Last date for submissions
31st October 2022Date of publication
1st December 2022
MIKE TRACY
“My name is Mike Tracy and I am writing to you today from outside of Chicago, Illinois, USA and extend to you warm greetings.
I have been researching my Buist area family history for over 40 years now and have been to your lovely twice in my lifetime. The reason why I am contacting you today is twofold. The first is recently I stumbled upon your web site, "Village Crier" and thought it was a wonderful site for the area's residents. My ancestral roots are in Abdie, as the Buist family were large tenant farmers of Abdie for many generations.
During the past year, the University of St. Andrews has asked me to write various articles on the family for their Manuscripts Division, of which I am honoured to do so, being one of the few remaining surviving members of the direct line. I do not know if you and the residents of the area would be interested in the history of the area, as it pertains to Abdie, but I am attaching to this email, an article I recently wrote on my 4th great uncle, one Henry Buist of Berryhill, Abdie. You might be interested in taking a look at it and for your history section, you have my permission to publish it if you deem it worthy.
The second article is one I recently wrote also for the University on my 4th great grandfather, one George Buist who was born in Abdie, Fife. I also attach this for your review as well. Finally, I would like to know if anyone in the area would be interested in starting a local web site geared to the History of Abdie parish? I think it would be worthy of someone that might be interested in doing this with help from myself on the subject. Can you recommend anyone from Abdie? The parish has a rich history and the families of Abdie as well, includ- ing the Buist family of long ago, have a story of their own. An example would be in Markinch. Please take a look at www.markinchheritage.org.uk. I thank you very much for your consideration and efforts and look forward to hearing from you.”
Mike’s contributions can be found below:
The Fifeshire Journal reported on the passing of a prominent Fife farmer, Henry Buist, Esquire of Berryhill on Thursday, 16 November 1865. It stated:
“In last week’s obituary we recorded the death of Henry Buist, Esquire, of Berryhill, at the advanced age of almost ninety-five years. He was cut off after a very short illness. His health throughout his life was excellent, and he retained the use of his faculties to the last, his memory being as vigorous as ever. Having been all his life engaged in agricultural pursuits, he was from the lengthened experience able to recount many changes in the modes of culture. He remembered the commencement of draining of Fife. Lime however was largely applied to the soil before his time. Five or six acres of turnips were reckoned a large extend for a large farm. He remembered the introduction of the thrashing mill, and how crowds went far to see the novel application. He remembered when the most respectable farmers in the county wore the broad blue bonnet, and it was only on the Sabbath that the most aspiring of them exchanged it for the beaver hat. One incident in his history will suffice to show how far tradition may go back; in his boyhood he walked from his father’s house near Kettle to Pitlessie, with his grandfather, who was born in 1690. Another such link would carry us back to the days long before the Reformation, and long era of James the First died of a broken heart in Falkland. At one period of his life, he took a part in the Justice of Peace Courts of this district; for domestic life he retained many of the courtesies of the olden time. He was upright and honorable in all his transactions, and many benevolent and charitable institutions will miss the contributions which he afforded them. He was buried in the family burial ground in Abdie Old Church on Monday last.”
George Buist - The Life of a Fife Tenant Farmer of Kettle
George Buist, a tenant farmer from Fife, typified the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit in Scottish farming in mid-18th century. By setting aside a farm for the bleaching of linen he, like many others in lowland Scotland made a contribution that would see linen become the country’s most important industry until it was eclipsed by cotton in the later years of the century. He also lived through the height of the Scottish Enlightenment when new science was being brought to bear on Scottish agriculture.
The Illustrious Life of the Reverend George Buist of St Andrews
“We have today to record the death, at St. Andrews, under peculiarly melancholy circumstances, of the venerable second minister of the Established Church there, the Reverend George Buist, D.D., at the advanced age of eighty-four years…Dr. Buist was one of the oldest ordained ministers of the Church of Scotland…held the rank of Moderator of the Assembly of the Church. He was attentive minister, sincere in the performance of his duties, a thorough business man and his loss will be greatly felt…” Thus ran the front page of the Dundee Advertiser newspaper for 20 April 1860 giving a small glimpse of the accomplished life of the Very Reverend Doctor George Buist.
