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.

James Leslie and family

This is one of the newer stones in the graveyard but that doesn't mean it's easy to read. This is what I made of it:

In

loving memory of

James Leslie

died 14th Dec. 1931

aged 76 years

and his wife

Annie Milne Rennie (could also read Pennie)

died 13th Nov. 193(or 5)1

aged 72

also their son

James

died 18th Feb. 1901

aged 6 years.

Robert Ballantine and family

Another relatively modern stone and the text reads:

In

loving memory of

Robert Ballantine

died 10th Feb 1919

aged 62 years

and his wife

Margaret morton

died 24th Dec. 1940

aged 83 ytears

also his son

George

died 21st may 1913

aged 25 years

and their son

Robert Linton

died at Harrow, England

7th Jan 1957 aged 67 years

and his wife Elizabeth Dawson

died 20th Jan 1964 aged 69

John Porteous and family

This is one of the larger grave monuments in the graveyard. Here is the text:

In

loving remembrance of

Anne Gray

wife of

John Porteous

Townhead West Linton

who died 29th Jan'y 1876

aged 54 years

deeply regretted

also the above

John Porteous

who died at Norwich U.S.A.

21st Nov'r 1902 aged 78 years

also

Christine Porteous

thier daughter who died

at New York 30th May 1901(?)

aged 45 years

interred in Yantic Cemetary

Norwich Conn. USA

And on the pedestal:

Lead kindly light

Archibald Alexander and family

Again this stone with it's splendid urn at the top is not shown at it's best due to the scaffolding and like the previous one it is also filled to the brim with inscriptions. And the men in this family all seemed to die very young. Could this be due to some inherited disease? Guess we will never know.
Here is the text:

In memory of

Archibald Alexander

who died Dec. 23 1861 aged 67(?)

James

his eldest son who died April 20, 1865, aged 35 (?)

William

his second son, who died Jan 23, 1870, aged 35

Archibald, son of the above W'm Alexander

who died in 1868, aged 6 (?) weeks

lying with his mother in the necropolis in Glasgow

Eliz'th Brown, wife of John Alexander

who died July 12 1872, aged 28 (?) 

Archibald

his fourth son who died Oct 14 1885 aged 43

Bessie his daughter who died Nov (?) 18 (?) 1877

aged 14 months

Janet Snaipe

wife of Archibald Alexander senior

who died Nov 13 1894, aged 85 (?)

Helen White

wife of John Alexander

who died March 15 1908 aged 75

John Alexander

born 19th Oct. 1830, died 7th Feb. 1927 (?)

And on the pedestal:

Jesus said

I am the resurrection and the life etc.

John XI 25, 26

James Veitch and family

This obelisk tells a tragic tale of children dying young. Their father erected this monument for them and in the course of tiime his name too was added as were those of other family members. In fact there is so much text that every space has been used, right to the very bottom.

As you can see the church is wrapped in scaffolding at the moment which does nothing for the picture. If I remember I might photograph this one again when it has been removed.

Here is the text:

In memory of

Mary Veith

died 1st June 1866 (?)

aged 12 years

Lizzie

died 10th May 1887

aged 9 years

both interred at Leslie

also Jeanie

who died at Carlops

30th Nov. 1871

aged 9 years

their father

James Veitch

died 23rd August 1879

aged 56 years

James Brydon

Veitch

died 12th Mary 1908

in his 40th year

David Alexander

Veitch

died 12th Nov'r 1916

aged 45 years

Mary Alexander

wife of the above

James Veitch

died 23rd May 1921

aged 88 years

Margaret Alexander

daughter of the above

James Veitch died 8th

Oct. 1943 aged 67 years

Elizabeth Veitch

died 28th March 1939 (?)

aged 86 years.

erected by their father

James Veitch

Robert Alexander and Margaret Jessie

It's not the photograph but the gravestone that's leaning over. It's located in the far corner of the graveyard near the church building and it reads:

In

loving memory of

Robert Alexander

died at West Linton

12th January 1932

and his wife

Margaret Jessie

died in Edinburgh

12th October 1958