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“A friend had died” said the lady who lent me the manuscript.” And somebody was clearing out her old desk. When I arrived at her house they had just thrown this on the bonfire. I nearly burned my fingers trying to rescue it, but this was all I could get out of the flames.” Astonishingly enough these few handwritten pages rescued by my neighbour turned out to date from the Kirkmichael of the early 1800s. This looks as though it was part of the notebook or commonplace book of the school, and offers a handful of tantalising glimpses (for the entries are in many different hands, representing different schoolmasters) into the everyday life of the village only a few short years after the death of Robert Burns, whose life and death would have been well within living memory for at least some of these people.
Not a lot of Christian charity there then, though it is more evident in the request from 1813 for a subscription fund for “Alexander McCrackan in Spring Garden (where was this?) who has suffered by having his machinery destroyed by accidental fire on the night of 29th June last and from a consideration of the honest and upright character he has uniformly maintained and of his enterprise in establishing and carrying on the bleaching business to the satisfaction of the public we deem it is our duty to assist him in the expense of repairing his machinery.
There is a strange mixture of correspondence, laboriously copied into the book, including some notes of a distinctly social nature. Some are obviously from the teacher himself. “J R’s compliments to the Directors of the Farmer’s Annual Ball of Kirkmichael and is exceedingly sorry that it is out of his power to do himself the honor of attending their Ball this night. Kirkmichael School, Tuesday Evening.” So it was a late cancellation and I found myself wondering if it was a relief or a disappointment to the young farmers of the early 1800s. Others are from the female side. “Mrs……compliments to Miss…. hopes she got safe home and is in health after the fatigue of sitting up so late.” In reply comes “Miss ….‘s compliments to Mrs … got home perfectly safe and is extremely well, returns respectful thanks for her obliging enquiries, Friday 2 o’clock.” But why no names? Were these specimen letters for general use I wonder? At any rate they have an oddly Jane Austen ring about them and why not? The great novelist herself died in 1817 at the early age of 42. Among everything else there are interesting little curiosities such as the carefully copied out recipes for ink, one very odd experiment with perpetual motion involving a wheel and a huge quantity of quicksilver, one or two lengthy religious meditations, a number of petitions and legal documents including indentures for young men becoming apprentices, the composition of the local “militia” and a loyal and very schoolmasterly “Toast”: “Addition to the friends of Old England, Subtraction to her Wants, Multiplication of her Blessings, Division of her foes and Reduction of her Debts and Taxes.” (not many Scots ready to subscribe to that one nowadays, I’ll bet!)
In 1815 there comes a lengthy account of the “Great Snow” “December 15th Stormy day, wind from the west and sleet showers in the forenoon and hail showers towards the evening making the ground gray immediately after the shower but almost melted before next shower. 16th The ground covered with snow about 4 inches deep, snow showers frequently during the day which covered the earth about 7 inches deep. I shovelled the doors twice this day. Wind NW 17th More snow during last night. I shovelled the doors a third time, also Sunday morning, the snow this day about 10 inches deep, in general the weather being always since the snow fell at first, quite calm. Some blades of snow in the evening, hard frost, wind North. 20th I rose about 9 o’clock this morning. There is a strong wind from NE with a very thick snow and drift which continued until the evening incessantly when the snow ceased but the wind continued to drift only what snow fell during the day and the preceding night as the snow that had fallen previous to that was saddened with the nature of the thaw, the hares were only beginning to look out as yet but plenty of partridges this evening is just to my mind. (Not sure what he meant by that last paragraph but I quote it verbatim!) 21st Beautiful day, keen frost, wind NE I never saw so deep a snow in general though I have seen much greater weather. 22nd Keen frost in the evening and during night, strong sound from the linn but clear sky and hard frost and wind NE. 23rd Windy with sleet and rain from the south, rained this whole day incessantly. Wind South. Not a pleasant December then - and no central heating to temper the frosts either.
Next there is a promise for “Subscriptions for a Monument to Robert Burns” “We the undersigned agree to pay the sums annexed to our respective names for the purpose of erecting a monument to the memory of Robert Burns at or near the place of his birth; payable at such time and place as the committee appointee to take charge of the same shall afterwards direct. “ In April 1818 there is more mention of the weather – and again it’s a reference to snow which must have been as much of a peculiarity then as it is in the Kirkmichael of today, particularly in April. “This day snowed from the North and covered the earth four inches deep. It has hitherto been a very cold spring. Snow began to fall about 12 o’clock, still snowing a little, 5 o’clock. “ And finally, there are permits to travel. It must have been difficult for the “lower orders” to travel about the country without permission from the minister and other “high heid yins” of the Parish. So we read the following:- “Parish of Kirkmichael, County of Ayr You are hereby desired to permit and suffer the bearer Margaret Kew, peaceably and without molestation to pass from this parish to Newton Stewart and is to assist and relieve her as you shall see meet, she behaving herself orderly and discreetly, always keeping the straight or Postroad and not exceeding ten days to perform her journey. Given at Kirkmichael 11th day of Dec 1828 D Kennedy, Minister (the same one who lost his wife some 14 years previously) B Bell, Justice of the peace To the Kirk Sessions and all others whom these presents may concern” And then, perhaps most interesting of all, written directly under this letter, like an ironic comment on it – but by whom? The dominie himself perhaps? - comes the old rhyme about the one family who ruled this part of the world for so long:-
“Twixt Wigton and the town of Air Portpatrick and the Cruives of Cree No man need think for to bide there Unless he court Saint Kennedie “
All in all, this is a truly fascinating little document. The only pity is to think about just what went up in flames!
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So what does it contain? And what do the
various jottings tell us? Well, brief as they are, they paint a vivid
picture of another time and place. The entries and dates are very
haphazard, as though later schoolmasters had gone back and filled in
spaces: paper was no doubt very precious
There are a number of lists. Some of them
are lengthy accounts of land values (In 1829, Drumore was worth 54 pounds,
1 shilling and 1 penny. Roan was worth only 35 pounds, 8 shillings and 1
penny, but Merkland was worth all of 69 pounds, 19 shillings and 2
pence!) Some deal with Kirkmichael school finances. The running of the
school including the master’s salary was obviously paid for by
contributions from surrounding farms and some contributed more than
others. Did this depend on children or wealth or land area or some
calculation involving all three I wonder? Why for instance, would Tranew
contribute 5 shillings and 10 pence, whereas Barskelly only paid 3
shillings and 7 pence three farthings? 
One note in a faint, sloping hand says that
“Mrs Kennedy died on Sunday morning at 6 o’clock being 27th
March and was buried on Friday 1st April 1814” and later on in
the same book we discover that this was Mrs Kennedy, the wife of the
minister David Kennedy because the invitation to her funeral has been
carefully copied out in the same faint hand.
From 1817 there is a sad little enquiry to
the war office about soldiers gone missing and “supposed to be dead”. Also
from 1817 is a petition for charity for a Mauchline lady whose worldly
possessions including “two good cows” have been consumed by fire and whose
son who had been her sole means of support was killed at the Battle of
Waterloo in 1815. 