Who Was Helen Horne

There is considerable confusion as to who exactly was Helen Horne, born around 1720, wife of William Jameson (1718) and mother of John Jameson (1740-1823)? At issue is not that she existed, or that she was wife of William Jameson or mother of Margaret and John, but only as to exactly when she was born, where she was born and who were her parents, family and ancestors.

We know that Helen married William Jameson on November 25, 1737 in Thomanean, Kinross Scotland, because there is an official Parish record for the marriage.[1] Because that marriage took place in Thomanean, we can assume that Helen was living there at the time and not in Alloa, which was where her husband William was born and living at that time and where they lived after their wedding and where her children were born. We also know the Horn Family had a farm in Kinross, a little less than a mile north east of Cleish[2] and some 17 miles from Alloa. A John Horn first settled there in 1578[3] and their family descendants can be found there ever since, including the early 1700s. However, we don't know if Helen, was actually born there or elsewhere and there are no records that mention her birth anywhere in that immediate area.

It may be important to note that there was a Horn family living in Clackmannan during that period. It was a John and Mary (Lambert) Horn family and they did have a daughter Helen born to them May 9, 1725.[4] This would be an obvious fit, explaining the marriage part as having taken place at Thomanean, perhaps at some important uncle's house, if it were not for the fact that she would have been only twelve years old at the time and made even more unlikely in that their first child "Margaret" would have been born when Helen was just fourteen.

We also know there were several Horn families living in Cleish at the time including an Alexander, James, John and Robert, all of which had children, but none, that we know about, named Helen, around that time.[5] It seems more possible that one of these families had a daughter Helen, whose birth went unrecorded somehow and that one of the Horn family in Clackmannan was somehow connected to the Horn family in Cleish and that William Jameson met his eventual wife through that connection.

It would be useful to point out that although the name "John" had been used in the Jameson family, no one had used "John" for several generations. William and Helen named their only son John and not William, as would have been expected, according to typical traditions. This very likely 'could' have been to honor Helen's father John, do perhaps to Helen's father's status (assuming his name was John and his status was elevated)?

It must be pointed out there are six actual official Parish records for the births of any Helen Horn, between the years 1710 and 1721. However, none of which were in the Kinross or Clackmannan areas. As good as were records for births at this time in Scotland, it is always possible one (or more) was missed.