It's your Electric Scotland newsletter meaning
the weekend is nearly here :-)
You can view what's new this week on Electric Scotland at
http://www.electricscotland.com/update.html and you can unsubscribe to
this newsletter by clicking on the link at the foot of this newsletter.
See our Calendar of Scottish Events around the world at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/calendar_help.htm
CONTENTS
-----------------
Electric Scotland News
The Flag in the Wind
The Scottish Nation
Raiderland, All about Grey Galloway
Clan Newsletters
Poems and Stories
Donald Fraser, Quebec Merchant
Scottish Canadian Newspaper
Proceedings of the Scotch-Irish Fourth Congress at Atlanta, GA., April 28 to
May 1, 1892 (new book)
History of Scotland
Commemorative Biographical Record of the County of Kent, Ontario.
Good Words - Edited by the Rev Norman MacLeod
Perth on the Tay (new book)
ELECTRIC SCOTLAND
---------------------------------
Can't believe how fast this past week has gone.... I know.. I said that last
week as well but it seems like I only did the last newsletter a couple of
days ago.
As promised I made a start at Perth on the Tay and also more on Good Words
of which more below.
I am looking at attending the local Highland Games here in Chatham this
Saturday with a specific view of doing some videos of the heavy events.
Got in a copy of Cheryl MacMillan's book "Castle Dreams" and have read the
first couple of chapters and looks to be an enjoyable read.
The back cover states...
This spellbinding fiction is filled with adventure, exciting history and
romance. The characters leap off the page with vibrant, emotional, and
sensual power. Enriched with wit and passion, this dramatic story brings to
life moving and meaningful moments in history. It vividly weaves the tale of
vast fortunes, wars, loyalty, and cherished relationships.
Malcolm Lochlan MacMillan
Handsome nobleman split between two countries and two cultures, England and
Scotland, circa 1748. Heir to the title of Earl of Kilford through his
English mother and Laird of Clan MacMillan through his Scottish father, he
faces an impossible situation. Educated as an English Lord, however he found
joy. excitement and ultimately love among his fathers clansmen. Loyalty and
responsibility...which destiny will he chose?
Catherine Leslie MacArthur
The Scottish lass who stole Malcolm's heart when he was only twelve, has now
grown into a beautiful, free-spirited and fiercely loyal young woman who has
once again captured his attention...perhaps his heart. Courageously
surviving the aftermath of the Scottish uprising of 1745 when British
soldiers burned and pillaged their ancient castle and village in the
Highlands. Will she give Malcolm a chance to recapture her heart?
You can purchase a copy of this book at Amazon.com at
http://www.amazon.com/Castle-Dreams-Cheryl-MacMillan/dp/097932310X/ref=cm_taf_title_featured?ie=UTF8&tag=tellafriend-20
I've added a new calculator to our "Desktop" where you can now select
"Measuring Worth" which is a service for calculating relative worth over
time. For example I was looking at a suggestion in the Scotch-Irish Congress
that every member should donate to the society $3.00 if they couldn't
introduce a new member in the year 1892. This calculator told me that $3.00
then would be worth $68.57 today (2006).
I pinched a wee bit from their site to illustrate how this service is
valuable to those doing historical research or indeed just interested in the
subject...
In 1931, a one-pound loaf of white bread, on average over several major
cities, was priced at 7.7 cents. Regardless of how much money someone has,
the relative cost of the 1931 loaf of bread in terms of food or household
items is about a dollar today (using the CPI index).
If you are interested in comparing how much of the average shopper's budget
went for bread, then $2.28 (which uses the "value of the household bundle")
would be the appropriate figure.
Finally, if you were trying to figure out the amount of income from which
people purchased a loaf of bread, then $5.25 is the answer for the average
person. For the unskilled worker then, the purchase cost in today's money is
about $3.00. Remember, we are taking today's income or wage scale back to
1931 to look at the price of a loaf of bread.
The average earnings of an accountant were $2,250 and in terms of what goods
and services an accountant could buy in 1931, he (there were few women
accountants) received a historic comparative purchasing power of $28,850 in
current dollars (using the CPI index).
His contemporary standard of living was over twice that amount, or $66,500.
This is about 40 percent more than the average household bundle today,
showing a high buying power.
Finally, with his $2,250 salary, the accountant enjoyed an economic status
of over $150,000 in current terms and an economic power of over $360,000.
The interpretation is that his wage enabled him to go to the same country
club as someone today earning $150,000 and that he would be perceived to
have the same economic influence as someone with a current annual income of
a third of a million dollars.
Interesting stuff and you can get to this new calculator at
http://www.electricscotland.com/theweb/index.htm
Pictures... if any of you are going to Scotland for a holiday there are a
few pictures I'd really like for the site as I didn't get very good pictures
while I was there.
In Newtonmore there is the Highland Village which is well worth a visit.
While I was there I tried to get pictures of the inside of the houses but
they didn't come out so if anyone visits I'd appreciate some pictures if you
can manage it.
Also... just down the road is the "Black House" and again my pictures inside
didn't come out so again if you can manage to get me some pictures I'd
appreciate it.
I visited the Cranogh at Aberfeldy and again my inside pictures didn't come
out so if you can manage some pictures that would be great :-)
I might just add that if any of you are heading for Orkney or Shetland I'd
love to get some general views of the islands.
And finally... I am being persuaded to attend the July 2008 MacIntyre
gathering in Scotland. Were I to attend I'd like to make this part of a
larger project and try and meet as many people as possible and also take as
many pictures as possible. As some of you will know I managed to spend an
entire 6 months in Canada thanks to folks with broadband access putting me
up in their homes. I thus wondered if anyone in Scotland might be able to
put me up during that month that might also know their own part of the
country and could perhaps take me to places that would be of interest to our
Electric Scotland visitors. I figure as this is a year away it gives me
plenty of time to plan a productive trip.
So.. if you would be willing to help please let me know :-)
ABOUT THE STORIES
-----------------
Some of the stories in here are just parts of a larger story so do check out
the site for the full versions. You can always find the link in our "What's
New" section at the link at the top of this newsletter and pick up poems and
stories sent into us during the week from Donna, Margo, Stan, John and
others.
