| Administrative History | Charles Nisbet [1736-1804] minister at Montorose 1764-85. Though he was officially presented as assistant and successor to the Minister of Montrose by Royal Warrant on 17 May 1764, he must have arrived in 1763, and was already known in montroseby 1761. He joined Beattie's Circle of Montrose friends, which included Aaron Lithgow and Charles Thomson. He became a controversial figure in the General Assembly, where he was a strong supporterof the 'orthodox' party. In 1775 he had a bitter controversy over a matter of church governement with William Smellie, conducted in the Edinburgh Magazine and Review and the Caledonian Mercury. He was a supporter of the American colonists during the War of Independence, andin 1785 sailed to Philadelphia to become first Principal of Dickson college, Carlisle, Pennsylvania |