The baptism of Robert Catanach, son of George Catanach and Helen Gordon, was recorded in the Catholic Register of Baptisms at Huntly. Robert was also baptised in the Church of Scotland, on 6^th September 1763, as recorded in the Kildrummy (Aberdeenshire) Parish Register:

1763 6th September Mr George Catanach in Drumnahive had a son baptised named Robert before witnesses Mr (King?) & Captain Gordon both in the parish of Gartly

It might be inferred from these dual baptisms that while George Cattanach was a Roman Catholic, his wife was a Protestant; a similar dichotomy had manifested itself at the time of George and Helen’s marriage. The most obvious interpretation of this arrangement is that it was a compromise between the child’s Roman Catholic father and Protestant mother.

In 1804, Robert Catanach was referred to in an account for legal services obtained on his behalf:

Account relating to payment for goods owed by George Catanach and others, Aberdeen, 19 July 1804

It emerged that Robert Catanach, ensnared in a ‘ruinous Chancery suit’ in the Jamaican courts, had fallen victim to the sort of scenario immortalised by Charles Dickens in his novel, Bleak House:

This is the Court of Chancery, which has its decaying houses and its blighted lands in every shire, which has its worn-out lunatic in every madhouse and its dead in every churchyard, which has its ruined suitor with his slipshod heels and threadbare dress borrowing and begging through the round of every man’s acquaintance, which gives to monied might the means abundantly of wearying out the right, which so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart, that there is not an honourable man among its practitioners who would not give - who does not often give - the warning, “Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!”

James Cobhan, of Morant Bay, Jamaica, subsequently wrote to Robert’s nephew, Harry Stuart, relating that Robert had died of an illness, which the writer was in little doubt had been brought on by stress generated by the disastrous chancery suit in which he had involved himself. Mr Cobhan related the sad tidings of Miss Elizabeth Gray’s death from ‘the prevailing Bilious endemic fever of this Island’. Elizabeth was presumably a relative of Adam Gray, possibly his daughter; her precise identity was clearly knowledge shared by both parties, therefore it is not explained. It also seems to be implied that this same condition had claimed Robert; it is hard to know how much to read between the lines. Mr Cobhan sent enclosures, the Inventory and appraisement of Robert’s estate, and wrote of the reluctance of Robert’s friend, Adam Gray, to accept the office of executor.

James Cobhan to Harry Stuart, 16 May 1829

If ever the impasse was satisfactorily resolved, I can find no mention of it in the letters; the saga draws to a sudden and jarring close, with a lack of conclusions reminiscent of a Franz Kafka novel. Only the documentation pertaining to the Inventory discloses that Adam Gray, undeterred, was on the case and did indeed, in the end, meet with some measure of success.

Testamentary Writings

The essential provisions of the Last Will and Testament of Robert Catanach, late of the Parish of St George, Jamaica, are known from official extracts therefrom and from a Codicil thereto; no dates are supplied.

Inventory

The personal estate of Robert Catanach, exclusive of slaves, was valued at £1,955 O/3¼d. It largely consisted of sums due for services rendered, sums ‘supposed to be due’ and three separate judgements against the estate of John French Killikelly. It would therefore have been difficult to ingather and it is unlikely that it ever was in full.

There were a total of thirty-five slaves, of whom nineteen were male and sixteen female. They were all individually inventoried by name, occupation, condition (i.e. state of health), age and estimated financial value. Two suffered from leprosy and six, of whom one also had a leg missing, had yaws, a chronic bacterial condition. The two lepers were classified as invalids, as was a sixty-year-old woman, described as ‘weak’. There were nine children and babies who did ‘no work’. Of those fit for work, there were seventeen field workers and a ‘driver’, presumably a slave driver or overseer. There were also a cook, midwife, house girl, house woman and a watchman.

The aggregate value of the slaves was £1,719, so that the combined value of Robert Catanach’s moveable estate was £3,674 0/3¼d.

The extracts from the Inventory of Robert Catanach give the total value of the ‘Inventory, besides the Freehold in...’ The final word, which is presumably a placename, is difficult to read. This reference to freehold is hard to reconcile with Adam Gray’s statement in his letter to Alexander Gray, dated 14^th February 1829, ‘he had no houses or land the place he resided upon, he had only a life lease of...’ Note, however, that David Ingram’s letter to Elizabeth Catanach, dated 3^rd November 1829, follows the extracts in supporting the existence of freehold property.

Inventory of Robert Catanach, 1828

Executors

The testator nominated as his executors James Grant of Kingston, Joseph Green of St Marys, & Adam Gray of St Georges. The last named was instrumental in compiling the inventory and on the evidence of the extracts from the Inventory was at least partially successful in ingathering the estate; whether either of the other two gentlemen accepted any active involvement remains unclear.

Beneficiaries

There were various legacies in favour of a number of beneficiaries. However, the extent to which any of the parties in question ever received any tangible benefit, if at all, remains unresolved.

To his elder sister, Mrs Margaret Gibb, he bequeathed the sum of one hundred pounds sterling.

He further directed that the property remaining after the deduction of Margaret’s £100 be divided into two equal parts and that one of these shares be paid to his sister, Elizabeth Catanach, the other to his younger sister, Charlotte Stewart. This part of the will seems badly drafted and obscure; the division was presumably intended to be made following the further deduction of the various corporeal moveable / chattels bequeathed to his housekeeper, Margaret Simpson. Presumably the testator had in mind here his money, or at least the money to be realised from the sale of his slaves.

The executors were directed to ‘manumise’ (the more conventional term is ‘manumit’, a Roman law term meaning to free, literally send from the hand) the said Margaret Simpson and he bequeathed a number of his horses and household items to her, together with a ‘negro girl named Cecilia Grant’.

Margaret Simpson was listed in the inventory as a ‘house woman’, ‘mulatto (clean)’, aged 30, valued at £40. Another individual of the same name, clean, nine months old, valued at £11, was presumably her daughter. Cecilia Grant, whom he bequeathed to the elder Margaret, was a house girl, weak, aged 11, valued at £50.

The codicil to the will liberated ‘a slave named Elizabeth Catanach’ and bequeathed her £40. This is presumably the same person who was inventoried as Eliza Catanach, invalid, weak, aged 60, valued at £20.