LAIDLAW, Mary ^{1 2 3 4}

   Another name for Mary was NISBET, Mary.⁵

  General Notes:

Old Parish Register
Yarrow parish Selkirkshire
Baptisms

"Adam Laidlaw labourer at Dryhope and Janet Wilson his wife had a Daughter born 17^th March 1813 named Mary"

The 1841 census recorded a Mary Nisbet living with Thos Nisbet, and Thomas Helen and Catherine Nisbet, at Echline in the parish of Dalmeny, West Lothian. All replied 'No' to the question about whether they had been born in the census county. Mary Nisbet was in the 30-34 years age range. ^{4 5}

  Research Notes:

DEATH

There is a death record, for the year 1850, in the parish register of Dunfermline, Fife. It is tempting to focus on it as the death record of Mary Laidlaw, since the age is right and Mary Laidlaw's husband's name was Thomas Nisbet. It reads across the page from left to right:

"Names: Mary Nisbet, wife of Thomas
Designations: Inglis Newrow
Age: 37
Date of Death: March 24
Date of Burial: March 28
Place of Interment: Common Ground
Sex: Female
Disease or other cause of Death if known: Consumption"

Note 1: the phrase "wife of Thomas" occurs in the first column followed immediately by "Inglis Newrow" in the second column. Other insertions in the Designations column do provide minimum addresses eg "East port" or "Crossgate". So could Inglis Newrow be an address?
Now there is in Dunfermline an Inglis Street, and a street named New Row. They run north-south. However in the 1854 ordinance survey map it is clear these two are separated by two streets running east-west: East Port Street beside New Row, then beyond that James Street nearer Inglis Street. In other words, Inglis and New Row do not adjoin each other. So it is unlikely "Inglis Newrow" is an address only. This is reinforced by the fact that there is also one other spillover from the first into the second column: "Elizabeth Coulter Wife of" (column 1) then "And Coventry Moodie St".

Note 2: if it is accepted that this record refers to the first wife of the Thomas Nisbet, Mary Laidlaw, and his second wife was Jane Veitch, as outlined on this site, there is a problem over dates, since Thomas would in that case have married Jane before the death of Mary. He married Jane in January 1850, and Mary, if this record were hers, did not die supposedly until March 1850. One would have to assume Thomas abandoned his first wife while she was alive and suffering from consumption, then married bigamously. Bigamies do happen, but evidence suggests this is not one such case.

Note 3: there is another convincingly good reason that the above death record does not belong to Mary Laidlaw. In the old parish registers of Dunfermline there is a marriage entry:
Name: Mary Nisbet Spouse: Thomas Inglis Marriage: 22 Dec 1844 - Dunfermline,Fife,Scotland

The death record, transcribed above, is in columns, the column headings rendered here in italics, so reading from left to right we actually read: "Mary Nisbet, wife of Thomas/Inglis New Row....etc" ie Mary Nisbet (maiden surname) married to Thomas Inglis living in New Row. That Nisbet is Mary's maiden surname is made more likely by the fact that the other death recorded on the same page (quoted above) where column one flows into column two is undoubtedly that of a woman named Elizabeth Coulter (maiden surname) who married Andrew Coventry in Dunfermline in 1831 and who presumably lived, at the time of her death, in Moodie Street, Dunfermline.

Taken together these points lead to the logical conclusion that the 1850 death record in Dunfermline parish of Mary Nisbet is *not* that of this Mary Laidlaw, wife of Thomas Nisbet. ^{6 7 8 9 10}

Mary married Thomas NISBET (DNA Link), son of Thomas NISBET (DNA Linked) and Helen GOVENLOCK (DNA Linked), on 20 March 1836 in Yarrow Parish, Selkirkshire, Scotland.¹ (Thomas NISBET (DNA Link) was born about 1811 in Peeblesshire, Scotland ^{5 11} and died in 1867 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA ^{12 13 14}.)

  Marriage Notes:

Old Parish Register
Yarrow Parish Selkirkshire
Marriages

"1836
March 20 Thos Nisbet and Mary Laidlaw both in this Parish - - - "

In addition to this entry, which may have been a proclamation of marriage rather than the actual marriage record, there are two other documents of marriage between a Thomas Nisbet and Mary Laidlaw:
1
02/11/1844 NISBET, THOMAS (Old Parish Registers Marriages 778/ 60 357 Selkirk) Page 357 of 464
presented in column form
"Names Given In: 1844 (October entered & crossed out) Nov^r. 2
Names of Parties: Thomas Nisbet Mary Laidlaw
Parishes: Selkirk Yarrow
When Married: (blank)
By Whom Married: (blank)
Cautioners: (blank)"
2
17/11/1844 NISBET, THOMAS (Old Parish Registers Marriages 779/ 30 57 Yarrow) Page 57 of 375
"1844
Nov^r. 17 Thomas Nisbet in the Parish of Selkirk and Mary Laidlaw in this Parish...... 1 2" ^{1 2 3}