Huntly Express 16-10-1897:
THE LATE MR WM. MILNE, OVERHALL HOME
FARM. The largely attended funeral took place last
week to Insch churchyard of the late Mr Wm Milne,
Home Farm, Overhall, Premnay. His ninister Rev.
John Stewart, Established Church, Premnay,
conducted the service. The chief mourners were his
brother-in-law Mr Francis Stephen, bank agent,
Alford, and other relatives. Although Mr Milne
took no leading part in public business, he was for
long a prominent breeder and exhibitor of horses in
the district. At Kennethmont and Insch shows he
yearly secured foremost and sometimes special
honours for his Clydesdale animals, and occasionally
carried his triumphs to Inverurie and Aberdeen. He
was an excellent judge of horses, and his services in
that capacity were often valued in various showyards.
He succumbed to about three weeks' illness, and his
death has come as a surprise to many in the district
around by whom he is deeply regretted. Many years
ago he succeeded his father in the farm of Newton of
Ardoyne, which he vacated latterly for the home farm
of Overhall, Premnay. He married Miss Cowie,
daughter of the late Mr Peter Cowie, farmer, Over-
hall. Mr Milne is survived by his wife and a young
family.
Although the above article says he was buried at Insch, there is no gravestone there with his name. There is, however, a gravestone in Premnay Kirkyard with the following people mentioned on it:
William Milne d. 3-10-1898
Andrew Walker Milne d. 8-10-1907
Peter Cowie Milne d. 14-11-1908
Jane Elsie Cowie d. 31-7-1924
James Dunbar Milne 15-1-1925
[From the ANESFHS index]
This is obviously the correct family. The fact that the stone has the day and year of William Milne's death a day and a year out suggests that the stone was not erected at the time of his death, but perhaps when his wife died in 1924 and they had made a mistake in what they told the mason. If the report in the Huntly Express is correct, William Milne was buried at Insch and the rest of his family at Premnay. It is not unusual to have the names of people who are buried elsewhere recorded on a gravestone.
