Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland Genealogy

 Parish #577 

History
Auchinleck is said to derive from two Gaelic words meaning “The field of the flagstone”. Auchinleck, Ayr, and Galston are the villiages close to Auchinleck parish. There is a great amount of “freestone” in the parish, which may be where it’s name derives from. Sir James Boswell, Bart., the Marquis of Bute; Mr. Limond of Dalblair were major land owners. The land was primarily used for, barley, bear, beans, oats, potatoes, turnips, sheep, cattle, cheese. The populatin in 1791 was 775. The population in1831 wa 1662. Previous to the appointment of the previous schoolmaster, the registers were not regularly kept, and they go no further back than the beginning of the last century. The number of individuals in the parish connected with the Antiburghers is about 86. The number of persons connected with the United Secession is 235. There are three or four who profess to be Independent, and one or two thought to be Roman Catholic, the rest of the parish belong to the Church, about 417.

This account was written in 1837.

source: New Satatistical Account of Scotland(FHL book 941 B4sa, series 2 Vol. 5)

Condition of Original Registers—
Index: For an index to these records, see the Scottish Church Records Index on computer at the Family History Library and family history centers. Some records may be indexed in the International Genealogical Index. Births: Births are intermixed with marriages until February 1739, blank except one incomplete entry, June 1727–April 1729. Mothers' names are not recorded until November 1752. Twenty irregular entries dated 1806–1815 are on the page after marriages for June 1807. Marriages:Marriages are intermixed with births until February 1739, blank February 1739–December 1752, December 1757–November 1759, July 1760–February 1781, August 1793–1802, and July 1807–February 1821. Deaths: Burials, blank December 1757–February 1780 and December 1788–August 1828. The record ends 1833. Source: Key to the Parochial Registers of Scotland, by V. Ben Bloxham, pub. 1970 British book 941 K23b.

Established Church—Kirk Session Records
There are no known pre-1855 records.

Auchinleck Original Secession Presbyterian Church
History— This congregation originated with a praying society which met in Wallacetown, a sequestered spot on the water of Glenmuir and on the north side of Airsmoss, where the Reverend Richard Cameron fell with eight of his adherents, in a skirmish with the King's troops on the 20th of July 1680. This society had existed from the times of the Solemn League and Covenant, and had things in common with many others in Ayrshire, Nithsdale, Annandale, and Galloway. It had been under the inspection of the Reverend Mr. Hepburn of Urr. These societies, in four different papers, in which they designated themselves "The Societies of the South and West," publicly declared their adherence to the Testimony emitted by the Associate Presbytery in April 1738. The Society of Wallacetown obtained a disjunction from the congregation of Kilmaurs, and was formed into a separate congregation. The station at Wallacetown was then abandoned, and a place of worship was built at Rigg, a retired spot about half a mile south-east of the village of Auchinleck, from which village the congregation took its name. Source: Annals and Statistics of the United Presbyterian Church, by Rev. William MacKelvie, D.D., pub. 1873. Film #477618. More details may be given in the source including a list of ministers. Records— FHL Film Number Baptisms 1837–1860 0304670 item 3 Other: Session Minutes 1837–1840 Lists of Members, 1811, 1827, 1837–1848 Note: Available at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, record CH3/29.

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