Family:Archibald Farquharson and Frances Russell (1)

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Marriage[1] 16 Sep 1814 Birse, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
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Archibald Farquharson and Frances Russell were married in 1814, when he was 21 years old and she a year older. Archibald, an only child, was the laird of Finzean, an estate of some 8000 acres in Birse and another scattered 8000 acres in Lumphanan and Cromar, which he inherited as a very young boy when his elderly father died. Frances was also an only child of a deceased laird, so she was "of Blackhall and Glendye", lands in the parish of Strachan adjacent to the Finzean holdings in Birse. Upon their marriage, their combined estate totaled 45,000 acres.

They initially lived in a castle they had built on the Blackhall estate, but in 1823 they moved into Finzean House, Archibald's ancestral home. This may have been due to financial matters, as they lived extravagantly and beyond their means, and ended up having to sell off most of the Blackhall and Glendye estates. (It would have made more sense to sell off the disconnected lands north of the Dee, but a Deed of Entail created by an earlier laird of Finzean prevented the subdivision of the Finzean estate lands.)

They were married 27 years when Archibald died in 1841 at age 48. (He is said to have drunk heavily, which may have contributed to his rather early death.) Frances survived her husband by 6 more years. They never had any children (although Archibald did acknowledge paternity of an illegitimate child to the Birse Kirk Session).

References
  1. Church of Scotland. Parish Church of Birse. Old Parish Registers, Parish of Birse (1758-1854). (Birse, Aberdeenshire, Scotland).

    Church of Scotland, Old Parish Registers, Parish of Birse (1758-1854). "Archibald Farquharson Esq of Finzean and Frances Russel daughter of the late Frances Russel Esq of Blackhall in the parish of Strachan."