Strathendrick, and its inhabitants from early times

14 HISTORY OF STRATHENDRICK
another field preaching was held on the Tuesday following, at which Mr. Riddell
was again the minister ; after that service Balfour and his friends crossed the
hills, and took refuge in "an honest man's" house near Campsie.
After Mr. John Semple's deprivation the parish was vacant for nearly two
years, but as there is an unfortunate hiatus in both the Presbytery of Dunbarton
and the Session Records, little is known of ecclesiastical matters in Fintry
during the vacancy.
REV. HUGH ALLAN.
1691-1694.
On the 21st May 1691, Mr. Hugh Allan was called to the parish, and was
ordained on the 21st September following. He was a young man, and after
being three years in the parish he married Marion Fullerton ; but the next
year he died, and Fintry was again vacant. 1
REV. JOHN KINNEAR.
1696-1704.
The vacancy lasted for nearly two years when the parish presented a call
to Mr. John Kinnear, a Glasgow student. 2 He was ordained 1st January 1696,
and on 23rd March 1704, he died. 3 There is still a blank in the Session
Records of Fintry, and in the Presbytery Records there is nothing of interest.
REV. ROBERT M'FARLANE.
1705-1707.
After Mr. Kinnear's death the parish gave a call to Mr. Walter Menzies,
a young man who had just been licensed by the Presbytery of Dunbarton.
The Marquis of Montrose, however, did not favour his settlement, and the
Presbytery did not wish to offend either his lordship or the parish. They sent,
therefore, one of their number to Fintry in November 1704, to find out "in
a prudent, cautious way" if the people still adhered to their call to Mr.
Menzies, and to report to the Marquis. The people still wanted to have him,
and the Marquis was equally determined to have Mr. Robert M'Farlane,
Minister of Arrochar, and after a good deal of negotiation he prevailed, and
Mr. M'Farlane was settled in Fintry on the 14th June 1705. 4 Like his two
predecessors he was quite a young man, and also, like them, he was not long
in the parish, having been translated to Buchanan on the 24th July 1707.
1 Fast. Ecc. Scot., Part III., p. 354. 2 Fast. Ecc. Scot., Part in., p. 354.
3 Presb. Records. i Presb. Records.