Mary Bruce

Mary was born in 1770 in Denny and her baptism took place on April 1st, 1770 in Dunipace.^1 2 

• Birth Notes
  • 1841: 65 years old (rounded).
    1851: born in Denny, Stirlingshire. 82 in 1851, so born ca. 1768/69
        
    LDS: Birth:      About 1768      Of, Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland
    
    
    According to Helen Henderson Thomson, she was related on the Johnston side to the explorer James Bruce of Kinnaird - perhaps descended from one of his brothers. She had an 18th century writing bureau (with secret drawers) that had been passed down through generations and was said to have belonged to the explorer. She warned her daughters against ever selling it, but sadly it was sold in the late 1990s by her daughter Jan.
    
    There is a connection between Kinnaird and the Houstoun estate, where Mary's husband worked. See National Archives of Scotland:
    GD30    Papers of the Shairp family of Houston, West Lothian    1455-1926
    Country code     GB
    Repository code     234
    Repository     National Archives of Scotland
    Reference     GD30/1522
    Title     Discharge by David Bruce of Kinnaird and James Gordon of Ellon, factors for James Glen of Longcroft, keeper of the royal palace of Linlithgow and Castle of Blackness, to Thomas Sharp of Houstoun for feuduty of the lands of Houstoun.
    Dates     27/1/1747

Mary's father was William Bruce and her mother was Janet Newlands. She had two brothers and three sisters, named Bruce, Bruce, Isobell, Ann and Agnes.  She was the oldest of the six children.  She died due to natural causes or old age at the age of 81 on November 10th, 1851 in Bathgate.³ 

• Death Notes
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Details of Mary's family with James Thomson