KEITH, Marjory ¹

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Marjory married Sir William LESLIE 7th of Balquhain, son of Sir Patrick LESLIE 6th of Balquhain and Muriel GRANT, by 13 September 1522(presumed contract). (Sir William LESLIE 7th of Balquhain was born about 1472 and died in 1545.)

  Marriage Notes:

"Elizabeth Ogilvie died in September 1518, and William Leslie married, secondly, Marjory Keith, a most virtuous lady, daughter of Alexander Keith of Inverugie and Pittendrum, a son of William, third Earl, and thirteenth Grand Marischal of Scotland. King James V. granted a charter of the lands of Erlisfeild, Segyden, and the Wrais, in favour of William Leslie of Balquhain, and Marjory Keith his spouse, dated 13th February 1522. There is no record of any issue by this marriage."

from Family of Leslie

Note: The paternity of Marjory.

1
There was an Alexander Keith "of Pittendrum", son of the Earl Marischal and husband of Marion Lundy, but as far as is known he was not "of Inverugie". It sounds as if two Alexander Keiths may have been conflated here.

2
'Scots Peerage' states that the eldest son of Sir William Keith was
"Sir Alexander, who died between 1512 and 1518, without issue."
It makes no mention of a daughter Marjory. Nor, for that matter, does it mention a daughter Marjory as the offspring of Alexander Keith of Pittendrum.

3
In his 'PhD thesis', Miles Kerr-Petersen shows a Marjory Leslie in Table 5 Keiths of Inverugie, as the daughter of Sir Alexander Keith of Inverugie, and adds that she married William Leslie in 1518.

4
'Family of Leslie' say she married William Leslie by 13 February 1522, but does not name her mother.

5
The heiress of Inverugie, Margaret, daughter of Sir William Keith, younger, of Inverugie, did not marry the Earl Marischal until 1538, but the research of Mike Wade in his paper 'Keith of Inverugie', makes it clear that Sir William Keith younger was heir to his father by 1518, and that his daughters Margaret and Elizabeth were heiresses by 1522.

6
The use of "Inverugie", in the 'Family of Leslie' designation of Marjory's father seems to point to the family of Sir William Keith of Inverugie rather than to the family of the Earl Marischal, since "Inverugie" continues in former family from Sir Alexander Keith of Inverugie through his brother Sir William Keith younger, of Inverugie, and then to the two heiresses, one of whom carries "Inverugie" to the Earl Marischal's line by her marriage.

7
So, was Marjory the daughter of "Alexander Keith of Pittendrum", or of "Sir Alexander Keith of Inverugie"?
In the absence of any hard evidence that any child of Sir Alexander Keith of Inverugie survived, for surely her presence in the saga of inheritance would have been noted, it seems somewhat likely that Marjory was "of Pittendrum", and that the inclusion of "Inverugie" in her father's designation may have been an error.
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