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I have been researching my ancestors from the Scottish Borders and my wife's ancestors from South Uist, Central Scotland and Ireland.

Most of my research has been on-line making use of the excellent search facility and records from Scotland's People. To gain some insight into the life and times of my ancestors I have also been making use of the The British Newspaper Archive.

This tale relates to my Scott ancestors from Ancrum near Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders.

 In the 1871 Census my great great grandfather James Scott (1831-1912) is the tenant farmer at Lilliards Farm, Ancrum with his wife Helen Mabon (1831-1912) and their seven children including my great grandfather Thomas Scott (1865-1947).

I'm unsure how long James had tenanted the farm although I do know that it was less than 10 years. (His father James had been tenant farmer there until his death in 1855 however an Andrew Grieve is tenant farmer in the 1861 census).
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The Southern Reporter of January 11th 1872 downloaded from The British Newspaper Archive contains an advert for the sale of Farm Stock and implements at Lilliards Farm.

Clearly since all the crops and livestock as well as the house contents are to be sold, James has been forced to sell up and vacate the farm for some reason. The above advert gives a great insight into the nature of farming in the Scottish Borders at that time which can be the subject of a future post. It also gives one a strange feeling seeing your ancestors' personal possessions including sofa, kitchen table and gun for sale by public auction.
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However that's not the end of this chapter of this story and things potentially get even worse. In the very same edition of the Southern Reporter on Jan 11th 1872 in the Local Intelligence section the following report appears.

​The circumstances surrounded the whole affair have clearly aroused some suspicions and in the Southern Reporter of 18th January 1872.

​Fortunately for James, the Southern Reporter of 1st February 1872 reports.

Precognition was a new term to me​ but apparently it is a distinctive feature of the Scottish legal system.  It is the face to face interview of witnesses who may be called to give evidence at a forthcoming criminal trial.  It is done to evaluate the evidence that the witness will give while under oath at the trial so that the law officers can decide whether to proceed with a case or not.

Remembering that James, then aged 41 has a wife and 7 children :-James (17), John (9), Agnes (8), Thomas (7), Mary (5), Helen (2) and 2 month old George these must have been difficult times indeed for James and Helen.