Aberdeenshire Ministers and Their People
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ABERDEENSHIRE MINISTERS A N D THE IR PEOPLE BY T H E J O N DAVIDS ON D . D . RE V. H , I E I ON F ROM H I S L IT E R RY E I B E N G SE L CT S A R M A N S, I B I RA PH ICA L N T I E BY H W T H A OG O C I S SON , J . D . A B ER D EEN D W Y LI E . L SON M D CCC! CV OUR M OTHE R W h o u viv r H usband l th an ar i s r ed he ess a ye , th s volume is dedicated by her sons and daughters with love . N T N T C O E S . Introduction The Presbytery of Garioch at the Disruption Old M inisters Early Dissent The Laird The Elder The Kirk town and its Inhabitants The Farm Town The Farmer, The M iller, and The Bailie Plain M anners and Plain Speech M iscellaneous A necdotes D INTRO UCTION. ’ T H E story of a parish minister s life is and should be rarely told in N o i s print . profession more likely to be devoid o f incident than the ministry o f a country I n r o f parish . its quiet outine V preaching , teaching, isiting the i f n s ck , comforting the a flicted , a ma l may live a rich , full life , but se dom furnishes a su bj ect ' fo r the bio grapher . I shall leave it to others to judge W hether the late minister of I nverurie and historian o f the Garioch was a proper exception to the rule thus laid down . This brief memoir o f my father has been pre pared for the sake of friends whose B 2 O O INTR DUCTI N . sorrow at his loss testified to the affection and esteem in Which they held him , and was earnest of a pretty W ide welcome fo r such a memento as is here offered o f a good and wise man , a faithful pastor and a learned antiquary . J ohn D avidson was the son o f a Oldm ach a r farmer in the parish of , whose early and violent death was to the son but a faint , though f . pain ul , memory The stock from which he came was the fish er - folk who are believed to have descended upon the north - east coast of Scot land from N orway o r N orthern Europe . H is mother survived for some years his entrance into the ministry . H e was born the year after Waterloo . An uncle living in Aberdeen took the widow and son into his house , and the mother O C O INTR DU TI N . 3 worked hard for many years , so that her boy might have the best schooling available . J ames Melvin became rector of the Grammar S 1 8 2 6 chool in , and from him , in old S ch oolhill the building in the , L the boy learned his atin , and derived that impress of character which was common to most of ’ Melvin s pupils . I f he had been accustomed to use the quasi o f - psychological cant to day , he would have said that the men who “ ” formed him were James Melvin and John Cruickshank , Professor of Mathematics in Marischal College, whose valued friendship he enjoyed so long as their lives ran together . Mathematics was his forte at the U - h e niversity , and graduated with honours in that subject , and after ’ S wards taught it in Gray s chool . 4 INTRODUCTION . H is period Of study at the D ivinity H all fell among the “ Ten Years “ O f the Conflict . S tirring as the times were, they developed in the student little of the spirit of com b ative ne ss moderate in disposition , hating his life long what he was wont ‘ ” dis e ace d to call f p , he adhere to o the M derate party in the Church . What it cost a young man to take that line we o f a younger generation can conceive only feebly . My father never spoke Of it but to recall the pain he suffered at being cut by his best friend among the clergy o f Aberdeen . B ut all wounds were healed by the cordiality Of his reception by the members O f the r P esbytery of Garioch , which he entered in 1 844 as assistant and L ssel r o R . R e successo t the ev obert , minister of I nverurie . O O INTR DUCTI N . 5 I t i s the best praise Of his long ministry Of forty - eight years that a detailed history Of it would be I uninteresting . take it that he sought to make no mark upon his time save the stamp that the H is doing Of duty leaves . life work is written o n the characters Of the people whom he influenced . This sketch must perforce be con fined to a brief account Of what w as characteristic in his manner and tw o methods . He preached sermons every Sunday—discourses whose Moderatism was warmed by a deep personal faith in the Fatherhood Of God and the Love Of the S on . B Ut it was in his prayers that his simple , unaffected piety was the more closely brought home to the b r r s ea e . The language wa choice and terse probably none who ever 6 T O CT O IN R DU I N . listened to him will ever forget certain of his intercessory phrases , or the deep emotion with which his communion addresses were imbued . I n his prime my father moved much about among his people . For many years he took an annual census Of the parish , covering the o n whole distance foot . He thus kept himself in touch with outlying parishioners , and at the same time Obtained an interesting and valuable record Of the changes that came - l - over his semi rura , sem i burghal charge . H is knowledge Of the parish , its families and its con figuration and divisions , became extraordinarily exact and full . S eeking early in his ministry for some additional outlet to his in ade activity , he one excursion d into the philosophical fiel , and INTRODUCTION . 7 published a solid and well - reasoned “ B ! book , entitled , elief What is it ? ” But taste and inclination immediately led him into what was for him the true and proper sphere Of literary labour . H e was a born r antiquary, having a natural c aving i to discover the orig ns of things . And as fortune had set him in a district peculiarly rich in memories O f the past , and given him the spiritual oversight Of a Royal burgh I so ancient as nverurie , it was almost a thing O f course that he should write I nverurie and the E Of arldom the Garioch , a monu mental local history which , as Mr . L S O f eslie tephen said it, erred , if o n l at all , the lines Of the schoo Of “ infinitesimal research . I t was the product Of unwearied and protracted labour . Only by aid of the habit of 8 INTRODUCTION . constant occupation could it have f been written at all . My ather was rarely idle . H e stood to work , and so saved himself from the writer ’ s no t stoop . I do know whether the choice Of that attitude had anything to d O W lth the ease with which he ‘ o n oi c uld drop his writi g at any p nt , n n l a d resume it when ext at eisure . Most o f I nverurie and the E arldom Of the Garioch was written at a breast - high desk in a little study too barely furnished even to be dignified with the n ame Of library and in the picture Of my father which memory most Often recalls o t his family, he is standing there , o between window and do r, compos n his r i g sermons and lectures , o digesti ng with infinite patience the mass o f materials which the research Of years had accumulated for his I NTRODUCTION . 9 historical work . H e wrote rapidly n n ot in a bad hand , a d in a plain , if n n elegant, style . H is i terest i the subject did not lapse with the f publication o his book . H e pur i o a sued , w th nly little less diligence , his inquiri e s into the past Of the I i parish Of nverur e , and constructed what was practically a cadastral survey Of probably unexampled minuteness . B ut age and infirmity fell upon him before he was able to put these later labours into shape ; it has been deemed sufficient to present to the public at present only the selection , which follows , from S S . the lighter M . he left behind The quantity Of these alone tells of great industry ; and I am fain to believe that the reader Of these ' oézter scr ip ta will endorse my interested judgment Of their truth . 1 0 T O CT O IN R DU I N . The late minister Of I nverurie was a man Of uncommon shrewd ness and knowledge Of the world . r H e had travelled much in his p ime , and broadened his mind by contact N with men Of other countries .