Ormidale Memorial

Below we bring you, bit by bit, a memorial that Ormidale wrote in 1798 laying out his grievances against his brother (“the late Otter”) in an attempt to have his will overturned. We have done our best to decipher Ormidale’s scrawl but please feel free to offer corrections of any word you think we have misread. We are quite sure that there will be a few.

Excerpt 25

This extract really does make you appreciate modern punctuation. The entire memorial contains no more than a handful of commas or full stops, as is typical with eighteenth century writing, and uses capitalisation to emphasize important words.

That such a character also

Who seldom or ever since he became Laird went to sermon

Nor did he ever communicate at the Lords Table if he did it

Never was Knowen in his Country Such a Character to Adopt

the Children of an Infamous Woman is beyond the the Adopti

=tion of Children as related in Scripture to Adopt such to the preju

=dice of a Brother who defies all Mankind to prove One

Page 10th One unjust Action toward every person

or persons in the Course of his Transactions in Business

of every kind with his Tennants his labourers by piece

Workers Days Wadges his Servants and above all his Transections

in his Fathers and Brothers business for many years which

he hase the Satisfaction to think in his old days is that

there are few in his Country can say with truth the

Same at the Memorialist time of life ———

Excerpt 26

Ormidale repeatedly says that he neglected his own estate, concentrating instead on ensuring that Otter was run properly. “Paitty Children” presumably means “small children”, from the French “petit”.

18 Which Gauves the Memorialist unto his Death

That as is said having Misspent his precious time

doing nothing. That now in his Old Age he finds

with deep regret the Consequence is that his Familie

Consisting of a Wife her sister and a daughter and

some ane or Others of his Grand Children in his familie

And also his Sons Situation who is a Man of an

Honest respectable good character and Who hase a

Wife and A numerous family of Paitty Children and that such

of said familie have not yearly to live upon of an

Income of Landed Property After deducting Taxes

And Others with debts due also Yearly each Familie

As said have not to live upon Above from £70 Sterling

till £80 Sterling Yearly from the aforesaid causes that

The Memorialist had misspent his time as aforesaid

Sett forth in truth ———–

Excerpt 27

Here we have the reason that the two brothers finally became completely estranged. Otter claimed that he had given Ormidale money to pay a bill, and that Ormidale had kept it. Later in the memorial Ormidale says that he did use the money for its intended purpose.