Trees of Frankincense: Free Presbyterians of East Sutherland and North-East Ross

By Ruth Daubney, Daniel Macdonald and John Smith

This book contains accounts of over 60 men and women whose lives span from 1808 to 2015: ministers, crofters, shepherds, teachers, fishermen, housewives. Some were leaders in their communities in days of spiritual declension and helped form the Free Presbyterian Church in 1893. Giving a fragrance to these lives is the people’s lowliness of mind, grief over sin and self, and love to Christ and His cause. Their histories and religious experiences illustrate the power of godliness seen in the parishes of Bonar, Lairg, Dornoch, Rogart, Tain and Fearn during this period.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781470972998

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Free Presbyterians of East Sutherland and North-East Ross

Much of the material was originally published as individual articles in the Free Presbyterian Magazine between 1903 and 2002.

Compiled, edited and annotated by Ruth Daubney.

Layout, repunctuation and additional material are copyright.

© Ruth Daubney 2022

2 Gadloch Gardens, Lenzie

Glasgow, Scotland, G66 5DB

ISBN numbers

Paperback      978-1-4709-7315-5

Hardback      978-1-4709-7874-7

E-book            978-1-4709-7299-8

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of Ruth Daubney or her designated representative, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographic rights organisation.

A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.

Song of Solomon 4:12–15

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

Isaiah 61:3

In loving memory of

Donald Maclean Maclennan

1929–1988

Introduction

The biographical accounts contained in this volume are taken, with a few exceptions, from obituaries published in The Free Presbyterian Magazine; most can now be found in the Publications section of fpchurch.org.uk. The selection is made up of individuals from the parishes represented by the Free Presbyterian congregation currently worshipping in Dornoch and Bonar Bridge.

Some who were highly esteemed and loved are absent from these pages, either because the individual requested that no obituary be published, or because no account of their lives was written. Others have been included who spent considerable time in the area although not their whole lives. If there are others in this latter category, who have been overlooked because unknown to the compiler, this is regretted.

The obituaries are ordered chronologically according to the date of the subject’s death (this means the accounts of the ministers do not follow the order of their pastorates).

Initial and final paragraphs of the obituaries have been omitted where they simply refer to the loss to the Church and express sympathy with bereaved relatives. References to last year have been replaced with dates, and the spelling of names and placenames have been made consistent. The second parts of surnames beginning with Mac have been put in lower case, eg Macleod rather than MacLeod, unless the person was known to use the upper case. Any additions to improve the clarity of the text are in square brackets or footnotes.

Thanks are due to Rev. KD Macleod, editor of the Free Presbyterian Magazine, for permission to reprint the obituaries, to Dr RJ Dickie of Reformation Press for his exceptionally generous and invaluable assistance at every stage, to Revs R Macleod and DWB Somerset for their help and advice, to Dr J Smith and Mr D MacDonald for their painstaking work in creating the maps, to D MacDonald for the cover design, to those who sourced and contributed photographs (see end of book), to Dr RJ Dickie and Dr M Rösner for their assiduous proof reading (I am responsible for any remaining errors in the text and the maps), and finally to my husband, my family, and all who have given much appreciated support and encouragement.

The compiler grew up in the parish of Dornoch, one of the four daughters of Donald Maclennan, and was privileged to have met some of the subjects of this book and to have heard many of the others spoken of with honour and affection. The desire in reprinting the obituaries is to revive the memory of these godly people, to remind us of what God has done in the past in the parishes of East Sutherland and North-East Ross, and to stir us up to pray for these places and for ourselves, that we would be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises (Hebrews 6:12).

Ruth Daubney

December 2022

Map of East Sutherland and North-East Ross

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Ministers

Rev. E Macqueen: Lairg, Bonar, Dornoch and Rogart, 1903–1912

Rev. DA Macfarlane: Lairg, Bonar, Dornoch and Rogart, 1914–1922

Rev. F Macleod: Dornoch and Rogart, 1936–1956

Rev. DJ Matheson: Lairg and Bonar, 1926–1946

Rev. DM Macleod: Lairg and Bonar, 1956–1961

Rev. A McPherson: Dornoch and Rogart, 1961–1967

Rev. J Nicolson: Tain and Fearn, 1970–1977

Rev. DB Macleod: Lairg and Bonar, 1971–1976

Rev. DJ MacDonald: Lairg, Bonar, Dornoch, Rogart, Tain and Fearn, 1996–2008

Rev. Ewen Macqueen

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Rev. Ewen Macqueen was born on 17 June 1866, in the village of Camustianavaig, in the parish of Portree on the Island of Skye. He was the fourth son of a crofter shoemaker, who had a family of six sons and one daughter. After the death of Mr Macqueen’s father, he had to leave school in his thirteenth year to support his widowed mother.