James Buist (1850 - 1907) Superintendent of Perth City Police
“Perth Officer Dead. Ex-Superintendent Buist of Police Force. A Native of Fife. It is with deepest regret that we announce the death of ex-Superintendent James Buist, of the Perth City Police Force, which took place at his residence, Gowrie Cottage, Bridgend, Perth about seven o’clock this morning. The late Superintendent was one of the best known and one of the most popular officials in Perth.”
James Buist (1795 - 1880) A Wise Man of the East
“On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. James Buist, Kirktonbarns, was entertained to dinner in the hall of the Royal Hotel, on occasion of his retirement from active business as a farmer…In proposing the toast of the evening, the Chairman said ‘Croupiers and Gentlemen, I now call upon you to drink to the health of a much respected guest. To the retirement of Mr. Buist from the scene of farming is like the removal of an ancient landmark. Few have been the days during that long period in which the tall form has not been seen stalking across his fields with his weedock in his hand and his weather hat on his head.’”
Thus ran the front page of the Fifeshire Journal Newspaper for Thursday, 29 September 1870 giving a small glimpse of the accomplished Fife farmer, businessman, investor, and benefactor one James Buist, Esquire.
Professor John Goodsir - A Scottish Anatomist and Pioneer of the study of the Cell
“On Monday, the 11th inst., were deposited in the Dean Cemetery, of Edinburgh, the mortal remains of perhaps the most accomplished anatomist and the most successful teacher of his time. This language cannot be deemed too strong for John Goodsir. By the distinguished colleagues who were the pall-bearers at the mournful ceremony, by the numerous private friends, and by the 200 pupils of the present and past years; who followed their associate and master to his final resting place, it will be reckoned as but inadequately descriptive. The profession and the scientific world at large can appreciate the loss which his premature decease has inflicted on academic training and on anatomical research. But only his fellow workers of the University and of the class-room can feel the tender and solemn emotion with which the untimely extinction of a kindred life inspired…John Goodsir was the worthiest successor whom Scotland has yet produced to John Hunter. He had the combined solidity and force of intellect, the observing and the generalizing power of his illustrious countryman.”
Thus ran the East Fife Record Newspaper for 22 March 1867 giving a small glimpse of the accomplished life of Professor John Goodsir.
Andrew Buist (1727 - 1815) and his son Henry Buist
Andrew Buist, a tenant farmer from Fife, typified the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit in Scottish farming in the mid-18th century. Andrew Buist farmed the estates of Woodhead, Cowden and Craigmill in Abdie Parish, Fife and would later relocate to Markinch Parish, Fife. He like many other tenant farmers in lowland Scotland would make contributions to the improvements in agriculture. His son Henry Buist (1762-1822) was tenant farmer of East Mill, Strathmiglo Parish, Fife and Pittuncarty, Abernethy Parish, Fife. He would live through the height of the Scottish Enlightenment when new science was being brought to bear on Scottish agriculture and would play a part in those exciting changes.
“Andrew Walker Buist of Berryhill, Abdie, Fifeshire, elected a Fellow of the Society [Society of Antiquaries of Scotland] in 1857, died on 1 May 1877, in the 61st year of his age. In early life he devoted his attention to natural history, and chiefly to the study of the native reptilia. He succeeded to the estate of Berryhill on the death of his father in 1865. It is worthy of being placed on the record that his father, when a boy walked four miles to and from his father’s residence with his grandfather, who was born in 1690. The traditional recollections, therefore, of these two lives extended to nearly one hundred and seventy years.” Thus the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland reported the passing of a prominent Fife Gentleman and farmer of Berryhill, Abdie Parish, Fife.
Dr. John Goodsir (1746-1816): A Healer of Souls and Healer of Bodies
Two centuries ago Dr. John Goodsir was among the best known men in the East Neuk of Fife. According to the Glasgow Herald Newspaper dated Saturday, 26 December 1868: “Dr. John Goodsir was a well-known and popular man. ‘The customs of the period’ in which he lived were primitive and curious, and the practice of the healing art in rural district was carried on in pack-saddle fashion and regularity. Dr. Goodsir would start from Largo on Monday, caparisoned for the week with drugs and surgical appliances and not return home till Friday as itinerant with his physic as the ancient Peripatetic with his philosophy…”1 Thus was the daily routine of one of Fife’s earliest medical doctors spanning over 40 years.
