Jane Catharine (or Catherine) Lundie (or Lundee) was born at
Kelso, 1 December 1821, in the old
manse by the
River Tweed, located by the Abbey. She was a daughter of Robert Lundie, minister of Kelso, who had attained literary accomplishments, and, besides being acquainted with Sir
Walter Scott and other literary celebrities, was an early contributor to the
Quarterly Review. Her mother, Mary Grey, was a native of
Northumberland. She was a daughter of George Grey and Mary Gray. Mrs. Gray, the sister of
John Grey and aunt of
Josephine Butler, was an intellectual who, besides being the author of several volumes, assisted her husband in matters pertaining to his parishioners. She compiled the memoirs of
Matthias Bruen who lived with the Lundie family for some time. Bonar's paternal grandfather, Cornelius Lundie, had also been minister of Kelso, and had preached in
Kelso Abbey before its ruined condition required the erection of a new building which was occupied by her father. In April, 1832, Bonar's father died, and in the autumn, with her widowed mother, her elder sister,
Mary Lundie Duncan, and brother, she removed to
Edinburgh. In 1835, she was sent to a school in
London, and developed a friendship in Mrs. Evans, the friend of her sister Mary. She also spent time with her sister at the manse in
Cleish, until 1840, when Mary, a poet and
memoirist, died. An elder brother, George Archibald Lundie, went with a missionary band to
Samoa, hoping that the climate might restore his failing health, but died in less than three years. There were two other brothers, Cornelius, engineer and railway manager of a branch in
South Wales, and Robert, minister of the Presbyterian Church,
Fairfield, Liverpool. ==Career==