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Mr Burnett
of Daviot - Mr Thomas Burnett, inducted as minister of Daviot in 1829,
is inseparably associated in the mind of the writer with Drs. Cushney and
Bisset; the trio always acted together, and were as brethern. Thy were all
marked by individuality of character. Mr Burnett was the impersonation of
personal and professional orderliness, which in him had attained to
something akin to mechanical perfection. A well-formed man, he scarcely
varied, in public appearance or in habit of body, form youth to age, save
that his hair whitened to snowy brilliance. His manner in ministerial
services was as unchanging as his mode of expression. He was a nervous
man, but so repressed the weakness that it was imperceptible save in the
uniformity that characterised his discharge of every public duty. The
minister of Daviot was uniformly esteemed the most trustworthy of men. His
parishioners were wont to say - "Our minister is a gentleman in the pulpit
and out of the pulpit." He had, during his active years, gained so much of
the regard of his flock that, on three successive occasions, they
unanimously joined in petitioning the patron to present, as assistant and
successor, the person he had selected. A large number of Episcopalians
dwelt in Daviot than in any other parish of the Presbytery - a remainder
from the time when a popular minister, Mr Alexander Lunan, was deposed for
taking part in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715; but these parishioners were
as friendly to Mr Burnett as their Presbyterian neighbours. It was,
however, in his parish that reverence for the sacramental fast-days fixed
by the Church was first disregarded by Episcopalian farmers.
The manse of Daviot is less changed than most in
external appearance since his day. He ornamented the ground with strictly
formal plantations. Part of it had long grown to form a covered walk,
commanding the pleasant prospect of the braes of Saploch and the Mounie
Valley. The finest of the trees still remain.
Mr Peter of Leslie - The parish of Leslie had
been, since 1830, under the pastoral charge of Mr James Peter. He was
obliged to supplement a small stipend by farming, which he did
successfully in a small holding in the fertile valley of the Gadie. He was
a bit of a politician, of the same colour as the neighbouring Whig lairds.
His style of conversation was somewhat didactic, and, in those days of
keen political controversy, he occasionally contributed to the newspapers.
An eminently social man, it was said of him that before he was married he
was never at home, and after marriage he could not be got to leave home.
In figure he was well balanced, of moderate height, and erect as a
soldier; his seat on horseback was the firmest in the neighbourhood. He
died suddenly on a Sunday morning, May 2nd, 1870, aged 64.
Mr Middleton of Culsamond - Mr Middleton, the
innocent hero of the "rabblement" so graphically described in "Johnny
Gibb," was an elderly, gentle-looking man, slightly lame, and bent, when
he came to Culsamond, in 1842, as assistant and successor to Mr Ferdinand
Ellis, and, unwittingly, set the torch to the local fire of Disruption. No
man could have been less deserving of the rough reception he got. He was a
bright, social member of Presbytery, having had the advantage of
associating with many characteristic old ministers during a prolonged
"probation." He fell heir, by a brother's death, to a farm, which gave him
a sort of title among his familiars. "Tituboutie," was the full
designation, but it was cut down to "Titus" by his witty clerical
colleagues, who already numbered among them a I Peter and II Peter. Mr
Middleton lived till 1853, surviving his principal a few months.
Mr Keith of Keithhall - Mr John Keith, who
succeeded his widely-known father, Dr Skene Keith, was one of the
"non-intrusion" minority of the Presbytery of Garioch, but did not secede,
and, on that account, suffered no little obloquy from the outgoing
ministers in Aberdeenshire. He did not attend many meetings of the church
court after 1843, but looked after his own parish faithfully. Though, like
his father, exceedingly benevolent, he was not so often imposed upon. He
effected a marked improvement in the "drouth" of his flock by a simple
expedient. His father's habits of somewhat inconsiderate hospitality
included the providing of a pailful of small-beer in the manse kitchen on
Sundays for the refreshment of parishioners tired with a long walk to
church. Mr John substituted a pail of water, and the parish thirst at once
abated marvellously. A throat infection (probably constitutional, as his
brother, Dr Alexander Keith, of St Cyrus, and the latter's son and
assistant were also afflicted, and ultimately incapacitated by it) made
him a husky and ineffective speaker, and discounted somewhat his really
excellent sermons. He was a man of medium height, and colourless in
complexion. He had a habit of rapid walking, which, along with a strong
family likeness, Dr Skene Keith seems to have transmitted to a number of
descendants.
Old Aberdeenshire Ministers
by Rev. John Davidson DD
1895
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Rev John Davidson author of
Old Aberdeenshire Ministers
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