Montgomery of Meikle Cloak

[colliersbairn]

I doubt it.  Our Montgomeries are in Scotland and probably descend from the main branch in Wales.

[juliaconnolly]

An Arthour Lang's death is recorded in the Parish registers in Abbey in 9.12.1783. If it is the same Arthour that married Isobel could it be that she never actually married Robert Fulton? People didn't just divorce in those days....perhaps that is why their children were baptized in Beith, and why she may have fallen out with her family. I'm also wondering if when she became involved with Robert Arthour left her. Perhaps that is why she carried on living at the same address. There is a flaw to this theory though....The birth of my ancestor, their son Robert, is registered as "lawful", which I guess means legitimate. Any thoughts about all this? I would love to hear from you. Julia.

[colliersbairn]

Hi Julia,
The first of Isobel's children to Robert - Ann 1772 "Daughter lawful of Robert Fulton and Isabel Montgomerie of Newtown".  Now the marriage between Arthour Lang and Isobel is listed as "booked".  Maybe it never happened. Some registers state the difference between banns and the actual marriage.  The sentence is usually "X and Y gave up their names on such a date and were married on another date."  This one just says booked.  I can't find a marriage for Isobel and Robert and assume they were not Church of Scotland.

[juliaconnolly]

Thanks again for your help.  I think that I'm not accessing the same documents as you. The one I found on Scotlands People re the Lang Montgomerie marriage doesn't show 'booked'. Where did you see this? I think that they must have been Church of Scotland because they christened the children in Beith church. Best, Julia.

[colliersbairn]

Hi there,
I'm back at work so not enough time for genealogy.  It says "booked" at the very top of the register.  Obviously the minister at this parish was too lazy to state the difference between banns and marriage.

[wurding]

I have traced my ancestry to Isobel Montgomery who married Robert Fulton sometime in around 1770.  I can't find any trace of a marriage but their children were christened in Beith starting in 1772.  There is no mention that the children were illegitimate either.  I did find an Isobel Montgomery married to an Arthur Lang in 1766 in Lochwinnoch.  I assume this is my Isobel and that her marriage to Robert Fulton was a second marriage.  There does not appear to be Lang children.  The marriage lines state her father is Hugh Montgomery of Meikle Cloak.  According to a great nephew, Isobel's brother John Montgomery demolished Cloak Castle to sell off for building materials and that the land had been in the family for 400 years.  In a couple of Commissariots I found the mention of a Hugh who died in 1633 and a John whose wife Marion died in 1598 but nothing in between.  Has anyone heard of this family?  Cloak Castle and the associated farmhouse Meikle Cloak are on the banks of the Calder about a mile from Lochwinnoch.

Yes I have heard of and descend from this family. My grandfather collected genealogical notes on the Montgomery of Cloak family in the fifties which I have gone over myself recently.

I descend from Hugh Montgomery's son William who resided at the now long gone castle at Cloak near Lochwinnoch. William did have a sister called Isabell but I am not aware of whether she married a Robert Fulton however perhaps by coincidence there is a Robert Fulton in her family tree. This Robert Fulton was father of Agnes Fulton who married Humphra Barbour June 8, 1742. Their second child was Agnes Barbour who married the aforementioned William Montgomery, brother of Isabell. So Robert Fulton was not her husband but her sister in law's grandfather. Agnes also had previously married Reverend Robert Hall.

I possess a document received by William and Agnes' son William Montgomery Jnr (1788-1861) dated to 1825 and informing him of his appointment as Justice of the Peace for Renfrewshire. Isabell was his aunt.

I hope this is of some use to you.

[colliersbairn]

Hi there,
I have Baptismal records of children to Robert Fulton and Isabell Montgomery. The name Robert is quite numerous in the Fulton family tree. Both Isabell's first husband Arthur Lang and Robert Fulton were subscribers to the same religious publications (Phronema to Pneumatos or the Grace and Duty of being spiritually-minded, Declared and practically improved, and Epistologia: or, a Declaration of the Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ, God and Man.) which indicates some form of familiarity. Isabell's marriage to Arthur Lang was recorded as the following: "31 Oct 1767, Arthour Lang, weaver and Isabell Montgomerie in Bank-End, daughter of Hew of Meikle-Cloak". Arthur died two years later in 1769. Isabell married some time between that and 1772 when her first child to Robert Fulton was born. Robert was also a widower at the time. The dates fit.