Margaret Gourlay of the Parish of Kincardine and John Fisher of the Port of Menteith Parish were married 19 January 1750, and brought 9 children into the world between 1750-1772, at Burnside of Ruskie/Miln of Ruskie in Stirlingshire. More details on that family can be found in my post about the Fishers, but here’s a list of their children:
- Janet Fisher, baptized 30 October 1750
- Margaret Fisher, baptized 13 August 1752
- Mary Fisher, baptized 20 July, 1754
- Elizabeth Fisher, baptized 11 July 1760
- Robert Fisher, baptized 16 December, 1762
- Jean Fisher, baptized 1 May 1765
- Susanna, baptized 24 July, 1767
- Daniel Fisher, baptized 9 September 1769
- Naomi Fisher, baptized 12 March 1772
Margaret Gourlay Birth
If Margaret Gourlay was born in Kincardine in Menteith, the parish she belonged to at the time of her marriage, she could have been:
- born 6 February 1732 to Robert Gourlay and Margaret Henderson or
- born 7 January 1731 to Archibald Gourlay and Christan Walker
If our Margaret Gourlay is one of these two, I would lean heavily towards the first one, as the names Archibald and Christan don’t show up in any of Margaret Gourlay and John Fisher’s children. There were a total of 4 Gourlay families in the Kincardine parish who had children during the 1720-1760 time period:
- Archibald Gourlay and Christan Walker (Robert, 1728; Margaret, 1731; James, 1732)
- John Gourlay and Margaret Mclay (James, 1735; Margaret, 1737; Thomas, 1738; John, 1741; Robert, 1743)
- Robert Gourlay and Margaret Henderson (Margaret, 1732; Elizabeth, 1736; Helin, 1739)
- William Gourlay and Margaret Neilson (Margaret, 1753; John, 1756)
- There was also a John Smith and Margaret Gourlay who had 5 children (James, 1721; John, 1723; Archibald, 1726; Margaret, 1728; William, 1731).
I mention all these families since there weren’t many and they were likely kin. In the entire county of Perthshire throughout the entire 18th century, there were only 40 Gourlays born. With the important caveat that this is a fishing expedition and cannot be accepted as fact, I’m going to make the leap that our Margaret Gourlay’s parents were indeed Robert Gourlay and Margaret Henderson, as it may help me to go back a generation or two, if possible.
Robert Gourlay and Margaret Henderson Marriage and Children
Robert Gourlay and Margaret Henderson/Henderson(e) were married 24 August 1731 in Kincardine.
They had 3 daughters:
- Margaret Gourlay, born 6 February 1732
- Elizabeth Gourlay, born 19 September, 1736
- Helin Gourlay, born 17 February, 1739
Closer examination of Margaret Gourlay’s baptism record reveals the words “witnesses in fornication William Henderson & James Keir”. One of the primary purposes of kirk sessions and church elders was to police the sex lives of parishioners. When unmarried people were caught fornicating, or there was doubt about a child’s parentage, the marital status of the parents, or when a child was born less than 9 months after the marriage, the elders had questions. They hauled the involved parties into official church proceedings and conducted investigation, interrogation, and various forms of punishment (most often fines and public shaming) until they were satisfied the guilty parties were sufficiently sorry, and then they absolved them of their sin,
I have read countless accounts of this in the online digitized repository on the Scotland’s People website, but this is the first one that has potentially related directly to our family. I am going to create a separate post for it to explain further, and will link that here when it’s published. Suffice to say the finding allowed me to find Margaret Henderson’s parents, siblings, and birthplace.
Margaret Henderson
Margaret Henderson was either:
- baptized 9 April 1704 in Alloa Clackmannanshire, daughter of William Henderson and Isobell Haliburton, or
- baptized 2 Dec 1705 in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, daughter of William Henderson and Marjorie Black
Robert Gourlay
The only Robert Gourlay born in Perthshire 1700-1714 was born 12 March 1704 to John Gourlay and Margaret Murdoch in Kincardine. That would have made Robert Gourlay 27 at the time of his marriage, which gives me pause. However, as Rev. Christopher Tait reported in his account of Kincardine in 1793:
The farmers of this parish…employ only unmarried men as servants. The effect of which is, that fewer marry than would, if they had a prospect of obtaining employment, amidst their relations and companions, in that species of labour to which they have been bred…Of those who marry, some leave the parish, and others become moss tenants, at the hazard of enduring greater hardships for some time, if they have not saved money, than if they left the parish.
Kincardine, County of Perth, OSA, Vol. VI, 1793, by Rev. Christopher Tait
I don’t know the class or occupation of this family, so it’s impossible to know if that could have been at play.
