Help deciphering baptism of Agnes Bruce

[JMStrachan]

This is the baptism record for Agnes Bruce, my gggg grandmother, in the OPR for Crimond, Aberdeenshire. I can read most of it but am having trouble with a few words. I've read it as:

October 1st    Bruce    Andrew Bruce in the Cruden ---- ------- had a child born of Isbel Keith in this parish begotten in fornication and baptised Agnes    John Farquhar in little Milbo(?) being sponsor     Witnesses the said John Farquahar and Alexander Milne Kirk Officer

Can anyone work out what the mystery words might be?

[DavidJP]

Hi JMStrachan,

Not sure what the first word is, but the second word is 'deceased'.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards

David

[GR2]

I think the word before "Cruden" has been scored out. Cruden is a parish, so would not need "the" before it. I think the word before "deceased" is probably "now". The name of the farm is Little Bilbo. There are several places called Bilbo in Aberdeenshire.

I have a copy of the monumental inscriptions at Crimond, so will look to see if John Farquhar has a gravestone there and if there is any Keith connection to him.

[GR2]

Just checked the Crimond inscriptions and there is a row of Farquhar gravestones, but none that mention Little Bilbo.

[JMStrachan]

Thanks David and GR2 - brilliant work. That solves a puzzle, and I suppose it gives Andrew Bruce a good excuse for not marrying Isbel Keith.

I don't know what the connection is between Isbel Keith and John Farquhar. I think she might be the daughter of James Keith of Kirktoun baptised in 1747 and is most likely to be from a family of crofters and farm servants. She might also be the Isbel Keith who married James Wylie in Crimond in 1784 but I've not been able to trace them after that. One clue always leads to more research!

Thanks again,
Judy