DUNBAR, James 4th Earl of Moray ^{1 3}

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James married Isabel INNES, daughter of Sir Walter INNES 10th of that Ilk and Euphemia FRASER.^{1 2} (Isabel INNES was born about 1409.)

  Marriage Notes:

"Hector Boece, though not a reliable authority, seems to have known facts about the Dunbars which were overlooked by genealogists until lately discovered to be comparatively true. He wrote about 1527, and his continuation volume, printed in 1574, is closely followed by Pitscottie, who states that James Dunbar, Earl of Moray, was handfasted to Isobel Innes, daughter to the Laird of Innes, but she died before marriage. After her death the Earl married Katharine (or Janet), daughter to Alexander Seton of Gordon. This is a statement which is accepted in varying forms by all later writers, and nothing has been found to disprove it .....

By Isabel Innes the Earl had a son Alexander, afterwards Sir Alexander Dunbar of Westfield." (pages 305-306)

from Scots Peerage (vol 6)




"He (James, Earl of Dunbar) was twice married ; first to his cousin, Isobel, daughter of Walter Innes of that ilk ,but as this union was within the degrees of consanguinity forbidden by the church, it was alleged the marriage was not valid without a dispensation from the Pope ; but she died before that could be obtained,
leaving issue, by the Earl, a son, Alexander, who, though he did not succeed to the
Earldom of Moray, got the lands of Westfield in Morayshire, Conzie in Forgue, and
many others."

from Thanage of Fermartyn ^{1 2}

James next married Margaret SETON, daughter of Sir Alexander SETON of that Ilk, Lord of Gordon and Elizabeth GORDON heiress of Gordon.¹ (Margaret SETON was born about 1408.)

  Marriage Notes:

" .... James Dunbar, Earl of Moray, was handfasted to Isobel Innes, daughter to the Laird of Innes, but she died before marriage. After her death the Earl married Katharine (or Janet), daughter to Alexander Seton of Gordon. This is a statement which is accepted in varying forms by all later writers, and nothing has been found to disprove it.

By his wife Earl James had two daughters, named together on 26 April 1442, in a royal precept, as daughters of the late James of Dunbar, Earl of Moray."

from Scots Peerage (vol 6)




"It is suggested here that Margaret (Seton) was born about 1405 daughter to Alexander Seaton of Gordon and his spouse Elizabeth Gordon. (note that a generation earlier John Ogilvy of Inverquharity married Marion Seaton a daughter of William Seaton of Gordon.)

She married firstly to James Dunbar, earl of Moray who died about 10 Aug 1430. James was delivered to England as a hostage for King James I and released in 1427 and probably at the time he succeeded to the earldom. It is said by MacFarlane but without confirmation that the earl married a daughter of Alexander Seton of Gordon. Margaret was that widowed Countess who received the fermes from 1431 and continued to receive the fermes of Moray throughout her marriage to Sir John Ogilvy.

Evidence suggests that Margaret Seton married James Dunbar about 1422 and had two daughters the elder being born about the time of his incarceration in England and the younger possibly born after his return."

from wikitree.com article ^{1 4}