Mary Jane Gaull, Part 2

In my last post, I summarized the first half of my 3rd great grandmother Mary Jane Gaull's life, as best as I can determine.

Mary Jane was born around 1837 in Kintore, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and when she was 23 years of age, gave birth to twin sons whom she named George and John Gaull. She seems to have refused to name the twins' father. Six months after the twins were born, Mary Jane married Alexander Glennie and moved to Tillyfro, Cluny, Aberdeenshire without the twins.

The closest, arguably the only match for Mary Jane in both the 1871 and 1881 Scottish Census appeared to be a Mary Glennie who was a patient at the Aberdeen Asylum at Old Machar. However a closer examination of the 1871 census records uncovered Alexander and Mary Jane listed as "Alex and Mary Glenie." They were residing right where I would have expected them to be in Tillyfro, Cluny, Aberdeenshire with at the time three of their five children: Mary Christie Glennie, James Gaull Glennie and Alexander Ingram Glennie. Their first child, a son named Alexander had died in 1867. In 1873, they added John Glennie to the family.

It seems then that Mary Glennie, patient at the Aberdeen Asylum, is not my ancestor.

Alexander Glennie died of bronchitis in February 1879 and Mary Jane's father John helped her out with the 'final arrangements.' This aid became a contentious issue in 1892 when Mary Jane's father John Gaull died for in his will he listed as part of his estate monies he had lent to her. His estate inventory states, "Sum due to the deceased by his daughter Mrs Mary Gaull or Glennie in connection with the Executry of her late husband or the management of the farm of Tillyfro, occupied by her, estimated at two hundred and fifty pounds Sterling but being disputed by the debtor and the deceased having held no voucher for the amount the debt can meantime only be valued at 1 shilling." John Gaull's will did direct his executors to not press the issue of the debt with Mary Jane which explains their actions in removing the debt. However, nothing seems to have been easy between father and daughter.

Mary Jane appears to have lived out her life, it appears somewhat quietly and, perhaps with the sizable estate left to her by her father, somewhat comfortably on the farm at Tillyfro in Cluny. She can be found on the farm in the 1891, 1901 and 1911 Scottish censuses. Living with her were some of her children and eventually grandchildren. It seems that her children Mary, James and John in particular had no desire to move out on their own, preferring to stay and work the family farm.

Mary Jane died on the farm at Tillfro, Cluny in January of 1925 at the age of 88. The cause of her death was listed as "senile decay." The informant of the death registration was her grandson Arthur Glennie who had lived with her on the farm for many years. Mary Jane was at times, I suspect, depicted in the family as someone who did things that others were not able to understand.

A rebel perhaps but a scoundrel, well, I don't think so.