Person:John Scott (200)

John Scott’s origins have yet to be established. The age given when he died suggests that he was born around 1754. His first confirmed sighting is on 14th December 1777, when he married Janet Allan at Fowlis Wester in Perthshire.

John and Janet went on to have three children between 1778 and 1789. Their first two children, boys called Alexander and William, were baptised at Fowlis Wester in 1778 and 1780, and their baptism records both note that the family lived at Milton of Abercairny, a hamlet to the west of Fowlis Wester adjoining the Abercairny estate. Their daughter Ann’s baptism from 1789 was in the neighbouring parish of Crieff, and gives the family’s abode as Dowald, a hamlet to the east of the parish which was less than a mile from Milton of Abercairny.

John worked as a gamekeeper. Given the locations where the family lived it seems highly likely that he worked on the Abercairny estate. His son William would also go on to be gamekeeper at Abercairny.

All three of John’s children lived to adulthood. His son William and daughter Ann both married and had children in the Fowlis Wester area during John’s lifetime. It is not clear what happened to his son Alexander, although he is known to have outlived John.

Janet died on 30th June 1822, and she was buried at Fowlis Wester. She was said to be 75 years old. John survived her by four years, and died on 18th August 1826. He was said to be 72 years old. He was also buried at Fowlis Wester.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Fowlis Wester Churchyard, Perthshire, Monumental Inscriptions (Scottish Monumental Inscriptions).

   1832 / ERECTED / By ALEX and WM SCOTT / To the Memory of their Mother / JANET ALLEN who died the / 30th June 1822 aged 75 [1746/7] / Also their Father JOHN SCOTT / who died the 18th August 1826 aged 72 years [1753/4]

2.   John is described as having been a gamekeeper on his daughter Ann’s death certificate from 1864.