Robert Gordon of Straloch, 1580-1661

Sir John Gordon of Botharie, Pitlurg and Kinmundie (d 1600), alias Gordon of Pitlurg, was the only son of John Gordon, who died at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547, and his wife, a daughter of James Ogilvie of Cullen. He was descended from the cadets of John Gordon of Essie, alias "Jock of Scurdarg" [Scurdargue, Rhynie], son of John Gordon (d 1394), from whose father the three main branches of Gordons in North of Scotland are descended ("Jock of Scurdarg", "Tam of Ruthven" and the ducal line of the Seton-Gordons, who became the Earls of Huntly).

A trusted friend and confidant of the Earls of Huntly, whose estates were forfeited after the Reformation, and a favourite of King James VI, he was appointed administrator in 1594 to Huntly's forfeited Castle of Strathbogie. He married Isabel, daughter of the seventh Lord Forbes, and had three children, a daughter, Barbara, who married the Honourable John Elphinstone of Wartle, third son of Alexander, fourth Lord Elphinstone, and two sons, John and Robert. Their eldest son, John Gordon, inherited Pitlurg after his father's death in 1600, but he died in 1619, without issue, and the estate passed to his brother Robert Gordon of Straloch (1580 - 1661).

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