30 December 1695 · Dundee Old Parish Registers
GUTHRIE, ISSOBELL · Births 282/30/193 · Page 193.

The family’s working reading identifies Christian Watson, wife of Bailie John Scott, among the names in the entry. She was Issobell’s maternal grandmother. The longer witness and sponsor list deserves a careful transcription before every name and relationship is treated as settled.

The family account gives 2 December as the birth date and 30 December as the baptism date. These are separate events; the register reference is indexed under the latter date.

Open the baptism record at ScotlandsPeople →

James Guthrie’s epitaph describes him as “leaving his wife and seven of his sons surviving.” It does not name Issobell or explicitly state that she had died.

A death before 1710 remains an inference. An omission from this memorial cannot supply a confirmed death date or rule out every later marriage candidate.

James Guthrie’s epitaph appears in the upper entry. Select the image to enlarge it.

Source: James Thomson, The History of Dundee (1874), p. 394. Open the book · Find other Guthrie references.

Searches of Angus parish marriage entries for 1708–1730 identified six records under variants of Issobell’s name, including Bell. The 1729 Gairden marriage belongs to Isobel Guthrie of Westhall, a different woman. The other five remain research leads; none has been securely identified as James Guthrie and Christian Scott’s daughter.

Record	Couple
25 November 1710 Forfar	Isobell Guthrie & John Boath
11 May 1711 Montrose	Isabell Guthrie & Math. James
3 December 1713 Dundee	Isobell Guthrie & Ja. Chrighton
4 February 1714 Arbroath	Issobell Guthrie & John Inglish
8 January 1729 Dundee	Isobel Guthrie & David Gairden Excluded: the bride was Isobel of Westhall.
7 September 1730 Dundee OPR 282/120/72	Bell Guthrie & James Graham

The Arbroath search also located children Cecilia and Marjory for the Inglish couple. No children were located for the other four couples in the earlier five-couple search; that does not establish that they were childless. A search for children of Bell Guthrie and James Graham has not yet been documented here.

The additional ScotlandsPeople index entry is dated 7 September 1730, when Issobell would have been 34. It is a banns or marriage entry; the original must establish the precise event and any identifying details.

The 1729 Marriage: A Different Isobel

The bride who married David Gairden of Latoun on 8 January 1729 was Isobel Guthrie, daughter of John Guthrie of Westhall and widow of Robert Norie. She was a different woman from Issobell, daughter of James Guthrie and Christian Scott. The Dundee marriage is recorded in OPR 282/120/69; her father and earlier husband are identified in the marriage-contract catalogue, NRAS22/Bundle 10.

The Mrs Bell Guthrie, Lady of Latoun, named at the baptism of John Guthrie and Ann Dempster’s daughter Bell on 22 July 1729 was probably this Westhall cousin. That entry does not establish that John’s sister Issobell survived beyond 1710. Bell Dempster is the name-mother explicitly called the infant’s aunt. See John and Ann’s family evidence for the fuller comparison.

Sources: Dundee OPR 282/120/69 and 282/40/81; the NRAS catalogue description; and the existing Guthrie Research Tree relationships. The actual marriage contract remains to be examined.

A matching name, plausible age, or nearby parish is only a lead. Identifying this Issobell requires a record connecting a bride to James Guthrie, Christian Scott, their relatives, or another securely established part of the family.

Review the earlier marriage search at ScotlandsPeople →

For the additional Bell entry, search the banns and marriages index with surname beginning Gut and forename beginning Bell; the earlier linked search uses a different forename filter.

Review the Inglish children’s search →

A ScotlandsPeople search captured on 3 October 2026, using surnames beginning Gut and forenames beginning Is in Dundee’s Old Parish Registers, returned eight entries.

The first three are chronologically possible for someone born in December 1695. Their index rows give no age or family details, so none can yet be assigned to this Issobell.

Indexed Entry	Reference	Assessment
Isobell Guthrie 23 March 1776	282/240/51	Would be aged 80; identity unconfirmed
Isobell Guthrie 21 September 1780	282/240/92	Would be aged 84; identity unconfirmed
Isabel Guthrie 21 August 1782	282/240/112	Would be aged 86; identity unconfirmed
Isoble Guthrie 18 July 1794	282/240/276	Would be aged 98; a remote possibility
Isabel Guthrie 16 March 1801	282/240/338	Would be aged 105; a very remote possibility
Isabel Guthrie 10 June 1819	282/250/144	Would require an age of 123; not a credible candidate on present evidence
Isabella Guthrie 20 June 1827	282/250/294	Recorded age 74; a later generation
Isabella Guthrie 21 December 1851	282/280/374	Recorded age 67; a later generation

“Would be aged” values are calculated from the family account’s birth date, not ages supplied by these index entries. The dates are those shown in the death and burial index; the underlying entries must establish the event and identity.

The absence of an earlier result does not establish an early death. This search is limited by its name and parish filters and by the records that survive and have been indexed. National Records of Scotland explains that Old Parish Register coverage is incomplete and varies by parish and period.

Read the National Records of Scotland guide to register coverage →