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We're going to solve this mystery yet!!!  I'm curious as to who Isabel Hardie's mother is.  Do you have her name and birth date and/or birthplace?  Also, do you have any siblings for her.  I'm wondering if someone in that family gave birth to a Shairp outside of marriage.  I'm chasing the female members because  I have a few Shairps without a known mother.  My ancestor, Alexander Shairp (b. 1686), is stated several places to be Thomas Shairp's son (in one document) and second son in another.  Yet in the Sasine's and birth records, Thomas only has two daughters and no sons.  Also, my Alexander has a son William (no birth date) but it does not appear to be by his wife, Marion Bell.  Curiouser and curiouser.   I look forward to your reply.

Hi again.  A lot of what I recall about the Paris family were things I noted many years ago when doing my first Shairp research, but I haven't been that active lately.  I think I noted them in old estate censuses and rentals.  I just perused about 100 pages of summaries from the Shairp family papers from the The National Archives of Scotland which I found on-line and found the following items about the Paris family which might be helpful.  Please note the old spelling of Paris is Pares.  I have typed these summaries exactly as in the original.  I think missive is letter and tack is a rental agreement.
 
GD30 item 375:  Missive by James Pares to Thomas Shairp of Houstoun to remove from the lands of Nettlehill at Martinmas next.  20/3/1764

GD30 item 669:  Tack by Thomas Shairp [Sharp] of Houstoun to John Pares [Paris] tenant at Burslethal [Bracelet Hall] of the lands of Bruslethail in Houstoun in the parish of Uphall and sheriffdom of Linlithgow.  17/10/1750

GD30 item 671:Tack by Thomas Shairp [Sharp]of Houstoun to James Paris, wright in Houstoun, of the lands of White Croft and the lands on the west sdie of Houstoun ground, at present prossessed by the said James Paris and Isobel Hardy [Harie], his mother, for 17 years.  1/3/1753

GD30 item 678:  Tack by Thomas Shairp [Sharp] of Houstoun to John Fleming, wright, formerly in Burnhouse, now in Houstoun, of lands and houses in the west end of Houstoun latley possessed by Thomas Craw and lands on the west end of Houstoun lately possessed by James Paris, wright and teinds thereof, for 19 years.  17/11/1761

I'll send you anything else as I come across it, and I'll send you a summary of what was going on in the Shairp's lives too.  That time period is when I suspect another Shairp or two may have been illegitimate births as well.  I'm just now getting  back into my research so I'll keep my eyes open for more Pares/Paris connections.

Hi -
This is just a thought, but I have been researching the Shairps of Uphall, Houstoun, etc. for many years now and have come across several members of that family that are acknowledged as family members but for which I am unable to find any record of birth.  I believe they may be illegitimate births. I was researching illegitimate births in general and found a reference that apparently sometimes an unacknowledged illegitimate child would be named with the father's surname as their second name so that everyone would know who the father was.  Is it possible that perhaps that is where the Shairp name comes from in your ancestors?  I did find some Paris names on the Shairp estate as tenants or employees so there was proximity and opportunity.   Your letter was quite old ( I remember reading it when you posted it) so if you've found out anything else in the meantime, I'd love to hear about it.