Various secondary online 'sources' seem to be agreed that Grizel Durham, daughter of James Durham of Pitkerrow, married John Middleton, later the first Earl Middleton, that there is or was a marriage contract dated 1639, and that there were three surviving children, the youngest of whom was Charles, second Earl Middleton, born 1649/1650.
However the said 'sources', and others, are in some disagreement about Grizel Durham's previous marriages.
She is said to have married first Sir Alexander Fotheringham of Ballindrone and second Sir Gilbert Ramsay of Balmain. One 'source' says that there is or was a marriage contract between Alexander Fotheringham and Grizel Durham in 1608. Another 'source' suggests that her second marriage was dissolved because Sir Gilbert was still living in 1663, and that he was married to and had a child with Elizabeth Auchinleck after Grizel married John Middleton and before her death, said to be in 1666. Other 'sources' suggest that Sir Gilbert was born in 1570 and that Elizabeth Auchinleck was his first wife.
I have found two primary sources so far. One is the will of Alexander Fotheringham in 1624, most of which I have yet to decipher, but I can make out, quite clearly, a mention of Grizel Durham.
The other is the marriage record of Gilbert Ramsay and Grizel Durham in 1630:
1630. 2 of March. Sir Gilbert Ramsay Laird of Bomaine and Girsell Durham in the paroch of Dundie war married be Mr Thomas Ramsay minister at Kirkden [Monifieth Parish Register](See
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=811810.0)
Clearly, if Grizel Durham married Sir Alexander Fotheringham in 1608, she must have been born not later than the 1790s, and cannot therefore have been the mother of a child born in 1649/1650.
Also, dissolution of a marriage was such an exceptional event in the 17th century - even in the 19th century it required an Act of Parliament - that it must have required action at the highest level, but so far I have found no definite evidence for the marriage of Gilbert Ramsay and Grizel Durham having been dissolved.
So my working hypothesis is that there were (at least) two Grizel Durhams: one who married first Sir Alexander Fotheringham and later Sir Gilbert Ramsay, and another younger one, who married John, first Earl Middleton, bore his children and died in 1666.
There is at least one more Grizel Durham from a primary source:
1628. 27 Januar. James Durham in Cadgertoun had ane chyld baptizit called Grissell witnesses Patrick Mitcheson and David Dog. [Monifieth Parish Register] However this one would have been only 11 in 1639, when the alleged marriage contract with John Middleton was drawn up; and her father is 'in Cadgertoun' not 'of Pitkerrow'.
Thoughts, anyone?
