| Jane Mellis |
| 1803 - 19th June 1879 |
Jane Mellis, mother of the architect, William Leiper, was entered in the
Huntly Parish Register of Births, dated 28th January 1803:
William Mellis flaxdrefser in Huntly had a Daughter by his wife Isobel Catanach named Jane. Mr. John Innes & Mifs Helen Thomson witnefses.
Jane Mellis received an affectionate letter from her cousin,
Harry Stuart, dated 11th August 1829.
Jane Mellis was named as sole beneficiary in the Last Will and Testament of her aunt,
Elizabeth Catanach, on 29th July 1830.
Jane Mellis married William Leiper on 13th July 1836.
Jane Leiper, widow of William Leiper, writing master, died on 19th June 1879 at 0h
50m pm (if there is such a thing!), at Terpersey (it is noted that there were variations in spelling),
Helensburgh. She was 76 years of age. The causes of death were certified as rheumatism, from which she had been
suffering for several years, and disease of the liver, one year. The informant on 20th June 1879 was
William Leiper, the deceased’s son, present.
She was recalled, inaccurately, on son William’s 1916 death certificate as Isabella Leiper MS Myles, deceased. The
forename is simply incorrect but ‘Myles’ might possibly be taken as an indication of the received pronunciation of
‘Mellis’; it is elsewhere rendered ‘Millis’.
Harry Stuart to Jane Mellis, 11 August 1829
Last Will and Testament of Elizabeth Catanach
| Forebears |
Jane Mellis’s parents were William Mellis and Isobel Cattanach.
| Sisters |
Jane’s two older sisters, Anne and Helen, were also entered in the Huntly Parish Register of Births.
Anne, in an entry dated 20th October 1799:
William Mellis in Huntly & Isobel Catanach his wife had a Daughter baptized named Anne. Mifs Helen Thomson & Wm. Gray witnefses
Helen, in an entry dated 14th March 1801:
William Mellis Flax drefser in Huntly had a Daughter by his Wife Isobel Catanach named Helen, Mifs Sophia Thomson & Revd. Mr Shearer Wit.
Note that Bulloch identifies a further sister, Isobel, who was the third in the sequence.
One of the sisters died in 1823, as stated in the letter, cited supra, from the deceased’s cousin, Harry
Stuart, to their aunt, Elizabeth Catanach; it is unfortunate that Harry did not find it necessary to refer to
the girl by name. Notwithstanding the apparent absence of their mother, it appears to have been a happy household,
for Harry wrote, on this sad occasion, that:
How her worthy Father & Sisters will bear it over I do not know – they seemed to live all so agreeably together, that it will be like death to the one to part with the other.
Whichever of Jane’s sisters had survived, all were dead by 1830, for in their aunt Elizabeth Catanach’s Last Will and Testament, subscribed on 29th July of that year, Jane was referred to as:
my Neice (sic) Jane Mellise (sic) only surviving Daughter of the said Wilm Mellis by hir Mother Isabel Catanach my sister