Can you help Jean Armour, wife of Robert Burns; Scottish Clans & Collaborative Profile?

+16 votes
805 views

The Scottish Clans Project and Collaborative Profile of the Week Present
Jean (Armour) Burns (1766-1834)

Jean Armour was the wife of Robert Burns the poet.

  1. Her profile still needs to have the "gedcom import" removed.
  2. She lived an unusual life. Can you tell us something about it?
  3. Where did she die?
  4. Who were her parents?
  5. Did she have children?
  6. The relationship with Burns starts out quite ordinary, but becomes a little scandalous (it was a lot scandalous then). Tell all!
  7. What effect does she have on his works?
  8. What happens to her after Burn's death?

 

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     Scottish Clans Project    

The Scottish Clans project has been in existence since April 2013.   There are approximately 350 official Scottish clans each with individual clan pages.   This does not include the hundreds more Septs or branches of clans which we have.   The project welcomes anyone with family/ancestors from, or an interest in, any Scottish Clan or Sept.  We have 130 wonderful members currently.   If anyone is interested in joining the project they should contact Maria Maxwell  or Doug Straiton.

 

Thank you

WikiTree profile: Jean Burns
in Requests for Project Volunteers by Anne B G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
very interesting  found this on wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Armour
Thanks, Anne!

Right now I'll go in and remove some of the GEDCOM junk.
Jacky, thank you, I've added Wikipedia to the Sources.

Chris, thanks, it looks a lot neater.
Thanks Anne,   we are off  to a great start.   i've added a couple of other information links to her profile and will start adding data later this morning.   Thanks to everyone who is contributing to this.   Maria

8 Answers

+9 votes
 
Best answer

date of birth from family bible  "We had a Daughter born 26th Febry 1765 called Jean". http://www.burnsscotland.com/items/a/armour-family-bible.aspx

There's lots on this site (though has a different year of birth)   http://www.robertburns.org/encyclopedia/BurnsJeanArmour1767-1834.160.shtml

records concerning  Burn'slife including transcript and image of Robert Burns and Jean Armour before Mauchline kirk session, 1786

 image of irregular marriage from parish register.  http://www.nas.gov.uk/about/090717.asp

lots of dates of children  here some  sourced from the PR of Mauchline  http://www.burness.ca/p91.htm#i910

The twins Robert and Jean are indexed on Ancestry

Name:  Robert Burns
Birth:  3 Sep 1786
Baptism:  5 Sep 1786 - , Mauchline, Ayr, Scotland
 
 
Name:  Jean Burns
Birth:  3 Sep 1786
Baptism:  5 Sep 1786 - , Mauchline, Ayr, Scotland
 

 


 

by Helen Ford G2G6 Pilot (462k points)
selected by Anne B
There is good stuff here, Thank you Helen.
I've added the birth and Marriage, to the profile, there's lots more.
+9 votes

One ancestor.com tree Shows James and Mary Smith to be her parents.

James Armour

mentioned in the record of James Armour and Mary Smith

Name: James Armour
Spouse's Name: Mary Smith
Event Date: 07 Dec 1761
Event Place: , Mauchline, Ayr, Scotland
by Chris Mckinnon G2G6 Pilot (610k points)
Thanks Chris!
Thank you Chris
+9 votes

A myheritage.com tree seems to have a lot on her?

Jean Burns (born Armour)

Jean Burns (born Armour)

image

MyHeritage Family Trees

2925291-6 in MARSHALL-POTTS Web Site, managed by CHARLOTTE MARSHALL-POTTS

Birth: Day Month 1765 - Place
Death: Day Month 1834 - Place
Parents: Names of both parents
Siblings: Amelia Griffin and names of 10 more siblings
Husband: Name of husband
Children: Jean Burns and names of 6 more children

 

 

by Chris Mckinnon G2G6 Pilot (610k points)
+7 votes
I'll go ahead and grab an image from Wikipedia.
by Chris Whitten G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)
Thank you Chris
+6 votes
I've put a list of Jean's children on her profile, with sources. I was hoping for better birth & death records, but didn't find them in the short time I looked.

Perhaps someone else would add the children. There is sufficient information of Jean's profile to do so.

Thank you
by Anne B G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
I can make a start on that now.
+7 votes
I've added the children's profiles plus a couple of poems dedicated to her with her statue in Dumfries as the background image.   I'm now in search of her siblings !!
by Maria Maxwell G2G6 Pilot (186k points)
Can anyone find an image of Ellisland Farm and the Dumfries Burns museum i.e their house which is not copyright !!!

