the Royal Engineers; and she inherited Rossend.
These Taylors and Beatsons did not belong to Caithness,
Robert Beatson succeeded to Rossend though his mar-
riage to Mr. Campbell's only daughter.
It has been supposed that Murdoch Campbell, writer,
was a grandson of Murdoch in Brubster, the son-in-law,
and perhaps the nephew (as supposed), of Patrick Buey
Campbell of Quarrycrook, and son of William Campbell,
called William Beag, or Dorcry, afterwards in Brubster,
who was not improbably a brother, and certainly a near
relative of Patrick Buey Campbell of Quarrycrook,
Farquhar (M'Iver) in Rumsdale, and Alexander Camp-
bell of Comliefoot. It is certain that Murdoch Campbell
in Brubster had at least one son, for, as appears from a
contract of marriage in July 1721, William Campbell, his
son, married Janet, daughter of Sir James Sinclair of
Dunbeath. She is supposed to have been an illegitimate
daughter, as Sir James did not marry earlier than 1705,
and there is no mention of this daughter otherwise.
William Campbell was at the time of his marriage in
Milton of Dunbeath, and in 1753 he was in Wester-
Latheron. In 1733 he got a wadset from Sir James
over Milbuy of Houstry, to himself and his wife, and
their eldest son, James, afterwards in IDysart; and it may
be that Murdoch Campbell of IRossend was another of his
sons. When a young man, Murdoch appears to have
been a clerk in the office of James and Hugo Campbell,
the supposed connections of his family.
The traditional account of the Caithness Hendersons
is that they are descended from Henry Gunn, a younger
son of George Gunn, who was chief of the clan in the
fifteenth century. After the slaughter of their chief and
several of his sons in a combat with the Keiths, a family
difference led to Henry separating himself from his sur-
viving brothers, and settling in the lowlands of Caith-
ness. In 1594 we find mention of a champion of the clan
Gunn, named Donald Mac-William Mac-Hendric, who may
have had something to say in the matter of the Hender-
son patronymic; but the popular account is, as has been
said, that they are the descendants of Henry Gunn.
I. Donald Henderson, who was in Stemster in
1680, had two Sons:-
1. David, who is said to have settled in Zetland.
2. Alexander.
II. In the year 1700 Alexander Henderson got a
general disposition of moveables from his father (who
appears to have been in easy circumstances), and in 1706
he resided in Lochside. He married Anna or Agnes
Murray, sister-german of Ranald Murray, in Bowertower.
In 1726 he was tacksman of Stemster, and in 1736 he
became tenant of Gerston, where he resided till his
death in 1743.
He had an only son and four, if not five, daughters:-
1. David.
1. Christian, who married, in 1726, Francis Swanson,
son of William Swanson in Stemster, who be-
came tenant of Gerston in 1751 or 1752, and
whose descendants were the tenants till 1872.
2. Margaret, who married Adam Henderson, son of
Benjamin Henderson in Achalibster, from whom
are descended the family of Hendersons, some-
time in Clyth.
3. Anne, who married Donald Henderson, second
laird of Westerdale.
4. Barbara, the youngest daughter, who married, in
1751, Alexander Sinclair, the last laird of Dun,
being his second wife. She had no issue.
5. There seems to have been in 1754 another daugh-
ter named Elizabeth, who was apparently then
unmarried.
III. David Henderson occupied the farm of Gerston
for some time after 1748, and in 1750 he purchased
Stemster from Sir Benjamin Sinclair for 21,500 merks.
He married Cecilia, daughter of William Honyman of
Græmsay, another of whose daughters was married to
Taylor of Thura, and a third daughter to the Reverend
Mr. Nicolson of Shebster.
The Honymans claim to be descended, in the female
line, from Robert Stewart, first Earl of Orkney, natural
son of James V., whose grand-daughter, Mary, was
married to Stewart of Græmsay. Their only daughter
and heiress, Mary, married Andrew Honyman, who was
Bishop of Orkney from 1664 to 1676; and the Bishop
was grandfather of William Honyman. of Græmsay.
Bishop Honyman was a son of David Honyman of
Pitcairchney, and he had a brother, George, who was
minister of Stromness1 in 1672. The Bishop "did many
good and charitable deeds," including the slating and
repairing of the church of Sandwick, and died in 1676.
David Henderson of Stemster had four Sons and
three daughters:-
1. William.
2. Alexander, his successor.
3. Patrick, who died in Demerara.
4. John, who died in Jamaica.
1. Mary, who married the Reverend Robert Gunn,
minister of Latheron.
2. Anne, who married, in 1779, the Reverend William
Gunn, minister of Golspie from 1776 to 1785,
when he died. She lived until 1841.
3. Margaret, who died unmarried, in 1864, aged
ninety-seven.
IV. Alexander Henderson of Stemster was in
early life for a short time in the Royal Navy. He
married Margaret, daughter of William Duthie of Ar-
duthie, and he had five sons and four daughters:-
1. David, his successor, retired from the army as
captain in 1816.
2. Alexander Davidson, who was in the Indian Army,
and was drowned in the Persian Gulf.
3. William Honyman, C.B., who was a post-captain
in the Royal Navy, and died in November 1855.
He married Elizabeth, widow of Lord James
Townshend, K.C.H. He had no issue.
4. James, of Bilbster and Rosebank, Wick, who
married Elizabeth, daughter of Kenneth M'Leay
of Newmore, and has issue, two sons and four
daughters, and who died 1879, aged eighty-one.