John Gourlay and Margaret Murdoch
John Gourlay and Margaret Murdoch had 7 children, all born in Kincardine:
- John Gourlay, born 31 January 1693
- Margaret Gourlay, born 21 June 1696
- Janet Gourlay, born 12 Dec, 1698
- James Gourlay, born 1 June, 1701
- Mary Gourlay, bor 16 September, 1702
- Robert Gourlay, born 12 March, 1704
- Jean Gourlay, born 28 May, 1710
Gurley (Gourlay) Family Genealogy
There is a genealogical account of the Gurley Family with a section on Gourlay families of both Perthshire and Sterlingshire, which lists mentions of Gourlays in those two counties. I am including both because the parishes these Gourlays and Fishers came from were near the border of the two counties.
Families in Stirlingshire
At Clarkmannan, on the 13th June, 1330, Robert Gourlay, provost of Stirling, rendered to the chamberlain his ac- counts for that burgh.
John Gourlay is, on the 28th February, 1388-9, named as a land-owner at Stirling.
At Perth, on the 20th March, 1465-6, John Gourlay, one of the bailies of Stirling, rendered his account for that burgh.
On the 25th September, 1479, John Gourlay is named as possessing lands at Stirling.
The late David Gourlay, owner of “two riggis,” is named in a charter subscribed at Stirling on the 7th February, 1525-6.
On the 3d March, 1642, a charter under the Great Seal was granted to Robert Gourlay in Patrickstown of Lecky, in liferent, and to Robert Gourlay, younger, his son, of the lands of Offerance of Lecky, commonly called Schyrgartoun, in the Stewartry of Menteith, on the resignation of Alexander Lecky of that ilk.
In the year 1666, Robert Gourlay of Little Kerse is named; also his wife Bethia, daughter of Walter Graham of Meikewood.
On the 2d July, 1670, Robert Gourlay, eldest son of Robert Gourlay of Little Kerse, called Shirgarton, is named in a sasine, with reference to the lands of Kipdarroch in the parish of Gargunnock.
On the 16th and 21st November, 1768, David Gourlay of Kipdarroch received a disposition of the lands of Easter and Wester Callichat.
On the 9th May, 1761, Mr. James Gourlay, preacher of the Gospel, son of Archibald Gourlay of Birkhill, near Stirling, granted a disposition of these lands in favor of George Muschet, merchant, Stirling. Licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on the 2d August, 1758, he was ordained minister of Tillicoultry, on the 25th September, 1765. In 1772 he demitted his charge, and went to America.
Hugh Gourlay, licensed by the Presbytery of Stirling on the 26th April, 1760, was ordained minister of Balfron on
the 25th September of the same year. He died on the 11th January, 1787, aged fifty-five. He married, first, Margaret
Lauder; secondly, 30th July, 1782, Elizabeth Colquhoun, with issue.Families in Perthshire
On the 19th December, 1521, John Blackadder, friar of Tulliallan, and Mr. Patrick Blackadder, Archdeacon of Glasgow, granted a charter to Alexander Livingston of Dunipace, and Alison Gourlay, his spouse in life-rent, and to Mr. Alexander Livingston, their son, heritably, of the lands of the Overtoun of Tulliallan.
To a charter, granted on the 1st October, 1527, by Sir Andrew Murray of Balvaird, to the Abbey of Cambuskenneth, of an annual rent of fourteen merks, from the lands of Arngrosk (Arngask), Alexander Gourlay is a witness.
By the Regent Mary of Guise was, on the 7th August, 1546, confirmed a charter, whereby William, Lord Crichton
of Sanquhar, granted to Thomas Gourlaw of Ballendene, the fourth part of Ballendene. in the barony of Balledgarno, and shire of Perth. On the 8th June, 1556, the Queen Regent confirmed a charter, in which Thomas Gourlaw of Ballendene grants to Alexander Gourlaw, his son, the fourth part of Ballendene.At Culross, on the 18th June, 1620, Gilbert Gourlay of Wester Grange, in the Lordship of Culross, gave in loan to John Gaw of Maw the sum of 3,000 merks, for which he received an annual rent out of the lands of Wester Rothe Wallis.
On the 31st May, 1637, Gilbert Gourlay of Wester Grange received from Andrew Brand, maltster-burgess of Culross,
a bond for two hundred merks. In 1646 Gilbert Gourlay of Wester Grange was placed on the committee of War for Perthshire.On the 28th April, 1724, Archibald Gourlay received a disposition from William Govan, of the lands of Wester
Carse of Boquhaple, in the parish of Kincardine-in-Menteith.Robert Gourlay of Wester Boquhaple had, on the 12th February, 1743, a charter of the lands of Brae in Menteith.
The Gurley Family Genealogy
