BAILLIE of Inverness

[BeccaH]

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone has any information or help to offer on this family.  My starting point is an Isobel or Isabella Baillie, who married Archibald McDonald/McDonell in the parish of Boleskine, 23 Feb 1805.  They had children John (b 1805), Donald (b 1808 and presumably died young), William (my ancestor, 1809-1894) and Donald (b 1813).  Members of this family can be found on censuses, and I have a pretty full set of information on them and subsequent generations.

What I am a lot more vague about is following their mother's family further back.  The family story was that the marriage between Archibald and Isobel was an elopement - Archibald was a stone mason, and according to the story, her family were wealthy and didn't want her marrying a mere craftsman! 

Her marriage record lists her father as James Baillie of Inverness, and the only record I can find that is remotely likely for her birth is a baptism record of an Isabl Baillie, daughter of James Baillie and his wife Katherine, in Inverness, on the 27th of September 1771.  The only problem with this is that that would make her 34 in 1805, quite a late age to be marrying (I'm taking the elopement story with a pinch of salt, of course, but even for an ordinary marriage, 34 is unusually old for the early 1800s).  However, there do not seem to be any other options...

If this is the right Isobel, I can trace her family considerably further, through James' father John (a goldsmith in Inverness, apparently, which would probably fit with the idea of Isobel's family being wealthier than Archibald's), but I'd like to be more thoroughly convinced that this is actually her...

I'd welcome any opinions, especially if you have any knowledge of this family!

[beansgram]

Hi Becca I ran into similar problems while researching my scottish ancestors. I live in the United States and when people immigrated alot of times the difficulties come from spelling.  Did you try different spellings of Baillie.  I have been photographing tombstones in cemeteries in my area and came across tombstones for these people with your spelling. Did any of this family immigrate to the US?  Robert Ballie 1765-1847 his wife Elisabeth 1769-1840 John 1809-1954 his wife Jane Forbes Ballie 1808-1879 and Dickson Baillie 1813-1837. The Spelling on Elisabeth is Bailie but it says Consort of Robert Baillie.  So you might be running in to spelling differences.  Also maybe the elopement is true and she waited until her parents died to be married and post bans. Just some thoughts to consider.   Beans
 

[BeccaH]

Hey there, thanks for the reply!

It is something that's occurred to me, although I maybe haven't looked into it as much as I should have - I've tried using soundex where that's an option, but otherwise it can be quite difficult, because there are so many possible spelling variations/errors!  For example, I wouldn't have found Isobel at all if I hadn't searched with soundex, because they have spelt her name Isabl, and while I might have tried variations such as Isabel, Isabelle, Isabella, etc, I wouldn't have thought of Isabl... I have run into the same issue on the other branch of this family, who actually appear to have changed their name from MacDonald to MacDonell, although they did it under the impression that they were changing it back to the original form, so who knows, maybe it was originally McDonell at some point.

The idea of the late marriage because they really did elope is an intriguing one... although I'd have to wonder why it was necessary, since all that was required by Scottish law was for them to declare themselves man and wife before witnesses - there was no need for parental consent, which was why English couples made a practice of eloping to Scotland...  However, it's certainly an idea - I need to see if I can find out when her father died.

I have no idea if any of the Baillies might have emigrated, since I have so little information about Isobel's family, although it's quite likely that at least some of them did.  My own branch stayed very much on British soil - Isobel and Archibald's granddaughter, another Isobel, was the first to move out of the Highlands, and she only went as far as Edinburgh - my own Granny was the first of the family to move away from Scotland, when she married my Yorkshire Grandpa...