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Letter from Gilbert Burns to Miss Breckenridge, dated Mossgeil, 23 August, 1790. One of a series of letters written by Gilbert Burns to his future wife Jean Breckenridge of Kilmarnock. The two were married on 21 June 1791 and had 11 children.
Gilbert Burns (1760 - 1827) was the second son of William and Agnes to be born in the cottage in Alloway. While Robert travelled and worked throughout Scotland, it was his brother Gilbert who stayed behind at the farm in Mossgiel to look after the family.
In 1804 Gilbert became the factor of Lady Katherine Blantyre's estates in East Lothian, where he remained for the rest of his life. He died on 8 April 1827 in Grant's Braes, Haddingtonshire, Scotland, at the age 66.