Series 6 > Perth Kirk Session books, 1577-1590

APPENDIX I
Adamson, his paternal uncle), and an estate valued at £241 13s 4d for her
and his sons, Patrick and William.66
JHON PEBLIS. Craftsman burgess elected elder only in 1576. With his three
brothers (Andrew, a Baxter, Alexander, and Oliver, below), he was admitted
to the guildry in 1554 and thereafter advanced rapidly in civic responsibility.
He was designated craftsman bailie in the elections of 1570,1572 and 1573;
was elected to the council in 1576 and 1577; and eventually served as sheriff
of Perth. He held property owing rents to the hospital, and was a rather prof-
ligate moneylender: at his 1585 death his ‘free gear’ or estate after payment
of his debts (£261 18s) amounted entirely to debts owed to him, and he
had apparendy himself borrowed money to make the loans.67
OLIVER PEBLIS. Merchant burgess elected elder in 1576, 1582, 1591,
1593,1598, and 1599, the brother of Jhon, above. He resided in a house in
the Northgait, and he owned considerable property owing hospital rents,
including a particularly valuable plot from St Gregorys altar that paid five
merks annually. By 1584 he was denominated ‘of ChapelhilT, the title taken
later by his son Alexander (baptised 1566). Admitted to the guildry with his
three brothers in 1554, he was chosen dean of guild in 1574,1576 and 1577;
served as a bailie in the terms of 1572,1573,1575,1581,1582,1585 (second
election), 1592,1594,1595, and 1597; and was elected to the council in 1569,
1570,1576 (as former baihe), 1578,1579,1580,1583,1596,1598 (the last three
again as former baihe), and 1599. He was burgh treasurer in 1587,1588 and
1589. In 1581 he served as the first recorded kirkmaster, responsible for the
physical upkeep of the kirk. Peblis represented Perth in the parliaments of
1572 and 1590; was delegated to the conventions of burghs in 1578, 1582,
1586 and 1587; and served as sheriff depute of the county. His son, Alex¬
ander Peblis of Chapelhill, would also have a long and illustrious magisterial
career from 1616, serving several times between 1628 and 1638 as provost
of the burgh. Peblis died in 1606, leaving an estate valued at just £63 18s
4d, much of it in fiends from the Chapelhill property in the form of barley,
peas and oats. The low point in Peblis s otherwise successful life, recounted
in the present volume of kirk session minutes, was the early years of the
1580s, troubled first by his tumultuous marriage to Jean Thornton, who in
1581 committed notorious adultery with his former friend Henry Adamson
(above), and then by a charge of treason leveled against him on suspicion
that he was involved in Cowrie’s attempt on Stirling in 1584.68
66 GB, 295; Milne, 81, 96; PKCA ms B59/12/2, fos 58v-61v; NRS ms CC8/8/36/321-22
(noting annual rent on his Watergait house as £16 13s 4d).
67 GB, 234; PKCA mss B59/12/2, fos 22r-22v, 24v-25r, 26r, 28n-28v, and B59/26/1/11, fos
lr, 3v (caution list); Milne, 58, 87; NRS ms CC8/8/16/92-98.
68 PKCA mss B59/12/2, fos 21r-22r, 24v-25r, 26r, 27r-28v, 31r, 32r, 33r, 35r, 38r, 40r, 42r;