In Commemoration of the Ultimate Sacrifice of James Clark of the 1st Black Watch
The immortal lines: “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old, Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.” “For the Fallen” written and first published in the Times Newspaper on Monday, 21 September 1914 this poem captures the dead of the war and the sacrifice these men ultimately gave. A fitting poem to all those men who served in France and Flanders during the Great War, soldiers like Private James Clark of the 1st Black Watch who fought on the battlefields of Flanders. This is his story.
William Buist 1691- A Fife Tenant Farmer of Denmill and Lochmill, Abdie Parish, Fife
William Buist was born at a time when Scotland was an independent nation. By the time he was 16 years of age he would see Scotland unified with England by the Act of Union of 1707. While this Act united the Scottish and English parliaments, the two peoples retained their national characteristics, their legal and educational systems and their established churches. Buist would farm like his father before him at his ancestral birthplace of Berriehoill now Berryhill. He would eventually become a tenant farmer of the estates of Denmill and Lochmill, Abdie Parish, Fife. There he would raise his family, carry out his life’s work and there he would die.
An Exceptional Assembly of the Buist and Goodsir Families of Fife
By Michael T. Tracy
On Monday, 4 March 1839 in the library of the University of St. Andrews at St. Andrews, Fife, there occurred a unique meeting of the Literary and Philosophical Society of St. Andrews in which members of the Buist and Goodsir families were in attendance. The members of the Buist family whose interests included geology and mineralogy met members of the Goodsir family who were distinguished surgeons of Anstruther and Largo and whose interests embraced anatomy, zoology, natural and human history. The two prominent Fife families where linked by the marriage of George Buist (1750-1797)1 a tenant farmer of Orkie, Kettle Parish, Fife and Christian Ballingall (1756-1834) a daughter of Christian Goodsir (1717-1760) whose brother Dr. John Goodsir (b 1719) was a prominent surgeon of Largo Parish, Fife. It was an extraordinary gathering of Fife intellectuals all in one room and never occurred again in their lifetimes. This is an account of the early origins of the Literary and Philosophical Society of St. Andrews in 1838 and of that remarkable meeting in 1839.
The Ancient Scottish Game of My Ancestors of Abdie Parish, Fife
By Michael T. Tracy
On a cold day on Friday, 28 January 1831 eleven men of Abdie Parish, Fife gathered together on the frozen Loch of Lindores to begin an historic curling match. The Loch of Lindores is a freshwater loch situated in the north of Fife in the Parish of Abdie and the old Abdie Parish Church ruins are close to the north shoreline where these men were standing.
The Buist family had origins in the ancient city of Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. William Buist was the last of three generations of the family to be born and raised there. King Malcolm III established Dunfermline as a new seat for royal power in the mid-11th century and initiated changes that eventually made the township the de facto capital of Scotland for much of the period until the assassination of James I in 1437.
By His Distant Cousin, Michael T. Tracy
George Buist spent most of his short life in the Bengal Army. He was the first born son of the esteemed Reverend Doctor George Buist, Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of St. Andrews. The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three Presidencies of the British Raj within the British Empire.
In Commemoration of the Ultimate Sacrifice of David Blyth Blair (1898-1918)
By Michael T Tracy
“His Duty Done” are the immortal words inscribed on the gravestone of Private David Blyth Blair of the 14th Battalion, Black Watch Royal Highlanders. He was just 20 years of age when he fell at Moislains in the Somme region of France. The young Private of the dreaded Scottish Black Watch followed the sound of the pipes on that summer’s day in September of 1918 into immortality of those who lost their lives during the Great War. This then is the story of Private David Blyth Blair on the Centennial of World War I.
