17 years ago I heard of the little Scottish town of Tillcoultry, for the first time! There was a William MESSER born there in 1770 who could have been the father of a Henry MESSER (my g-g-g-grandfather) who married in Sydney in 1835. A William Messer married Ann in London in 1793 & had a son Henry in 1806. 17 years later (AFTER RESEARCHING most OF THEIR FAMILY & DESCENDANTS!!!!) I found out that Henry died in 1811, aged 5 years!
But Tillycountry always held a fascination for me - today I found out why! Little town of many OLD stone houses (also some nice newer ones!), OLD churches, High Street of shops all with a backdrop of high hills / mountains, half covered in low cloud & a part gourged out for a quarry.
We parked opposite a church (turned out to be Congregational) with some wonderful lady volunteers who serve morning & afternoon teas (home made scones, cupcakes & slices - all 50p) & lunch (soup, toasted sandwiches etc. tea, coffee & milkshakes - every day!!! Wonderful!
I told them my family story, showed them the family photos & they were sure the MERCER's they knew of were them! The uncle looked the spitting image of my Henry & a relative had gone to Australia! I did tell them we were talking 300 years earlier but it didn't seem to register - they were out checking all the plaques in the church & ringing everyone!!!! I left my phone number & email & they were happy.
We continued on through the town of Dollar, beautiful golf courses everywhere, Campbell Castle, ruined tall round tower, archways of trees, autumn trees & hedges & are staying 2 nights at a lovely B&B in Kinross. Tomorrow we start checking out where all the SHARPs ( Jen's husband, Brian's family, came from.
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