Hi JH

I'm not a descendant of Jane Harley's family, but 2 years ago I exchanged several letters with a g g granddaughter of Ann Watterson nee Harley, Jane's older sister. Ann married Mark Watterson, baker, of High Street, Port St Mary on 12 June 1849 Rushen, and they had several children.

One child, Anna Watterson bap 13 Jan 1850 Rus, married John Tait on 11 Nov 1875. John was born at Cramond near Edinburgh, and he was involved in the building of the Chicken Rock Lighthouse which is how he came to meet Anna.

John and Anna Tait moved to the Glasgow area and had 6 children, but Anna died while the children were young. Ann Watterson helped to bring up her Scottish grandchildren in Port St Mary, which is how the third child, Marion Guthrie (Mamie) Tait b 1879 got to know her future husband, John Henry Kneen b 1875 of Ballacorkish, The Level. JHK was my grandpa's brother. JHK and Mamie emigrated to South Africa and were married in Durban in 1903 ish.

My 2007 correspondent is a granddaughter of one of Mamie Tait's brothers. This is what she told me about her Harley ancestors:

"Ann and Jane Harley's father, John Harley, was born in 1780 in Trinity Gask, west of Perth, and his parents were called Alexander Harley and Giles Taylor (I think Giles may be an anglicisation of Dileas, the Gaelic for "faithful") He joined the army in 1805 and served in The Peninsular War, in France and at Waterloo. Legend has it that at or after Waterloo he met Mary MacDonald, an Irishwoman, whose first husband, a Frenchman, was killed in the battle."

John and Mary Harley's children were born in various countries (years estimated from census entries ):

Ann Harley b 1821 France (British Subject)
Jane Harley b 1823 Chichester, Sussex
Margaret Harley b 1827 Ireland

Jane was a school mistress. In 1891 in Port St Mary, 70 year old Jane was living with 2 of her great nieces, Mamie and Katie Tait. Jane Harley died in 1900:

HARLEY, Jane 79 Rus 28 Nov 1900

Her mother, Mary had died in 1864:

HARLEY, Mary 80 Rus 1 Apr 1864

I shall try and make contact with 2 descendants of Jane Harley's sister, and let them know of your bulletin board message.

From what you've read in the prayer book, does it seem that this is the right family ? I wasn't aware that Jane had a brother.

Jean C

I have an email address which I use for genealogy purposes:

faircork-tree at yahoo dot co dot uk