The Grocer of Lintrathen
John Cormack (1803- 1872)
(Perth, Lintrathen, Kingoldrum and Kirriemuir)

John CORMACK
Birth:	ca 1803, Perth
Death:	4 Feb 1872, Belliesbrae, Kirriemuir, Age: 69
Occupation:	Labourer and Grocer
Father:	Alexander CORMACK
Mother:	Mary MILLAR (or MILLAN)
Spouse:	Jannet SMITH
Birth:	1791, Lintrathen
Baptism:	16 May 1791, Lintrathen
Death:	11 Sep 1871, Kingoldrum, Age: 80
Occupation:	Grocer's wife
Father:	James SMITH (1754-)
Mother:	Martha HANTON (1762-)
Marriage:	27 May 1825, Lintrathen, Forfarshire
Children:	Alexander (1825-1892); James (1827-1912); Thomas (1829-1855)

According to various census entries John Cormack was born in Perth although by the time of marriage in May 1825 he was already a resident of Lintrathen. The Gazetteer of Scotland of 1803 describes Lintrathen parish in this way: "About 8 miles in length, and 4 in breadth, elevated on the skirts of the Grampian mountains. It has a bleak and barren aspect; the surface is composed of hills, valleys and mountains, and possesses few spots which admit of culture; and even these spots are of a thin muirish soil, yielding an inferior quality of grain. The greater part is laid out in pasturage, neither the soil nor climate being favourable for plantations. There is a lake about a mile in diameter, which gives rise to one of the principle streams of the Melgam."

John and his wife, Jannet Smith, made an early appearance in the Kirk Session minutes on 26th June 1825, just a month after their marriage and a few weeks before the birth of their son Alexander, as follows: "The session being met and constituted compeared John McCormack and Jannet Smith in Inzion of antenuptial fornication who confessing sorrow for said sin wer (sic) gravely rebuked and exhorted to repentance and after paying the usual pennalty (sic) to poor funds were absolved. (Signed) J.O. Walker, Session Clerk."

Jannet and John were by no means alone in getting into this sort of difficulty and the Lintrathen kirk session minutes, in common with others, are full of such references. Another Smith of Inzion was brought before the Kirk Session just a year or two before accused of intimacy with a Jean Donald. The alleged act took place at Drumain whilst returning from the Hallows Fair at Alyth. These occasions had a reputation for high spirits and careless behaviour and there must have been many a boy and girl who had their marriages settled for them at these events. Such cameos provide a fascinating insight into the moral attitudes of rural people at the time.

In the mid 19th century the upper and middles classes of Scotland expressed great concern at the apparent rise in illegitimate births. The assumption was that this was a problem made in the cities as the thousands of incomers turned away from the strict morality of their rural past. It was only when the registration of births started in Scotland in 1855 that the truth became known that the number of children in some rural areas born 'the wrong side of the blanket' was twice the national average. The shock was felt all over Scotland, although to those living closer to the farms it was hardly a surprise. One minister of the time reflected that, after many months in his parish, he was yet to baptise a firstborn the right side of the wedding day.

Sometimes a servant lass at the 'big hoose' would fall prey to the unwelcome advances of the master or his son, but in the vast majority of cases the dalliance was entirely happy and willing; that of milkmaid and ploughman, orra loon and kitchen maid. Their courting grounds were the stable and the byre, the hay stirk and the cornyard. As one writer puts it, "the midnight sport of the farmtouns was as close to nature as anything about the farmyard itself; that the toil of the farmyard day was as nothing sometimes against its activities of the night". Many were the weddings hurriedly arranged after such a rendezvous. John Cormack's and Jannet Smith's, it seems, was one of them. As is seen from the Kirk Session minute, the Parish Poor Fund was none the worse for it. There could be personal benefits too and occasionally a lowly lad would wed the farmer's daughter or a milk maid the farmer's son, lifting themselves to level of society otherwise unattainable.

Jannet's father was a joiner and her family had lived in Lintrathen for almost a century when she married John, who was 11 years her junior. They lived in the cottartoun of Inzion which is just to the north of the Loch of Lintrathen, John Cormack worked here as a labourer for at least 15 years, a settled condition which would be unimaginable just a generation later. The cottar was a sub-tenant on the farm, renting a piece of land from the farmer at a low price and making up the difference in labour at seedtime and harvest, hay-making and peat cutting. That arrangement was in decline at this time, as were the cottartouns where such men lived. Such touns were almost self-sufficient, housing souter, tailor and weaver, as well as a plethora of farm labour. Once established, cottars rarely moved and children generally succeeded parents in the work. Every large farm had its own colony of cottars, Inzion being one of them. Dwellings carry the name Inzion even today, although the buildings that were used in the 19th century are long gone.

