Margaret Henderson may have been my 7x great grandmother, either:
- baptized 9 April 1704 in Alloa Clackmannanshire, daughter of William Henderson and Isobell Haliburtonm or
- baptized 2 December 1705 in Alloa Clackmannanshire, daughter of William Henderson and Marjorie Black
As explained in my post on the Gourlay family, there’s a leap of faith involved in the paper trail that got me to Margaret Henderson, which is the assumption that Margaret Gourlay was born in Kincardine in Menteith, the same parish she belonged to at the time of her marriage to John Fisher.
The marriage is the oldest record in this line that I am sure of. Everything that follows may be incorrect. Leaning on my assumption along with Scottish naming traditions, I surmised that Margaret Gourlay was likely born 6 February 1732 to Robert Gourlay and Margaret Henderson.
Antinuptial Fornication
Closer examination of Margaret Gourlay’s baptism record reveals the words “in fornication”.
A primary function of church elders and “sessions” during this era in Scotland was policing the sex lives of their parishioners. Whenever someone was found to be having sex they weren’t supposed to, or there was doubt about a child’s parentage or the marital status of the parents, or when a child was born less than 9 months after a marriage, they could expect to be hauled into court, interrogated, punished, fined, and most likely publicly shamed before the congregation until the elders were satisfied, whereupon they absolved. Such cases comprise the bulk of old Scottish kirk session minutes, which are available in digital form on the Scotland’s People website.
Having read dozens of these accounts just for entertainment, the minute I saw the word “fornication” on Margaret Gourlay’s baptism record, I knew there may well be details in the session minutes, and I was not disappointed. The entries begin here on the 22 August 1731. The parish clerk at that time was kind enough to include summarizing references to each entry in the margins, for easy browsing. I will share the images and transcribe each one below the image.
Compeared Robert Gourlay brother in law to William Henderson in Logie voluntarily and acknowledged that he was guilty of fornication with Margaret Henderson, daughter to the Ld William Henderson, and prepare pleaded of lawful proclamation with the Ld Margaret in order to marriage which the minister refused to grant until he should give charity for his penalty & satisfactionally which the Ld Robert was very willing to grant and accordingly did give, and thereupon the Minister & Session allowed for their procedure to proceed with the said proclamation.
Closed with prayer. Kincardine 22nd August 1731.
Sederunt: the Minister James Morison, John Bryre, John Hosman, Edward Kirkwood, Thomas Wingal, William Henderson, James Keir, John Morison, James Walsh(?), elders. After prayer.
From this first entry, we now have several new invaluable facts to work with:
- Margaret Henderson’s father’s name was William Henderson
- Either William Henderson or Robert Gourlay lived in Logie, but the lack of punctuation makes it difficult to discern which man the location referred to.
- William Henderson was an elder in the church
- Robert Gourlay and Margaret Henderson were married. Let’s take a look at their marriage record:
Robert Gourlay’s first appearance before the elders was 22 August 1731. He and Margaret Henderson were married on or after 24 August, and their child was baptized 6 months later on the 6 February 1732.
Reading between the lines, my take is that the couple found themselves pregnant, went to Margaret’s church elder father. William Henderson had the couple married straight away, of course requiring them to appear before the elders to answer for their sin in order to maintain their membership in the congregation and have their child baptized.
Robert Gourlay and his wife deferred to attend the session next Sabbath in the morning.
William Henderson was defered to acquaint Robert Gourlay and his wife to attend the session next sabbath to meet in the manse in the morning…Closed with prayer. Kincardine 24th October 1731
Kincardine 29th October 1731. Robert Gourlay Compeared before the session last sabbath & answered that he was guilty of fornication with Margaret Henderson now his married spouse & in regard it was so near his wife’s time did not have time to compear before the congregation until his wife were in condition to compear with him, whereupon the minister rebuked him for his sin of fornication and he has dismissed.
