Author Topic: Blair Atholl parish Session Minutes  (Read 19530 times)

Offline Throth

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Re: Blair Atholl parish Session Minutes
« Reply #18 on: Thursday 06 November 14 20:01 GMT (UK) »
Unlike the West Coast outdoor meetings, there is plenty of evidence that in Blair Atholl the church was used. 

The Session Minutes mention the door box for offerings, the lack of a pulpit for preaching, naming who was to take the offerings in different parts of the church, and who was to round up the stragglers from the change houses (inns) on the Sabbath.


Offline Skoosh

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Re: Blair Atholl parish Session Minutes
« Reply #19 on: Thursday 06 November 14 20:43 GMT (UK) »
Of course the churches were used for services but were incapable of holding the congregation once Sabatarianism got a grip, which is why so many now stand roofless beside the replacement kirks.

Skoosh.

Offline treedahlia

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Re: Blair Atholl parish Session Minutes
« Reply #20 on: Thursday 14 May 15 11:10 BST (UK) »
Hi,
I came across the Borenich web site a few months ago while researching
a few details re my late husband's ancestry and the Session minutes afforded me
both an insight into the lives of some of the locals inhabitants and the authority
of the church or kirk seemingly held over their lives.
To be honest I was totally fascinated by the pettiness of the church and
the vast sums extracted for a bit of hanky panky by the locals and the
dispersal of said sims.

The whole website is a wonderful treasure  and I hope that you will continue
adding to it in the years ahead.

regards from Wendy in NZ
 

Offline Throth

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Re: Blair Atholl parish Session Minutes
« Reply #21 on: Thursday 14 May 15 13:22 BST (UK) »
Hi Treedahlia,

Did your ancestors come from Blair Atholl parish?

We are working on the Session Minutes which start again in 1741 but it's hard going and the originals are only available in Edinburgh.  Pity that they are not on-line.

Throth (www.borenich.co.uk)


Offline Skoosh

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Re: Blair Atholl parish Session Minutes
« Reply #22 on: Thursday 14 May 15 13:23 BST (UK) »
Wendy,  those were very different times, the church looked after folks spititual welfare but also helped support the school, the poor, the widows & orphaned. There were no vast sums, the church lands had been grabbed by the nobility at the Reformation, The Kirk was permanently skint as a result and the heritors were reluctant to part with a shilling in return. Illegitimate births placed an extra burden on a congregation who largely lived on oatmeal and supported their own families in a largely hand to mouth existance. There was no centrally funded welfare or social security, it was a very hard life.

Skoosh.

Offline treedahlia

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Re: Blair Atholl parish Session Minutes
« Reply #23 on: Friday 15 May 15 00:04 BST (UK) »
Hi Treedahlia,

Did your ancestors come from Blair Atholl parish?

We are working on the Session Minutes which start again in 1741 but it's hard going and the originals are only available in Edinburgh.  Pity that they are not on-line.

Throth (www.borenich.co.uk)

Hi Throth ..I'm a 4th gen kiwi of English extraction but my late husbands
extended family (Stewarts) were from Blair Atholl
and the research has all been done and very meticulously by one of his brothers..
so i have a copy of some of that research and was able to confirm some details
I didnt have on your website.
Also from pics on youir website I can see that Perthshire is certainly
a most beautiful area of Scotland.

kind regards from
Wendy

Offline treedahlia

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Re: Blair Atholl parish Session Minutes
« Reply #24 on: Friday 15 May 15 00:26 BST (UK) »
Wendy,  those were very different times, the church looked after folks spiritual welfare but also helped support the school, the poor, the widows & orphaned. There were no vast sums, the church lands had been grabbed by the nobility at the Reformation, The Kirk was permanently skint as a result and the heritors were reluctant to part with a shilling in return. Illegitimate births placed an extra burden on a congregation who largely lived on oatmeal and supported their own families in a largely hand to mouth existance. There was no centrally funded welfare or social security, it was a very hard life.

Skoosh.

Hi Skoosh..
 :-[  but also cognisant of the fact that the kirk or church ruled
the lives of the inhabitants with an iron fist to to the degree whereby it was
demanding monies from the poor to seemingly feather its own nest;
 with paltry sums being occasionally handed out to those in dire need of assistance.
Just my impression gleaned from  the session notes.

I must add here that my late husbands grandfather  worked
as a gamekeeper for and was highly regarded by the Duke in the latter
half of the 1800s and into the early 1900s..so he wasnt exactly
a poor man.

Being a kiwi it is also difficult for me to understand
at times the views of Scottish people
but thats what makes life  interesting eh.. we can all learn
to appreciate the views and opinions of others without
judging them.

kind regards
Wendy

Offline bleckie

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Re: Blair Atholl parish Session Minutes
« Reply #25 on: Monday 18 May 15 11:53 BST (UK) »
Hi All

If you look at the link below the book gives an indication of how all powerful the kirk was.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01fbm/

Yours Aye
BruceL

Offline Throth

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Re: Blair Atholl parish Session Minutes
« Reply #26 on: Tuesday 19 May 15 19:48 BST (UK) »
After the departure of Dr John Hamilton the Session Meetings continued but either the proceedings were not recorded or they have been lost.  They start again, on "the sixth day of May 1741, which day Mr Alexander Stewart was ordained in the church of Blair".

So far we have transcribed the first seven months, but it is hard going and we need to check some of the text again.  Anyway, here is the link to the work in progress.........

http://www.borenich.co.uk/Session_Minutes_1741.html