Introduction / Westray Grays / Archibald Gray / Louisa Gray and William Lennie / James Lennie and Isabella Sandison

Jean Lennie and William Manson

Jean (or Jane) Lennie was born in Westray on 6 September 1842, the daughter of James Lennie and Isabella Sandison. She married William Manson, a seaman, in Westray on 21st December 1865. He was the son of Peter Manson and Isabella Traill, and was born in Westray in 1841.

Their known children were:

• William Manson, born in Leith on 17th November 1874

• James L. Manson, born October 1877, and died at the age of 5 days, on 24th October 1877.

Jean died in Westray on 24th October 1878, and the following is a transcript of the monumental inscription:

Erected By William Manson In Memory Of His Beloved Wife Jane Lennie Who Departed This Life Octr 24th 1878, Aged 37 Years And Their Infant Son James L Manson Who Died Octr 24th 1877, Aged 5 Days Let This Feeble Body Fail And Let It Faint And Die My Soul Shall Quit The Mournful Vale And Soar To Worlds On High Give Joy Or Grief, Give Ease Or Pain Take LIfe And Friends Away But Let me Find Them All Again In That Eternal Day

William Manson married again about 1880. His second wife was Isabella Heddle, daughter of Robert and Eliza Heddle, and sister of Jean's sister-in-law Eliza Heddle. In the 1881 census Jean's son William Manson, (aged 5 years according to the census record, although actually he was 6 years old), was staying with his stepmother and the Heddle family in Kirkwall.