When doing the Kirkyard Chronicles, where I find stories and explore the lives of the people buried in the old graveyards of Wigtownshire, there was one book that was of immense help to me, not just because of the original text, but because of the additions made by a previous owner back in the 1880s. The book was written and published by Gordon Fraser of Wigtown in 1877 and has the catchy title of: “Wigtown and Whithorn, Historical and Descriptive Sketches and Anecdotes, illustrative of the Racy Wit & Pawky Humour of the district” I first read this book when I was young and loved it as it talked about places and names I knew of, and there were not many books like that when I was growing up. Gordon Fraser is something of a hero of mine. He had the presence of mind to collect the stories of the older generation of Wigtown and the area, realizing that when these people were gone, their stories died with them. But Gordon Fraser is a story for another day, this is a tale about the man who o

People are fond of writing their names in books. Sometimes you have a name, date, address, perhaps a wee note. It seems like something that people have always done and for me, personally, I actually quite like it (although maybe not in a 1st edition Tolkien!) A book that was often written in was the family bible. This was usually the repository of family history with someone listing dates of birth, marriage and deaths of various family members. These are great sources of information for those interested in genealogy and history in general. Nowadays, these bibles often end up surplus to requirements. People are either not religious anymore, have no interest in family history or simply don't want a large, usually well-worn, unwieldy book hanging around. Oftentimes people find themselves in possession of an old bible that they have no connection with, handed down in some strange sideways fashion from some distant ancestor’s aunts husbands’ family and so may have names that make no sense o