GRAY, Elizabeth ¹

   Another name for Elizabeth was GRAY, Eliz.²

   User ID: C722.

  General Notes:

"HOWIE, ELIZABETH ROBERT HOWIE/ELIZABETH GRAY F 01/12/1689 495/10 9 Cumbernauld"

from Births and Baptisms ¹

  Research Notes:

CUMBERNAULD

Elizabeth Gray's daughter was baptised in Cumbernauld parish, which had only emerged as a parish in its own right fairly recently:

"In 1621, the people of Cumbernauld district petitioned Parliament to have Lenzie Barony made two parishes, or to have the church brought nearer to the centre of the parish. In 1646, a new church was built at Cumbernauld for Easter Lenzie (now made a separate parish), and the chapel in Kirkintilloch became the church of the western parish. The old church was then deserted."
(Kirkintilloch by Select Contributors)

The same author continues later in his article:

"Within the precincts of the original portion of the Auld Aisle (the graveyard of the old church that became deserted) slumber the Gartshores of Gartshore, the Dalrymples of Woodhead, the Grays of Oxgang and Condorrat, and other families representative of the old order that the Kirkintilloch of today no longer knows."

Elizabeth Gray may have been one of the Grays referred to above. ³

Elizabeth married Robert HOWIE elder, of Glentore, son of Unknown (Robert? Joseph?) HOWIE and Unknown, before 1 December 1689.¹ (Robert HOWIE elder, of Glentore was born about 1634 and died after 1710 ⁴.)

  Marriage Notes:

Although there is no marriage listed for Robert Howie and Elizabeth Gray in the Old Parish Registers of the Church of Scotland, the baptism record of their daughter Elizabeth refers to the child as "daur lawll", a "lawful daughter", which means the couple had been regularly married according to the norms of the Church of Scotland. We should not assume that this was the only child of this marriage because no others are found in the Church of Scotland registers. An absence of Howie baptisms in the 17th century registers appears to be the rule rather than the exception. It was an extremely turbulent time politically and religiously in Scotland, so an absence of records is unsuprising. Other Presbyterian churches in Scotland kept registers of baptisms, marriages and burials, but from 1716 onwards. Some of these, but not yet all, are available through Scotland's People website.

"Robert Howie" is surely the elder Robert Howie, since Robert Howie younger of Glentore had been married to Elizabeth Manuel since May 1686. We know that in 1710, on 12 December, their son Robert, of Ruchrig, was not yet 21 years old; he is referred to in a document of that year as "minor", and acting on the advice of his "curatores", namely his grandfather and a Manuel uncle. This fact points to him being born after the 12 December 1689. Since this Robert Howie of Ruchrig was also a 'lawful' child, there must have been two different Roberts Howie marrying at that time in that area. ^{5 6 7}