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
------------------------------------
Mind that The Flag is now in two sections (1) Political and (2) Cultural.
This weeks Flag is compiled by Ian Goldie and this week he is covering and
answering reasons published in the Glasgow Herald about why Scotland
"shouldn't" go for independence.
In Peter's cultural section we have some interesting "Quotations"...
This week we feature the 250th source – the Duke of Hamilton’s fierce
opposition to the proposed Union between Scotland and England in 1706. He
was recognised as the leader of the ‘Scottish National Party’ of his day, so
we also feature the Leader of the modern Scottish National party and First
Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond. In his address at the Royal Opening of
the third term of the Scottish Parliament last month (30 June 2007) he
reminded all that the desire for ‘real’ Scottish Independence still beats
strong 300 years on. Scotland might yet sing a braw new sang.
James Douglas Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton, 1st Duke Brandon and 1st Baron
of Dutton (1658-1712)
What Shall we, in half an hour, yield what our forebears maintained with
their lives and fortunes for many ages! Are none of the descendants here of
those worthy patriots who defended the liberty of their country against all
invaders – who assisted the great King Robert Bruce to restore the
constitution, and avenge the falsehood of England and usurpation of Baliol?
Where are the Douglases and the Campbells? Where are thre peers? Where are
the barons, once the bulwarks of the nation? Shall we yield up the
sovereignity and independency of Scotland, when we are commanded by those we
represent to preserve the same, and assured of their assistance to support
us?
(Parliamentary speech opposing Union with England 2 November 1706)
Alexander (Alex) Elliot Anderson Salmond
Scotland is in transition. Our nation faces some pivotal choices in the
years ahead. I believe in the restoration of an independent Scotland. Others
in this chamber take a different view. I welcome that debate and the
national conversation to follow. The challenge for all of us is to have that
conversation with dignity, with respect and with substance.
(Address, Royal Opening of Third Term of the Scottish Parliament 30 June
2007)
Peter also notes...
Highland 2007 – a year of events throughout the Highlands – has already
proved to be an outstanding success with many more attractive activities to
come. The next two weeks, for example, would be a good time to visit the
capital of the Highlands – the City of Inverness – as the Inverness fest
kicks off on Sunday 15 July and runs to Sunday 29 July 2007. The Fest
celebrates the best of traditional and contemporary culture and includes
both the Inverness Highland Games and the European Pipe Band Championships
in the Bucht Park – a real Scottish treat. The Highland Games also includes
the World Highland Games Championships and is held over two days – Saturday
21 July and Sunday 22 July. The cream of the world’s pipe bands will contest
the European Championships on Saturday 28 July, During the Inverness Fest
there is also the opportunity to take in the RBS Inverness Highland Tattoo
at nearby Fort George, Ardersier. Visit www.highland2007.com for full
details of Inverness fest and the many other events across the Highlands.
You can read the Flag, listen to the Scots Language, enjoy the Scots Wit and
lots more at
http://www.scotsindependent.org
The Scottish Nation
----------------------------
My thanks to Lora for transcribing these volumes for us.
Now onto the H's with Henderson, Henning, Henry, Henryson and Hepburn added
this week.
There is a very good account of Sir John Hepburn and thought I'd include the
account here as it also shows the many wars that the Scots were involved in
throughout Europe...
Sir John Hepburn, considered “one of the best soldiers in Christendom,” in
his time, was born about the year 1598 or 1600, and is supposed to have
studied for a short time at the university of St. Andrews, as in the
beginning of 1615 a Joannes Hepburne was matriculated at St. Leonard’s
college, there. “It is extremely probable,” says Mr. Grant, “that he was the
John Hepburn who studied at St. Leonard’s, as that university was founded by
one of his family, John Hepburne, prior of the Augustinian monastery, and
son of Adam, second Lord Hailes. Many students of his name were studying
there during the first twenty years of the seventeenth century; and one of
these, James Hepburn, died at Rome, keeper of the Vatican library.”
In 1615, to improve his mind and obtain a knowledge of foreign languages and
manners, with his friend, afterwards Colonel Sir Robert Munro, he visited
Paris and Poictiers. Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, says, “Sir Robert
Monro and Sir John Hepburn joined the more important advantages of
academical study in foreign parts, as well as at home.” In the spring of
1620 he joined, as a volunteer, Sir Andrew Gray, a soldier of fortune then
recruiting for the cause of the elector palatine, the unfortunate king of
Bohemia, who had married the princess Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of their
own sovereign, James the Sixth, and had formed a camp on the Monkrig, a
property of the Hepburns in East Lothian. About the end of May they sailed
from Leith for Holland, and on the 1st October of the same year joined a
part of the Bohemian army.
Soon after he obtained the command of a company of pikes in Sir Andrew
Gray’s Scottish band, which was employed to guard the king’s person. After
the battle of Prague, November 8, 1620, the Scottish companies were employed
under Ernest, count of Mansfeldt, in Germany and Alsace, and in 1622, after
the commencement of the Thirty Years’ War, Captain John Hepburn was one of
the defenders of Bergen-op-Zoom, against the strong besieging force of the
marquis de Spinola. The troops, under Mansfeldt, “12,000 strong, horse and
foot,” all soldiers of fortune, subsequently joined the Dutch, and at the
sanguinary battle of Fleurus, in Hainault, in 20th August 1622, fought to
prevent them entering Flanders, the Scottish bands, led by Captains John
Hepburn, Hume, and Sir James Ramsay, are recorded to have evinced the most
determined bravery. Though defeated, they succeeded in entering Holland,
which caused the raising of the new siege of Bergen-op-Zoom, and in the
following year Mansfeldt’s army was disbanded.
Under Captain Hepburn the survivors of the Scottish companies went to
Sweden, and entered the service of the great Gustavus Adolphus, who had
taken up arms in defence of the Protestant cause, then in extreme jeopardy.
