Jonet Ruthven

JANET RUTHVEN

Jonat Reuthven (1655) Jonat Reuthvan (1656) Jonat Ruthven (1657) Jonat Ruthven (1660) Janet Ruthven (1663)

The Question of Identity

At least two pedigrees published by MyHeritage claim that Janet Ruthven, here treated, was that daughter of William Ruthven, Writer in Edinburgh, and his wife Marion Clerksone, whose baptism was registered at Edinburgh in Midlothian on 26 Noveber 1615. MyHeritage

While this proposition is not impossible it does seem quite unlikely, improbable even. In this regard it should be noticed that William Ruthven's daughter Jonet would have been thirty-nine years of age when John Fraser's first child was baptised on 25 June 1655 (evidently a bastard child), forty years of age when his marriage was booked on 29 January 1656, and forty-seven years of age when his last known child was baptised on 19 June 1663. It should also be noticed that John Fraser's wife is not mentioned in the testament dative of her putative older sister Margaret Ruthven, who died at Ediburgh in January 1645. Jonet Ruthven, here treated, was still alive on this date, and had she actually been Margaret Ruthven's younger sister then she would have had a legal right to a share in her moveable estate. [National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh Commissary Court, Testament Dative and Inventory of Margaret Ruthven daugther lawful to umquhile William Ruthven, writer in Edinburgh, reference CC8/8/62] Image of Testament

Marriage

Jonet Ruthven was booked to marry John Fraser on 29 January 1656, at Dundee in Angus. [National Records of Scotland, Dundee Marriages, reference OPR.282/11]

Children

1. Issobell Fraser
2. Thomas Fraser
3. John Fraser
4. Margaret Fraser