In November, 1862, we left Cumberland and went back to Scotland. We took up our residence in the village of Braidwood, about two miles from Carluke. We had then two children; the younger, a boy of six months old.

Two brothers and a brother-in-law of Mrs. Anderson had a contract of a section of a pit, and they took me in company with them. They were good workmen, and there was no trouble in making a comfortable living. From that time onwards I seldom did a single-handed day's work. I was connected with contracts, or was in charge of men.

My only brother and a brother of Mrs Anderson joined the Church at Whitehaven, but they had returned to Scotland before us. Isaac Carson, a young Cumberland man who was also a member of the Church at Whitehaven, came to Carluke. These three and Mrs. Anderson and I, started to Break Bread in our house in Braidwood on Lord's days in the year 1863. We made some progress, and after a time (I am not sure how long) we took a hall and met in Carluke on Lord's days. The Church was then spoken of as the Church in Carluke. Our year-book states that the Church in Carluke was formed in 1868. That is a mistake that I should have corrected. That Church was formed in 1863. When the little Church began, I realized the benefit of the help which I had received at Whitehaven. In addition to sometimes speaking in the forenoon and preaching the Gospel in the evening, the elders had sometimes asked me, under their guidance, to conduct meetings; all this helped me when we made the beginning at Braidwood.

An opportunity served, and we all did what we could to make known the truth as we understood it. A short time after we went to Braidwood a special meeting was advertised at a big house not far from Braidwood. They called it a conference, but it could not properly be said to be that. All Christians were invited, and it was understood that any "converted" person was at liberty to speak for ten minutes. The man who made the first speech spoke on Christian Union, and advised those who followed, as far as possible, to keep to the same subject. At Whitehaven my attention had been called to the subject of union and how it may be attained. I spoke for ten minutes at that meeting - pointing out that before men can be united there must be some common and authoritative ground on which to stand. If we tried to agree upon essentials, putting aside what was considered non-essentials, we would find that impossible, for what one considered non-essential, another would look upon as essential, and union would never be reached in that way. To be a Christian at all we have to recognise Christ as Lord of all. He said, "Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." To acknowledge Christ as Lord and then pick and choose in His instructions as to what is essential and what non-essential is the highest presumption. Whatever He has clearly taught must be binding. But we must be left free in regard to anything that he has not put past a doubt. He is Lord, and where He has not bound us we must be left free. We must leave men free to form opinions on doubtful matters, but they must not try to make their opinions binding upon others. These lines cautiously and earnestly followed must bring union. Union never can and never will come any other way.

I spoke for ten minutes at that so called conference in the manner which I have indicated. There was a Mrs. Scott at that meeting. She was deeply interested in religious matters, and lived just outside the village. What I said commended itself to her. She said to a friend that she was pleased with what I had said and wondered where I came from. Her friend informed her that I lived in the village. "Then," she replied, "I must try and see him." That led to a long and intimate acquaintance. It was not long till her husband and she were members with us. Wherever Mrs. Scott went to live, if she saw an opportunity she arranged for a gospel meeting in her house and sent for me to address it, and many a Gospel meeting she arranged for me. She died a few years ago, in her ninetieth year, but she has left children and grandchildren in our connection.

The Scott family was the means of introducing us to a man who was a help to us. A brother of Mr. Scott was employed during the harvest with a Mr. Tennant of Hillend farm, which was about three miles distant and across the valley of the Clyde from us. Mr. Scott's brother came to see him one Sunday forenoon, and Mr. and Mrs. Scott induced him to come to the meeting with them. On the Monday he was telling Mr. Tenant what a strange religion his brother had joined. He described the meeting as best he could, and Mr. Tenant helped him by putting questions. Mr. Tennant was then about eighty years of age, and the road was a heavy one - downhill the one half of the way and uphill the other; but Mr. Tennant was with us next Sunday and came regularly as long as he was able. He had been baptized a number of years before that. He had read our literature extensively, and had a better knowledge of the Scriptures than any man I had met. We made the acquaintance of some Christadelphians shortly after that, and he was some help to us with regard to them. We had left that district before he died, but he sent for me when he was dying. It was hardly like a death-bed somehow; though weak he spoke calmly and clearly. Still I made my stay shorter than I would have done lest I should exhaust him. During our conversation he said, "I have made a mistake here. I thought I would win people by living a good life beside them. Of course, it makes no matter what you believe if you do not live a good life, but, 'Faith comes by hearing,' and I have not spoken to people as often as I should. See that you do not die with my scruple, as you have opportunity, speak." We engaged in prayer together before we parted, and he said: "This is our last farewell upon earth, we have had our last conversation, I shall hear your voice no more on earth. I am dying, and what shall be the first thought that will flash upon my naked spirit when I die, I do not know. If God has revealed that in the Bible, it has escaped my observation. But I know this - all is well."

Few men approach death with all their wits about them as Bro.Tennant did. His life impressed me, his death impressed me much. I did not think that he was so near his end, but he died next day. Mr. Tennant is the farmer that I referred to earlier in my story. He was a blacksmith when young. He then became a veterinary surgeon, and later in life became a farmer. What induced him to study the Scriptures I have already related.