Genealogical memoirs of the family of Robert Burns and of the Scottish house of Burnes

36 GENEALOGICAL MEMOIRS OF
bank paper, as an equivalent for coin, was then scarcely
known in Kincardineshire.
From Edinburgh William Burnes migrated to the neigh-
bourhood of Ayr. The people of Ayr were zealous Presby-
terians and entirely loyal, and somehow a report arose among
them that the stranger had been in arms for the Chevalier.
William Burnes kept pretty well his own counsel; but among
his papers, according to his son Gilbert, was found a parish
certificate, testifying that he had no concern "in the late
wicked rebellion." This Gilbert Burns holds to be conclusive
that he had not joined the army of the Prince. It is not
so; the report that he had fought on the rebel side, and
the poet's expressions, would induce an opposite belief. We
incline to hold that William Burnes, and probably his father
and uncle, bore arms in the Jacobite cause, and were among
those scattered at Culloden.
Settling in the neighbourhood of Ayr, William Burnes
became gardener to the laird of Fairlie, and afterwards to
Mr Crawford of Doonside. At length he took a feu or
perpetual lease of seven acres of land from Dr Campbell,
physician in Ayr, with the view of becoming nurseryman. On
his feu he built, with his own hand, a cottage of mud or clay,
of which the gable fell down shortly after the birth of his
first-born. Eemarking his industry, Provost Ferguson of
Ayr, who had lately purchased the estate of Doonholm, in
the neighbourhood, induced him to abandon his nursery and
become overseer of his lands. His services were so approved
by Mr Ferguson, that that gentleman, with a view to im-
proving his position, granted liim the lease of a farm. The
farm was styled Mount Oliphant, and consisted of about
eighty acres. The rent was fixed at £40 for the first six