The session ordered their __ all to acquaint Robert Gourlay and Margaret Henderson his spouse to compear next sabbath before the Minister and Elders in the morning in order to their removing the scandal of their anti nuptial fornication,… Kincardine, 16th January 1732
Sederunt: the minister John Bryre, John Hosman, Edward Kirkwood, Thomas Wingal, John Morison, Elders, After prayer
Robert Gourlay & Margaret Henderson his spouse…having compeared before the congregation two days for removing their scandal of fornication, according to appointment compeared this night after divine worship, and proposing their sorrow for their sins were ordered to compear next sabbath before the congregation and be absolved, and __ and next sabbath to pay in their __ to the treasurer. Closed with prayer. Kincardine 30 January 1732.
Sederunt: the Minister John Bryer, John Hosmanm Edward Kirkwood, Thomas Wingal, William Henderson, John Morison, James Walsh(?), Elders.
Robert Gourlay & Margaret Henderson absolved
Robert Gourlay and Margaret Henderson his spouse were absolved from the scandal of their antinuptial fornication.
Kincardine 13th Feb 1732
All things considered, this was a very tame, straightforward case for the elders, albeit awkward considering William Henderson was an elder. I do think it’s likely Robert Gourlay and Margaret Henderson’s child was baptized some time after she was born, since Robert appeared at the session alone, in October, because “it was so near his wife’s time” and he wanted to wait “until his wife were in condition to compear with him”. Perhaps the minister wouldn’t baptize baby Margaret until the scandal was resolved.
William Henderson 1725 Arrival in Kindardine
I decided to skim through more of the Kincardine kirk session minutes just to see how long William Henderson served as an elder, and quickly discovered the Henderson family was fairly new to the parish. In 1728 the elders discussed appointing Henderson, who had recently moved to the parish from Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Henderson was called into session and produced a letter of recommendation from Alloa, where he previously served as elder in the parish church. The letter gave the names of his children and discussed how long he had lived in Alloa (20 years). There was no mention of his wife, so I assume she was deceased.
The session being informed that one William Henderson who had lived in the parish of Alloa in the station of an elder was now come to live in this parish of Kincardine and it being proposed that he should be invited to join this session it was agreed to and John McFarlaein(?) elder in that corner was appointed to speak to him and desire him to attend our next meeting here for that effort and to show his testimonial from the place where formerly he lived.
KINCARDINE-IN-MENETEITH KIRK SESSION, Minutes (1728-1736, 1789), page 5
Kincardine, 25th February 1728. Reverend the Minister James Morison, Thomas Wingal, Walter Dog, Alexander Spittall, John McPhearson, James Keir, James Ralph(?), Elders. After prayer. William Henderson, being called, compeared and produced a testimonial for himself & in favor of his son William & his daughters Margaret and Mary Henderson. Likewise, in favor of John Graham, Thomas Watson, and Agnes [Sraugh?] his servants of the date 5th Feb 1728. and signed by the Reverend Mr John Taylor Minister of Alloa with five elders and bearing that he came to the parish of Alloa about twenty years ago and had lived fifteen of those in the character and station of an elder, and that his removing from them was to their great grief and his staying among them would have been to their great comfort, but as he was to leave them, it would be a loss to the place. And also that his children & servants were free of all known scandal.
KINCARDINE-IN-MENETEITH KIRK SESSION, Minutes (1728-1736, 1789), page 5
William Henderson 1728 Departure from Alloa
When I read that William Henderson was newly arrived in Kincardine from Alloa, I consulted the Alloa kirk session minutes from that time for any mention of his departure. While I did not find clues directly related to him, there was a major scandal in the Alloa parish at the time, centering around another elder, which could have been enough to send William Henderson packing.
30 October 1727:
The Hendersons in Alloa
We know from the kirk session minutes that William Henderson came to Kincardine with 3 servants and 3 children:
- Margaret
- William
- Mary
I found 2 William Hendersons who fathered children named Margaret and William around the right time in Alloa. There were 3 Marys born during that time period in Clackmannan, but none of their fathers were named William.
- William Henderson and Isabell Haliburton
- Margaret Henderson, 9 April 1704
- Robert Henderson, 25 April, 1707
- William Henderson, 30 March, 1716
- Catharine Henderson 4 April 1718
- William Henderson and Marjorie Black
- William Henderson, 21 November 1703
- Margaret Henderson, 2 December 1705
