ELIZABETH OF GORDON, the only daughter and heiress of Sir Adam, married Alexander Seton, who afterwards was given the title of Lord Gor don. Her son ALEXANDER assumed the family name of Gordon, and was made Earl of Huntly in 1449, and Lord of Badenoch soon afterwards. By marriage he acquired large possessions in Aberdeenshire. His son GEORGE, second Earl of Huntly, married Annabella, daughter of James I., and was Chancellor of Scotland from 1498 to 1501. His son ALEXANDER commanded the left wing of the Scottish army at Flodden Field. The landed possessions of the family were greatly increased by this royal marriage, especially in Banffshire and Inverness-shire. .GEORGE, fourth Earl of Huntly, acquired the earldom of Moray, and held the offices of Lieutenant of the North and Chancellor of the Realm. Alarmed at his power, the Crown deprived him of Moray. The Earl rebelled, and lost his life by a wound in 1562. His grandson GEORGE, the fifth Earl, headed the Catholic party in Scotland, and de feated at Glenlivet a royal army sent against him in 1594. Nevertheless, he obtained a pardon, and was made Marquis of Huntly. GEORGE, his successor, fought for Charles I. in the Civil War, and was beheaded at Edinburgh in 1649. His grandson, GEORGE, first Duke of Gordon (1684), held Edinburgh Castle for James II.
in the Revolution of 1688. His son was the last Catholic chief of the race, while his great-grand son, Loan GEORGE ConnoN (q.v.), was leader of the Gordon Riots of 1780 in London, directed against the Catholics. In 1836 the title became extinct, but it was revived in 1876 for the benefit of the Duke of Richmond.
Descendants of the first Marquis of Huntly be came viscounts of Melgund and of Aboyne, and finally inherited the marquisate of Huntly, which they still hold. Other members of the family be came earls of Sutherland. The lords of Lochin var, famous in poetry and song, were Gordon. One of them, WILLIAM, sixth Viscount of Ken inure, was beheaded in 1716 for his prominent part in the Jacobite rising. In 1682 Sir GEORGE GORDON of Haddo, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, was made Earl of Aberdeen. Other members of the family were Lord Byron, whose mother was a Gordon, and Lord GEORGE GORDON, the hero of Khartum.
Consult Douglas, The Baronage of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1813). There are two printed fam ily histories of the Gordons, one by W. Gordon (Edinburgh, 1726-27), the other by C. A. Gordon (Aberdeen, 1754).