Papers of Adam Mackie, farmer, merchant and innkeeper, Fyvie, Aberdeenshire

Indenture of apprentice between William Mackie, shoe-maker in Aberdeen and his nephew, Adam Mackie, 15 Feb 1800 (and release, 15 Feb 1805); diaries kept by Adam Mackie, Lewes of Fyvie, 1818 - 28, providing a detailed account of his daily life, including family, social and business matters; stock and inventory book, Lewes of Fyvie, 1836 - 1850, containing annual analysis of investments, with reflections on prevailing market conditions for each year (e.g. The by gone year has been ruinous among what has been called the Aberdeen Stocks ...), and agreement between Adam Mackie and his son, James Mackie, for James Mackie to enter into the business, 16 Mar 1850

Adam Mackie, son of Adam Mackie, shoe-maker and farmer, was born in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, on the 3 Jan 1788. After attending the local parish school, he was apprenticed in 1800, to his uncle, William Mackie, shoe-maker in Aberdeen. On completing his apprenticeship in 1805, he returned to Fyvie, and in 1815 began farming the lands of Lewes of Fyvie. Once established in the farm, he expanded his interests into shopkeeping and innkeeping, and established himself as a local bank agent and a dealer in the local illicit whisky trade.

He was married twice, to Mary Jameson in 1817, and to Isabella Rose in 1836, and had 7 children, including an illegitimate son Adam, who was born to Rachel Gordon in 1817. His fourth son, James, bought the business stock shortly before his father's death in 1850, and converted it into a successful limited liability company, James Mackie and Co. Ltd., with branches throughout Aberdeenshire, operating mainly as an outlet for butter and eggs.

For further details see William Mackie, The Diary of a Canny Man, 1818 - 1828: Adam Mackie, farmer, merchant and innkeeper in Fyvie, ed. by David Stevenson (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1991).

Listing in progress

Open, subject to signature accepting conditions of use at reader registration sheet

Deposited in the University in Aug 1990, by Adam Mackie's great great grand-son, Graeme James Hay Mackie

Very brief collection level description available on Aberdeen University Library Catalogue, accessible online http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/library/

Microfilm copies of this collection are deposited in the National Archives of Scotland (RH.4/66/1-9) and in the Queen Mother Library, University of Aberdeen (x9 (4125) McK).

Printed transcripts of William Mackie's diaries appear in William Mackie, The Diary of a Canny Man, 1818 - 1828: Adam Mackie, farmer, merchant and innkeeper in Fyvie, ed. by David Stevenson (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1991).

Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation.

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of Special Libraries and Archives (e-mail: speclib@abdn.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

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Diary of service in the Scots Guards, in Sudan, Egypt and Cyprus, Adam Mackie, 1885 (GB 231 MS 3018). [? A descendent of Adam Mackie (1788 - 1850)] The diary relates to the abortive Sudan expedition of 1885, led by Colonel Wolseley, and concerns, amongst other things, the battle of Tamai Zareba.

William Mackie, The Diary of a Canny Man, 1818 - 1828: Adam Mackie, farmer, merchant and innkeeper in Fyvie, ed. by David Stevenson (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1991).

This material is original