| Description | Farming diary, no. 20. Includes the death of Isa.
Notable events: Isa very unwell and many people come to Mosshead to ask for her; Isa dies at 10.15pm on Monday 30 April 1894 after twenty weeks of illness - 'She lay down on the 11th December 1893'; registers Isa's death in Kemnay and makes her funeral arrangements - the funeral is held on Friday 4 May; George Cooper, an old servant, visits; pays Mr White £3 for burying ground; attends displenish sale at Tillyfour; the Maggie cow calves a dead calf; hard frost in May; engages man to work the horses for the summer half-year at £13..10; buys four cattle from Mr Alsop at £11 per head and sells him 'four fat ones' at £16 per head; buys a calf for £1; pays rent at Kemnay House; pays the smith, joiner and saddler; the new man, Andrew Johnstone, starts work; buys calf for £1..18; James Smith visits on his bike; attends Benjamin Emslie Jr's funeral at the Mill Farm with Mr Emslie; Bella visits Pittarrow; the doctor is called for Bella as she's feeling unwell; visits Mrs Wilson and family at Broomhill of Echt; takes sons to the Highland Society's event in Aberdeen, 'I thought it a very good show', and later attends a fireworks display (as a consequence they arrive home at around 2.30am); Uncle Robert is building a new Free Church in Peterculter; a night of thunder and heavy rain at the start of August causes flooding - a house at Burnhervie is washed away; visits Haddo House on the day of the games with Bella, Andrew and Johnnie - 'nothing fine about the building, but the flower gardens superb'; goes to Pittarrow with Mr Emslie and spends a few days in the area (ascends to the Tower of Johnston on the Hill of Garvock; Mr Emslie conducts a kitchen service on the Sabbath; they visit the ruins of the old castle at Edzell); climbs Bennachie with Bella, Johanna and Auntie Mary; they commence the harvest at the end of August; Bella visits Ballater and Banchory; Mary, Johnnie and later Andrew attend the Sabbath School picnic; gains the most votes in an election for elders and deacons at his Church (51 votes to Mr Gordon's 47 - the next highest was 18) - 'Mr Gordon & I have accepted office'; gets ordained on the day of ordination of elders and deacons - 'I was ordained & Alexander Gordon admitted to the Eldership'; Johnston starts the ploughing for the season; visits Mrs Anderson in Angusfield - 'found her very weak & sinking fast'; attends William Adam of Loanend's funeral; attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court; sees Mrs Anderson's dead body at Angusfield and, the next day, meets her funeral at Broomhill of Echt; engages Johnston to stay on for the winter half-year at £14; collects for the 'sustentation fund'; pays rent at Kemnay House; pays the blacksmith and saddler; attends Mrs Bain's funeral; Bella sells her two pigs - £5 for the pair; attends evening prayer meeting and, afterwards, there is a meeting of Session; pays the seat rent at Church; attends the funeral of Ebeneezer Clark's mother; attends lantern lecture on John Paton and his work in the New Hebrides; the Tillybin cow calves; in December, 'a perfect hurricane of wind & rain' overturns stacks and blows down trees; sells John Lyon five cattle for £89; attends Willie Smith's marriage in Aberdeen with Bella, the boys and Mary - 'a very pleasant evening', but they are hindered by the winter weather on the way home and only reach Mosshead after abandoning the pony and machine and a 'long & painful wade' through the snow; attends Aunt Annie's funeral; heavy snow in January; attends a lantern lecture on Switzerland; pays for buggy licence in Aberdeen and buys new waterproof, hat and tie; attends prayer meeting and Deacons' Court; buys calver cow from William Gardner of Craigearn for £17..10 and attends the social meeting at the Church; pays Mr McGillivray assurance money for the cattle and implements - 17/; sells six cattle to James Alsop for £94; brings home the piano from the station; learns at Uncle Robert's that Mary has the measles; attends lantern lecture on Glasgow and the Highlands; finds Mary much improved; attends Mrs Paterson's funeral - she was a sister of Ben Emslie of the Mill Farm; goes to prayer meeting and Deacons' Court; Johnnie has a bad cold. |