Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 February 1918 — ANNIE LAURIE REAL PERSON [ARTICLE]

ANNIE LAURIE REAL PERSON

% —■ — _ American Girl of Same “Ilk” Gives Facts of Origin of the Popu- <- iar Scotch Song. More than once has the question as to whether Annie Laurie, the subject of the ever-popular and ever-living song bearing her name as title, was a real person or mere fiction. A letter has come to hand that was written by Miss M. E. Riddle, daughter of the late Judge Riddle, for many years a circuit court justice in this section, says a writer in the Pittsburgh Gazette-Times. The Riddles were of Laurie ilk, as Scotch folk say, and they had gone to some considerable pains to get the story of the song straight, as there had been considerable contention about it. Here it is: “Jean Riddell (the name later spelled Riddle) was married to Sir Robert Laurie, the first baronet of Maxwelton. One of their daughters was Annie Laurie, celebrated In Scotch song. “Annie Laurie was famed for her beauty and cleverness, and was a social favorite in all the country round about, so it was not at all surprising that she captivated a Mr. Douglas of England, a man of culture and of letters, who composed the song bearing her name. “But seeing that the course of true love does not run smoothly, she married a Mr. Gurgesson, leaving Mr. Douglas to his hunting and his verses. “To this day many pilgrims go to Maxwelton, drawn thither by the muchloved song, ‘Annie Laurie.’ Many also visit Craigdorroch, where she spent her married life in comfort.”