Isabella Wight

     
     Isabella Wight was born c 1800 in Jedburgh, ROX, SCT.^1,3
     Isabella Wight married James White on 11 Dec 1836 in Edinburgh, MLN, SCT, unusually, the IGI extracted record shows not only Isabella's husband, but also her father, James WIGHT, so I think I have the right one.^1,4
     Isabella White died on 23 Apr 1869 at Melville Castle, Lasswade, MLN, SCT; cert reads: Isabella White, housekeeper, widow of James White, butcher, died 9am aged 69, of influenza, 3 wks; d/o James Wight, carpenter and Isabella m.s. Hall, both dec. Inf. Isabella Stewart (relationship unclear ?niece?).¹
     
     Isabella Wight appeared on the census of 1861 Lasswade, MLN, enumerated as Isabella Wight, 60, widowed, housekeeper b Jedburgh. Also at home on census night were the butler, kitchen maid, house maid and a footman.³ I don't think Isabella would recognise her charge today. The web shows that Melville Castle, built in 1786, was a country house hotel in the 1950s then became virtually derelict, but over the last 10 yrs has been restored, opening as an exclusive hotel in 2003.
     Whereas I am sure that Isabella's parents were a James Wight, joiner and Isabella Hall, and that this matches the info for her brother James, I am not yet as confident that this is the same James Wight, joiner, and Isabella Hall, parents of the Jane Wight who married Peter Sinton, and have cast even more doubt on this identification with a rethink about the Hounam h/stone of Isabella and her parents which shows a son James Hall. The rethink is that he's actually James Hall Wight and Isabella's son, whose dates coincde with that for Isabella's brother James. Which means two James' of about the same age. For now, I've joined both to the same family in the hope further evidence will ensue.^5,6