His first employment was for a building contractor in Portree, Thomas Macfarlane, which work took him to the Staffin district of Skye. After stopping work at 6pm on Saturday night, he used to walk home a distance of twenty miles. He attended services on the Sabbath in Braes School, three miles away, and used to leave again at 2am on Monday morning to be ready for work at half past six.

After some three years at this work, young Ewen was appointed shepherd for the Sheep Club stock of Camustianav-aig where he worked for three more years. He continued his work as a shepherd in Loch Lomondside and Perthshire, and at the age of twenty-five, he returned to his home.

At this time the Word of God began to have an irresistible appeal for him and, receiving the rich promises of the Scriptures, Ewen Macqueen yielded his whole being to the service of his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

He attended school at Portree and Inverness, and so fitted himself to proceed to train for the ministry. The Free Presbyterian Church was formed in 1893, and Mr. Macqueen was a whole-hearted supporter of the founders, Revs Donald Macfarlane, Raasay,¹ and Donald Macdonald, Shieldaig.² He had a great love for Rev. Donald Macdonald and thought it an honour to carry his bag for miles along country roads. He esteemed it a great privilege to listen to the evangelical sermons of that godly man.

Mr Macqueen entered Glasgow University in 1894 and continued his studies there for three years. One of his teachers, Sir Henry Jones, Professor of Moral Philosophy, used to give voice to such expressions as, Gentlemen, we grow and grow until we reach our God. Mr. Macqueen would disapprove of such doctrine, and combat the new theology with passages from the truth.

He refused the offer of financial help to continue studying at the University, and he also spurned the offer of a large sum of money from another Church which offered to pay all his educational expenses if he joined with them. The Free Presbyterian Church was in need of ministers, and all the money he required was forthcoming from preaching engagements and kind friends. The Lord was as good to him as His promise.

After taking his theological course at Wick,³ Mr Macqueen was licensed at Glendale by the Northern Presbytery on 17 May 1901 and ordained and inducted as the first minster of the Free Presbyterian Church in Tarbert, Harris, on 31 July of the same year.

In November 1902 he married Miss Jessie Campbell of Glenvarigill, Skye. The marriage took place in Glasgow, the ceremony being performed by Rev. (later Professor) JR Mackay.⁴ Soon after his marriage he was inducted to the joint charges of Bonar Bridge, Dornoch, Rogart and Lairg, where he laboured for ten years, and carried out many of his pastoral duties with pony and trap as chief means of transport.

In 1912 he received a call to Kames, in the Kyles of Bute, and took up duty there in August of that year. In August 1914 he was appointed as FP Church Deputy to the RNR [Royal Naval Reserve] men at Portsmouth and Chatham, and in December of that year he was appointed a Chaplain to His Majesty’s Forces. He served in France and England until he was recalled by the Church in April 1916. On leaving the army, he was appointed an Honorary Chaplain to His Majesty’s Forces.

The Free Presbyterian congregation in Inverness gave him a call in March 1919, where he laboured for nearly twenty years. Mr Macqueen visited Canada and America on three occasions as Deputy of the Church, and we are persuaded that there were many who were revived and refreshed by the Word preached by him in those parts of the world.

In September 1937, Mr Macqueen sustained a severe blow by the death of his dearly beloved wife. This worthy lady was like-minded to him and proved to be an ideal partner to him throughout their thirty-five years of married life.

In 1938 Mr Macqueen had a painful separation from the Free Presbyterian Church and continued to worship separately with part of his congregation.