Sometime over the next ten years the family's fortunes changed for the better. In both the 1851 and 1861 censuses John is recorded as being a grocer at Glenburnie in Lintrathen, although he is still living at Inzion. Quite how this transformation took place or where the couple found the finance to set themselves up in business is not known. It was around this time that George Baxter of Speyside, founded his famous grocery business. Employed as a gardener at Gordon Castle, he borrowed £100 from an uncle and established a shop in the village of Fochabers. Perhaps Jannet and John did similar.

The success of a grocer was dependant upon the produce of the area around him. Meat, fowl, grains, cereals, vegetables, tea and other household necessities would have formed their stock. Barter was still common and many groceries would have been exchanged for local produce. Perhaps, like George Baxter's wife, Jannet turned her hand to the production of jams and jellies. John, in his turn, would have travelled the local area selling to the touns, his horse van carrying sugar, soap and semolina, cans of treacle to sweeten the supper porridge of the farm servants and syrup of figs to relieve the effects of a diet based almost entirely on oatmeal. Such travelling merchants were welcome, not only for the produce they brought, but for the news of the outside world they passed on. Often, in exchange for the telling of their stories, they would get a meal with the men and permission to spend the night in the barn. Many, like John's father Alexander, were old soldiers who nightly re-fought their campaigns. No doubt exaggeration was common but it brought a little light relief and colour to the otherwise claustrophobic life of the touns.

As the cottartoun waned the farmtoun waxed. The latter were the product of a new era in farming, itself the result of over 100 years of improvement in Scottish agriculture. A cluster of buildings: farmhouse, barn, byre, stable and servant dwellings with the midden in the midst of them, they belied the name "town" in their compact smallness. But "town" or "toun" they were and within the confines of the labour system of the time they formed a real community. The tenant farmer and his farm servants were their flesh and blood, the grieve (overseer), the ploughmen, the baillies (cattlemen), the maids and the orra loons (young jack of all trades) . The cattle and the Clydesdale horses were the animals on which their fortunes rested. The names of the touns come down to us today as the small villages which are scattered throughout Angus and Perthshire.

The food of the farmtouns in these times made the diet of a soldier, such as John's father Alexander, seem rich indeed. Oatmeal and tatties (potatoes) were the staple foods, with the former definitely in the greater measure. There was an infinity of oatmeal. Oatmeal porridge mixed with boiling water, salt and pepper for breakfast. Oatmeal in other forms would be served for dinner and supper too. The variations were as great as the oatmeal was all-present and treacle, whey, ale, stout, cabbage, kail and turnip all found themselves mixed with the staple article. The vegetables, present only in season, were important in the prevention of scurvy and other diseases brought on by the unaltered diet. The oatmeal was part of the perquisites of farm service, provided directly by the farmer in lieu of pay. The milk and potatoes were also included, as was coal. By the 1920s this had, in most places, improved little more than to provide also for two or three daily slices of bread. All else had to be purchased from the travelling grocers and other merchants that traversed the countryside.

By 1871, the John and Jannet Cormack were still in the grocery business, but now based in Kingoldrum village. It was here that Jannet died in September that year. In the census taken a few months earlier, they have their 16 year old grand daughter Annie living with them, she being employed as an outdoor worker - perhaps seasonal work for a local farmer. Annie was a daughter of John's second son James who was living at Saddle Hillock, Ruthven at the time.

The New Statistical Account of Scotland, 1842, describes Kingoldrum in this way, "The parish, which is situated in the braes of Angus, covers about 20 square miles. It is bounded on the north and east by Kirriemuir and Cortachy, on the south by Airlie and on the west by Lintrathen. The people, generally speaking, are obliging, hospitable and affable. Poaching in the salmon fisheries formerly prevailed; but this has been completely checked. The parish may be said to be completely agricultural. The sheep are principally of the black-faced breed. The Angus-shire black cattle are the most common. They are generally sold to dealers for the London, Edinburgh and Glasgow markets. The nearest market town is Kirriemuir. The only village is in the neighbourhood of the church. The roads are in a bad state of repair. The bridges are not so numerous as they require to be, and several are insecure. The fences are partly of thorn and partly of dry stone. The parish is divided into large farms; the practice of keeping bothies is almost universal. This may be advantageous to the farmer, but is certainly most adverse to the morals of the labouring population."

John's death certificate, in 1872, shows his place of residence as Belliesbrae, Kirriemuir (his own house). Subsequent records show this to be No. 8. His eldest son Alexander also lived there at the time. The building still stands but, at the time of writing, is now a pizza shop.

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