Hello everyone, I found this thread when looking for information about Cecilia Wilkie and have found the information about the Forbes family very interesting. We are pretty sure that my wife is descended on the direct female line from Cecilia's daughter - Anne Forbes.
My question is whether anyone has managed to identify Cecila Wilkie's parents. The recent work I have done on this indicates there are two possibilities:
- Cecilia Wilkie baptised 04/11/1751 - parents James Wilkie and Elizabeth Lorimer
- Cecilia Wilkie baptised 12/07/1755 - parents William Wilkie and Cecilia Brown
I favour the first birth for the following reasons but I'm prepared to be persuaded otherwise...
1. The inscription on Cecilia's gravestone according to the John Forbes biography says "Cicilia Wilkie, his wife, who died on the 20th day of July 1831, in the 80th year of her age." Clearly only the first Cecilia was in her 80th year on this date (although I realise that age information is unreliable at times).
2. Anne Forbes daughter - Mary Robertson (married name Scott) baptised her first two children Francis Lorimer Scott and Anne Forbes Scott which may suggest that she had Lorimer blood in her somewhere.
The only indication that this is incorrect is that the witnesses for Cecilia's son William Forbes are "William Wilkie in Dyttech in the parish of Fordyce & Elspet Wilkie his sister". The first Cecilia did not have a brother called William although the second did. Would Cecilia have asked her cousins to be witnesses?
Does anyone have any thoughts?
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