the Forbes and Setons. There are a lot of them buried in St. Nicolas Church in Aberdeen. The Eadie Coat of Arms is alongside the Skene Coat of Arms at Skene house. This comes from a Aberdeen Council document  Sir George Skene, merchant and later, Provost of Aberdeen, took possession of the building 9 April 1669. Skene himself was born in 1619, his mother and father died when he was young and his elder brother David took him to Poland where he was apprenticed to George Aedie, an Aberdonian merchant in Danzick. It was there that he made his money and returned to Aberdeen, in 1665, where he bought the lands of Wester Fintray and Rubislaw. He was Provost for 9 years between 1676-1678. He was knighted in 1681 after being part of Aberdeen's delegation to James, Duke of York. George never married and so his lands and houses passed to his nephews. Above the doorway of the house is a finely decorated carved panel. This incorporates the arms of Skene himself. The arms are flanked on either side by the initials G and S. The arms are composed of three skeins, or dirks, each having a wolf's head on their points. The arms are derived from an (almost certainly mythical) incident in Skene's life in which it is said that he killed a wolf which was threatening the life of then King in the Stocket forest. The arms also comprise his motto: 'Gratis a Deo Data'. After the Skene family the house passed into the hands of the Aedie family.     Have a look at a photo of it on this site - https://humphrysfamilytree.com/Aedie/david.html#arms There are a number of books on the Eadies as merchants - Holland, Poland, Lithuania etc. My ancestor Hugh Eadie was a merchant who ended up at the Siege of Derry. You can still see his gravestone at St. Columbs cathedral in the city. There are a number of books on the Eadie's - https://www.seekingmyroots.com/members/files/G002072.pdf gives a lot of details for example. Andro Aedie wrote a letter to King James that is still available. If you look at the Minute Books of Londonderry you will be able to see Hugh Eadies signature on the minutes, his election as an Alderman and his death are all recorded. His signature and thumbprint is on the survivors of the siege document in the museum in St. Columbs. He is listed as an Alderman on the letter of support to King William after his attempted assasination. If you can get a copy of the Eadie of Dunblane book it will also be interesting for you - https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Family_from_Dunblane.html?id=-gi-HAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y Hope this helps

[RWJE]

Should say that you will get a full version of the Eadie of Dunblane book on Family Search - https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/48742-eadie-family-from-dunblane-an-eadie-family-history?viewer=1&offset=1#page=1&viewer=picture&o=&n=0&q=

[Skoosh]

When the duke of Gordon was showing Wellington the Gordon Highlanders he pointed out that there were a couple of dozen? of them could call him something more than colonel.

Bests,
Skoosh.