Mary Ann Grant was a schoolteacher at Dorback Schoolhouse and John Grant was gamekeeper at Brucklay Castle when they had a 6-year courtship that resulted in two daughters, Jessie Ann Grant born in 1882 and Elsie Jane Grant, born in 1886. John and Mary Ann married in 1888 and had four more children. The two older daughters were raised by Mary Ann’s parents, John and Elsie Grant, in Abernethy.