FORBES, Elizabeth 'lady of Thornton' ^{1 2 3}

   User ID: R492

  General Notes:

"Elizabeth Forbes of Waterton, wife of Sir James Strachan of Thornton, to whose memory there was an elaborate memorial in the Thornton aisle in the Marykirk parish church died in childbirth in her 25th year in 1661.

'A funeral song to the memory of a most excellent woman. Dame Elizabeth Forbes, lady of Thornton, who, possessed of all the merits that can adorn her sex, became a candidate for eternity 10th January 1661, in the 25th year of her age, having died prematurely in childbed. Altho' her worth is preserved by monuments more lasting than any brass, her sorrowing husband, Sir James Strachan of Thornton, knight baronet, has caused this magnificent tomb to be erected to her most fragrant memory.

Stop, traveller, you have before you a monument of the deepest grief; you see the tomb of a virtuous and accomplished lady - one who, lately a light to her country, now flits an unsubstantial shade. If the golden dawn showed so bright a light, with what splendour would the noontide have shone ? How great was her piety, how befitting her illustrious race was her inspired intellect, how thorn- less her rosy bosom, how great the graceful dignity of her look! A Phcenix, she both lived and died, such as not ten ages could reproduce. But she died ripe for Heaven :- What more was needed ? The slothful reckon ages, good men deeds. Death itself shall not part us.' "

from Epitaphs & inscriptions




"Dame Elizabeth Forbesspouse to Sir James Straquhane of Thorntoun [Strachan of Thornton], par. of Aberluthnot 13 Aug 1662"

from Testaments of Marykirk people ⁵

Elizabeth married Sir James STRACHAN 3rd Baronet of Thornton, Minister of Keith parish, son of Sir James STRACHAN 1st f Inchtuthill and Mary RAMSAY, on 24 January 1654 in Ellon parish, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.¹ (Sir James STRACHAN 3rd Baronet of Thornton, Minister of Keith parish was born about 1634 and died by 1715 in Inverness, Inverness-shire, Scotland ⁶.)

  Marriage Notes:

"STRAWCHEN
JAMES
ELIZABETH FORBES/
24/01/1654
192
30 / 18
Ellon"

from Index of Marriages




"On the 24th January 1654, James Strachan, second of Inchtuthill, subsequently Sir James Strachan of Thornton, Baronet, married his cousin Elizabeth, third daughter of Thomas Forbes of Waterton, by his wife Jean, daughter of David Ramsay of Balmain, and sister of Sir Gilbert Ramsay, Bart. (Parish Register of Ellon). In the Waterton Papers, the marriage-contract is noticed thus: '1654, 5th January. - Contract of marriage between James Strachan of Inchestuthell and Elizabeth Forbes, with consent of her mother, Jean Ramsay, by which he settles the liferent of his lands on her, after the death of his mother, Margaret [Mary] Ramsay, in consideration of a portion of 8000 merks.' Elizabeth Forbes, Lady Strachan, died on the 10th January 1661, soon after giving birth to her third child ; she was in her twenty-fifth year. To her memory. Sir James Strachan, her husband, erected an elegant marble tomb in the family burial aisle at Marykirk. [...] By his wife, Elizabeth Forbes, Sir James Strachan was father of a son, James, and two daughters. In the Waterton Papers is the following entry :

' 1665. - Jeane Ramsay summons Sir James Strachan of Thornetoun, complaining that soon after the death of Elizabeth Forbes, his wife, he had neglected his affairs and abandoned his three children - James, Jean, and \'97\'97¹ Strachan - whom the said Jean Ramsay, their grandmother, had taken in and educated. She requires that he should make her an allowance for the same.'

¹The name of tbe younger daughter was Grizel. She married the Rev. Ludovick (see Note below) Grant, minister of Duthill, and had a son Ludovick (Reg. Mag. Sig., lib. xvi., No. 103, fol. 170)."

from Memorials of the Scottish Families of Strachan and Wise (1877)

Note:

Grizel married Sweton Grant and their son was Ludovick.




"1654. 5th January. Contract of Marriage between James Strachan of Inchestuthell, and Elizabeth Forbes, with consent of her mother, Jean Ramsay, by which he settles the life-rent of his lands on her, after the death of his mother, Margaret Ramsay, in consideration of a portion of 8000 marks : it is signed by Alexander Ramsay, and David Ramsay, as curators."

from Memoranda Relating to the Family of Forbes of Watertown




(at Keith in 1665)

"Sir James Strachan of Thornton, 1665 Bart., born 1644 (see Note below), only son of James S. of Inchtutlill and Thornton, and Mary, daugh. of David Ramsay of Balmain; succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his kinsman, Sir Alexander S., in 1659; educated at King's College, Aberdeen; M.A. (28th March 1660); licen. by the Archbishop of St Andrews; pres. by Sir John Forbes of Craigievar; ord. (at Elgin) 25th July 1665, and inst. before 3rd Oct.following ; deprived by Decreet of the Privy Council, 7th Nov. 1689, for not reading the Proclamation of the Estates, and not praying for King William and Queen Mary, but praying for the restoration of King James. He set up an Episcopal meeting house in the parish in which he was encouraged by many Jacobites within the district, particularly the laird of Boyne, against whom a proclamation had been issued for his participation in the Invasion of 1689. In 1703 being inhibited by the Privy Council, Sir James retired to Inverness, where he died before 1715.

He marr. (1) 24th Jan. 1654, Elizabeth (died 10th Jan. 1661 aged 25), daugh. of Thomas Forbes of Waterton, and had issue James, died 1686; Mary; Grizel (marr. Sweton Grant, min. of Duthil) :

(2) 1663, Katherine (died in childbed 6th April 1689), only child of John Rose of Kellas, and Margaret Douglas, and had issue John of Kellas [which he sold in 1690 to John Farquharson of Binns], said to have been killed in the Rising of 1715; George, Episcopal min.; Hugh, born 1672, entered Douai College, 31st Jan. 1693, returned as a missionary to Scotland in 1701, died at Douai 1745; Kenneth Francis, schoolmaster of Rothiemay, 1695-7, entered Douai College July 1700. [Catholic Spectator, v.; Tombst.; Peterkin's Constitution of the Church; Gordon's Chronicles of Keith, 202; Cramond's Church of Keith.]" from Fasti Ecclesiae

Note:

As James Strachan married in 1654, 1644 as his year of birth is clearlyy erroneous. ^{1 2 3 7}