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Farmland basking in the warm embrace of a picturesque sunset, the landscape is a patchwork of verdant fields and golden wheat that stretch out to meet the horizon, where the soft hues of the setting sun kiss the earth. Scattered across the serene panorama are quaint cottages with thatched roofs and wafting smoke, each nestled amidst lush gardens and surrounded by the industrious activities of the period - farmers tilling the land with horse-drawn plows, children playing, and women tending to the livestock. (Jeffrey Campbell, A Bygone Era, 2024. Artist's rendition created with Perchance AI Image Generator)
Disbanded Soldiers on the Lovat Estates, 1764
Listed as 'King's Cottagers,' the following men who served in Colonel Fraser's 78th Regiment of Foot in North America, 1757-1763, returned home at the end of the war and settled on the fortified Lovat Estates. Typically, their post-military roles included the occupations of tradesmen and day laborers who worked on the local farms and in the small villages nearby.
There were 58 houses built upon this Estate, of which 54 were occupied by men from both Colonel Fraser's Regiment, and other various military regiments, including Campbell's, Johnston's, Sutherlands, McLean's, Petitot's, Leighton's, Oughton's, Carr's, Murray's, Brudnell's, and Keith's Regiment. The local Factor found it necessary to give two of the houses built at Chrochell's as a school and schoolhouse for the accommodation of a schoolmaster settled there, and was also been obliged to give two houses built at Castle Dunie [Dounie or Downie - presently Beaufort Castle] to a flax dresser and spinning mistriss.
Total expenses included:
Erect buildings: £10.12.2
Money loaned for aids to prosecute men's trades: £5.0.0
Travel charges; purchasing household furniture: £3.8.0
Cover sheet:
List of disbanded Soldiers settled on the annext Estate of Lovat as Tradesmen and Day Labourers under the denomination of King's Cottagers, 1764
Donald Fraser
Regiment: Frasers
Time of Service yrs.: 7
Place of Birth: Kilmorack Parish, County Inverness
Years of age: 30
Profession: Day Labourer
Village or Farm where settled: Barnyards
When settled: April 28th, 1764
Findlay McKearick
Regiment: Fraser's
Time of Service yrs.: 7
Place of Birth: Kilmorack Parish, County Inverness
Years of age: 40
Profession: Day Labourer
Village or Farm where settled: Ardnacrask
When settled: Sepr. 28, 1764
Thomas Campbell
Regiment: Fraser's
Time of Service yrs.: 7
Place of Birth: Kilmorack Parish, County Inverness
Years of age: 31
Profession: Day Labourer
Village or Farm where settled: Relig
When settled: Aprl. 28th, 1764
Dougall McDonald