Theme: A Name with Meaning.

My GGGrandmother Mary Learmonth/Lairmonth was born on 30 July 1790 in Glasgow, to Wright Peter Learmonth/Lamont and Agnes Thomson. She married Charles Johnston (1797-1848), a shoemaker, on 28 March 1815 in Glasgow. I will call her Mary I. Subsequent Mary Learmonths are labelled according to their birth date.

Charles and Mary had seven children, the first six being boys and the seventh a girl named Mary Learmonth Johnston (Mary II), 1833- 1909. This Mary married a Free Church minister, Daniel McKinlay Duncan, on 26 September 1865 in Glasgow. They too had a number of boys (three) before a daughter on 28 August 1873, predictably also named Mary Learmonth Duncan (Mary VII) who married John Mather. This couple had two children – William Learmonth Mather (1898-1957) who married Mary MckKell – they named their daughter Mary Wilson Learmonth Mather (Mary IX); and Mary Learmonth Johnston Mather 1900-1987 (Mary VIII). Meanwhile, a son of the original Mary I and Charles, George Johnston (1819-1900) married Elizabeth Jane Rae in 1840; their first daughter was named after Elizabeth’s mother and their second daughter was Mary Learmonth Johnston (Mary III), about 1845-1895.

Another son of the original Mary I, Peter Johnston married Agnes Todd in 1850. They had seven children, the first being named Mary Learmonth Johnston (Mary IV) 1853-1932. They also had a son Robert Alexander Johnston who married Joan Noble; they named their sole daughter Mary Learmonth Johnston – Mary VI (1906-?)

The youngest son of Mary I and Charles, John Johnston 1831-1909 married Benjamina “Jessie” Leckie in 1856. Jessie’s mother was a Margaret so their first daughter was also Margaret, but their second was predictably enough yet another Mary Learmonth Johnston! (Mary V, 1859—1936).

There were several other Marys in the immediate family but none with the middle name Learmonth.

Incidentally the surname Learmonth enabled me to identify several distant relatives. Mary I’s grandson George Johnston (1855-1885), born in Tasmania to immigrant parents, was a seaman who sailed round the world many times and wrote many informative letters home. In more than one he mentioned visiting Bethia and John Muirhead in Bombay. As I discovered, they had married in Glasgow … and Bethia’s maiden surname was Learmonth … she was Mary Learmonth’s sister. I have identified several DNA marches as descendants of this couple. Surprisingly, none of Bethia’s descendants have the middle name Learmonth.