Alexander Gordon of Newton

Early land-owner in Tobago and father of John Gordon of Newton (q.v.) and of Alexander Gordon of Newton (1804-1868).

1. Will of Alexander Gordon of Newton proved 26/03/1825. The will identifies his wife as Jane Morison, rehearses the entail of his Newton estate and dealt with the rest of his property, including in Tobago. He left £2000 each to his sons Alexander and George and his daughters Jane and Mary, and his house in Plymouth Tobago on Courland Point, together with 'my negro girl slave named Grace' and another unnamed woman purchased by George Morison, to Polly Gibb [also given as Gibbs], 'free mulattoe woman.' Polly Gibb appears to have been related to George Gibb, Alexander Gordon's 'brother uterine'. In a codicil of 1820 he reported the death of his daughter Jane and increased the monetary legacies to his younger children to £5000 each. Alexander Gordon of Newton is shown in an antiquarian source as 'sometime of Tobago' and as marrying 'Mrs Ogilvy' [n.d., apparently Jane nee Morison who had first married James Ogilvy of Ascreavie], with John Gordon of Newton among their issue, together with his brothers George and Alexander, the latter of whom succeeded John of Newton. The song 'Gordon O'Newton's Marriage' commemorates the [first] wedding of Alexander Gordon of Newton the son of Alexander Gordon (d. 1825), to Sarah Forbes in 1844.

2. An Alex. Gordon was among the signatories of the 06/06/1781 address by the inhabitants of Tobago on the departure of Lt-Governor Ferguson. Alexander Gordon of Newton appears to have returned from Tobago c. 1800 and bought the house at Newton 'from Colonel M'Intosh, to whom Capt. Davidson who built the mansion house in 1779, had sold it.'

1. PROB 11/1696/341; Rev. William Temple, The Thanage of Fermartyn, p. 159.

2. The Remembrancer Vol. 12 (1781) p. 250; 'Site Record for Newton House, Walled Garden Details', http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/203665/details/newton+house+walled+garden/ accessed 20/11/2013; Isabella M. Bruce, A century of Aberdeenshire agriculture: a souvenir of the Garioch farmer club centenary (Aberdeen, 1908).

We are grateful to David Alston for his assistance with compiling this entry.