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1700's (1750 -1799)

 

 

1750

 

The Rev. James Wilson, at his own expense, builds a "Charity School" beside the Mohr Parish Church for the benefit of his 14 children and other children of the Parish who wish to attend.

It is still standing!

1751

Gamrie Old Parish Church records - 19 April 1751

"Margaret Joass, servant to George Murray at Silverford, is accused by the church elders of the death of her newborn child through her refusal to ask for help during the birth. She is also accused of burying the child under turf 140 paces from the farm. She is ordered by the elders to be escorted from the church to Banff prison by three men. At her trial in Banff, she was found guilty and banished to the plantations."

1752 William West (Wast), a ship's captain from Pennan, is found guilty of the murder of his wife, Jean Gatt, and is "hung in chains" at Aberdeen.

1956 Gamrie Old Parish Records - 1 February 1756

"Earthquakes felt in the King's Dominions caused by the apprearance of war with France."
1757 Gamrie Old Parish Records - 29 May 1757

"Collection for George Watt and family in Crovie in dire circumstances."
1760 Robert McGilligan, customs officer at Gardenstown, removed from the village for "his inactivity".
1761 Collection at the Mohr Church for three fatherless children of Alexander Wiseman who was drowned in Gardenstown Bay - £3. 14. 3d
1766 Helen Watt or Mrs Keith, a fisherman's daughter from Crovie and second wife of Alexander Keith of Northfield, is accused of his murder. She was sentenced at Aberdeen to be "hung in chains", but later received a free pardon from King George.
1768 The murder of a fortune-teller by a mob from Gardenstown who accused her of stealing clothes. The ring-leaders, Alexander Wiseman and Alexander Paterson, both sailors, were "put to the horn" at Banff. Both escaped and were outlawed.
1772 Gamrie Old Parish Records - 4 October 1772

"Collection for John Watt, a seaman in Crovie, who had his house burnt down by accident".
1781 On 26 June 1781 a Dunkirk privateer captures three sloops and the brig "Anne" of Banff after firing seven shot. The vessels, captured off Troup Head were taken into Gamrie Bay where they were stripped of their valuables.
  Death of Elizabeth Mercer, wife of the Rev. James Wilson, minister at the Old Church at Gamrie.

Elizabeth Mercer's familiy were ministers. John Mercer, who was probably her brother, had been minister at Tyrie until he died in 1761; Thomas and William Mercer, possibly brothers, were both ministers, William at Rosehearty from 1720 - 1768. William's son, Hugh, along with a cousin, Thomas, joined "Pitsligo's Horse" during the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. After the defeat at Culloden, Hugh, fled to America. He became a General, fighting alongside George Washington in the War of Independence, and died at the Battle of Princeton in 1777.
1782 The Portsoy sloop "Swallow" is captured along with her crew by a French Privateer and held at ransom at the castle at St Malo in France. One of the crew, Gilbert Nicol from Gardenstown, is released after the ransom is raised by his friends.
1787 First "West" family appears in Gardenstown when James West, a ships captain from Macduff, marries Jean Wiseman from Gardenstown.

Before this date all Wests were in Pennan or Down/Macduff.
  Doune splits from the Parish of Gamrie and is re-named Macduff.
  First marriage records kept in Gamrie Parish.
1791 The Rev. James Wilson, minister at the Old Church, writes the "First Statistical Account" of Gamrie Parish at the age of 97. He died a few months later on 10 August 1791.

 

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