The descendants of John Coutts (born 20 December 1720) and Majorie Gellinders (born 1730)

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The Coutts family are a sept of the Farquharson clan, a Highland clan in Scotland. Septs are families who have sworn allegiance to a particular Clan Chief. The name Coutts is common in the history of the clan. The Coutts family are associated with the Farquharson clan through the names Allan Coutts, James Coutts, and Donald Coutts.

Coutts is a common Aberdeenshire name, particularly in Upper Deeside. Its origin is thought to be territorial, as in of Coults, which lies in Glen Gairn, north of Ballater. The prominent family with this name was granted a Crown charter in 1433 in which they received land in Auchtercoul (Ochtercoull). This charter was granted in favour of William Coutts, his brother Alexander, and their cousins John and Alexander. Other notable persons of this name include William Coutts, provost of Montrose towards the end of the sixteenth century. A member of this family is believed to have founded the London merchant bank of this name.

By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the name was common in Edinburgh. There is a wide a variation in the spelling of the name: Coittes, Cotis, Cottes, Cottis, Coutts, Cowtes, Cowtis, Kowtis, Coutes, Coutys, Cults. William Cultis was enrolled as a burgess of Aberdeen in 1531. The name Coates and Coats are also variant spelling of Coutts, but are sometimes listed as separate septs of Clan Farquharson. Coutts and its related names predates the surname Farquharson by a considerable period and its inclusion as a sept of the clan is on account of geographic proximity to Farquharson lands.