Although a Catholic, Hepburn did not scruple to serve under so great a
commander. On the other hand, several Scots Presbyterian officers of note
were fighting under the Austrian banners. His cousin, James Hepburn, younger
of Waughton, also joined the Swedish service, and soon attained the rank of
lieutenant-colonel, but was killed in Lorraine in 1637. By his ardour and
high military qualities, John Hepburn early acquired the favour of Gustavus,
who in 1625 appointed him colonel of one of the auxiliary regiments,
composed of his countrymen who had served with him in Bohemia and Holland,
and of which the first or Royal Scots regiment of the British line is now
the direct representative.
It is stated by Mr. Grant that every historian of the wars of Gustavus
extole the brave Hepburn as the most famous of his cavaliers, and Defoe, who
introduces him prominently in one of his most graphic novels, says, “he was
a complete soldier indeed, and so well beloved by the gallant king (Gustavus)
that he hardly knew how to go about any great action without him.” The
Swedish king is said to have ascribed his great victory at Leipsic to
Hepburn’s Scottish brigade alone. In 1625, Col. Hepburn’s regiment formed
part of the army which invaded Polish Prussia, and served in that victorious
campaign which gave Selburg, Nidorp, Dorpat, and Duneberg to Gustavus, and
ended in the total rout of the Polish army on the plains of Semigallia, in
the duchy of Courland. “It was,” says his biographer, “during this Polish
war, that Hepburn began the series of brilliant achievements which marked
his career under the banner of Gustavus.” Having resolved to effect the
relief of Mewe, a town of Western Prussia, where his garrison was closely
blocked up, Gustavus sent a force of three thousand Scottish infantry, under
Hepburn, and five hundred horse under Count Thurm, to cut a passage over a
fortified hill defended by thirty thousand men. By a secret path at night,
they gained the summit of the hill, without being discovered, and furiously
attacked the Poles, but after a severe struggle, were compelled to retire.
Taking up a position beside a rock, where he received a small reinforcement,
Hepburn defended himself for two whole days against the entire Polish army,
during which Gustavus achieved the relief of the town. He frequently
volunteered on desperate duties, and in 1627, with his regiment he
accompanied Gustavus into Prussia, where he bore a prominent part in all the
operations of that brave and well-disciplined army, which stormed Kesmark, a
free town of Hungary, defeated the Poles who were marching to its relief,
besieged and captured Marienburg, and again defeated the Poles at Dirchan, a
city of the Teutonic knights.
In 1630, previous to which year he had been knighted for his eminent
services, he was in the army led by Gustavus in person against the
Imperialists in Pomerania, and after the capture of the island of Rugen by
Lieutenant-colonel Munro, he was appointed by Gustavus governor of the town
and castle of Rugenwalde. Soon after he distinguished himself at the siege
of the strong fortress of Colberg, and after the capitulation of that place,
he marched to the vicinity of Stettin.
In March 1631, with his regiment he encamped at Schwedt, in the province of
Brandenburg, and, without any increase of rank, received command of a
brigade of four chosen Scottish regiments in the service of the Swedish
king, called Hepburn’s Scots brigade. The honour of leading the van of the
Swedish army was given to this brigade, which, from the colour of the
doublets, scarfs, feathers, and standards of its soldiers, was also called
the Green brigade. At the siege of Frankfort on the Oder, Sir John was
severely wounded above the knee, and, on its surrender, after a terrible
slaughter, he joined the force under Marshal Horne, which had blocked up
Landsberg, a town on the east bank of the Oder, then held by the
Imperialists. On the fall of that place his brigade formed part of the force
that invested Berlin, and at Old Brandenburg, 34 miles west of that city, he
remained until quite cured of his wound. He was afterwards engaged in
numerous sharp skirmishes, outfalls, and other hazardous duties.
At the great battle of Leipsic, 7th September 1631, where Tilly’s army was
almost annihilated, the Scottish troops in the service of Gustavus
distinguished themselves beyond all others, and Sir John Hepburn, who, as
senior colonel, commanded the reserve, consisting of three brigades, whose
advance decided the battle, behaved himself so gallantly that, according to
Sir Thomas Urquhart, “unto him, in so far as praise is due to man, was
attributed the honour of the day.”
At the storming of Marienburg, 5th October following, the Scots brigade were
also prominently engaged. After beating down the gate of the keep, they were
about to advance into the heart of the place, when, to their great
indignation, Gustavus ordered them to retire, sending forward some Swedish
regiments to perform this service instead. Soon after, with 800 musketeers,
Sir John was sent to defend Ochsenfurt, a town on the Maine, against the
Imperialists, and so prevent their vast force, amounting to 50,000 men, from
crossing the river. Subsequently he was at the storming of Oppenheim, and at
the siege of Mentz which followed. The city of Donanworth, the key to Suabia,
was taken by the Scots under his command, after a desperate resistance, as
was also the castle of Oberndorff; and they succeeded in forcing the small
river Lech, leading the van as usual, after a hard contested battle, in
which the count de Tilly, generalissimo of the Imperial troops, was mortally
wounded.
Sir John was subsequently employed in Bavaria; and on the fall of Munich he
was appointed military governor of that capital; but, when Wallenstein
advanced with a formidable army, Gustavus found it expedient to evacuate
Bavaria. Both armies met at Nuremberg, in the center of Germany, where
Wallenstein, not finding it advisable to risk a battle, remained in his
entrenchments, on which an ineffectual assault was made by the Swedish
force. At this important crisis a rupture took place between Gustavus and
Sir John Hepburn, which led to the retirement of the latter from his
service. “Of the exact merits of the dispute,” says Mr. Grant, “there is no
proper account preserved. Having had high words, Gustavus in his anger was
so imprudent as to upbraid Hepburn with his religion, which was Catholic,
and also to remark, tauntingly, the extreme richness of his armour and
apparel. Schiller adds that the colonel was ‘offended with the king for
having, not long before, preferred a younger officer to some post of danger;
and rashly vowed never again to draw a sword in the Swedish quarrel.’ “ With
the marquis of Hamilton, Sir James Hamilton of Priestfield, and Sir James
Ramsay, who had also quitted the Swedish service, Hepburn arrived in London
in the autumn of 1632, and was presented by the marquis to Charles the
First, who is said to have knighted him, although it is certain that he had
received this honour long previously.
