« on: Monday 24 December 12 05:57 GMT (UK) »
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,628529.msg4765988.html#msg4765988The link above will take you to an earlier related topic. I am trying to work through the details of the 25 page testament dative and inventory of Alexander Rennie (1752-1828) a farmer near Kilsyth. Alexander left a bequest of £250 to his youngest son, James Mathie Rennie, who was my 3rd great grandfather. Alexander states that James Mathie Rennie is living in his household (he was 19 years old) and the bequest was larger than the £100 left to the older son, Robert Rennie, who is described as "flesher [butcher] in Glasgow". Presumably Robert had already received a sum from the estate to set him up in business. The proceeding names James Mathie (1803-1881?), writer in Stirling and I have tentatively identified him as the son of William Mathie and Elizabeth Laing.
The problem is that I think the namesake of James Mathie Rennie is the first husband of Isabella Auchincloss (1764-1837), a James Mathie (1758-1795) who was a Glasgow writer and Clerk of the Glasgow Trades House (1790-1795). Isabella later married the Rev. Dr. Robert Rennie (1767-1820) who was author of "Essays on the Natural History and Origin of Peat Moss", for which he received recognition as follows: " The Emperor of Russia lately sent Dr. Rennie a diamond ring, accompanied by a letter written at his command, expressive of his sense of the utility of Dr Rennie's speculations, and of his wish that the continuation of the work should be transmitted to Russia, to give hints for the improvement of its waste districts." Don't you imagine that over the dining table Dr. Rennie was a scintillating wit with great funds of entertaining anecdote on his favored subject!!!
I have not been able to connect the James Mathie, writer in Stirling, with the James Mathie, writer in Glasgow. I welcome any assistance. The writer in Glasgow was succeeded by his brother Benjamin who held the post of Clerk of the Trades House of Glasgow from 1795-1831 and he was also part owner of the Glasgow Herald. The father of James and Benjamin was David Mathie, Preses of the Grand Antiquity Society of Glasgow.
Campbell, McDonald, Sprague, Dunsmore, Altgelt, Paterson, Gordon, Rennie, Gorrie, Myles, Forbes, Stewart, Robertson, Scott, McEwan, MacCallum, McLagan, Perth, Dull, Lanark, Airdrie, Campbeltown, Saddell, Kessington, Cochno, Milngavie, Rutherglen, Kilsyth, Dundee, Killin, Ferryport-on-Craig, Kirkintilloch, Ohio, New York, Inverness-shire, Blair Atholl, Mathie