On the outbreak of the war in 1939, he preached regularly in Gaelic to the Cameron Highlanders stationed at Dochfour, Inverness. Before this detachment left for overseas, they presented him with a beautiful copy of the Protestant Dictionary in which they wrote the following tribute:

Mr Macqueen, your Gaelic services brought us renewed courage and also peace to our oft despondent hearts. Your transparent Christian character has won for you a deep place in the confidence and affection of many in all denominations.

25 October 1939

Mr Macqueen in his preaching was mostly experimental. He knew what the terror of the Law was, and he had great entrance into the experiences of the Christian points of doctrine, and a style of oratory which held his audiences spellbound. During communion seasons, crowds flocked to hear the Word of God from his mouth. Men, women and children of all denominations loved him.

In the town of Inverness, he was known and respected by almost everybody. He was noted for his attendance at sickbeds in homes and hospitals. Nor did he confine his visits to members of his own congregation. When visiting a hospital, he first made a round of all the beds, and usually concluded with public prayer standing in the middle of the ward. Many patients were blessed and greatly encouraged by his earnest prayer and looked forward eagerly to his regular visitations.

For eleven years, Mr Macqueen ministered separately in Inverness and in the surrounding area, as far afield as Torridon and the Isle of Skye. His genial presence will be missed in these parts. He was the means in the hand of the Spirit of turning many to righteousness: one of those who shall shine as the stars for ever and ever.⁵

Latterly, however, he was longing to depart and be with Christ. His outlook may be best summed up in the Apostle Paul’s great salutation to believers from the ninth chapter of the Romans, which he wished to be read to him in his last illness; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

He preached his last sermon with great liberty from Zechariah 12:10⁶ at a prayer meeting on 9 November 1949. The doctors and nurses of Raigmore Hospital tended him most devotedly during his illness, and he fell on sleep at 1.40am on Sabbath morning, 27 November, with these last words on his lips, Peace, peace. He was buried in the Tomnahurich cemetery, Inverness.

Taken from the obituary published in the Free Presbyterian Witness, March 1950.

Rev. Finlay Macleod

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Rev. Finlay Macleod was born in Kishorn, in the parish of Lochcarron, on 3 August 1892, and was removed by death to his eternal rest on Monday, 7 May 1956. He did not reach the age of sixty-four years when he passed away through an attack of coronary thrombosis. He was in an indifferent state of health from the time of his return from Australia and New Zealand on his second visit paid to our people there as the Deputy of the Church. It is very probable that his military service in the First World War led to an undermining of his bodily health to quite an extent, so that he was never as robust as otherwise he would normally have been.

He received his early education at the local school and came at a young age to Inverness to learn the tailoring trade. It may here be noted that he was distantly related to the late worthy Malcolm Kennedy,⁷ and his aunt, Ann Kennedy, was a highly esteemed follower of the Saviour. Mr Robertson, Tain, recalls precious conversations which he had with this aunt in the company of the late Mr Macleod.

We cannot record much concerning the way in which the Holy Spirit led him from the kingdom of sin and Satan into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. Mr Angus Stewart, Inverness,⁸ a highly respected elder and missionary of our Church, made a remark which influenced him and affected him very much, but we cannot ascertain what exactly it was. He deeply prized the preaching of the late Rev. JR Mackay, as many another one did, while regretting the course taken by him. He was specially influenced through the labours in Inverness of the late Mr Murdo Mackay,⁹ Strathy Point, who occasionally supplied the congregation in the absence of his brother. It may have been through the labours of Mr Murdo Mackay that Mr Macleod was in free, holy, and sovereign grace, blessed with the saving knowledge of his Saviour. Such was his regard for Mr Murdo Mackay that he said, I felt that I could walk all the way to Strathy to hear him again.

In connection with his spiritual experience at the time, he wrote in a letter dated 17 April 1952 as follows,

It was in the year 1915, I came forward when I was 23 years. I cannot remember that I felt what I got often since then – a sense of the Lord’s presence. A good lady, Jessie Russell,¹⁰ said to me after the services were over that first Saturday, Remember, she said, that you will not forget to sit at the Lord’s Table as often as you get the opportunity. I tried to carry out her advice, and I think that I may say that I have not regretted since doing what she said.

By April 1916, he was in the Army, at Hornsea, England, until January 1917, and, in later days, wrote of this, I hope at times that I experienced the Lord’s presence, even in the midst of the world. We rather regret that more details concerning his experiences were not left on record by him.

