Chronicles of Strathearn Part 22

1662-1665--JAMES FORSYTHE, tr. to Bothkennar. Son of minister of Monzie.

1667-1677--DAVID MONCRIEFF, A.M., tr. to Aberdalgie.

1677-1697--ROBERT SHARP, A.M. Deposed for contumacy.

1698-1701--JOHN GIB, A.M., tr. to Cleish.

1703-1717--ANDREW URE, tr. to Fossoway.

1718-1724--DAVID GUTHRIE, died 9th March.

1725-1732--ALEX. WARDROBE, tr. to Whitburn.

1734-1786--ARCHIBALD RENNIE, A.M., died 13th March. A disputed settlement. Ordained by Committee of Commission of a.s.sembly. During his long ministry he preached in church only the first Sunday; never had an elder; never dispensed Lord's Supper; let manse, except dining-room, which he used for service; was tenant of a farm, which he much improved; and bought an estate.

1786-1830--ANDREW GIBSON, died 18th October. Age 90. Gathered again a fair congregation.

1824-1825--ROBERT ALLAN, A.M., tr. to Little Dunkeld.

1831-1832--WILLIAM ROBERTSON, tr. to Logie. Afterwards D.D. and minister of New Greyfriars, Edinburgh.

1832-1843--JAMES THOMSON. Seceded.

1843-????--ALEX. MOORHEAD FERGUSON.

Parish disjoined in 1836 to form part of new Presbytery of Kinross.

MUTHILL

1567-1574--ALEX. GALL, tr. to Strageyth.

1576-1585--ALEX. CHEISHOLME, tr. to Comrie.

1590-1607--JOHN DAVIDSON, A.M., died 7th April. Protested against introduction of Episcopacy in 1606. Named as constant Moderator of Presbytery.

1608-1627--JAMES BURDOUN.

1635-1645--JAMES ROW, A.M., deposed 12th February as a Royalist.

Afterwards became minister of Monzievaird.

164?-1649--ARCHIBALD DRUMMOND, A.M., deposed for acceding to a divisive supplication; afterwards became minister of Auchterarder.

1656-1686--JAMES DRUMMOND, A.M. Became D.D. in 1682; Bishop of Buchin in 1684; and resigned Muthill in 1686.

1687-????--JAMES IRVINE, tr., probably to Lonmay.

1689-1693--JAMES INGLIS. Intruded by Earl of Perth, and finally ousted by Privy Council for refusing to pray for William and Mary.

1702-????--WM. CHALMERS, minister of Monzie, was for a short time in Muthill, but afterwards returned to Monzie.

1704-1754--WM. HALY, A.M., died 16th July. Riot at his ordination.

Afterwards popular. His curling-stones still exist, and are in possession of Royal Caledonian Club.

1755-1766--JAMES SCOTT, died 6th July.

1767-1809--JOHN SCOTT, A.M., died 11th February. Son of previous minister.

1809-1826--JOHN RUSSELL, A.M., died 17th April. Son of Burns' "Black Russell," who had become minister of Stirling. A popular preacher.

Present church built for him.

1826-1867--JAMES WALKER, A.M., died 21st December.

1868-????--JAMES RANKIN, D.D. Formerly minister of Old West Church, Greenock. Author of "Character Studies in the Old Testament,"

"Handbook of the Church of Scotland," "The Creed in Scotland," "The First Saints," and other works.

TRINITY-GASK AND KINKELL

(_Kinkell had Readers, and two Ministers._)

1584-1594--JOHN HAMMYL. Deposed.

1637-1639--JOHN MURRAY, A.M., removed to Trinity-Gask, with which the parish has ever since been united.

MINISTERS OF TRINITY-GASK

1576-1593--ALEX. GALL. Formerly at Muthill and Strageyth.

1596-1608--WILLIAM OSWALD.

1639-1662--JOHN MURRAY, A.M., died in December.

1664-1673--JAMES BRUCE, A.M.

1674-1682--RICHARD DUNCAN, A.M. Hanged at Crieff on a charge of child murder, a reprieve arriving twenty minutes too late. This is supposed to be the historical fact underlying the well-known popular rhyme, erroneously attributed to Little Dunkeld:--

"O what a parish, sic a terrible parish, O what a parish is that o' Kinkell; They hae hangit the minister, drooned the precentor; Dang doon the steeple, an' drucken the bell."

The Churches of Trinity-Gask and Kinkell are on opposite sides of the Earn, and the precentor is supposed to have been drowned in crossing between them. The Church of Kinkell is now a ruin, and has no steeple.

Its bell was recently discovered in the possession of a church in East Lothian.

1683-1698--JAMES ROY, A.M., died in that year. He and the minister of Muckart were the only members of Presbytery who continued in their charges after the Revolution.

1700-1718--JOHN MURRAY, A.M., died 22nd November.