Martyn I had been under the impression that Presbyterians had been fairly safe in Kintyre at this time because of protection given by the 9th Earl of Argyll. However, he had to leave the country in 1681 because he had opposed the Scottish Test Act of that year ( I have just looked that up), so presumably there was a bit of a power struggle between the various religious groupings when he left. I would like to know more. Iain McKenzie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martyn Taylor" <martyntaylor@msn.com> To: <SCT-ARGYLL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2003 10:21 AM Subject: Re: [ARGYLL] Argyll Courts > Iain > > Others will probably know more about this than I do, but I would say there > was little doubt that these people were attending services conducted by > "unlicensed ministers". At that time, it was the Presbyterians who were > unlicensed, which is consistent with the subsequent activities of the > descendants of the two you mentioned. Remember that the King of Scotland > at that time was James VII (James II of England) who was a Roman Catholic. > > In Tarbert in 1683, very close to that time, a number of people in North > Kintyre were prosecuted for attending services conducted by an unlicensed > minister - probably the Revd John Darroch who preached on several occasions > in houses in Skipness (and elsewhere, I would imagine, but Skipness is the > focus of my interest). A *possible* ancestor of mine, "Angus McIntaylor in > Skipnish" was one of the three court officers appointed. > > Martyn > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Iain McKenzie" <iain-mckenzie@sol.co.uk> > To: <SCT-ARGYLL-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2003 9:35 AM > Subject: [ARGYLL] Argyll Courts > > > > I recently bought my first e-book - Argyll Courts. It contains summaries > of proceedings of thousands of law court cases in Argyll in the 17th, 18th > and 19th centuries. > > > > In one appendix there is a list of nearly 200 people from the Campbeltown > area who were summoned before the JP court in 1686 for 'Irregularities in > Church Attendance'. Initially I assumed these were people too lazy to be > bothered going and were being publicly shamed, until I discovered that the > descendents of at least two of those named later moved to America, where > they helped found the American Presbyterian Church. > > > > Does anyone on this list know the real reason these people were hauled > before the court? > > > > Iain McKenzie > > > ==== SCT-ARGYLL Mailing List ==== > ***************************************************************** > http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/Scotland/Argyll is the > GenConnect board for Argyll > > >