A Rare List of Covenanter Baptisms #History #Scotland #genealogy
A remarkable document survives from the field preachings of the late 1670s. It is a list of baptisms conducted ‘in Fields and other places’ in Torphichen parish, Linlithgowshire, between 1675 and 1679.
One of the things that makes individual Covenanters of the 1680s and their children hard to trace is their withdrawal from the established church that produced records of births and marriages.
Among those who had children baptised were two individuals of particular significance, Edward Marshall, who was hanged in 1685, and George Hill, one of the leaders of the United Societies. A third name, Patrick Walker in Slamannan parish is probably Patrick Walker ‘in Drumcria’, aka. Drumclair. He may be the Patrick Walker who wrote the lives of Cameron, Cargill etc. Walker did know people in Torphichen parish and when captured was taken to nearby Linlithgow. A fourth name, that of John Davie (in Braehead?), Bathgate parish, may be close kin to the James Davie, a heritor in Bathgate parish, who was shot at a field preaching in the mid 1670s.
The list of baptisms was centred on Torphichen parish, but it also included individuals who had journeyed from other parishes. They came from the parishes of Bathgate, Livingston and Linlithgow, all in Linlithgowshire, Muiravonside and Slamannan parishes in Stirlingshire, and New Monkland parish in Lanarkshire.
It was included at the end of the Session Minute Book of Torphichen parish in Linlithgowshire of 1690-1702, which was printed in a collection by the Scottish Record Society in an A-Z format.
I have reordered the list by date to highlight any potential field preachings where baptisms took place in Torphichen parish between 1675 and 1679. Field preachings were generally held on a Sunday. The list probably ends in 1679 due to repression and the withdrawal of presbyterian ministers from field preaching. In the printed version, it resumes in 1687, when the toleration edicts of King James allowed moderate presbyterian ministers to preach.
‘LIST of the names of the Children baptized to the several Persons within the PARISH of TORPHICHEN, in Fields and other places, since Anno 1675.
1675-79.
Adie, William, a daughter Janet [Sunday] 28 Mar. 1675
Adie, William, a son John 28 Mar. 1675
Muir, Alexander, a son John 28 Mar. 1675
Shaw, Peter, a son Peter 28 Mar. 1675
Steill, John, a son Daniel 28 Mar. 1675
Anderson, William, a son John [Sunday] 2 May 1675
Forrest, William, a daughter Elizabeth 2 May 1675
Marshall, Thomas, a daughter Isabell 2 May 1675
M’Gabane, James, a son John 2 May 1675
Thomsone, David, a son William 2 May 1675
Thomson, John, a daughter Anna 2 May 1675
Stone, James, a son John [Sunday] 16 May 1675
Russall, Georg, a son John 16 May 1675
Tennent, James, a son James [Tuesday] 25 May 1675
Anderson, John, a daughter Mary [Sunday] 22 Aug. 1675
Hutchine, Matthew, a son Williame 22 Aug. 1675
Boik, Henry, a son James [Sunday] 24 Oct. 1675
Bell, John, a son Patrick [Sunday] 2 Jan. 1676
Gardner, Archibald, a son John [Saturday] 1 April 1676
Laremonth, John, a daughter Elizabeth 1 April 1676
Whyte, William, a son Michaell [Tuesday] 2 May 1676
Adie, William a daughter Helen July 1676
Marshall, John, a daughter Geills July 1676
Gardner, Bartholomew, a son William [Thursday] 20 July 1676
Marshall, Georg, a daughter Marion 20 July 1676
Marshall, Peter, a daughter Margaret [Sunday] 3 Sept. 1676
Anderson, John, a son John [Sunday] 24 Sept. 1676
C[h]ristie, Patrick, a daughter Joanet 24 Sept. 1676
Marshall, William, a son John [Thursday] 16 Nov. 1676
Walker, John, a son James 16 Nov. 1676
M’Clintock, Finlay, a daughter Anna [Tuesday] 16 Jan. 1677
Tennent, John, a daughter Agnes 16 Jan. 1677
Shaw, Thomas, a son Thomas [Saturday] 20 Jan. 1677
Orr, Gilbert, a daughter Margaret [Sunday] 4 Feb. 1677
Scot, Georg, a son Thomas [Tuesday] 6 Feb. 1677
Stone, James, a daughter Janet [Saturday] 10 Feb. 1677
Herroune, James, a son William [Tuesday] 20 Mar. 1677
Jack, William, a daughter Isabell 20 Mar. 1677
Laremonth, Robert, a son John 20 Mar. 1677
Marshell, Edward, in the parish of Marruineside, a daughter Margaret 20 Mar. 1677 [Fugitive ‘of Kae-moor’ (Kaemuir) in 1684. Executed 1685.]