He was spared in the love and kindness of the Lord to come through the war, and in December 1919, was received as a student of the Church. He attended Glasgow University for his Arts course, and then the Divinity classes at Wick until 1926. He was duly licensed, and later on, ordained and inducted as pastor of the joint congregation of Dornoch and Rogart, on 5 October 1926.

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Evelix Manse, Dornoch

I do not refer in detail to his numerous visits as Deputy of the Church to Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as particulars of these can be got in the volumes of our Church magazine. For the sake of needed reference, these details are in volumes 35 and 39, and in our Proceedings of Synod for 1949 and 1956. He was a most acceptable and laborious [hard working] servant of the Divine Head of the Church as Synod Deputy, and acted as Convener, as need arose, of the Canadian and Colonial Mission Committee.

Mr Macleod experienced, in a special measure, two sore trials which befell him in the course of his ministry. One was the prolonged case of discipline which led to the defection of many in his congregation.¹¹ Throughout this trial he stood, by Divine grace, unflinchingly by the scriptural position of the FP Church in its doctrine, worship, government, and discipline, as set forth in its supreme and subordinate standards.

There was also, although in another way, the loss of the Evelix Church building by a severe storm on the last Sabbath of 1951. But Mr Macleod set about getting a suitable building erected. A permit was speedily obtained to have a building which would accommodate a congregation of two hundred. The total cost came to about £1900.¹² Mr Macleod said in connection with the above, The money is coming in gradually, and He who has the heart of all people in His hands may try our faith; but He gives more faith. The new church is a most comfortable building, electrically heated. It was opened in June 1953. Our Church is deeply indebted to Mr Macleod for his zeal and tenacity in having such an excellent building built in place of the old one.¹³

I have before me a few extracts of his letters. The following are given:

24 December 1952. Tonight I was saying something at the prayer meeting on words in the 85th Psalm, Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? I thought that I felt a little reviving in the first prayer. At times one feels discouraged because of the few people attending, especially the prayer meetings, but recently I felt as if the Lord was saying to me, I am with thee. If He is with us, who can be against us?

11 May 1953. I am over thirty years trying to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and Satan is as busy today in various ways trying to weaken my hands and heart as he was the first day. It is a battle in which grace alone is sufficient for us.

10 September 1953. On Monday I had the monthly meeting, on Wednesday the weekly meeting, and today I was visiting. I am kept going in that way, but for the fruit of my labours, Sabbath and weekday, little is to be seen. I did not look up the reference, but I think it is Isaiah where it is said that some few berries were to be found – two or three on this branch, and two or three on another.¹⁴ I thought it gave me a little reviving in my soul to think that great men of God in the past had their mournful periods when little fruit was seen by them. It will be a great day when the Lord will arise to have mercy upon Zion.

At times I conclude that if I were oftener at a throne of grace, things would be better with myself and others; but our God has the disposing of all things and not we. For this we should indeed rejoice and praise Him.

I have much pleasure in giving at this stage the substance of a letter from Rev. JP MacQueen,¹⁵ as far as this is needful for our present purpose. Mr MacQueen gives information of a Mrs Morrison who belonged to Applecross, and who lived in Vancouver, passing away quite recently in August of this year, to her eternal rest. She was in her eighty-seventh year. It was during Mr Macleod’s first visit to Vancouver that he was instrumental in her conversion.

She came regularly to our Church, but though outwardly respectable there was nothing spiritual till one day, when Mr Macleod called on her. She began to speak of the evil times in which we lived. He said to her in his firm, candid, but courteous way, What, Mrs Morrison, is your own hope for eternity? Immediately the arrow of conviction went straight to her heart. She did not get peace until sometime afterwards under Mr Macleod’s own preaching.

Rev. JP MacQueen states that he corresponded with Mrs Morrison till about a year ago [1956], when, due to senile decay, her memory completely failed, as he was informed by her daughter, Mrs Dixon. Mr Macqueen had a high esteem of Mrs Morrison as a deeply exercised Christian.

