2019. #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks; Week 16 Prompt: ‘Out of Place’

Week 16 Prompt: ‘Out of Place’

LOUDEN

This time I have decided to look at a name that seemed out of place.  

My father was born in Peebles in 1904.  He was christened William Louden Pearce.  Years ago when I wondered if Louden was a family surname handed down, I asked my father where did the Loudens fit in? 

He laughed and told me – “they don’t, he was the minister who christened me!”.  

When speaking with my new found relatives in New Zealand last week (April 2019) I discovered that one of the women had also been given a middle name Louden, and the family story was the same – she was named after the minister in the Congregational Church in Innerleithen who christened her in 1915.  

NB: The Congregational Church was started in 1848.

I tried to research who this popular minister was. The only possibility I found was T.S. Loudon a minister with the Congregational Church, who was preaching at Muirkirk in Scotland in 1899.  Muirkirk is 1½ hours drive east from Innerleithen. 

If this is the same minister maybe he moved on to Innerleithen some time between 1899 and 1904. The reference to his being at Muirkirk is in a book which, unfortunately, only covers up to 1900.

Reference:https://archive.org/stream/historyofcongreg00ross/historyofcongreg00ross_djvu.txt

The Old Manse, previously the Manse for the Congregational church in Leithen Road, Innerleithen,  
This is where Reverend Loudon would have lived as Minister of the Congregational Church.