John Jamieson (1725 - abt. 1799)

Born 29 Oct 1725 in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland

Descendants

Died about 1799 at about age 73 in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland

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Biography

John Jamieson, baptised on the 29th October 1725, was the son of James Jamieson in Muirhead in the parish of Kirriemuir.^[1] John had a sister, Agnes, eight years his senior and a brother, Patrick five years younger. David Jamieson who lived nearby at Dameye may have been John’s uncle or a close relative as the baptism of his daughter Margaret is recorded in 1720.^[2]

This location of Muirhead is not to be confused with the formerly mentioned Muirhead of Logie, for in the OPR entry for the baptism of Agnes in 1717 it is given more fully as Muirhead of Balmuckety. Furthermore, on 28th January 1721 at the Regality Court of Kirriemuir, a case brought by David Bowman in Balmuckitie against James Jamesone in Cottoun thereof was set aside to be settled out of court. Neither the Cotton or Muirhead of Balmuckety are identified on modern maps, early OS large scale maps or on Thomson’s 1823 map. However on the OS 6” map of 1865 Muirside is shown just north of Balmuckety Feus.

The physical description of Muirhead would place this on the higher ground either north or west of Balmuckety Feus probably near the old Toll House at the south-east end of Southmuir not far north of Newbigging already described as associated with the Jamieson family. Unfortunately no reference has been found to indicate the occupation of James Jamieson but he was possibly a small farmer. Few other Jamiesons lived in the parish of Kirriemuir at this time. A Margaret Jameson and John Strachan are mentioned in the Regality Court Book on 10 Aug 1719 but no address is given for them.^{[3] [4]}

On 5th February 1745, a Mr James Jamieson, Merchant in Dundee, was appointed Bailie Principal of Kirriemuir, probably as the former post holder appeared sympathetic to the Jacobite cause. There is nothing to associate him with the Kirriemuir family and his station and education appear far above theirs. A Murdoch Jameson and an Elspeth Jamieson are also mentioned in the June 1742 and August 1746 respectively in the Regality Court Book but again there is nothing to link them to James Jamieson in Muirhead of Balmuckety.

At this stage research has revealed very little of the life of James Jamieson but we can assume that he continued in the same locality for all his days as both his sons were weavers and were to settle in the same small area as previously mentioned. While young men, his sons would experience the turmoil of the 1745 Jacobite rising which divided the community when Lord Ogilvy raised his Forfarshire Regiment with many of the men in the neighbourhood following him.

There was Thomas Prophet,^[5] the workman at Balmuckety who volunteered and came home after the final dispersal, no doubt with some exciting tales. Then there was the decree promulgated by their father’s namesake, the Bailie Principal, calling for any lurking Rebels to be reported to the Government troops at Forfar.

Also about that same year the osnaburgs were introduced and the number of weavers in the district swelled rapidly as the linen trade boomed. Foreign trade permitted more raw flax to be imported and Colonial trade grew with the West Indies and American cotton producers making demands for more sail-cloth, canvas and slaves clothes. Both the Jamieson brothers married and settled, John at Loanhead of Logie or Newbigging close to Balmuckety Feus and Patrick a short distance off at Muirhead of Logie where they respectively raised their families. During this time too the enclosures went apace and changed the landscape around Logie while Kirriemuir town itself doubled in size, Patrick Jamieson being attracted to move there about 1777. Perhaps later he moved on to Forfar or further afield, for his family do not appear to have settled in Kirriemuir.

John Jamieson married about 1755.

He had nine children:

• John b.1757 at Logie mar. Margaret Mackie
• Peter b. 1758 at Ground of Logie
• David b. 1761 at Newbigging
• Agnes b. 1764 at Logie
• Isabel b. 1767 at Denside of Logie
• Cecilia b. 1768 at Longhead Logie
• Alexander b. 1771 at Loanhead Logie mar. Betty Mudie
• Helen b. 1773 at Ground of Logie d.1856 Forfar
• William b. 1777 at Ground of Logie

John however continued in the area of Logie and was still a weaver and farmer there towards the end of the Eighteenth Century for in the Farm Horse Tax returns^[6] and the Consolidated Assessed Taxes of 1797 to 1799 he is at Longshade assessed 2/6d tax for the house and having one farm horse liable to a tax of 6/- making a total in the Consolidated of eight shillings and six pence. ^[7] In both books, the name of his farm given as “Longshade” is very similar to the form used in December 1768 when his daughter Cecilia was registered and this implies continuity in the same farm. Although John was the only farmer called Jamieson around Logie in the Consolidated Tax list of 23 July 1799, in the Militia Liable List of 2 September 1799 William Craig and David Bertie are both mentioned as servants of Peter Jamieson, no location being named but the entries placed between Muirhead of Logie and Newbigging. From this, one may conjecture that Peter Jamieson had taken over the farm, possibly on the death of his father within that short interval. Here we have followed the span of John Jamieson’s life from 1725 to 1799 with evidence suggesting that he lived all his days in the country part of Kirriemuir Parish close to the west end of what was later to be called Balmuckety Feus and now Maryton.^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ Kirriemuir OPR 289/1 see [1]
2. ↑ RH11/70/3 see [2]
3. ↑ Forfar OPR: Marg. Jameson married John Strachan 13 Oct 1705
4. ↑ Reid, Alan; Regality of Kirriemuir, 1909
5. ↑ A List of Persons Concerned in the Rebellion of 1745, The Scottish History Society, Edinburgh 1890
6. ↑ Scotland's Places Farm Horse Tax Forfarshire.
7. ↑ Scotlandsplaces Consolidated Tax 1798 see [3]
8. ↑ Named after Mary, daughter of Gilbert Meason of Balmuckety who made the Feus available.