Before the close of that year he offered his services to the king of France,
and from Louis XIII. He received a commission, dated 26th January 1633,
constituting him colonel of a regiment composed of various old Scots
companies which, for some time, had served independently in the French army.
On his arrival in France, he obtained the rank of marechal-de-camp. He and
his regiment formed part of the force which invaded Lorraine, on the French
king declaring war against Austria, and at the siege of La Mothe, from March
to 28thg July, 1634, he and the young Vicomte Turenne, afterwards the
celebrated marshal of that name, distinguished themselves so greatly, that
to their exertions and gallantry, the surrender of the town was principally
attributed. With the main army, Sir John and the force under him, soon after
crossed the Rhine, and advanced to the relief of Heidelberg., then defended
against the Imperialists by some Swedish troops. After several sharp
conflicts, he drove the enemy completely out of the vale of the neckar, and
effectually relieved the beleaguered garrison, on 23d December 1634, taking
possession of that city and fortress, with all their cannon.
The French army having formed a junction with a Swedish force under duke
Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, the remnant of his old brigade was again placed
under his command, incorporated into one corps, and styled Le Regiment
d’Hebron, as Hepburn was spelled and pronounced in France. In the subsequent
campaign in Germany, under the Cardinal de Valette, he also served with
great distinction, but the French army were at last compelled to retreat,
pursued and continually harassed by the Imperialists, Hepburn with his corps
covering the rear, and fighting incessantly all the way back to France.
In the spring of 1636, he served in Lorraine, with the army under the duke
of Saxe-Weimar, and so eminent were his services that King Louis ordered the
diploma of a marshal of France to be expedited under the great seal for him.
Before, however, it could, with his marshal’s baton, reach the camp, he was
killed at the siege of Saverne, by a ball shot from the ramparts, on 21st
June 1636, when he was not more than in his 36th or 38th year. He was
buried, with great splendour, in the southern transept of the cathedral of
Toul in French Lorraine, and many years afterwards, a noble monument to his
memory was erected above his remains by Louis XIV. In 1793 this monument was
demolished by the Revolutionary mob, but in 1853, when the cathedral of Toul
was undergoing a renovation, in making some excavations, the coffin of Sir
John Hepburn was discovered. The coffin, composed of lead, was scrupulously
respected, and was again interred. It bears the following inscription: –
“Dom Ossa Joannis Hepvrinin Scoti Eqvitisavrati Exercitvs Galici Campi
Marescalli Qviad Tabernas Sclopeto. Trajectvs Occvbvit viii. Idvs ivlii.
MDCXXXVI., Reqviescat in Pace.”
You can read the rest of this entry at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/hepburn.htm
You can read the other entries at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/index.htm
Raiderland, All about Grey Galloway
----------------------------------------------------
by S. R. Crockett (1902)
Our thanks to John Snyder for ocr'ing in this book for us and this book has
now been completed with...
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE COUNTRY OF THE LOCHS
CHAPTER XXIX
GLEN TROOL
CHAPTER XXX
WIGTOWN SANDS
CHAPTER XXXI
TWO LAKE LAND S-GALLOWAY AND CUMBERLAND
CHAPTER XXXII
THE DIARY OF AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY GALLOWAY LAIRD
Here is how the final chapter starts...
IN this chapter I intend to give a sketch, brief but accurate, of the
condition of the farmers and their dependants on a small Galloway estate
towards the close of the eighteenth century, from the private notes and
shrewd personal jottings of a most remarkable man.
The Laird himself.
I do not mean to enter into the previous career of Mr. William Cuninghame,
the writer, though that was successful and worthy in the highest degree. Mr.
Cuninghame, though belonging to an ancient and honourable Ayrshire family,
the Cuninghames of Caprington, had to be the architect of his own fortunes.
He went out to Virginia as a young man, where he rose to position and honour
as the American manager of what would be now called a "tobacco trust." Upon
his return to Glasgow he became almost at once the ablest and most renowned
of those "tobacco lords" whose wealth and influence first gave to Glasgow
the commercial supremacy which she has never since lost.
But William Cuninghame used his abilities in business simply as a means to
an end His heart was with the land, and like a worthy cadet of a good name,
from the first he set before him the ideal of a family estate and the
restoration of the ancient fortunes of his house.
The unexpected death of an elder brother put him in possession of the little
Ayrshire property of Brighouse, to which in 1779 he added the much larger
estate of Lainshaw. In 1781 he bought Kirkwood, near Stewarton, and finally
in 1786 the lands of Duchrae in Galloway, to which last the diary and papers
in my hands have reference.
These private memoranda are to me specially interesting, not only as
breathing a spirit of kindly shrewdness and cleareyed observation, in parts
also a humorous appreciation of character - but because they give, with all
the precision of a business document, the condition of those very moors and
braes on which, nearly a century later, it was my own lot to "pu' the gowan,"
and harry the curlew of his marled eggs.
Already at the time of his first coming to Galloway, Mr. Cuninghame was a
considerable laird, as well as a man of wide note and fame. He does not give
the exact price at which he purchased the Duchrae estate ("by private
bargain immediately after the roup"), but as the reduced upset price was
£10,500, we may take it that Mr. Cuninghame's bargain was something well on
the under-side of that sum.
There is little of the Pepys element about the diary of our business-like
laird. -On the contrary, his purpose is made clear on the very first page.
“For my government and direction.”
"As it will be necessary for me to be here (upon the lands of Duchrae) at
times when I shall be at a distance from my books and papers, this
MEMORANDUM BOOK is intended for my government and direction." Not a man to
be put upon; this laird of Lainshaw, but at the same time evidently
concerned to do justly and to love mercy. First of all, however, he must
understand. Then he will deliberate, judge, and act. He begins his record as
follows, italics and all :–
"LAINSHAW, 26tkJuly 1787.–Having last night returned from Duchrae, where for
the first time I have been since the 16th current, I found by every
observation I made while there, and by the general information from every
Gentleman in the neighbourhood, that my present Tenants there are exceeding
good men, Honest and Wealthy, and in The short that they are a sett of the
best Tenants that are on any Estate in the neighbourhood, but that they
questioned much if they would give additional rents on new Tacks. Therefore
it is my duty and interest to retain them upon the Estate by giving them
every reasonable encouragement in my power – not only during the currency of
the present tacks, but also in due time, to engage their continuance on new
Tacks even if the rise of Rent should be but small."
