Walking with my Ancestors....My 8th Great-Grandfather....Oct 9, 2019

I was so disheartened last night when I found out that we had come within 10 minutes of visiting my most ancient known  ancestor's actual house when we were at Glenfiddich yesterday!  So last night, I spent hours coming up with a way to get us by there today.  So after breakfast at Tesco Cafe again, off we went on our way to the Glenrothes hotel via Aldunie, Cabrach.

We drove to Elgin on the A96 then too the A941 South to Cabrach.  My heart began racing as soon as I saw the sign CABRACH CHURCH with arrow to the right.  Here would be where my ancestors were buried!

Dufftown with its tower:

Bridgend, Cabrach:

We stopped at the little old church and in the front corner was most of the Scotts!  These tombstones were much too new--believe it or not--to be my direct ancestors, but they are in the same line.  Here in Cabrach is where my 8th great-grandfather, John Henry Scott, was born in 1682 in the house called Aldunie (listed as Aldewnie in some papers).  I looked all through the cemetery and found probable relatives but none from this far back, or at least the READABLE ones weren't from the 1600s.  There were many in the same section that were now unreadable so who knows.

This was the oldest READABLE one:

VERY old tombstones but unreadable:

This one was very impressive--done for a Charles Scott, doctor who went to Grinnell College in the US, then died in Insch, Aberdeen in 1866, by his sister, Mary, is interred in Montezuma (New Mexico?) in the USA.  And has his likeness sculpted on the top:

Here is photo of Grinnell College, Iowa, that I found:

Strange to find the top to a coffin behind the church:

Nice Scott corner, under the tree:

I will be busines transcribing these tombstones for a while.  But I can't tell you how meaningful it was to me to FINALLY find some concrete evidence that my ancestors were in a particular place.  It brought tears to my eyes.

We left and drove on down the same road to where the house he lived in was located.  We drove past a man on a tractor with 2 border collies on board, too.  Then turned left and there was the stone house!  I took lots of photos then we drove back the same way and the guy on the tractor with the dogs was on the road talking to another man in a truck so we stopped and I asked if there were still any Scotts in the area.  The guy on the tractor turned to the guy in the truck and the truck guy said, "Ah, Scotts, nay, de Scotts nae mar round here."

"Oh, okay, well I was looking for my ancestors who lived at Aldunie."

His face brightened and he said, "Ah, that'd be Aldunie right behind yah dare."

I couldn't have been more pleased to hear this verification!  The Scotts lived in that very house!  My Scotts!

man on tractor with his two border collies:

Here are two photos from the web of how it looked before the front addition:

Aldunie Farm, Cabrach:

This John Henry Scott was born here and married Mary Spowart here and then died in 1749-52 in Clackmannan in a house I will go find in a few days.  Their son, Alexander, was born in Kilconquhar, which we saw the other day, and HIS son, Robert, was born in Kilconquhar or Kingsbarns, which we see tomorrow.

 The farmer and his friends:

The mountain that could be seen from Aldunie--I think it's The Buck:

one more look at the Scott tombstones as we passed back by the church:

Because Ray let our GPS guide our way today, we drove through some VERY out of the way areas and saw some absolutely gorgeous scenes of forest beginning to put on their fall colors and hilltops covered in sheep and cows.  And listened to our GPS "Tommie" say "Puth" for Perth as if she's trying to be British.  

This one, near a sign saying Tulloch, looks as though it may have had a castle atop it some time in the past.

Now just what could THESE signs mean?

Fettercairn with the castley-arch you drive through:

Balgeddie House Hotel where we are staying 3 nights:

 Balgeddie House was built in the 19th c. as a birthday gift for a member of the Nairn family (commissioned by Major Sir Robert Spencer Nairn) and is reported to have wooden flooring obtained from a decommissioned minesweeper.  It has a gym and pool and sauna and steam room and Ray is in heaven. 

I had to inform Ray that I indeed did speak Raven when a raven friend and I were conversing the other morning.  Now they talk to me all the time.  

Drove by Craigievar Castle with its pretty pink stone exterior.  

Posting our GPS guided route to the hotel from Inverness in the interest of curiosity and knowing exactly where we went:

Inverness--A96 to Elgin--A941 through Rothes, Craigellachie, Balvenie, Dufftown, Lagga, Bridgend, Cabrach then to my ancestors house at Aldunie.

Then back to A941 and take B9002 to A97 South to A944 through Mossatt then Bridge of Alford.

Then A980 through Muir of Alford, Muir of Fowlis, Mill of Craigievar and past Craigievar Castle.

To B9119 going East through Drumlasie then South on B993 towards Kincardine O'Neil and a tiny bit on A93 to stay on B993 to B976 to Strachan to take the B974 South over the Bridge of Dye to Fettercairn (drove under the castle archway).

Then take B966 to Gannochy and Edzell and South to A90 and around Brechin and Forfar and then through Dundee and across the Tay Bridge (on our 2nd try!).

The A92 South through Kilmany, Kingskettle, then B969 to Glenrothes and our Hotel.