Jessie was born in 1841 the daughter of James Fraser and Ann McDonald of
Urquhart Inverness ( Anne Nicolls-Fraser has this as 1841 and mother as
Elizabeth Campbell however the records don't back that up). On 30th May 1873 she married William Mackay in Inverness.
The Minister was Rev. P. Robertson, and the witnesses were Henry Graham and
Alexander Fraser. William Mackay was born in 1820 and had previously been married to
Jane Munro. This meant that when Jessie and William married, he was 53 years of age
and she was 33 years old. He was a house carpenter (journeyman) and Jessie was a
domestic servant who could not read or write. Williams parents were Alexander
Mackay, a gardener and Isabel Munro, who married in 1807. 
Jessie and William moved into a thatched cottage at 26 Madras Street Inverness, and on 4th July 1874, their daughter Elizabeth was born. I believe that they owned the house. Elizabeth was only three years of age when her father died suddenly, on 21st August 1877. His death certificate states that he died from apoplexy (cerebral haemorrhage or stroke) .
Jesse had to take in boarders to earn a living. This is confirmed in the 1881 census (enumeration district 18p 22 No 151), which list the 'head of the house' as Jessie, widowed and with her was a daughter Elizabeth, (Lizzie) aged six, a scholar, also there was a boarder Cathie McKenzie aged one year, and Mary McLennan a boarder aged 22 years, who was a housemaid from Gairloch.
Life would have been hard for Jessie as there was no welfare state. Our income was from borders, and that some point she had borders from the Cameron Highland Barracks staying with her in her thatched cottage. The barracks was five minutes away from the house and they were given a quote shakedown" bed.
As Jessie owned the house, it gave them some independence but there was very little money, as there was no old age pension. She worked in a garden nursery which may be close to the house, for which he got paid to 26d per week (12 new pence) . Her one vice, that we know of, was her clay pipe and tobacco. Jessie died on the 8th December 1906 at 5:45 AM at 26 madras Street. Lizzie was present at the death, which is registered as congestion of the lungs of 14 day duration. We presume that Lizzie, being the only child of the marriage, inherited the house
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