								Alexander Hill 1600 Married Merjorie Wood 1600
								Alexander Hill 1620 Married Elizabeth	Catharine Wright 1621	John Morisone 1620
								Andrew Reith 23 April 1616 Married Helen Byrnie on 19 January 1641 Aberdeen	Christen Hill 1651	James Muirson 1642
								Andrew Reith 1662 to 21 April 1727 Married Margaret or Jane Smith or Strachan or Stragn on 28 July 1685 Drumoak	Findlay Married Agnes Morison	Agnes Muirson 1677 to 1711
					John Coutts 20 December 1720 Miller Aberdeen COU00019	Marjory Gellinders 1730		Robert Reith 1694 to 17 August 1765 Married Janet Christie in 1707 (7 children) Married Christian Watt (1705 to 1771) on 10 August 1725 (10 children) Drumoak	James Findlay 1709 to 1778 Married Isobel Taylor (1700)
					James Coutts 25 September 1750 to 1842 Possibly married Christina Taylor on 17 June 1769 Married Jannet Cushnie on 11 January 1770 Fintray, Aberdeenshire COU00018		Robert Thom 1750 Married Jannet Mackie (1736 to 1805)	Alexander Reith 16 November 1743 to after 1788 Married Agnes Shirreff (1743 to 1789, daughter of Alexander Shireff) on 7 February 1775 Drumoak	Arthur Findlay 1755 Married Anne Milne 1766 to 1845
										George Reith 7 April 1811 to 1889 Married Jane Stuart on 21 March 1834 at OId Machar
					Robert Coutts 1776 COU00017	John Coutts 21 October 1770 to 23 May 1827 Married Jean Thom on 5 September 1793 Drumoak, Kincluny Farm, Durris, Kincardinshire COU00016	Jean Thom 1766	John Reith 10 April 1779 to 5 June 1840 Married Anne Findlay on 5 November 1808 Drumoak	Anne Findlay 1786 to 1868	8 children – David H Reith (1835 to 1836), Archibald Reith (1837 to 1894), John J Stuart Reith (1839 to 1843), George Reith (1842 to 1919), Jane Stuart Reith (1845 to 1919), Alexander Reith (1846 to 1848), James Reith (1848 to 1853), Joanna Reith (1851 to 1851)
				Mary Bisset 1790 to 1879	John Carnie 1790	William Coutts 4 August 1798 to c 1835 Married Ann Reith on 7 February 1829 Aberdeen, Coull, Drumoak COU00015	Anne Reith 30 July 1809 (baptised) to 17 June 1898 Drumoak	Alexander Harper 1827 to 1907	Ann Tocher 1829 to 1888	Very Rev. George Reith DD 1842 to 1919 Scottish Presbyterian minister of the College Church at Glasgow and later Moderator of the United Free Church of Scotland Married Adah Mary Weston in 1870
										John Charles Walsham Reith, 1st Baron Reith 20 July 1889 to 16 June 1971 Scottish broadcasting executive who established the tradition of independent public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom
					Go under		Go under
					Agnes Gibbon Carnie 1829 to 1872 Daughter of James Carnie (1790)	William Coutts 24 August 1829 to 14 July 1916 Brickmaker, Farm worker, gardener, landscaper Married Agnes Carrie at Drumoak on 22 January 1853 Married Mary Harper on 23 November 1873 at Peterculter, Aberdeen Drumoak, Echt, Old Machar, Peterculter, Aberdeen COU00014	Mary Harper 1851 to 22 April 1887
					Children from William and Agnes Coutts	Children from William and Mary Coutts Go under
Mary Ann Coutts 26 July 1853 Married Robert Merchant in about 1876 Robert Merchant became a paper works engineer Drumoak, Aberdeen COU00025	Agnes Barbara Coutts 29 January 1856 to 22 March 1856 Drumoak See COU00014	William Coutts 3 December 1857 Married Isabella J Crabtree (not sure of surname) in about 1885 Manufacturing confectioner Maryculter, Dennistoun, Glasgow COU00026	Agnes Barbara Coutts c 1860 Married James H Davidson in about 1885 Maryculter COU00027	Anna Henrietta Grant Coutts 7 July 1864 Paper mill worker and overhauler Married Hugh Dunbar in about 1895 Fetteresso, Kincardine, Drumoak, Peterculter COU00028	Arthur Farquhar Coutts 1 January 1866 Married Margaret in about 1892 Shoemaker Arrived New York 20 April 1903 Fetteresso, Kincardine, Buncombe, Asheville, North Carolina COU00029		Sarah Murray Coutts 24 April 1868 to 21 December 1936 Married Alexander Merchant Cookney, Kincardinshire, New Westminster, British Columbia COU00030	John Coutts 29 December 1871 Died in infancy COU00031
		Go under	Go under
Mary Ann Merchant 1878	Jeanie Rae Merchant 1880	Helen Ann Merchant 1881	Robert Merchant 1882 Edith A Merchant 1885 Possibly a Gladys Merchant
				Go under	Go under
Edith Merchant Married Hines Hemet, California	Myrtle Merchant Married Ramont Mount Vernon, Washington		Annabella (“Annabel”) Davidson 1888 2 sons South Africa Williamina Davidson 1891 Could this be Winnie, 1 daughter, Vancouver?	Arthur Davidson 1894 South Africa	Albert (“Bert”) Davidson 1899 South Africa
Isabella J Coutts 1887	William Fisher Coutts 1890	Alice M Coutts 1892	Nan Coutts Married name Logan
		William W (“Willie”) Dunbar 1898 2 children	Ethel M Dunbar 1899 Unmarried	Robert Unmarried
	David Coutts 1894	Arthur Coutts Junior	Mary Coutts	Madge Coutts
	5 children	1898 2 children		1 child			The Maternal Gordon Family Tree
		Elizabeth Coutts c 1873 COU00007	Alexander (“Alex”) Harper Coutts 18 December 1873 to c 1897 Died aged 23 Maryculter, Kincardinshire COU00008	Elsie Jane Coutts 22 January 1876 Died in Perth, Australia COU00009	George Duncan Coutts 5 January 1878 to 10 December 1954 Grocer Aberdeen, Feteresso COU00010	Robert Merchant Coutts 20 January 1880 to 4 March 1969 Cabinet maker, upholsterer, business owner Aberdeen COU00006	Lizzie Bella Gordon 3 November 1880 to 14 May 1958 Aberdeen GOR00001	James Reith (“Jim”) Coutts 1883 to 12 March 1973 Grocer, lumber mill sawyer Married Jessie Jane Clogg in about 1910 Aberdeen, New Westminster, British Columbia COU00011	John George Dingwall (“Dingwall”) Coutts 30 June 1884 to 31 December 1964 Contractor Married Lily Gemro Robertson on 27 September 1911 New Westminster, Vancouver, British Columbia COU00012	Stewart Coutts 22 March 1886 to 12 September 1965 Married Ruth Austin Clark on 18 July 1922 Vancouver, Clarke, Washington COU00013
		6 children		1 son					Go under	Helen Maxine Coutts 1926
					G Ernest Coutts 10 November 1911		Aubrey William Coutts c 1911 Not Married Violet Mary Coutts c 1912 No Family	Mabel Coutts 4 November 1915 Married James W E Davis Twin 3 children Isabel Coutts 4 November 1915 Twin Not Married	Melville Coutts 4 children	Cecil James Coutts c 1920 1 child (Stewart) Joyce Coutts 8 children
									From Dingwall Coutts
				Isobel Coutts	Hamish Coutts
				2 children	2 children
								Rhoda Coutts 1913	Ian Coutts 1919
								2 children	1 child
			The Paternal Coutts Family Tree
					Thomas (“Tom”) Coutts 29 November 1904 to 31 January 1976 Aberdeen COU00002	Evelyn Gordon Coutts 18 June 1907 to 28 March 1995 Aberdeen COU00003		Dorothea Harper (“Dot”) Coutts 13 July 1912 to 9 January 1998 Married James Fullarton (“Jim”) Birss (born 11 July ?) on 6 December 1935 COU00004		Kathleen Margaret (“Kay”) Coutts 10 June 1915 Married Ernest Allan (28 December 1910) COU00005
							James Gordon (“Gordon”) Birss 1938	Margaret Elizabeth Birss 1943	John Alexander Fullarton Birss 1945
							2 children	2 children	4 children
									Eric Robert Allan 1942 3 children	Dorothy May Allan 1947 4 children
						Thomas Gordon Coutts QC 5 July 1933 Aberdeen, Edinburgh COU00001	The Scott Family Winifred Scott 1935	Evelyn Margaret (“Eve”) Coutts 1938
								2 children
			Jennifer R Wilcock 1965	Julian Thomas Gordon Coutts 2 July 1962 to 1 July 2008 Edinburgh COU00036	Richard Farndale 1963 The Farndale Story The Wensleydale Line	Charlotte Coutts 1964
			Zoe Rachael Coutts 1992	Imogen Hannah Coutts 1995	James Martin Richard Farndale 1994	Sarah Louise Farndale 1997

The Family of William Coutts sent with a letter dated 30 March 1914 to a cousin, John Coutts, who lived in Colton, South Dakota, together with a key to who is who (from Eve Soulsby’s archive)

The accompanying letter:

Gravestone at Durris churchyard, still to identify who this is