Black, James, in Marruineside [i.e., Muiravonside], a son James [Sunday] 25 Mar. 1677
Gardner, John, a son John 25 Mar. 1677
Mair, Alexander, a son John 25 Mar. 1677
Shaw, Peter, a daughter Margaret 25 Mar. 1677
Clarlaw, George, in Linlithgow, a son John [Sunday] 8 April 1677
Stone, John, a son Robert 8 April 1677
Fisher, — , a daughter baptized — S.M. [Wednesday] 23 May 1677
Buneway, Peter, in Cathlaw [in Trophichen parish], a child baptized — S.M. [Tuesday] 26 June 1677
Adie, Robert, a son James [Sunday] 29 July 1677
Hill, George, in [New] Munkland, a daughter Katharine 29 July 1677
Salmond, John, a son Patrick 29 July 1677 [‘John Salmond in Kirkingshaw’?, now Birkenshaw]
Tait, John, a son James 29 July 1677
Taylor, Duncan, in Slamannan, a son George 29 July 1677
Walker, John, a daughter Margaret 29 July 1677
Inglis, Thomas, a child baptized — S.M. [Monday] 22 Oct. 1677
Chambers, Thomas, a son John [Sunday] 30 Dec. 1677
Lightbodie, John, a daughter Helen 30 Dec. 1677
Walker, Thomas, a son James 30 Dec. 1677
Leslie, Thomas, in Bathgate, a daughter Mary [Friday] 4 Jan. 1678
Miller, John, a son John 4 Jan. 1678
Donaldson, David, a son David [Sunday] 17 Feb. 1678
Nimmo, John, a son John 17 Feb. 1678
Shaw, Thomas, a daughter Margaret 17 Feb. 1678
Thomson, John, a daughter Margaret 17 Feb. 1678
Bryce, William, a son William [Sunday] 24 Feb. 1678
M’Culloch, John, a daughter Elizabeth 24 Feb. 1678
Marshall, James, a son James 24 Feb. 1678
Robert, Henry, a daughter Agnes 24 Feb. 1678
Marshall, John, a daughter Elizabeth [Wednesday] 17 April 1678
Potter, Heugh, a daughter Mary 17 April 1678
Laremonth, John a son John [Saturday] 18 May 1678
Broune, John, a son William [Sunday] 11 Aug. 1678 [Fugitive ‘in Barlornie’ [Bedlormie] Torphichen parish in 1684?]
Chambers, Alexander, a daughter Elizabeth 11 Aug. 1678
Thomson, Richard, a son Richard 11 Aug. 1678
Wilson, Mr. George, minister, a child baptized — S.M. [Wednesday] 30 Oct. 1678
Martine, George, a daughter Janet [Sunday] 24 Nov. 1678
Walker, John, a daughter Agnes 24 Nov. 1678
Bell, Alexander, a son Alexander [Sunday] 5 Jan. 1679
Bell, John, a daughter Christian 5 Jan. 1679
Calder, John, in Livingstone parish, a son Robert 5 Jan. 1679
Davie, John, in Bathgate parish, a daughter Janet 5 Jan. 1679 [Braehead. Possibly kin to James Davie d.1673?]
Jack, William, a son William 5 Jan. 1679
Marshall, Peter, a son James 5 Jan. 1679
[The marriage of John Davie appears to have taken place in April 1678: ‘Davie, John, in Bathgate parish and Janet Thomsone in this parish [Torphichen] p. 24 Mar. 1678, m. 16 April 1678.’ Their daughter, Janet, was baptised, probably at a field preaching, on 5 January, 1679. John Davie ‘in Braehead’, Bathgate parish, is recorded using the mort cloth of Torphichen parish on 27 March, 1702.]
Walker, Patrick, in Slamannan parish, a daughter Agnes. — — [Fugitive ‘in Drumcria’/Drumclair in 1684? Possibly the Patrick Walker?]’
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Jardine's Book of Martyrs 
[…] be related to a John Davie, a presbyterian dissenter in Bathgate parish, who had a child, Janet, baptised at a field preaching held on 5 January, 1679. John Davie appears to have married Janet Thomson of Torphichen parish in April 1678. In 1702, a […]
Blackadder’s Killing of a Bathgate Covenanter #History #Scotland | Jardine's Book of Martyrs said this on June 21, 2016 at 12:20 pm |