Dr Henry Duncan Goodsir (1778 - 1818) A Distinguished Medical Officer of the British Army
Henry Duncan Goodsir was interested in the study and practice of medicine from an early age. His father, Dr. John Goodsir was a well-known and popular Doctor in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland in the early 18th century. It is no wonder that his sons would follow in his footsteps. His two younger brothers, Archibald (1779-1820) was also a Surgeon in the Fifeshire Militia and John (1782-1848) was a well-known Surgeon in Anstruther, Fife. Henry, the third son of Dr. John Goodsir attended medical school at the University of Edinburgh and spend his professional life in the military serving firstly in the 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales Volunteers) and then serving in the Royal Sicilian Regiment as a Surgeon in Malta and lastly in the 89th Regiment of Foot seeing service in Ontario, Canada during the War of 1812. Goodsir retired from military service in 1817 and lived a quiet life in Edinburgh after a long adventurous life in the British Army. Like his father, he looked upon his profession as an extended series of duties to the many soldiers of the British Army that he cared for. By the end of his illustrious military career he was a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, the Peninsular War and finally the Anglo-American War of 1812. This then is the narrative of the life and times of a medical officer in the British Army, Dr. Henry Duncan Goodsir.
George A Buist (1859-1941) The Life and Times of a Mayor of Gympie, Queensland, Australia
On Friday, 28 February 1941 the Nambour Chronicle and North Coast Advertiser Newspaper published the following: “A resident of Gympie since 1883 [sic], Mr. George Alexander Buist, at one time Mayor of this City, and active in many public activities, died on Sunday afternoon last, at the age of 82 years… He was born in Cupar, Fifeshire, Scotland, on January 20, 1859. From January 1, 1915 to December 31, 1930 he occupied the position of Clerk of the Widgee Shire Council and at various periods was also Clerk of Bell’s Bridge Board, Chairman of the Fire Brigade Board, a member of the Committee of the Gympie Centre Q.A.T.B., the Gympie Hospital and Chief of the Gympie Caledonian Society. The Boy Scout Movement was another of his interests, occupying the position of senior scoutmaster of the Gympie Boy Scouts Association. In Freemasonary the late Mr. Buist held the highest Masonic honours as a member of the Gympie Braemar Lodge U.G.L.Q. In early years in connection with Freemasonary in the Nambour district he was a frequent visitor and took a prominent part in lodge ceremonies.”
George Dun (1800-1874) A Fife Farmer Remembered
The Grange of Lindores farm is situated in Abdie Parish, Fife, Scotland and has been in the Buist and Dun families for many generations. George Dun was a tenant farmer of Hattonhill since the year of 1824 and later the Grange of Lindores since 1838. Dun was a notable farmer with a well-ordered mind and a wonderful capacity for business.1 He married Margaret Landale and they had nine children who were all born in Abdie Parish, Fife. He was a keen curler and a founding member of the Abdie Curling Club.2 George Dun carefully recorded his memories of the Grange of Lindores, farming and other events during his lifetime. This then is the narrative of the life and times of George Dun.
John Ballingall (1824-1912) Fife’s Oldest Agriculturist
The day after the death of John Ballingall the Dundee Courier Newspaper wrote: “Dunbog is mourning today the loss of its grand old man – honest John – who had gone out and in amongst its people for 80 years, and whose warm heart and kindly disposition was only known to those with whom he came most closely in contact. Mr. Ballingall was born a farmer, having inherited the farming instinct from a worthy sire, and having devoted all his life to the art of making two blades of grass grow where only one grew before. For many years his acreage on the farms of Dunbog, Higham, and Rumeldry exceeded 1,500, and at the same period he managed the adjoining farms of Glenduckie, Aytoun, and Balmeadie, another 1,000 acres, for Mr. Carnegie, and the work seemed to lie lightly on his shoulders. It might be truly said of him that he never touched any land without adorning it so far as high cultivation and fertility were concerned. He was an outstanding example of one who knew how to bring crop and stock to perfection. His worth and experience were recognized by his holding the position of director of the H. [Highland] and A. [Agricultural] Society for many years. For several generations he was the life and soul of his district, and one of the kindest and best friends and neighbours that one could conceive. Possessed of a ready wit and repartee he made himself agreeable, and even fascinating to young and old, and evinced great interest in the welfare and happiness of others. In public affairs he was enthused with devotion to the public interest, both local and for the county, and was seldom absent from their meetings, at which he took a very active part. While Mr. Ballingall was a very successful breeder of cross cattle and sheep, he never essayed into pedigreed stock of any kind and though a highly scientific agriculturalist, making himself conversant with all the freshest ideas of cultivation, fertilization, and feeding, he was more of a practical than a theoretical farmer, and those who had the benefit of his tuition and guidance were show the advantage of care, attention, and experience rather than the modern school of book farming and experiment. A devoted and generous member of the U. [United] F. [Free] Church, he was most regular in attendance, and in his younger days generally preferred to walk four miles (to Newburgh) rather than take the use of one of his horses. He was present at church as usual last Sunday.
