John Bruce

Husband of Isobel Taylour — married 21 Mar 1739 in Stirlingshire, Scotland

Descendants

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Biography

Birth

Record not yet discovered.

Life

Beginning 15th August 1739 John Bruce from the parish of Dunipace and Isobel Taylour from the parish of St. Ninians gave up their names for proclamation in order to be married. Being proclaimed and no objection being made against their purpose they were legally married at Stirling, Scotland on 21 September 1739. ^[1]

Children:

1. James Bruce, b. 6 June 1740, Dunipace parish
2. Margaret Bruce, b. 1744, Dunipace parish
3. Archibald Bruce, b. 12 November 1746, Dunipace parish

Death and Legacy

Research Notes

The daughter Margaret Bruce attached to this family may be mis-identified with a different Margaret Bruce. Bruce is a common (even famous) surname in Scotland. Searching the National Records of Scotland for a record of a bride named Margaret Bruce marrying anywhere in the country between the years 1758 (Margaret who is Archibald's sister would by 14 years old) and 1780 (Margaret would be 36) turns up no (i.e., zero) marriage to a groom with the surname Kirkwood, while the same search omitting the surname of the groom finds 62 brides named Margaret Bruce. This latter search turns up at least one highly qualified alternate groom, surname MacNeil, which is in fact the only marriage in which the groom marrying Margaret Bruce is from a parish in Stirlingshire. With all due respect to the passage referenced in the Google Books source citation`, at the very least this should be a question mark about the accuracy of the assertion that Margaret (Bruce) Kirkwood is the brother of Archibald Bruce.

To be thorough and fair, flipping the question around (is this the correct Archibald Bruce?) turns up the following.

• searching for any Margaret Bruce born in Scotland between 1740 and 1750 returns 57 infants baptized as Margaret Bruce
• searching for any Archibald Bruce born in Scotland between 1740 and 1750 returns two infants baptized as Archibald, including one with the exact correct birth year to be the Archibald in this family record.

Taking this one step further, I have learned to be cautious with narratives such as the Presbyterian Magazine source citation referenced. Generally I place a higher value on a parochial register than on a secondary narrative. For example, Fasti ecclesiæ scoticanæ, the seven volume secondary narrative authored by the Synods of the Scottish Church about the ministers of the Church has, as far as I can tell, only one record of a minister named Archibald Bruce. In this case the church narrative describes him as born in 1740, married twice with seven children total, died in 1799, and served as minister of Shotts parish from 1786-1799.

I don't have any conclusions to offer here, just a simple question to ask about our collective level of confidence in the Presbyterian Magazine secondary narrative.

This Research Note comment was authored by William Ross III

Sources

1. ↑ John Bruce of Dunipace parish and Isabel Taylour of St. Ninians parish marriage, Banns begun 15 August 1739, at Stirling, Scotland, Old Parish Registers, Marriages, 478/ 20 69, page 69 of 220, digital image of handwritten register, OPR478_000_0020_0069Z.pdf, National Records of Scotland, https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, accessed 05 November 2021.