Well then Forfarian, you are my husband’s first cousin by marriage 😉
So on to my wild theory - James Brown & Janet Richardson seem to be ghosts, appearing from nowhere, sadly the previous poster who was looking into Janet appears to now be deceased, so we can’t even ask her what she found 🙁
This total lack of a history for James & the sudden appearance of the persisting Henry Raeburn name is eerily coincidental considering the shared connection with Stockbridge, don’t you agree?
Read this
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146663917 Some theories: first, James Brown is in fact a descendant of this James Brown, or second, perhaps the ghost James had a secret second life in Jamaica? Yet another theory is the family in Edinburgh that Isabella got sent to was the Slater Brown descendant? The fact that her portrait was painted by Raeburn perhaps sparked the name being adopted so firmly for so many generations?
Another thought is James Brown the ghost was somehow a recipient of the uplift of Stockbridge that is attributed directly to Raeburn
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/edinburgh/stockbridge/index.html & James then used his name for his son as a token of appreciation?
Lastly, this was suggested by a recently discovered 3rd cousin, “The story I have been told is that one of my great, great, great grandfathers was a Taylor and a Neighbour of the portrait artist Henry Raeburn and because they were friends, this is where the name came from.”
I’m assuming you have easier access to records in Edinburgh, so perhaps one of these theories sparks your interest & you fancy a challenge 🤔
Finally, I found a link to a biography of the portrait artist written by his great grandson that may/may not hold some tantalising clues…
https://electricscotland.com/history/other/Life-of-Sir-Henry-Raeburn.pdf I would chase this down but I’m neck deep in an MSc, so dare not 😂