I thought I had better fix up Robert Burns profile I added the info ages ago so took out the HTML code etc I found 2 images of Ellisland Farm which I added  to his profile http://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/Terry_s_Images-111

and http://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/Terry_s_Images-108 both in the public Domain the images are only slightly different

Thank you Terry and Maria
I added a photo of Robert Burns near his poetry there are no photos in the bio so not sure if you are adding any to the bio of this  profile but you can always remove the photo :)
Thanks Terry for adding to Robert. I consider part of any Collab. profile is also improving on the profiles closely related, husbands, parents, children, siblings, so adding to Robert is always appreciated
+6 votes

I had just joined WikITree when this question was asked and missed it, probably because I was too busy doing my tree. Anyway, the website of National Records of Scotland has some info from the file titled "Robert Burns (poet): curatory and judicial factory papers relating to family" dated 1798-1801 and containing "Accounts of charge and discharge between William Thomson of Moat, writer, Dumfries, factor loco tutoris for the children of the deceased Robert Burns, for the periods May 1798 to May 1799, May 1799 to May 1800, and May 1800 to May 1801; and state of funds under the management of William Thomson, 1798-1801". You can see that on two occasions (1799 and 1800) she used the name Jean Burns. On another, she was described as Robert's spouse, and just five children were named as being young enough to still need a tutor (1800); what does that mean for eldest daughter, Elizabeth, who was not quite 15 when that document was drawn up? The document extracts are:
1) Copy minutes of meetings of the trustees of the family of the deceased Robert Burns (Dr William Maxwell, John Syme Esq, John McMurdo Esq and Gilbert Burns, brother of Robert Burns), 2 December 1797-17 April 1799 (endorsed No.1) (2 copies);
2) State of cash paid for the support of the family, docqueted by Jean Armour as Jean Burns, to 10 May 1799 (endorsed No.2) (2 copies);
3) Account of incidental expenses in the management of the affairs of the family, to 10 May 1799 (endorsed No.3) (2 copies);
4) State of Gilbert Burns' acceptance to Robert Burns' estate, with the deductions stated by the acceptor, from 1793-1798 (endorsed No. 4) (2 copies).
Accounts for period May 1799 - May 1800 including:
1) Copy minutes of meetings of the trustees of the family of the deceased Robert Burns, 1 December 1799; 22 March & 19 April 1800 (2 copies);
2) State of cash paid for the support of the family, docqueted by Jean Armour as Jean Burns, to 10 May 1800 (2 copies);
3) Account of incidental expenses in the management of the affairs of the family, to 10 May 1800 (2 copies).
Accounts for period May 1800 - May 1801 (2 sets) including:
1) Account of incidental expenses in the management of the affairs of the family, to May 1801;
2) Copy minute of the meeting of the trustees for the family (Patrick Miller Esq, of Dalswinton, Dr [William] Maxwell, John Syme Esq, William Thomson, factor loco tutoris and Gilbert Burns), 5 September 1800;
3) Copy indenture for the sale and publication of the posthumous and other works of the late Robert Burns, made between Dr William Maxwell, physician, Dumfries, John McMurdo Esq of Hardriggs and John Syme Esq, collector of Stamp Duties at Dumfries, acting trustees for the family, Gilbert Burns, farmer at Mossgiel, only brother and nearest male heir to the surviving infant children, and William Thomson of Moat, writer in Dumfries, factor loco tutoris for the children of the deceased Robert Burns and Jean Armour, his spouse (viz. Robert, Frances Wallace, William Nicol James and Maxwell Burns), and Thomas Cadell, younger and William Davies of the City of Westminster, booksellers, 25 February 1800;
4) Copies of letter from William Thomson, as factor, to the magistrates of Ayr, with reply, 9 & 14 October 1800;
5) Trustees account with Dr Currie of Liverpool, 1800;
6) Copy statement of cash paid for the support of the family of Robert Burns, from 10 May 1800 to 4 May 1801.
Copy letters from P Laurie, London to John Syme Esq, Dumfries, concerning the purchase and value of stock made on behalf of the family of Robert Burns, 21 June 1797 & 14 Feb 1798, referred to in the statement as given up to the court by William Thomson as factor loco tutoris, 10 May 1798.
State of the funds under the management of William Thomson of Moat, writer [solicitor], Dumfries, as factor loco tutoris for the children of the deceased Robert Burns, 10 May 1798; lodged 9 June 1798 (2 copies).
State of intromissions by William Thomson of Moat, from 10 May 1798 to 10 May 1799."

To see the document extracts, go to http://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrsonlinecatalogue/search.aspx and enter CS97/101/15 in the Reference field to do your search.
 

by Loretta Layman G2G6 Mach 4 (44.0k points)
edited by Loretta Layman
Thanks for this Loretta. There's a lot of reading here.  See you need to visit Scotland's People offices to view the full digital images.   I've added a link to the document extracts page to her profile.
You're very welcome Maria. I'm wondering why her name isn't displayed as Jean Burns (formerly) Armour.
I've changed it now.
Thanks very much.
Thank you Loretta. Would you like to summarize this and add it to Jean's profile? Something like between the years of ---- -----, various transactions were recorded for the support of his family after his decease, they mention Jean and the children Robert, Frances Wallace, William Nicol James and Maxwell Burns
You're welcome Anne. I'll be happy to summarize the extracts and add it to Jean's profile. Will do so sometime this evening.
Thank you Loretta
+7 votes
by Laura Bozzay G2G6 Pilot (824k points)
Thanks for these Laura I've added links to them in Robert,Jean and Bess'  profiles as appropriate.

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