Strathdon Stuff Page 1 - on the mchardy family of corryhoul website

This is a place for anything connected with the eastern part of the Parish

INDEX

Bellabeg Shop Staff 1920

Strathdon Duel Averted 1766

Letter from Robert Anderson Candacraig to James Murray Advocate 1839

Strathdon Girl Guides 1920's

Letter from John Chisholm, Ardler, Schoolmaster to Mr Clements Lumsden Advocate 1840

Strathdon & Glenbuchat Station - Free Church Ministers

Poldhulie School Register of Admissions 1905

Bellabeg Shop Staff 1920

This picture is from my grandmother's collection (Mary Petrie M^cHardy nee Cook). Here we see her about 1920 in front of the Bellabeg shop then still owned by Wullie Wattie. Granny started work in the shop on armistice day 1918. Wullie Wattie died in 1922 and the shop passed to John Gordon whose main retail outlet was in Alford.  Back row left to right: Wullie Wattie and Fred McGregor; Front row left to right Dana Wattie and Mary Petrie Cook. Missing from the picture is Bill Fraser. It was in this shop that granny sold the infamous Percy Topless a packet of Woodbine cigarettes while he was on the run from the police. He hid himself away in a shepherds bothy near the iron mine on the Lecht, and it was here that he shot the local policeman before making his escape. He came back down the glen where he stole a bicycle at Bellabeg which he ditched at Glenkindie and continued his journey into Aberdeen by bus. He then travelled back into England where he was cornered and shot by an armed police officer in the Lake District. (The BBC made a drama about his life in the army during and after the Great War called The Monocled Mutineer).

Strathdon Duel Averted 1766

The following appeared in the Aberdeen Journal for November 10th 1766 at page 4 column 2.

The Forbes and the Gordon's at it again?

Letter from Robert Anderson Candacraig to James Murray Advocate 1839

From time to time I have been able to acquire an old letter from a collector. Here is one such letter written by the laird of Candacraig, Robert Anderson, on the 7th of June 1839 to James Murray, Advocate, Aberdeen. Robert was the 11th Laird of Candacraig having succeeded his brother John the 10th Laird (he having died 24th December 1835). Robert himself died without heir, unmarried on 12th February 1847. He reputedly dropped dead in a field while out shooting. The estate then past to the son of their elder sister. This man was called Alexander and had been resident in Canada for some years. It was his son, also called Alexander, who sold the estate to Forbes of Newe in 1866 thus ending the long association between the Anderson's and ownership Candacraig. The surname still well represented in the district even today.

Although Robert had no legal heir, recorded in the Strathdon Parish register is a christening almost a year to the date of his death of a child whom the mother claims he fathered. All the more interesting for myself as the mother is a daughter of Corryhoul. Entry 13th February 1848 - Elizabeth M^cHardy at Burnside had an illegitimate son baptised named Robert, her father James M^cHardy being sponsor. She declares that the father of the child was the late Robert Anderson Esq. of Candacraig. The child's birth date is not provided. This Robert Anderson appears living in his grandfather's household at Burnside on both the 1851 and 1861 census. Thereafter I have no record of him. His mother married William Philip of the Garchory and they had a large family.

This was not the first child born of the Anderson's of Candacraig out of wedlock with a daughter of Corryhoul. Charles Anderson the 8th Laird had a son by Mary M^cHardy, daughter of William M^cHardy of Corryhoul. This child was baptized on 14th March 1743 and called William Anderson, he was raised in the Candacraig household. However he did not inherit the Lairdship which past to his younger half brother (also illegitimate) who was called Alexander Anderson and was allegedly born in 1752 (mother Elspet Wattie).  William became tenant at Invernettie. Was he past over for a younger illegitimate brother or are the supposed dates of Alexander's birth incorrect?

Like all such letters they offer an interesting snapshot into events of the time. What had George Reid done ? The 1841 Census shows three people of that name on Candacraig. Two are children and so the most likely is the 24 year old  living at the third of three dwellings given as Glenconrie just prior to the mill on the enumerators round. This George Reid is listed as a Male Servant and is living with his 24 year old wife Margaret and children Ann 7, Mary 3 and Katherine 1.

As already stated Robert Anderson never married but the letter refers to a Mrs Anderson; this will be his late brother John's wife Catharine Gordon who died on 20th October 1847. She resided at Williamston in the Parish of Culsalmond. What is wrong with the lot of the Toll man? We also learn that dental care for a man of Robert Anderson's status is administered at a great distance in Aberdeen.

Strathdon Girl Guides in the 1920's

This is another photograph from my grandmother's collection. Unfortunately there is no information written on it.

The Guides did make a trip to Switzerland in the 1920's. This must have been an amazing adventure for the girls from Strathdon. The troop leader in my father's time was Miss Lillian Forsyth who was a teacher at Strathdon School. Is this a younger "Auld Niffie" on the left here?

Letter by John Chisholm, Ardler, Schoolmaster 1840 - not yet ready

I have in my possession a letter written in 1840 by John Chisholm, a Schoolmaster living at Ardler in Glenkindie. Although at this time Ardler was in the parish of Strathdon; the letter refers to matters closer to Ardler in Towie parish. It provides a fascinating window into one man's attitude to church and state at a time just prior to one of the monumental events in 19th century Scottish history.

Strathdon & Glenbuchat Station - Free Church Ministers

In the process of researching for the above I collected the following data from the Annals of the Free Church of Scotland: 1843 - 1900; edited by Reverend William Ewing D.D.; T & T Clark, 38 George Street, Edinburgh 1914.  I think it better available online to the reader than in one of my jotters.Below you will find the list of Free Church Ministers for the Strathdon & Glenbuchat; and the Towie & Leochal Cushnie church stations.

The Free Church of Scotland came into being when on the 18th of May 1843 at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, held in St Andrew's Church Edinburgh, and following an extended period of unrest and conflict within it's establishment, the protestant church in Scotland split. This monumental event became known as The Disruption and led to the creation of the Free Church of Scotland. At this time about a third of the ministers and congregation left the established church. For the clergy this meant leaving their manses and finding a new source of income; for the congregations it meant finding a new place of worship.

Not one minister in the Presbytery of Alford left the established church, and it was not until many years after that Strathdon was to have it's own Free Church building at Roughpark.

The Annals of the Free Church of Scotland tell us how the congregation of Strathdon and Glenbuchat were faring .

The Free Church residents in the district were at first served by a catechist, under the superintendence of a neighbouring Minister. Strathdon was then connected with Towie; but in 1850 Strathdon and Glenbuchat were combined as a single station. After great difficulty and much discouragement a site was obtained at Balnacraig (Glenbuchat) in 1851, and a church and manse were erected. In that year the proprietor permitted the erection of a wooden structure for the section of the congregation at Strathdon ⁴. The charge was sanctioned in 1866. Not til 1890 was a site granted, and a church erected in Strathdon. The congregation encountered great opposition. Those who joined the Free Church were persecuted, and many left the district. The population steadily declined. There were endowments yielding £27 per annum. Mr Fullerton (the first Free Church minister) bequeathed to the congregation £400, in which his widow was liferented.

Poldhulie School Register of Admissions 1905

With thanks to Strathdon School.

Strathdon Primary School first moved to it's present location over looking the picturesque Pot o' Poldhulie on the River Don in 1905. Below is the first roll of the new school. At this time there were also schools in Corgarff, Knocklea, Balloch (Glen Nochty) and Tillyduke (Deskryside). Bessie Forsyth was to become an assistant teacher in the school; she died at Bellabeg House on the 18th of March 1919 aged 27 years.