Andrew Scott and family

 I'm ticking off the gravestones I haven't recorded yet in Sheila A. Scott's book Peeblesshire Monumental Inscriptions pre 1855 and they are becoming increasingly rare to find. Not just because I have done most of them by now but mostly because the stones are so hard to find. However I have no idea why I haven't done this one before as it's quite large and impressive. Here is the text:

Erected

by Andrew Scott, Leith

in memory of

Janet Penman, his wife

who died there 3rd October 1849

aged 58 years

and of Janet Scott, his daughter

wife of David Downie (could be Dowie), West Calder

who died there 4th October 1849

aged 30 years

also of Elizabeth, wife of the

Rev'd John Scott, Montego Bay

Jamaica, who died there 15th Nov. 1848

aged 20 years

and of his son, the Rev'd John Scott

of the Presbyterian Church

Montego Bay, who died there 4th Dec. 1848

in the 28th year of his age

and 2nd of his ministry.

Cease ye from man whose breath is in

his nostrils by wherein is he to be accounted of.. Isaiah II 22

Andrew Scott

who died 7th June 1861 aged 59 years.

Andrew Scott certainly lived with a lot of tragedies in his life! Wife and Daughter dying within a day of each other and losing his son and daughter-in-law within a fortnight of each other in a far flung place, probably as a result of some epidemic or other. 

On the back of the same gravestone there is another inscription:

Marion Scott

born 31st March 1830

died 31st March 1835

Was this yet another tragedy? It seems more than likely that this was Andrew Scott's young daughter, died at the age of exactly 5 years. How does a person live through all that? 

Alexander McCall Forrester

First of all I must apologize for my long absence from this blog. The rest of life sort of took over and the very good summer also meant I spend more time in our garden. The other reason is that I'm beginning to exhaust the gravestones in the graveyard. Almost all of them have been recorded and it's hard to find ones that haven't featured here before. But this one hasn't and here is the full text of the stone:

Sacred

to the memory of

the Reverend

Alexander McCall Forrester

for 46 years minister of

the parish of West Linton

born 15th June 1800

died 9th April 1883

also of

Janet Cowan

his wife

born 12th January 1804

died 17th April 1892.

The Reverend Mair and family

I have been a bit negligent re posting here but it's not because I haven't paid regular visits to the graveyard. It's partly because in the winter and with little light it's much harder to decipher the old inscriptions on the graves than in the lovely sunny weater we were blessed with yesterday and today and also because I have been rather busy on my other blog as well as on my Blipfoto page. It all takes a lot of time on my dial-up connection but hopefully I'll be showing you some beautiful gravestones here in the coming days. I've also changed the banner to reflect the season!

This is a very impressive tablestone grave and has the following engraved text:

Here is interred the Rev. James

Mair late Min. of the Associate Con

gregation in this place, who died

the 8th Jan. 1774 in the 34th year of his

ministry in said congragation and 74

of his age.

He was an active, faithful and

successful min. zealous for the ......(unreadable)

impartial in the exercise of dis

cipline and steady in his adherence

to the principles of the Church of Scotland.

In private life a man of candour

and simplicity without ostentation

pious and devout geven to hospita

lity, a warm friend , an affectionate

husband, an indulgent parent.

Psalm (?)6 and 9

My flesh shall rest in hope

Also two of his sons are here

interred, James who died 28(or 9) October 1747

aged 10 months

and Patk(or r) who died 10th Oct. 1756(or 0), aged 8 years

Erected to their memories

by

his son Thomas 16th July 1774

According to Sheila A Scott's book Peeblesshire Monumental Inscriptions-pre 1850 this Thomas died on the 16th July 1817 aged 74. However there is no mention of this on the tablegrave itself as far as I can see but parts of the stone are hidden from view due to other graves placed very close to it.

On one side of this splendid tablestone grave is a smiling Winged Spirit, beautifully carved with wonderful detail in the hair and wings. She had to be photographed on the diagonal as another grave is quite close. Once it's warm enough to lay on the grass I'll try laying on the grass and see if I can't get a better photograph. She really deserves to be shown in all her glory.

On the other side is a skull and probably crossbones but as you can see There is absolutely no chance of getting inbetween this tablestone grave and the obelisk standing right next to it to take a picture of the skull. This is just about the best view of it I could get. It seems very strange to have another grave monument this close, specially as the people commemorated on the obelisk seem to bear no family relationship to the Reverend.

William Keyden

As you can see this gravestone is tucked away in a corner of the graveyard, in a corner next to the grave memorial for another Reverend, built into the wall separating the graveyard from the Main Street. It has deteriorated to the extend that it can no longer be read although I could just about descern the name of the deceased. Here is the text according to Peeblesshire Monumental Inscriptions - pre 1855, compiled by Sheila A. Scott.

In memory of

William Keyden

writer to the Signet

third son of Reverend William Keyden

minister of Penpoint, Dumfriesshire

born 15th September 1768

died 5th January 1826

Quite sad to see it in such a decrepit state, with all that wood piled in front of it!

Alexander Forrester

As I discussed on a recent post on my regular blog, if you were a minister or reverend you would normally be sure of a prominent spot in the graveyard, either next to or against the church itself or as in this case against the outer wall of the graveyard (the one along the Main Street). This is the text for the above stone:

Erected

by

the Rev'd Alex'r Forrester

of Linton

on the 1st May 1832

In affectionate remembrance and hope

of a blessed resurrection

of

Mary Bayne his mother

who died 1807

of

Charlotte McCaul his wife

who died in 1825

of

Catherine Hunter, his daughter

who died that same year

And of

William his Eldest son

who died in 1811

of

James, His youngest son

who died in 1809

Also

sacred to the memory of

the Rev'd Alexander Forrester

for 46 years minister of the parish of

West Linton

who died on 29th May 1836

The reverend certainly suffered a tragic loss of many members of his family before he too succumbed.

This is one of those wonderful surprises you can come across in most graveyards and which will be familiar to stamp artists too. You merrily start stamping a text on a page and by the time you come to the end of the line there is no room left for the last letter! (solution: start stamping in the middle!). And it happens to stonemasons too, as you can see here. The r for daughter couldn't be squeezed in. Solution: carve it above. That might work for stamping too and look quite quirky. Don't know what the Reverend made of this though?!