David Ballingall (1775-!859) A Tribute to His Life and Times
The last child of George Ballingall, a tenant farmer, and his third wife, Janet Jelly, David Ballingall was born at the ancestral home of the family at Rameldry in Kettle Parish, Fife in 1775. He would eventually assume the familial tenancy of Rameldry and farm these lands for the rest of his life. Later, Ballingall held two nineteen year leases of Little Feddinch in Cameron Parish from 1807 until 1844 where he married and had a family of five children. He then with his younger son, John, took over the farm of Higham in Dunbog Parish on the Marquis of Zetland’s estate and in 1858 the neighboring farm of Dunbog. In sport, he was a keen curler and a member of the Abdie Curling Club since 1845 up until a few years before his death. In his Last Will and Testament made a few years before his death, he gave his tenancy leases of the farms of Higham and Rameldry to his youngest son, John and appointed his cousins, James Buist of Kirktonbarns and George Ballingall of Cookston as executors of his will.
Patrick (Peter) Ballingall (1770-1813) The Tenant Farmer of Collairneie and Aytoun, Fife
He was baptized with the name of Patrick but used the name of Peter and was the second son of George Ballingall (1714-1793), the long-time tenant farmer of Rameldry, Kettle Parish, Fife. Peter, like his father was an agriculturalist and would eventually become a tenant farmer of Collairnie in Dunbog Parish. At the turn of the nineteenth century, Peter married Margaret Lumsdaine and they had five children, four of whom were born at Collairnie in Dunbog Parish and their last child was born at Aytoun in Abdie Parish. Upon the death of his father-in-law, Peter Lumsdaine in 1807 he succeeded him as a tenant farmer of Aytoun, Abdie Parish.
A Fife Photographer: The Life of Thomas Buist (1820-1892)
Thomas Buist will most likely be remembered for his early photography of Fife during the nineteenth-century and saw the market opportunity to turn his passion from a hobby into a commercial success. He advertised himself as an ambrotypist and quickly learned to photograph subjects, buildings and landscapes with grace and ease. However, the road to his success was not easy and he worked many jobs before he realized that his real interest and passion was in photography. Steadily he would grow his business and established his photography branches in Fifeshire. Buist would later be elected as Chief Magistrate of Earlsferry in Elie Parish but did not serve long in the position due to his health. He is considered to be one of the early pioneers of photography for his time. This then is the narrative of the life and times of Thomas Buist, a Fife photographer.
An Innkeeper of Cupar The Life of John Buist (1816-1893)
The future innkeeper and builder of Cupar’s largest hotel establishment was born in humble circumstances on Tuesday, 16 April 1816 at Feddinch in Cameron Parish to Thomas Buist and Elizabeth Christie. In his early youth, he relocated to Cunnoquhie, Monimail Parish, Fifeshire where he worked as a butler. He met and later married Boswell Angus on Friday, 27 April 1838 at Cupar. After his marriage, John Buist relocated to Cupar where he began a small grocery business and later began operating the Albert Inn which he would purchase. John Buist would later lease the Royal Hotel and operate this hotel for 22 years. Additionally, Buist would also lease the Tontine Hotel on Catherine Street in which he also was the innkeeper. He was known to supply the best quality and his uniform civility and obliging manner commanded the respect of his customers. The Tontine Hotel was Cupar’s largest hotel establishment in the area and Buist would later re-build the hotel and after 20 years he would retire from the hotel business. He had a passion for horses and purchased many breeds as a Fife horse dealer. John Buist would later purchase Tailabout farm outside of Cupar where he raised his horses and where he eventually retired to. This then is the narrative of the life and times of John Buist, an innkeeper of Cupar.
