From Carse to Canada

“William Proudfoot was born near Peebles in 1788,” writes Donald Abbott of Invergowrie, “and in 1807 he attended the Divinity Hall of the Secession Church which had formed in 1733 as a breakaway from the Church of Scotland. He was licensed to preach by his church in 1812.

“By 1813, he was inducted to Pitroddie Secession Church in the Carse of Gowrie and he oversaw the erection of the second church building at Pitroddie in 1816, a congregation having been formed there in 1788.

“He was a preacher of distinction and under his guidance the congregation grew. He also introduced a small fee paying boarding school which utilised the Session House at Pitroddie from 1819 until 1825 , where he taught the standard subjects with emphasis on the classics and mathematics.

“In 1832, William decided to serve his church as a missionary in Upper Canada. Accordingly, he rouped his furniture and set out with most of his extensive family (the first eight of his 10 children by Isobel Aitchison having been born in the manse of Pitroddie ) for the west coast where they transhipped for Canada.

“Two of his daughters remained temporarily in Scotland to finish their education .The family eventually arrived in Quebec on the St Lawrence River. Ultimately the family arrived in New London where he formed First Church with several satellite churches nearby.

“Later he formed a college in New London to provide ministers for his church in Upper Canada (the Ontario of today) which later moved to Toronto. His First Church was destroyed by fire in the mid-1800s but is represented today by First St Andrews in London of the United Church of Canada which congregation pays regular respect to the memory of Rev William Proudfoot. He died in London, Ontario in 1851. A number of descendants still live there.”