| Notes |
- PRIVATE
- «b»Jessie Lundie«/b» was born about «b»1863«/b» in Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland, the 8th of 9 children born to her parents, «b»William Hannah«/b» and «b»Mary Lundie«/b» (nee Tasker). She grew up on Main Street in the town, living in the schoolmaster's house. In «b»1871«/b» when the «b»Scotland Census«/b» was taken she was 7 years old.
When the «b»1881 Scotland Census«/b» was taken she was still at home at age 17. By this time some of her older siblings had left home:
«b»John«/b» was already a missionary in South Africa;
«b» Helen Lundie«/b» 29 is not to be found so was probably married and in South Africa with her husband, Rev.«b»Thomas Shearer«/b»;
«b» James Lundie«/b» 28 was living at home but had probably already obtained his divinity degree;
«b» William Lundie«/b» 26 was a student at the university in Edinburgh;
«b» Marshall Lundie«/b» 24 is not to be found and had probably already obtained his divinity degree and may have been in Spain;
«b» Catharine P Lundie«/b» 21 may have been a student in Edinburgh (there are too many problems with the record to say for sure).
Brother «b»Andrew Lundie«/b» had died five years previously after a long illness. So along with brother «b»Alexander «/b»(14) there were only five members of the family at home.
By the «b»1891 Scotland Census«/b» Jessie is described as an "Ex pupil teacher" by which I conclude that her teacher training was over, and, as she married «b»Henry Begg Gray«/b» in that year, that she was biding time until her marriage. She was living with her parents; her sister, Helen Shearer, and their family of five; her sister Catherine (who had lost her first husband and was acting as housekeeper for her brother); all in brother William Tasker Lundie's house in Edinburgh, where he worked as a doctor. By this time two more of her brothers (James and Marshall) had died in Spain.
Information supplied by the Local Studies Library in Paisley, Renfrewshire (which was taken from the «i»Paisley and Renfrewshire Gazette), «/i»shows that Rev. Henry Begg Grey was ordained in United Presbyterian church in Lochwinnoch in November 1889. He was called to St Andrew's Church in Auckland, New Zealand, in September «b»1900«/b» and at his farewell speech he said one of the reasons for taking the post was because of ill health, not of himself but of those dependent upon him. Could it be that Jessie, or one of his children had tuberculosis, also? I can think of no way to confirm this supposition.
However between the time of their marriage in 1891 and the time of their leaving for New Zealand Jessie gave birth to three sons: «b»James Lundie Gray «/b»in«b» 1892; Alfred Smith Gray «/b»in«b» 1897; «/b»and «b»George Tasker Gray «/b»in«b» 1899, Percy «/b»in Lochwinnoch. «b»Marshall«/b» was born in New Zealand.
It is likely that soon after their marriage Jessie's mother and father went to live in Lochwinnoch, where her father died in 1900. As this period falls between two census takings, it is not possible to determine if William Hannah Lundie and Mary lived in the manse with them or not. How difficult it must have been for Jessie to leave. Either her father was ailing, and she was leaving her elderly mother at a difficult time, or, her father had recently died and she left when both she and her mother were in the state of mourning.
In 1901 her aunt, Catherine Tasker, bequeathed to her "..the bed in the back room usually used by myself including bedding." I wonder if she ever got it as it would have had to be sent all the way to New Zealand?
Family lore says that Jessie and her husband and, ultimately, 5 children went to live in New Zealand.
After accompanying her husband through a very vibrant career as a Presbyterian minister in New Zealand the now-retired Grays returned to Scotland where Jessie died in Ayr in«b» December 1930«/b». Her husband remained in Scotland "«i»cared for by his sisters, almost a complete invalid, though as keenly alive as ever to the things which alone can make the Christian Church a power in the world. We glorify God in him, as one of the richest gifts which Scotland has given to the New Zealand Church«/i»."
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Abt 1863 - 1930 (67 years)
[6, 7] 