These "tacks" or leases, dating most of them from about 1770 - that is,
sixteen years before Mr. Cuninghame's coming to Galloway - were, as he says,
in general easy and humane. The Duchrae property was divided into (our
farms, three of them comparatively large, the other, the small detached
holding of Drumbreck) much smaller. So that in this neighbourhood it is
evident that the Leveller movement of the earlier part of the century had
indeed done what the people feared that is, it had swept away the small
holdings, and either driven the cottiers and crofters to emigrate, or
reduced them to the status of hired labourers upon the larger farms.
You can read more of this chapter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/raiderland/chapter32.htm
You can read the rest of the chapters at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/raiderland/index.htm
Clan Newsletters
-------------------------
Old issues of clan newsletters can be seen at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/newsletters/
Added the July/August 2007 newsletter from the Utley family at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/newsletters/utley/10_4_2007%20JulyAug.pdf
Added the July 2007 newsletter of Clan Amcu at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/newsletters/amcu/JUL07.pdf
Poems and Stories
----------------------------
Donna sent in a Journal entry, At the Dam Site, July 2007 at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/donna/journal/journal84.htm
Donna sent in a recipe for Lois Hawkins Easy Sweet Pickles at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/donna/wenona/pickle.htm
Donna sent in a craft story about Covering a Counter with Tile at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/donna/crafts/crafts30.htm
Donna sent in a poem Environmentally Aware at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/donna/poetry/poem28.htm
Donald Fraser, Quebec Merchant
------------------------------------------------
By Marie Fraser
This is an interesting genealogy article by Marie and can be read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/canada/fraser/fraser_donald.htm
Scottish Canadian Newspaper
--------------------------------------------
Added another issue of this newspaper...
September 10, 1891 at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/scotscan/issue42.htm
This issue carries an article about Crichton Castle on the first page. There
is also an excellent story of "The Broken Tryst" on page 2 which you might
enjoy.
You can see all the issues to date at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/scotscan/index.htm
Proceedings of the Scotch-Irish Fourth Congress at Atlanta, GA., April 28 to
May 1, 1892
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now making a start at this Fourth congress with Part 1 up and ready to read.
Here is part of the Introduction to read here...
The fourth annual Congress of the Scotch-Irish Society of America was held
in Atlanta the last week of April, 1892. Perhaps no city in the South better
exhibits the spirit of progress and development which pervades this section
of the nation than Atlanta, and certainly none presents more attractions to
the visitor.
For the benefit of our members who were not able to attend the Congress, we
quote some extracts from an article on "Atlanta," written by the Rev. George
L. Chaney, and published in the New England Magazine of November, 1891. Mr.
Chaney is himself a Boston man who has been living in Atlanta for several
years.
The infancy, youth, and maturity of the city are associated with the three
names it has borne: Terminus, Marthasville, and Atlanta. We know that.
Atlanta has grown, but if the writer quoted means to say that Atlanta is
grown, then her people will raise their voices in dissent, believing that
old age will, for many long years, refrain from placing his destructive hand
on her fair-brow to tear thence her well-won laurels.
Nature has bestowed upon this fair city of the South a delightful climate,,
taken all the year round, that is not, perhaps, surpassed, if equaled, in
this country; and her situation is such as has necessarily made her a great
commercial center. Already ten great railroad lines center here, and the
numerous street railways connect with many charming suburban towns.
Eighteen banking companies, having an aggregate capital of over $5,000,000,
have been established here. Colleges and schools of various kinds are
attracted to this city as their natural center, and her public school system
is as good as any in the South. Atlanta has, perhaps, more church-goers than
any city of its size in the United States.
The old business houses, which were built in the style usual with rapidly
growing cities, are giving place to handsome, compactly constructed
edifices; prominent among which are the Equitable, Chamber of Commerce,
Chamberlin and Johnson, High, Gate City Bank, and Law Buildings.
The Courthouse, Capitol, and Customhouse are worthy of the state's capital;
the million dollar Capitol, which was built inside the legislative
appropriation, reminds one, in its style and proportions, of the Capitol at
Washington.
The Young Men's Library, with its fifteen thousand volumes; the Y. M. C. A.,
the Home for Confederate Soldiers, and the Grady Hospital are among the
institutions which exemplify the public spirit of Atlanta's citizens.
Atlanta's police force is excellent; her fire department, in skill and
promptness, is unsurpassed.
DeGive's Opera House and the newly erected Edgewood Avenue Theater furnish
amusement for Atlanta's play-goers; and an elegant new theater will soon be
opened.
At Grant Park, the prettiest and most extensive in the city, is to be found
a large and well-kept "Zoo." Within the park is Fort Walker, which, with its
surrounding fortifications, its cannon and caissons, and its collection of
balls and broken shells, brings to mind the horrors of the late war.
Two life-sized statues of Atlanta's beloved sons, the distinguished Senator
B. H. Hill, and the matchlessly eloquent orator, H. W. Grady, stand the one
in the capitol grounds, the other on Marietta Street, in front of the
Customhouse. But while Atlanta loves her dead, she honors her living; with
her sorrow hid in her heart- she seeks those on whom the mantles of her dead
kings have fallen, gladly welcoming the friendly stranger within her
hospitable gates, and no city is more beloved. Vive la ville, Atlanta!
The attractions outlined by the gifted author were themselves sufficient
inducements for us to select Atlanta as the place of meeting; but more
persuasive than these even was the hearty enthusiastic invitation which we
received from her people. This invitation came from the Governor of the
state of Georgia, the Mayor and City Council of Atlanta, the Atlanta
Scotch-Irish Society, the Board of Trade, the Y. M. C. A., the Evangelical
Ministers' Union, the Northern Society, the Grand Army Post, the Confederate
Veterans' Association, and all the representative bodies of the city. It was
presented to us on the platform of our third Congress, at Louisville, Ky.,
by the most prominent and eloquent orators of the city. Such attractions so
presented were not to be resisted, though San Francisco, Cal., and
Springfield, O., were holding out their hands to us in hearty welcome. As
will be seen by reading the papers of distinguished Georgians in this
volume, the state is a stronghold of Scotch-Irish stock, and Atlanta is the
product of their hands.
