BURNET, Robert of Cowtoun, Tutor of Leys ^{1 2 3 4 5}

   Other names for Robert were BURNET, Robert of Cowton, Muchals and Criggie ⁶ and BURNETT, Robert of Contrin, Criggie, Colpnay, and Muchalls..⁷

   User ID: W551.

  General Notes:

"BURNET
ROBERT
JAMES BURNET/
M
18/04/1620
258/ 10 13
Fetteresso"

from Births and Baptisms




"From 1650 onwards the public records shew him acquiring one estate after another, sometimes in property. Elrick, in the parish of New Machar, which afterwards fell into the hands of a different line of Burnetts, was impignorated to him by Sir Walter Innes of Balveny in 1650; Colpnay, in the parish of Belhevie, by Elphinston of Glack ; and he had, as has been seen, possession of Muchalls, on a similar title, from 1662 to 1678. He apprized Cowie in 1674 ; acquired Cowtoun, in the parish of Fetteresso, his principal estate, in 1683, and Criggie (now known as Ecclesgreig) by adjudication from Robert Graham in 1686. For a younger son, his career was a successful one. In 1664 he entered on his tutory of Sir Thomas Burnett. In the same year he sat, along with Patrick Forbes, Bishop of Aberdeen, Lord Pitsligo, James Gordon, the parson of Rothiemay, and others, under a Commission, dated Whitehall, 16th January, 1664, to visit King's College, and was one of the most active and constant in his attendance of the Commissioners (Fasti Aberd., 315). In or before 1680, he had become a convert to the tenets of Quakerism : but he is not to be confounded with his namesake, Robert Burnett of Lethenty and Countesswells, whose sufferings for his adhesion to the Society of Friends are narrated in Jaffray's Diary."

from Family of Burnett of Leys ^{1 5}

Robert married Jean MORTIMER, daughter of John MORTIMER Bailie of Aberdeen and Issobell FORBES, on 22 December 1645 in Saint Nicholas parish, Aberdeen, Scotland.^{1 2} (Jean MORTIMER was baptised on 21 March 1615 in Saint Nicholas parish, Aberdeen, Scotland and died between 1678 and 1682 ¹.)

  Marriage Notes:

"BURNET
ROBERT
JEANE MORTIMER/FR4032 (FR4032)
22/12/1645
168/A 120 422
Aberdeen"

from Index of Marriages




"Robert was born in 1620, apparently at Muchalls; and, though but a fourth son, seems to have had a considerable patrimony. He acquired further means through his first wife, whom he married on 22nd December, 1646, Jean, daughter of Mr. John Mortimer, bailie of Aberdeen, by whom he had no issue..... His first wife, Jean Mortimer, was alive in May, 1678, but dead before 1682, when, at the age of 62, he married Helen Arbuthnot ...."

from Family of Burnett of Leys
^{1 2}

Robert next married Helen ARBUTHNOTT, daughter of Andrew ARBUTHNOTT of Fiddes and Helen LINDSAY, 7 June 1682(contract).^{1 3 4} (Helen ARBUTHNOTT was born in 1657 ^{3 4} and died before 9 October 1697.)

  Marriage Notes:

"Helen, born 1657, married first Robert Burnett of Cowtown (contract dated 7th June, 1682), and secondly John Sandilands."

from Memories of the Arbuthnots




"Robert, of Contrin, Criggie, Colpnay, and Muchalls. He was born 1620, and in 1650, as above narrated, obtained the lands of Elrick. He was known as tutor of Leys. By his second wife, Helen Arbuthnott, he had three daughters.

1 Helen, married to Sir Alexander Burnett of Leys.

2. Agnes, married to Thomas Burnett of Glenbervie, and after his death to Sir William Nicholson of Glenbervie.

3. Jean, married to William, son of Sir Thomas Burnett off Leys."

from Thanage of Fermartyn




"Robert .... married on 22nd December, 1646, Jean, daughter of Mr. John Mortimer, bailie of Aberdeen, by whom he had no issue..... His first wife, Jean Mortimer, was alive in May, 1678, but dead before 1682, when, at the age of 62, he married Helen Arbuthnot (after his death, wife of John Sandilands, merchant in Aberdeen). The issue of this second marriage were three daughters, Helen, Agnes, and Jean ; and their father seems to have early made up his mind that he was to have no son, and that his inheritance was to become by marriage the property of the heir of Leys. On 28th November, 1685, when he had been but three years married, and only two of his three daughters had been born, he entered into an agreement with Sir Thomas Burnett, obliging himself and his heirs to pay to Alexander, eldest son of the latter (or, in case of his death, to his second son) a marriage portion of £60,000 Scots with his elder daughter (or failing her by decease, with his second daughter), the said apparent heir of Leys being put into possession of the fee of Leys."

from Family of Burnett of Leys ^{1 3 7}