I am grateful to Fiona Ross of the Carse of Gowrie Sustainability Group for sending me this image of a letter typed by David Nicoll of the Parish Council Office, Errol in the Carse of Gowrie. Matthew is buried in Errol churchyard. The letter was found by Liz Roberston, after finding it in family papers. The letter is dated 1925, to a Mr Lang of St Andrews. This letter is also on the Patrick Matthew Website Here
Now that has set the cat among the pigeons again:
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So we now know Calman was wrong to write that Matthew's wife died in 1856. In fact she died in 1859, the very year in which Darwin's Origin of Species was published and stole his (1831) prior published theory.
Calman (1912) had it wrong - from his interview with one of Matthew's surviving daughters Euphemia Matthew.
Thanks are due to Peter Symon, who supplied the above information at the time he discovered Matthew's long lost grave.
Given that David Nicoll's first account corresponds accurately with the burial records I think we should favour his first hand account that Matthew's wife's name was Agnes over Calman's second-hand interview transcription account that he name was Christian.
Reference
Calman, W. T. (1912a) Patrick Matthew of Gourdiehill,
Naturalist. British Association, Dundee Meeting, 1912. Handbook. David Winter
and Son. Dundee. pp. 451-457.
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