PRESBYTERY OF DUMFRIES p. 592

KIRKPATRICK-IRONGRAY.

The church was dedicated to St. Patrick. The parish was supplied by PATRICK QUHITHEAD, exhorter, before 1567, ANDREW MYCHELL from 1567 till he died in 1571, and MICHAEL WYCHTMAN from Nov. 1571.

1574. JOHN BROUN, Reader at Urr from 1567; Kirkgunzeane, and Kirkpatrick-in-the-Mure, alias Durame, were also in the charge, with lx li. of stipend. He continued in 1579, and was succeeded in the cure by his son James.-[Reg. Assig., Wodrow Miscell., and Anal.]

1601. JAMES BROUN, A.M., son of the preceding, was laureated at the Univ. of Edinburgh, 28th July 1599, adm. after 10th Feb. 1601; was a member of the Assembly 1602, and was pres. to the Vicarage of Terregles by James VI. 14th June 1613, gave xl merks towards building the Library and Univ. of Glasgow in 1632, and died in Nov. 1640, aged about 62, in 39th min. The insicht of the hous was estimat at j^c merks. He marr. Beatrix Frind, who survived him, and had two sons in the ministry, Mr Patrick, who succeeded him, and Mr Adam of Kirkpatrick -Durham.-[Reg. Laur. Univ., Edin. Assig., and Pres., Wodrow's Anal., Edin. Presb., and Test. Reg. (Edin. and Dumf.), Sed.-book of Teinds, Booke of the Kirk, Mun. Glasg. iii.]

1647. PATRICK BROUN, A.M., trans. from Trailflat; deposed in 1652, he was proprietor of a house in Dumfries, and had a recommendation from the Privy Council to Parliament for supply 9th April 1661.-[Presb., Mouswald Sess., and Test. Reg. (Dumf), Wodrow's Anal., and MSS.]

1653. JOHN WELSH, A.M., son of Mr Josias W., min. of Temple-Patrick, and maternal great grandson of Knox the Reformer, took his degree at the Univ. of Glasgow in 1647, called in Dec. 1652, and adm. 21st Jan. following; deprived by the Acts of Parliament 11th June, and of Privy Council 1st Oct. 1662. He was the first who began preaching in the fields, where he drew immense crowds, who protected themselves with weapons of defence, and set the government at defiance. This he did, not only in Galloway, but also in the counties of Ayr, Perth, Edinburgh, Haddington, Fife, Renfrew, Roxburgh, Northumberland, Cumberland, &c., celebrating at times the Lords Supper, and frequently the ordinance of baptism, even admitting a minister to Carsphairn, and interesting himself in getting licence for others although he was declared a traitor, and no less than four and afterwards five hundred pounds sterl. offered for his apprehension. Yet he was not disposed to go such extreme lengths as others, for, after receiving indemnity and pardon for being engaged in the rising at Pentland, he advocated at Bothwell the cause of forbearance towards those who heard their brethren indulged by the government, and who yielded to the civil authority. He encountered more hazard, endured more toil, and made more wonderful escapes than any other during the period of persecution and suffering; yet so confident was he in these attempts that he often declared “dangerous undertakings were his security, and that when he should cease that course, and retire, his ministry would be at an end." And so it happened, for, notwithstanding all the bold and dangerous labours in which he engaged, he was providentially delivered in preaching the gospel among the mountains of Scotland, notwithstanding the threatenings of the state, the hatred of the bishops, the price set upon his head, and the ferocity of his enemies. After the defeat of his friends and associates