McMurray Scotland-Ireland Mission Blog

Saints and Spinners One of the members of the Paisley Ward were kind enough to give us a small book, titled 'Saints and Spinners, A Concise History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the town of Paisley 1839-2000' , researched and compiled by David Craig. It does a wonderful job of knitting together (pardon the pun), the history of Paisley and Great Britain, and church history in the area during the same period. I've learned alot about both and still have alot to read.  Two young men, from Canada, but originally Scottish born, Elder Alexander Wright and Samuel Mulliner, were the first missionaries called to serve in the Scottish Mission, 1839-1842. They both had joined the Church in Canada. The first converts in Scotland were in January 1840 - Alexander Hay and his wife, baptized by Elder Mulliner in the River Clyde near Bishopton which is just a few miles from where we live here in Paisley. In May, 1840, the apostle Orson Pratt of the Council of the Twel...

Paisley Abbey, 'Cradle of the Stewart Kings' One of the blessings of being Senior Couple Member and Leader Support Missionaries, is an opportunity to go on sight seeing outings from time to time. These normally occur on our 'preparation day' which is Saturday, but there are some weeks when our PDay is taken with other duties. What I'm saying is - we have flexibility in our schedule, and we love that. We've just arrived to our assigned area in Paisley and have been researching as much as time allows (mornings and late at night mostly), for family history connections. And I am blown away with what we've found. To make it short, we have found that virtually all of the Scotland royals going back to Fergus in 500 A.D. are family. Robert the Bruce I King of Scotland is 17th great grandfather, and back to the 'high stewards' , all of whom are buried across the road from us at Paisley Abbey - as is Robert III, and his grandmother Princess Marjory Bruce. I...