He further states that last year, at the Stornoway communion, six members at least, if not eight, when met together discussed their father in Christ, the Rev. Finlay Macleod. At least four of these were converted abroad, two of them in Canada and one, if not two, of them in New Zealand. The above is almost a quotation from Mr Macqueen’s letter. It is refreshing to know how Mr Macleod’s preaching was so much appreciated and was such a source of soul benefit to listeners, and gratitude is due to Mr Macqueen for so cordially supplying the information given.

We consider it appropriate to include some extracts by way of tribute paid to his memory as a servant of the Saviour. One of these is from Mr van Dorp,¹⁶ Gisborne. On receiving news of Mr Macleod’s death, he wrote,

Oh! he is happy, for ever happy – no doubts, no sins. no unbelief. Oh! how great is this blessing for him, forever happy with Jesus in heaven, always singing the unspeakable goodness and grace of the Lord in forgiving him all his sins that he may be with the dear Saviour. Oh! how great is the goodness of our merciful Mediator! Oh! I hope to meet him again before the throne of the Lamb. These were the last words that I was speaking to him.

We may, in addition, quote the following relevant portion of the Synod tribute:

Mr Macleod was noted for humility of mind which he possessed to a marked degree, and for prayerfulness, a grace in which he abounded. His counsel was generally weighed well before he committed himself, which made him a valuable member of our Church Courts.

His sympathies went far beyond the limits of his own parish, as seen in his readiness to give his services to our scattered congregations abroad. He visited Canada on three occasions, and in the past few years visited Australia and New Zealand twice, on the latter visit being accompanied by Mrs Macleod. Our Church has lost a steadfast friend and the gospel a devoted minister. The memory of the just is blessed!

The following part of the tribute from the Northern Presbytery is also worthy of insertion:

Mr Macleod was a minister who divided to his people food convenient for them, being acquainted with the deep things of God, and taught from his youth to fear the Lord. He largely overcame the early disadvantages of education and proved himself to be a faithful servant of Christ and valued counsellor in the Church Courts. He was the friend of the sick and aged, to whose needs he was especially attentive, and his visits to their homes were appreciated and evidently enjoyed. We believe that the Great Day will declare the full fruits of his labours, for we are assured that he had many seals to his ministry among our people at home and abroad.

We can add little more to the above. He was a man who unfeignedly wrestled at the throne of grace for himself and others. He was a humble, loving servant of his Saviour, and a most savoury preacher of the gospel.

We recall some of his discourses when with us in Dingwall on communion occasions before his pilgrimage came to its close, as those on the texts, He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? and also, We would see Jesus.

He himself endured to the end as seeing Him who is invisible and is gone to the city of everlasting habitation. His mortal remains were laid to rest in Proncynain cemetery, near the graves of the late Rev. D Beaton and of Mrs Beaton.¹⁷

Obituary written by Rev. DA Macfarlane.

Reprinted from FPM Vol. 62, p. 209, November 1957.

Rev. Donald J Matheson

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Mr Matheson was born at Strond, Harris in September 1890, one of a family of seven sons and one daughter. His father, at the time missionary in South Harris, a man who feared God above many, and his mother, a worthy helpmeet to her husband, as the obituary notices of them both, which appeared in The Free Presbyterian Magazine in the years 1924 and 1929 clearly show,¹⁸ trained their children up in the fear and nurture of the Lord and pressed upon them the need of obtaining for themselves saving faith in Christ.

The fruits of this early training in the home did not appear at once, but in the case of Donald John the Word of God began to work at an early age. He related to a friend that about the age of eleven, in the Strond meeting house in South Harris, the Word of God made a deep impression on his mind. One of the elders, the late Mal Macsween,¹⁹ was precenting verses of Psalm 6 in Gaelic and the lines of the 9th verse produced an effect upon him, which he used to say he would never forget. The verses were,

"An athchuinge a chuir mi suas,

chuala Iehobhah i;

Is gabhaidh e gu toileach uam

an urnuigh a ni mi."

(Unto my supplication/ the Lord did hearing give:/ When I to him my prayer make,/ the Lord will it receive).

A passage which was made precious to him, evidently in his early life, and which he used to quote frequently, were the words in Isaiah 54:10, For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed etc. We cannot say what means the Lord used to bring about his conversion, but by the time he arrived at manhood the habits of secret