CRAIG.

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of Otterburn ; his son, Sir Adam, then became proprietor, and, like his ancestors, died on thefield, having added to the list of Scottish Knights who fell on Homildon Hill in 1402.

With him terminated the lineal male descent of this illustrious branch of the family.He was succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth, who married Alexander Seton, of the familyof Winton, and he (Alexander Seton) obtained by charter, upon the resignation of the saidElizabeth, the baronies of Huntly and Gordon, and all the other lands of the late Adam deGordon.

Sir Adam had two younger brothers, John and Thomas ; the former of Scurdargue, andancestor of the families of Pitlurg, Lesmore, Craig, and others; the latter of Ruthven ; andboth familiarly known in the north, by the appellations of “Jock” and “Tam.” There isevery reason to believe that, barring the question of legitimacy which has been raised, but ofwhich there does not appear to be any well founded doubt, the descendants of John ofScurdargue are now the chiefs of the name. In tracing the genealogy of the family, it appearsthat Sir John de Gordon having married Elizabeth, daughter of Cruickshank of Aswanly, hadby her three sons, the elder of whom succeeded upon his death; and upon the death of thisson, the estates of Strathbogie, of Gordon and Huntly in Berwickshire, and all the otherlands of the family, descended to his only surviving daughter; while his next brother, John ofScurdargue, became the male heir in succession, and consequently the chief of this ancientfamily. The opponents to the claim of John of Scurdargue advance no evidence to disprovethat the three sons above mentioned were by the same mother, and if so, it is clear that SirAdam, whose title was undisputed, could not have been legitimate and his brothers illegallyborn.

The family of Craig dates its branching off from the main stem of the tree to the personof William Gordon, second son of John Gordon of Scurdargue and Essie, who married thedaughter of Sir John Rutherford, and had two sons—William, the ancestor of the family ofLesmore, and Patrick, from whom is lineally descended the House of Craig. Patrick Gordonmarried Rachel, daughter of Barclay of Towie, and was killed at Flodden, fighting under thebanner of Alexander, the third Earl of Huntly, who commanded the right wing of the Scottish army on that fatal day.

William, Patrick’s eldest son, finished the building of the old House or Castle of Craigin 1518, and died in 1555. He was succeeded by his grandson, William, whose father,Patrick Gordon, had been killed at the battle of Pinkie in 1547. By charters from Mary, Queen of Scots , the lands of Rhynie, &c., were granted, on the forfeiture of the Earl of Huntly,to William Gordon of Craig, in 1563, and also in 1566, the lands of Johnsleys, &c. In 1596the same laird of Craig, obtained by charter from the master of Elphinston, with consent ofhis father, the lands of Contlach and Auchinleith, parts of the Barony of Kildrummie. In1607, John Gordon, the eldest son, succeeded on the death of his father, and became the fifthlaird of Craig; he was a person distinguished for his learning and acquirements, (see Dr.Arthur Jolinstone’s Parerga), and having married Lilias, daughter of Barclay of Towie, hadtwo sons and two daughters. He died on the 10th April, 1634, and was succeeded by John,