KIRKCONNEL p. 679

KIRKCONNEL.

The church was dedicated to St. Connel, and before the Reformation belonged to the Abbey of Holywood. It was united to Sanquhar during the reign of Episcopacy; but the parishioners petitioned 8th May 1700 to be disjoined again; the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry expressed his readiness to agree, provided the Presb. would consent to annex Kirkbride to Sanquhar and Durrisdeer 10th Dec. 1701; its erection was referred to the Commission by the Gen. Assembly 26th April 1709. The re-erection was recommended by the Synod 9th Oct. 1723 and Oct. 1726, and was agreed to by the Lords Commissioners of Teinds 19th July 1727. The church was removed to a more convenient situation, and a new one built in 1729.

1569. JOHN FOULERTON, Reader from Beltyn 1568, pros. to the Vicarage by James VI. 13th April; trans. to Sanquhar prior to 1574; readm. about 1580; and appointed by the Privy Council 6th March 1589 one of their commissioners for the preservation of the true religion in the Sanquhar or upper district of Nithsdale, continued in 1594, but died before 15th Nov. 1605.-[Reg. Pres., and Assig., Booke of the Kirk, Test. Reg.]

1597. RICHARD BROWN, trans. from Dalgarno; trans. to Holywood 6th Nov. 1602.-[Reg. Assig., Booke of the Kirk.]

1605. ROBERT BIGGERT, A.M., was laureated at the Univ. of Glasgow in 1596, pres. to the Vicarage by James VI. 15th Nov.; continued 8th Sept. 1616.-[Mun. Univ. Glasg. iii., Reg. Pres., and Assig., Test. Reg. (Edin. and Glasg.)]

1634. ARCHIBALD W ATSON, adm. (at Glasgow 12th Nov.; he had sasine of lands to himself and Alison Telziefeir his spouse, 29th June 1635; continued 3d June 1641.-[Presb., Glasg. Presb., and Test. Reg. (Dumf.) New Gen. Reg. Sasines iii.]

16-. JOHN CARMICHAEL, A.M., had his degree from the Univ. of Glasgow in 1639; he had also the charge of Sanquhar, and was ejected on the re-establishment of Episcopacy in 1662. -[Mun. Univ. Glasg. iii., Wodrow's Hist., Sinclair's x., and New St. Acc. iv.]

1667. FRANCIS WILKINSON, A.M., got his degree at the Univ. of Edinburgh 8th July 1644; continued in Aug. 1675, but left in 1676, and died in Feb. 1679, aged about 55. The insicht, &c., was estimat at xl li. He marr. Elizabeth M'Killweyne, and had an only son, Samuel.-[Edin. Grad., Edin. (Bapt.), and Test. Reg. (Dumf.)]

16-. SAMUEL MOWAT, A.M., attained his degree at the Univ. of Edinburgh in 1669; deprived in 1681 for declining to take the Test.-[Edin. Grad.,Sess. Reg., Sinclair's x., and New St. Acc. iv.]

1732. PETER RAE, trans. from Kirkbride, called 30th March, and adm. 11th May; died 29th Dec. 17 48, in his 78th year and 46th min. Like the celebrated Joannes de Sacro Bosco, he was distinguished as a philosopher and astronomer, as well as a divine. Nor was he less so as a mechanic, mathematician, and historian. An astronomical chime clock, in the castle of Drumlanrig, made and constructed in all its parts with his own hand, not only proved his mechanical powers, but also the extent of his philosophical knowledge. He left a history of the parishes in the Presbytery, which has not been published. He marr. 19th July 1697 Agnes,