George Buist (1809-1889) Tenant Farmer and Proprietor of Ormiston, Abdie Parish, Fife
He was said to have “had the heart to feel and the hand to give.” George Buist was known for his many acts of benevolence throughout his 80 years of life. He was born at Weddersbie, Collessie Parish and at an early age spent the rest of his childhood at Berryhill, Abdie Parish. He was granted the use of his father’s farm of Ormiston in Abdie Parish where he was a tenant farmer until his father’s death in 1865 when he received proprietorship of its lands. However, three years later tragedy would befall him as the dwelling house would be destroyed by fire. Only by Buist’s own persistence and efforts was his dwelling house at Ormiston was rebuilt in a short period of time. George Buist never married and with advancing age, he decided to sell the property during the summer of 1877. He would later move to Edinburgh and finally settled at 25 Broughton Place where he lived for the rest of his life. This then is the narrative of the life and times of George Buist.
Henry Buist (1820-1854) Tenant of Hattonhill, Abdie Parish, Fife
After the regular meeting of the members of the Abdie Curling Club, the gentlemen gathered together and sat down to dinner at the Commercial Inn on a cold winter’s night in February of 1855. Captain James Ogilvy Dalgleish, a notable member of the club and its current President of the time “made the most appropriate and impressive allusion to the losses the club had sustained by death. During the year three of its members had been removed… one of its most efficient members, Henry Buist, Esq., Hattonhill, one of the best players of the club, whose name stands enrolled three times on its gold medal, and who, for several years preceding his death, acted [as] secretary, and discharged the duties of that office the satisfaction and delight of all. His death, in the prime of life, was deeply regretted at the time and the feelings of the meeting when his name and services were referred to, showed that ‘Hattonhill’ would long occupy [a] cherished place in the memories of the Abdie Curling Club.”
Henry Millar Buist (1818-1893) A Tribute to His Life and Times
Henry Millar Buist was the fifth child of Thomas Buist (1789-1829) and grew up with the rest of his siblings at Feddinch in Cameron Parish, Fifeshire. By 1841, he was working at the Kirkton of Largo in Upper Largo as a millwright and later relocated south to Cheltenham, Gloucester, England where he met Elizabeth Lockhart and shortly later they were married. While at Cheltenham they had six children. By 1872-79 the family left England bound for Sac County, Iowa where Henry settled on a farm and began farming his lands. This then is the narrative of the life and times of Henry Millar Buist.
James Buist 1617- The Earliest known Buist
The Royal Burgh of Dunfermline is located in the Kingdom of Fife, Scotland. Although the terms ‘Royal Burgh’ and ‘Kingdom’ were officially abolished in the 20th century, many still continue to use them, reflecting the town’s historic Royal connections. Dunfermline prospered under the influence of Queen Margaret (c. 1045 - 1093) to become an important town with special privileges known as an ecclesiastical burgh. Until the 17th century, the town was the royal capital of Scotland. The union of the Scottish and English crowns in 1603 saw the end of Dunfermline’s ecclesiastical status, which led to decline by the time of the birth of James Buist in 1617. He is described by this author as the earliest known Buist as there are still credible records of him in Dunfermline dating back from the 17th century, but, as yet, nothing is known of his forebears. The story of this family begins in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland in the early 1600s.
“On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. James Buist, Kirktonbarns, was entertained to dinner in the hall of the Royal Hotel, on occasion of his retirement from active business as a farmer…In proposing the toast of the evening, the Chairman said ‘Croupiers and Gentlemen, I now call upon you to drink to the health of a much-respected guest. To the retirement of Mr. Buist from the scene of farming is like the removal of an ancient landmark. Few have been the days during that long period in which the tall form has not been seen stalking across his fields with his weedock in his hand and his weather hat on his head.’”1 Thus ran the front page of the Fifeshire Journal Newspaper for Thursday, 29 September 1870 giving a small glimpse of the accomplished Fife farmer, businessman, investor, and benefactor one James Buist, Esquire. This then is the narrative of the life and times of James Buist.
