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Page created and maintained by David Haslam. Last updated 2005-01-06
The biography by Alexander Smellie is the most informative regarding
M'Cheyne's family and upbringing.
The Dutch biography by Leen J. van Valen [now
available in English] also has some very useful information.
I am indebted to Mr Alfred McCheyne in Australia for a correction and some
addtional details regarding dates.
The following brief information barely touches on this subject.
Robert Murray M'Cheyne (b. 21.5.1813, d. 25.3.1843) never married. He had two brothers and one sister. He was born at 14 Dublin Street, Edinburgh.
There was also a sister who died in infancy before Robert was born: Isabella (b. 21.10.1811) who died aged only nine months.
His elder brother David Thomas M'Cheyne (b. 14.8.1803, d. 8.7.1831) died when Robert was 18 years old. In his diary July 8, 1842 he recorded, "This day eleven years ago I lost my loved and loving brother, and began seeking a Brother Who cannot die." It is clear from the biographies that David M'Cheyne was a true believer, whose example and desire for his brother's salvation had a profound influence on Robert. On another occasion, just a year after David died, M'Cheyne wrote, "On this morning last year came the first overwhelming blow to my worldliness; how blessed to me, Thou, O God, only knowest, who hast made it so." Every year he marked this day as one to be remembered. David was over nine years his senior.
The other brother was William Oswald Hunter M'Cheyne (b. 19.10.1809, d. 24.10.1892), who trained in medicine, and received an appointment from the East India Company as doctor of the 54th Regiment of the Native Infantry, and left in April 1831 for Bombay and Nasirabad. He married Sarah Lockie on 15.6.1830. They had a daughter called Jane who has descendents living today.
His sister Elizabeth Mary M'Cheyne (1806 - 1888) outlived Robert. Throughout her life she was known as Eliza. She acted as his housekeeper at the Manse of St Peter's Church in Dundee. She lived to the age of 82, carrying many treasured memories of her brother's life & ministry. Her death was four and a half years before that of her brother William, so she was born circa 1806. She never married.
Their father was Adam M'Cheyne (b. 17.1.1781, d. 24.2.1854). He was a lawyer in Edinburgh, but came originally from Thornhill, Dumfriesshire. He was a man of quite some social standing in Edinburgh; he originally wanted Robert also to study Law. After Robert's death he edited and published Robert's "Familiar Letters" in 1848. There is a stone obelisk in St.Cuthbert’s Parish Churchyard, Edinburgh which records the deaths of all the members of Adam’s family.
Before her marriage to Adam M'Cheyne in 1802, their mother was Lockhart Murray Dickson (b.1772, d. 15.5.1854), the daughter of David Dickson of Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire. When I visited the Savings Banks Museum in Ruthwell in September 2001, the curator showed me a family tree of the Dickson family. Lockhart was the sixth out of eight siblings born between 1757 and 1777.
The M'Cheyne family moved to 56 Queen Street, Edinburgh, when Robert was only six, and moved again to 20 Hill Street, Edinburgh in 1835.
In the "Personal Reminiscences of Rev James Dodds", there is a description of how meeting Robert M'Cheyne in Ruthwell led to the spiritual awakening and new birth of three young ladies who were his cousins.
Throughout his life Robert kept in close contact with his beloved parents by means of letters, many of which are preserved in the M'Cheyne archive at New College.
M'Cheyne's fiancée ?
The question may arise as to whether Robert M'Cheyne ever contemplated marriage.
Although M'Cheyne never married, he was engaged twice.
At the time of his death in 1843, there is evidence that he was engaged to Miss Jessie
Thain. Extracts from her diary are published in the modern edition of the "Biography
of R.M.McCheyne" by Alexander Smellie, published by Christian Focus
Publications. For further information refer also to Marcus Loane,
Sons of the Covenant 1963. See the M'Cheyne Books page for publication details.
Living relatives
On 26th August 2001, I received a short email message from the daughter (in Colo., USA) of one of M'Cheyne's great-nieces. Her own mother had just died a few days earlier, yet she added that the two other great-nieces were then still alive, one living in Forfar, Scotland, and the other in Michigan, USA.