5. Patrick, who was major in the Indian Army, and
died in 1873 unmarried.
1. Margaret, who died in 1879 unmarried.
2. Mary, who married Charles Chalmers of Monkshill,
Esq., advocate, Aberdeen, and had issue.
3. Johanna, died 1880, unmarried.
4. Cecilia.
V. David Henderson of Stemster married Marjory,
eldest daughter of Colonel Benjamin Williamson of
Banniskirk. He died in 1859, and had three sons and
four daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest son,
Alexander Henderson, now of Stemster, who married.
Susan, daughter of Allan M'Farlane, Esq., and his wife,
Margaret, daughter of John Home, Esq. of Stirkoke, and.
has issue.1
the halfpenny lands of Croft of Dale and Southside of
Burn of Ulgrimbeg.
He had two sons and a daughter:-
1. Robert.
2. David, first of Westerdale.
1. Janet, who is mentioned as "daughter of Donald
Henderson in Achalibster and Elizabeth Sinclair."
She married Adam Sutherland in Langwell,
second son of William Sutherland of Langwell.
I. Robert Henderson possessed in 1699 the two-
penny lands of Westerdale, and in 1703 he is named
as portioner of Dale. He married Anna Dunbar, an
illegitimate daughter of Sir William Dunbar of Hemp-
riggs, who, in 1701, granted to him and his wife and
their first and second sons, William and Benjamin, a
wadset of the twopence-halfpenny lands of Tormsdale.
In 1718 Sir William Dunbar, as Justiciary Depute and
Sheriff of Caithness, appointed him Procurator-Fiscal of
the county. In so far as appears, his children were:-
1. William in Achaldall, now called wadset lands of
Westerdale, and in Tormsdale in 1725 and 1726,
which he possessed as heir to his father in the
wadset. He gave a lease of Tormsdale to his
brother, Benjamin.
2. Benjamin.
1. Anna.
Benjamin Henderson possessed Achalibster, and
married in 1716 his cousin-german, Esther, daughter of
Adam Sutherland in Langwell, and grand-daughter of
William Sutherland of Langwell. He died before 1739,
leaving a son, Adam.
Lieutenant Adam Henderson in Achaldall or wadset
lands, was in 1749 tacksman of Achinarras. In 1739 he
married Margaret, daughter of Alexander Henderson in
Stemster and Gerston, and had with her a tocher of one
thousand merks. He had a son and two daughters:-
1. Benjamin.
1. Esther, who lived with her mother for many years
at Halkirk.
2. Janet, better known as Miss Jenny," who died
in Edinburgh at an advanced age.
Benjamin Henderson was tacksman of Clyth, and
married his relative, Elizabeth, daughter of James Suther-
land of Swiney, a great-great-grand-daughter of William
Sutherland of Langwell. He had four sons and six
daughters:-
1. John, who was drowned in Wick Bay along with
his mother about 1806.
2. Adam, who went to the West Indies.
3. Dr. James, who occupied Clyth for many years,
and down to 18--. He carried on a herring
fishery extensively, and expended considerable
sums on the harbour and farm of Clyth. Before
settling in Clyth he was acting assistant-surgeon
in the 3d Foot for some years, and afterwards he
acquired considerable reputation in the north as
a medical practitioner. A few years before his
death, which took place at Glasgow on 11th
April 1848, he took the degree of M.D. at the
University of Edinburgh.
4. William was a gentleman of some literary acquire-
ments, and was for many years engaged in
various educational establishments in Scotland
and England. Ultimately he went to Bombay
as a teacher in one of the Church of Scotland
schools. At the Disruption, in 1843, he joined
the Free Church, but falling into bad health he
returned to England, where he died unmarried
about 1849 or 1850.
Benjamin Henderson's daughters were Jean, Mar-
garet, Anne, Elizabeth, Jessie, Alexis, and Benjamina,
all of whom died. unmarried. Alexis, his last surviving
daughter, died at Barnstaple on 25th March 1874, and
the family is now extinct.
II. David Henderson, the second son, as is sup-
posed, of Donald in Achalibster and wadset lands of
Westerdale, got from Lord Glenorchy, in 1708, a charter
of the sevenpenny and two farthing and an octo lands
of Westerdale. He had a son, Donald.
Donald Henderson of Westerdale married Anne,
daughter of Alexander Henderson in Stemster and
Gerston. He had a son, Alexander.
Alexander Henderson married Janet Campbell of
the Campbells in Ausdale, and had three sons and a
daughter:-
1. Donald, who married and left issue, but did not
succeed to Westerdale.
2. William, who occupied during his lifetime Upper
Westerdale, and died unmarried.
3. David of Westerdale, to which by som.e family
arrangement he got a disposition from his grand-
father. He occupied Ballintunich or Lower
Westerdale, and died in 1860 unmarried.
1. Elizabeth, who married William Angus, Thurso,
and left no issue.
As fiar under the wadset in 1676 John was styled of
Gersay; and dying without issue, he was succeeded by
David.
David Henderson of Gersay married in 1680 Margaret,
daughter of Colonel Francis Sinclair in Scrabster (son of
John Sinclair, first of Assery) and his wife, Anne,
daughter of Francis Sinclair of Stirkoke. In his con-
tract of marriage (June 1680) he is called "lawful son of
William Henderson of Nottingham and Janet Gordon."
In 1689 and 1697 he disponed the wadset to Sir
Robert Dunbar of Northfield, and of the subsequent
history of his family there is no account.