You can read more of this volume and the rest of the Introduction at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotsirish/congress4ndx.htm
History of Scotland
----------------------------
In 9 volumes By Patrick Fraser Tytler (1828)
Now on the seventh volume with...
Chapter II (Pages 120 to 187)
Mary from 1567 to 1569
Chapter III (Pages 189 to 309)
Mary from 1567 to 1569
Chapter IV (Pages 311 to 395)
Interregnum - Regencies of Lennox and Mar
Here is how Chapter IV starts...
THE death of Murray was a serious blow to Elizabeth. Its consequences
threatened to unite closely the party which favoured the restoration of
Mary, and were solicitous for a general pacificat.ion. The Hamiltons,
Lethington, Herries, Huntly, and Argile had vigorously resisted the
nleasures of the regent, and felt impatient under the ascendancy of English
influence, which Murray, Morton, and their faction had introduced. That
"inestimable commodity,"' an English party in Scotland, which Elizabeth's
ministers described as having been so difficult to attain, and so invaluable
in its effects, was now threatened with destruction; and Lord Hunsdon, the
very day after Murray's death, wrote in anxious terms, requiring the queen's
immediate attention to the state of Scotland. Important matters, he said,
depended and would fall out by this event, and much vigilance would be
required to watch the great faction which remained, who were all French."'
Nor. were these apprehensions exaggerated. If Elizabeth looked to her own
realm, it was full of discontented subjects, and on the very eve of another
rebellion. If to Scotland, Maryys adherents were in a state of high
elatedness and hope; the Hamiltons had already taken arms, the castles of
Edinburgh and Dumbarton were in the hands of her friends, succours had
arrived in the Clyde from France, and on the morning after the regent's
death, Scott of Buccleugh, and Car of Farnyhirst, two of the mightiest of
the border chiefs, broke into England, and in a destructive raid, let loose
their vengeance. In their company was Nevil, the banished Earl of
Westmoreland, a rough soldier and devoted friend of Mary, who, as Hunsdon
wrote Cecil, had testified his joy on hearing of Murray's death, by casting
his hat into the fire, replacing it no doubt by a steel bonnet.
You can red the rest of this chapter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotland/history60s.pdf
As all the chapters are .pdf files I'll just point you at the index page of
this publication where you can read the rest of the chapters at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotland/historyndx.htm
Commemorative Biographical Record of the County of Kent, Ontario.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My thanks to Nola Crewe for typing these up for us.
We got two bios in this week...
Peter Duncan McKellar
Forsythe, Alexander D.
Here is the biography of...
ALEXANDER D. FORSYTHE, one of the prominent citizens of Colchester South,
County of Essex, descends from Scottish stock that have long been
distinguished in military affairs. For many generations, or as long ago as
the battle of Bannockburn, those of the name have been residents of Stirling,
several members of the family fighting under Bruce and Walllace in the early
Scottish wars.
John Forsythe, the grandfather of Alexander D., was a soldier by profession,
and served under Wellington in his Belgian campaign, which resulted in the
downfall of Napoleon at Waterloo.
John Forsythe (2), son of John and father of Alexander D., was born in
Stirlingshire, Scotland, in 1815. He entered the military service in the
corps of Sappers and Miners, and for efficiency in his work was promoted, at
the time he gave up his commission having at the time he gave up his
commission having some 600 men employed under him. He was married in
Edinburgh to Euphemia Trupe, and with his family set sail, in 1850, for
America. For two years after his arrival on this side of the Atlantic Mr.
Forsythe resided at Lockport, New York, and then removed to the County of
Kent, Ontario, making the trip from Buffalo to Detroit by steamer, and by
the “Plow Boy” to Chatham. He located on Lot 12, Concession 8, in Chatham
township, where he purchased 100 acres of thickly wooded land, and there he
began preparation to properly provide for his family. With the assistance of
his sons the land was soon put under cultivation and the family added to
their holdings until they owned 600 acres of land in that immediate
neighbourhood, the same still being in their possession. Politically Mr.
Forsythe was a Reformer, and while a resident of Scotland took a lively
interest in local public affairs. He died in 1878, aged sixty-three years,
after a life of much arduous toil.
The children of John Forsythe and his wife were as follows: John, who is a
farmer in Chatham township, County of Kent; James, also of Chatham township;
Alexander D.; Lillie, wife of Andrew Quinn, of Ohio; Margaret, wife of David
Nesbett, of the County of Lambton; Robert, the owner of the homestead farm;
David, owner of a farm of 230 acres south of the homestead; and Mary, wife
of George Shaw, of Chatham township. All are well fixed in life and
prominent and representative citizens.
Alexander D. Forsythe was born at Toarwood, in Stirling, almost under the
walls of Stirling Castle, a most historic spot, and he was but six years of
age when the family crossed the ocean. That was in the days of the slow
sailing vessel, and six weeks and three days were consumed on the voyage.
When he was eight years old the family located in the County of Kent, where
he grew to manhood and obtained the best education afforded by the schools
of Chatham township at that time. Until he was thirty years old Mr. Forsythe
engaged in farming in Chatham township, and then removed to the State of
Kansas. One year there satisfied him that Chatham township afforded more
agricultural opportunities, so he returned and bought there a farm of 100
acres on which he resided for ten years. He then sold this property and
removed to South Lyon, Michigan, where he organized a stock company which
engaged largely in the manufacture of furniture. Subsequently he severed his
connection with this company and embarked in a dairy business which he
followed for some years. After ten years’ residence in Michigan he came back
to Ontario, and as a speculation bought a farm of 265 acres in Colchester
township South, in 1899. The possibilities of this farm induced him to
resume agricultural pursuits and he has since successfully engaged in
general farming.
