QUARRELWOOD ChURCH AND ITS MINISTERS. 1(">5 



26th March, 1909. 



Chairman — Mr W. M'Cutcheon, B.Sc, V.P. 



Rome. By Mr David Halliday. 



A lantern lecture on "Rome " was given by Mr Halliday. 

 This will appear in next Volume. 



21st April, 1909. 



Chairman — Mr R. Service, Hon V.P. 



The Treasurer read a letter intimating that the late Rev. W. 

 Andson had bequeathed a number of meteorological works to the 

 Society. 



Quarrelwood Reformed Presbyterian Church and its 

 Ministers. By Rev. W. M'Dowall, M.A., United Free 

 Church, Kirkmahoe. 



I have been able to gather very little information regarding 

 John Courtass, the first minister of Quarrelwood. I have been 

 unable to learn anything of his parentage, or where and when he 

 was born. From the records of the Reformed Presbyterian 

 Presbytery he appears to have been ordained in 1755 ; and the 

 centre of his labours was Quarrelwood, which at that time was 

 a village of probably 200 to 300 inhabitants. In 1819 

 it had a population of 200. There were a number 

 of "customer" weavers, as they were wont to be called, 

 and it had its smithy and, we may be almost confident, it's 

 joiner's shop. Lying off the main road leading up the east side 

 of the Nith, it is so hidden by natural knolls that the ordinary 

 traveller may pass within less than a quarter of a mile and see no 

 sign of Quarrelwood or its church. I do not know the reason why 

 the Reformed Presbyterians settled upon Quarrelwood as the seat 

 of their minister in the south of Scotland. I have sometimes 

 thought that because of its sequestration it may have been much 

 frequented by the "united" Societies (formed in 1681, and 

 remained for well nigh a century). It was from these " societies " 



