The two usual ways of describing a person's place of residence was 'in' or 'of'. 'Of' means that they were the owner. 'In' means they just live there, and sometimes 'at' is used instead. As a tenant, there is a good chance that there are some surviving estate records - in the Angus Archives, National Archives of Scotland (NAS), or Aberdeen or Dundee University Archives. These could show when or whether he paid his rent, the terms of the tack (lease), the valuation of the property on his entry and exit, and perhaps a map of the estate. Much depends on what period you are interested in. Tenants were also more likely to have gravestones compared with other occupations.The Airlie estate papers in the NAS are very extensive with good runs of records fom the 1690s. Generalisations about leases can get complicated as much depended on the estate and the period. If a tenant died during the term of the lease, it would be continued by his heirs - his widow or a son (not necessarily the eldest) - until the end of the lease period. Whether it was renewed at expiry depended on their circumstances and the attitude of the factor and the landlord. Often preference was given to the sitting tenant as they were a known quantity provided they were willing to pay the market rate and had a good payment record. Entry to leases was at Whitsunday - it was tough if the tenant died just before the Whitsunday when the lease was due to expire. I have one case in the 1750s where the widow was turned out by her brother-in-law, who 'inherited' the lease, within four weeks of her husband dying before Whitsunday. She did not take it lightly and the dispute went on for several years in the Sheriff Court. From the 1810s there was an increasing tendency to advertise leases for sale in local newspapers rather than by word of mouth and by recommendation. At earlier periods leases were commonly 'at will' i.e. no fixed period and the tenant could be evicted anytime subject to the standard 40 days notice before Whitsunday, etc. Lease periods varied - 3 , 5, and 7 years were common. One of the determinants was the length of the crop rotation as one complete rotation was expected during the life of a lease. Longer leases were granted for mills e.g 19 years. 19 or 21 years became commoner when the tenant was expected to make capital investments in improvements and he needed this time to make a return. When these changes took place varied greatly between estates. John ----------------------------------------------------- From: "Margaret Shane" <marshane@telus.net> Subject: [ANGUS] craig Could some one please tell me what what exactly it means when someone is a tenant in westertown in Craig. Is this passed on to the next generation? Thanks Margie