John Burnett of Aberdeen Scotland

I am related to John Burnett through my ancestor Meridith Manning who married a Catherine Burnett in Franklin County,Virginia in 1796!

John Burnett of Aberdeen


The Burnetts and Their Connections (Volume One) tells about the first Burnett who came to the American Colonies in 1638.
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John Burnett was christened 25th of December 1610 at St. Nicholas Church in Aberdeen, Scotland and died February 1686 in Old Rappahannock County, Virginia, age 76.He was buried at the Burnett Plantation Cemetery in Virginia.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x . He was the son of Thomas Burnet and Margaret Johnston and Thomas was son of John Burnet and Isabel Burnet, all of Aberdeen..

THOMAS BURNETT - born about 2 Sept. 1574 in St. Nicholas, Aberdeen, Scotland. He married MARGARET JOHNSTON, 8 Nov. 1608 in Aberdeen, Scotland. She was born about 1575 in Scotland. Some have the parents of Thomas listed as John, born abt 1548, and Isabel Burnett, married in 1573 in St. Nicholas Parish, Aberdeen, Scotland


The most asked question is, “Did our Burnetts descend from the “Burnet of Leys” or the “Burnet of Barns?” The answer is most likely the “Burnet of Leys.” The Barns family inhabited the southern region of Scotland in Burnetland and the Leys family in the north. Our John was a man of wealth and importance to be commissioned by Charles I, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland.

On the 13th of March, in the year 1638, King Charles I granted a Charter to John Burnett, a Commission To Trade In Virginia, to wit: “Warrant from the King to the Governor of Virginia or other officers whom it may concern for JOHN BURNETT of ABERDEEN the SOLE MERCHANT OF OUR KINGDOM OF SCOTLAND that hath supplied the plantations of Virginia and become our tenant there and his factors to have free commerce and traffic between Scotland and Virginia upon paying the usual customs and entering into bond to unlade [unload ship] anywhere other than in the ports of Scotland.”

So, John Burnett was a Merchant of Aberdeen and had previously supplied the plantations of Virginia with goods from Scotland and England and on the return trips, carried cargoes of tobacco to Great Britain. The wording of the above warrant suggests that King Charles I, trusted John Burnett to stand with him as “His Tenant and Sole [only] Merchant to the American Colonies. What an honor! John Burnett loved the king and named a son after him. John also named a son THOMAS after his father and another son was named JOHN (II) after his grandfather..

The Johnstons of Aberdeen were a family of wealth and influence and was greatly connected to the Burnetts. Not only was John Burnett’s mother a Johnston, but he was married to Lucretia Johnston. Lucretia was christened in St. Nicholas Church on 22 March 1629 and died Oct 1709 in Essex County, Virginia and named her second son, Thomas as her heir. Among items listed in her estate inventory was yardage of “Fine Scotch Linen” and various types of gowns, including a “riding gown, a tamine gown and a head-dress with yellow lace and a yellow top knot on it.” She bequeathed the latter to her daughter-in-law, Amy Gatewood Burnett. Her son John II owned a violin.