Politically Mr. Forsythe is a staunch Reformer, and while a resident of the
County of Kent he took considerable interest in municipal and provincial
affairs, and served for a period in the Chatham council. The members of the
Forsythe family have always been zealous Presbyterians.
In Chatham township Mr. Forsythe married Margaret Jean McVicar, a native of
Argyll, Scotland, and to this union have been born children as follows: Miss
Elizabeth Duncan, at home; James Douglas, who married Miss Edna Blanchard
and has one daughter, Margaret B.; John Stewart, at home; Duncan, a farmer
in Colchester township, who married Helen Craig and has one child; George
and Jessie Gordon, who are both at home. Mr. Forsythe is a man of
comfortable means, intelligence and prominence, and he and his family are
held in the highest esteem in Colchester South.
The McVicar family, to which Mrs. Forsythe belongs, was one of the pioneer
families in Chatham township. John McVicar, her grandfather, was a native of
Argyllshire, Scotland, where he married Janet McTavish. In 1837, with his
wife and twelve children, he came to Canada and settled on Lot 11,
Concession 4, in Chatham township. His children were as follows: Duncan,
father of Mrs. Forsythe; Jesse; Helen, a resident of Fergus; Barbara; John;
Hugh; Neil; Mary; Malcolm, for many years in charge of a collage at Atlanta,
Georgia, a man of superior mental attainments; and D.H., also a polished
scholar, a professor in the Presbyterian College at Montreal.
Duncan McVicar was born in Argyll, Scotland, and there married Elizabeth
Duncan. To them were born children as follows: John, a resident of Winnipeg;
George, who served in the Riel Rebellion, was taken prisoner, and died in
consequence of the hardships then endured; Margaret Jean, Mrs. Forsythe;
Jessie, who died at Spokane, Washington; Hugh, who died in the County of
Kent; and Duncan and James M., engineers on the Great Lakes.
The other bios can be read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/kent/index.htm
Good Words - 1860 Edition
---------------------------------------
Edited by Rev. Norman MacLeod
You should note that as this is a weekly publication you'll find larger
articles are continued week by week so for example the article "Christian
Counsel and Teaching for Young Men" gives us Part 1 of this article.
This week have added articles on...
Anecdote of Dr Heine of Berlin (Page 8)
Meditations on Heaven (Pages 9-10)
Sketches in Natural History (Pages 10-12)
Christian Counsel and Teaching for Young Men (Pages 12-14)
Here is how the article "Meditations on Heaven" starts...
OR,
"GOOD WORDS" CONCERNING THE BETTER COUNTRY.
No. I.
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."
—Heb. iv. 9.
"Chime on, ye bells! again begin
And ring the Sabbath morning in.
The labourer's week-day work is done,
The rest begun
Which Christ has for His people won!"
From the German.
How sweet the music of this heavenly chime floating across the waters of
death from the towers of the new Jerusalem!
Pilgrim, faint under thy long and arduous pilgrimage, hear it! It is rest.
Soldier, carrying still upon thee the blood and dust of battle, hear it! It
is REST. Voyager, tossed on the waves of sin and sorrow, driven hither and
thither on the world's heaving ocean of vicissitude, hear it! The haven is
in sight; the very waves that are breaking on the shore seem to murmur—"So
giveth He His beloved REST." It is the long-drawn sigh of existence at last
answered. The toil and travail of earth's protracted week-day is at an end.
The calm of its unbroken Sabbath is begun. Man, weary man, has found at last
the long-sought-for rest in the bosom of his God!
This Heavenly Rest is a rest from sin.
Sin is the great disturber of the moral universe. The world—the soul—was
once like an AEolian harp; every passing zephyr woke it into melody. Now it
is tuneless, unstrung; its notes dissonant and harsh. Not till the Sabbatic
morning of heaven dawn will the old harmonies be restored. Glorious
anticipation ! perfect and entire emancipation, not only from all temptation
without, but from all bias to evil within. No latent principle of corruption
—no depressing consciousness of inherent sin—no germinating seeds or roots
that can develop themselves into fruit—no languid frames—no guilty fears and
apprehensions—no sorrowful estrangements from that Love whose smile is
heaven;—a rest from Satan's deceitful wiles and insidious snares, these no
longer either felt or feared. What more can be needed? A rest from sin, and
a rest in God. As the needle in the compass, after many tremulous
vibrations, at last settles in steady repose in the direction of its pole,
so the redeemed spirit —all its tremblings, and faintings, and fitful
aberrations at an end—shall remain, with its refined energies, its ennobled
powers and purified aspirations, undeviatingly fixed and centred on Jehovah
Himself. Its eternal motto will be—"This is my rest for ever."
Heaven will be a Rest from all doubt and error.
Here, how much there is of darkness and uncertainty! The volume of the
Divine ways is a mysterious volume. As the breath dims the window-pane in
looking out on the fairest landscape, so the breath on the windows of sense
and sight often obscures the glory of the moral landscape, causing us to
exclaim —''Now we see through a glass darkly!" The material world around us,
and the spiritual world within us, are full of enigmas which we cannot
solve: much more may we expect marvels and mysteries in the ways and
dealings of God —"deep," great deep "judgments!"
But then all will be cleared. "In Thy light," O Lord, "shall we see light."
The day will then break, and the looming murky shadows shall for ever flee
away. Doctrinal difficulties will be explained, apparent inconsistencies
removed, withering doubts for ever silenced. No more impeachments of the
Divine veracity, or questionings of the Divine procedure. Looking down from
the summit of the everlasting hills on the mazy windings of the earthly
pilgrimage, every ransomed tongue will have the one confession—"He hath done
all things well."
The rest of this article can be read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/goodwords/goodwords4.htm
The book index page is at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/goodwords/index.htm
Perth on the Tay
------------------------
A Tale of the transplanted Highlanders by Josephine Smith (1901)
You should note that many of the conversations in this book are in "Broad
Scots" and so you might find some of this hard to read. Should you persist
you'll likely get into the flow and hopefully enjoy this book.
I'll give you the Prologue to set the scene of this new book...
PROLOGUE.
Low in a sandy valley spread
An ancient borough rears its head,
Still as in Scottish story read
She boast a race To every nobler virtue bred
And polished grace.