James Lyell (1786-1865) The Linen Manufacturer of Newburgh
Like his father and grandfather before him, James Lyell was a linen manufacturer in Newburgh, Fife situated on the Firth of Tay. Newburgh’s industries consisted of the making of linen and floor cloth, quarrying and salmon fisheries all of which have now long gone. The Lyell family history has had a long association with Newburgh dating back to the early 1700s when Alexander Lyell (1684- ) and Isobel Buist (1691- ) were married there in 1712 and had eight children who were all born and raised there. At least four generations of the family have resided in Newburgh.
James Millar Buist (1824-1919) An Entrepreneur of His Time
James Millar Buist, a gardener in Fife, typified the entrepreneurial spirit in Scottish gardening in Fife to becoming a successful florist in America’s largest city of the 19th century, New York City, New York, United States. Having left Scotland in 1849 at the young age of 25, James Millar Buist, as an entrepreneur, began numerous floral shops during a period of economic growth in the United States, raised a family, and finally bought a farm to start a rose farming business in Dingman Township, Pike County, Pennsylvania. The business was quite successful in catering to florist shops in New York City and beyond. Buist was a well-respected rose grower and florist and lived to the advanced age of 94. This then is the narrative of the life and times of James Millar Buist.
The Illustrious Life of the Very Reverend Dr George Buist (1779-1860) of St. Andrews
“We have today to record the death, at St. Andrews, under peculiarly melancholy circumstances, of the venerable second minister of the Established Church there, the Reverend George Buist, D.D., at the advanced age of eighty-four [sic] years… Dr. Buist was one of the oldest ordained ministers of the Church of Scotland… held the rank of Moderator of the Assembly of the Church. He was an attentive minister, sincere in the performance of his duties, a thorough business man and his loss will be greatly felt…” Thus ran the front page of the Dundee Advertiser Newspaper of Friday, 20 April 1860 giving a small glimpse of the accomplished life of the Very Reverend Dr. George Buist. Newspapers across Scotland published his obituary and his funeral which was largely attended was equally covered as well. The Reverend Dr. George Buist of St. Andrews was born at the farm of Orkie in Kettle Parish, the fourth child of George Buist (1750-1797), a tenant farmer and proprietor, and Margaret Low (1752-1781). He attended the United College from 1794-97 studying Latin and Greek and made rapid progress in his various studies. In his father’s Trust and Disposition of 1796, George received 600 pounds sterling plus 10 pounds sterling a year while at college for defraying the expense of completing his college education. As a youth and well into old age, George Buist was universally regarded with affection for a quality of an unassuming kindness of disposition and temper, which made it impossible for him to initiate or to be irritated. He was ordained to his first charge as minister of Falkland in September of 1802 where he was esteemed as a preacher and was indefatigable in the discharge of his parochial duties.
The Unique Travel Journal of James Buist
Obscured away in the archives of St. Andrews University, Special Collections Department is a 92-page travel journal written by a 25 year old, James Buist, a tenant farmer of Kirktonbarns. Written during the summer of 1820 this unique, descriptive, informative and anecdotal travel journal chronicles Buist’s travels through a part of Scotland and England by stagecoach. He entitled the work as “Desultory Observations made in a journey through a part of Scotland and England.” Buist dedicated the work to Mr. J. Russell of Walton-upon-Thames, Surrey, England with apologies for the delay in sending it.
Thomas Buist (1789-1829), Head Gardener of Feddinch, St. Andrews
Thomas Buist, the future Head Gardener of Feddinch, Cameron Parish, Fife was born on Wednesday, 15 July 1789 at Orkie, Kettle Parish, Fifeshire. He remained at Orkie, Kettle Parish, Fife with his mother and his younger brothers and sister until circa 1797-1799 when they relocated to the estate of Kirktonbarns in Forgan Parish, Fife. He later met and married Elizabeth Christie of Auchtermuchty Parish, Fife on Thursday, 20 July 1809 at the Kettle Parish Church in Kingskettle, Kettle Parish, Fife.1 They had eight children. Later Buist was a house servant at Smiddygreen, St. Andrews working there until circa 1813-14 when the family relocated to Feddinch, Cameron Parish. Here, Thomas Buist worked as a house servant, land steward and finally Head Gardener to William Lindsay, Esq. This then is the narrative of the life and times of Thomas Buist.