—Burns.
PERTH, county seat of Lanark County, Province of Ontario, is the outgrowth
of the dovetailing of two issues confronting the Secretary of War, and the
Secretary for the Colonies, after the hostilities in which England was
engaged from 1812 to 1815.
The first, engaging the War Department,—how and where to place the
discharged officers and soldiers in a self-sustaining position at the least
possible outlay, while securing the comfort of the disbanded troops. The
second, a question with which the Colonial Department had to deal,—how to
settle as rapidly as might be the Province of Upper Canada with a loyal
English-speaking people.
For more than fifty years England had held Canada, yet very little
emigration had followed that of the United Empire Loyalists in 1784. The now
independent United States of America were rapidly filling with a sturdy,
independent, liberty-loving people. A letter of that date says they were
"holding out great inducements to agriculturists from Europe." Therefore, it
behooved the Home Government to bestir itself if it expected to hold what it
had cost much blood and treasure to obtain.
The land was fertile and well watered, with many repetitions of what Captain
Justus Sherwood describes, in a report of a trip from Glengarry to Kingston
(or Cataraqui it then was) in 1783, "The very best site for a mill I ever
saw."
But the romance and love of adventure which had, during the French regime,
induced scions of noble houses, with a desire to add to the glory of La
Belle France, to brave the dangers and endure the loneliness and privations
incident to a removal from a civilized land to a trackless wilderness, had
died out. Nothing now but promises from a responsible source of better homes
than those left behind would induce anyone, high or low, to become settlers
in Canada, about which very little was known in Great Britain.
So the two heads were "put together" (and two heads are always better than
one), and out of the inner consciousness of the War and Colonial Bureaux,
Perth was evolved.
Late in the month of May, 1815, three transports, the Atlas, Batiste
Merechant, and Dorothy, sailed from Greenock with three ships' loads of
Scotchmen, their wives and children. They reached Quebec the middle of
September, and had the discomforts of their long voyage added to by the ship
going aground before they reached Sorel. Tradition says the ships were
chartered by Government at so much per month until they again reached
Greenock; those who made the trip stoutly affirmed there was no other reason
for the voyage consuming the time it did, than a desire on the part of the
owners to make as many months as possible. Too late to proceed to their
future homes, they were quartered for the winter at Brockville and at
Prescott in a stone building still standing at Buckley's Wharf in Prescott,
while a few single men went to Kingston.
The 18th of April, 1816, they were established on their lands; all but the
very small children having walked from Brockville over a "blazed" road (that
is, notches cut in trees to mark the way).
They set to work clearing—felling the trees and piling up logs—letting the
sunlight in on the ground. Then hoed in wheat and oats—a plough would not
have had room among the roots and stumps; and if it had, they had no horses
to draw it; planted potatoes and made a kitchen garden, living the while in
brush tents. Very few had time to get up their log shanties until fall.
In June the Glengarry Light Infantry Regiment of Fencibles, the Canadian
Fencibles and the De Watteville Regiments arrived. A town plot was laid out,
the Tay was bridged, the woods rang with the sound of the axe and the
hammer.
This was the birth of the "Settlement on the Rideau."
The exact population in the fall of 1816 is given in a letter in the
Addenda, also other interesting information regarding conditions at that
date.
Perth is not all Scotch, many valuable Irish settlers came in 1816. The
ships Canning, Duke of Buckingham, and Commerce brought hundreds from both
Ireland and Scotland in that year. They settled in Elmsley, Burgess,
Drummond, Bathurst and Lanark.
But the first settlers were Scotch, many of them Highlanders; they gave the
town its name and character; and one finds many there, proud of their origin
in the Emerald Isle, speaking with a Scotch burr. The hail town minds ane o'
the tartan.
With two such sponsors to guard its minority, the infant village was bound
to grow up a credit to itself and them. Still, from a voluminous
correspondence (part of which is appended), there seemed to be occasions
when both guardians and ward had their little troubles. It was a Military
Settlement under control of the Commander of the Forces, whose headquarters
were in Quebec. There was no rapid transit in those early days; in winter a
horse and sleigh were the quickest means of locomotion. There seems, from
correspondence, to have been strenuous efforts put forth for the comfort of
the settlers. But with conditions as above, what wonder is it that minor
officers grew to feel that the so-called "Indulgences" proceeded from them
personally, and that they acquitted themselves accordingly; forgetting that
the forbears of those forming the "Settlement on the Rideau" had been part
of the body politic in the old country, and were now simply receiving
instalments of a debt owing them.
There were some glaring instances of favoritism, and lots were reserved for
absentees, thus retarding cultivation of soil and growth of neighborhood.
Then, for certain officials, there were long weary trips for which they
received nothing but travelling expenses, no pay whatever being allowed for
time. Stores were hauled from Fort Wellington, fifty-four miles away; when
there came a time of scarcity those in charge had to suffer with the rest.
But the "hungry time" did not last many years as will be seen from
correspondence in 1827 in Addenda. In five years every man had what he came
for, a home of his own, his deed in his pocket. The Memorial re a member of
Parliament brought to hand the wished for proofs of ownership.
In twenty-one years petty mistakes of officials, who were only human and
prone to err, were forgotten, the infant had reached his majority, a
wide-awake, earnest, self-assertive man, with resources that made him feel
very sure of the future.
That there is mineral wealth there the most superficial observer will remark
on trips through the environs, that the manufactures and those of its
younger sister, Lanark—also a Military Settlement—are of a high grade of
excellence, you may determine by buying a garment made from cloth of their
manufacture and finding yourself tire of the pattern long before a thread
gives way.
That it is a goodly place in which to spend a week or a lifetime you will
say after you have once been there.
Therefore, looking at the Perth of to-day, we cannot but commend the
far-sightedness of the Secretaries who stood sponsors for the Settlement,
and for the paternal care and attention they gave it, we give them their
meed of praise. But the spirit that made Great Britain mistress of the seas
came with the settlers. That is what made the Perth of to-day.
I have the first 7 chapters up to get you started and these can be read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/perthndx.htm
And that's all for now and hope you all have a good weekend :-)
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com
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