User:Minnichelmsdeep

To Whom It May Concern This is critical FYI since your editors can't seem to fix it in their own minds the actual facts...despite the previous editing I did more than two years ago now removed... editing that I did, all with proper citation attached and properly noted. I'd appreciate it if you would return the rank of Admiral to the name of Adam Duncan the First Viscount of Camperdown since that is what he was... an officer of the Highest esteem of the Royal British Navy. He was the mentor of Admiral Lord Nelson for God's sake...and you can't get any higher than that. I am Minnichelmsdeep and this is the creation of my page  I was a friend for several Years of Dr. William James Dempster  I helped him put together much of the family historical information on Patrick Matthew for the Wikipedia article.

Patrick Matthew's Great Grandfather Francis Duncan was the First Cousin to Admiral Adam Duncan the first Viscount of Camperdown. I am Major Howard L. Minnick the 3rd Great Grandson of Patrick Matthew  My Linnage goes back through Patrick Matthew's mother Agnes Duncan to her  Grandfather Francis Duncan and her Great Grandfather  George Duncan who was the Brother to Alexander Duncan the Third one of the four consecutive Alexander Duncan's who were Laird's of Lundie and also served as Provosts to the city of Dundie. Alexander Duncan the Third happens to be the Father of Admiral Adam Duncan and his famous Brother Colonel Alexander Duncan The Fourth, famous for his exploits in the French and Indian Wars in Canada... pre American Revolution...and the last of the four Alexander Duncan's who were Lairds of Lundie and also Provosts of Dundie for a time in each of their lives. Both of these men have been immortalized by famous Classic Authors. Patrick O'Brian's fictional Captain Jack Aubrey in the Classic 'Master and Commander' series is based on the exploits of Admirals Adam Duncan and Sir Thomas Cochrane. While James Fennimore Cooper in the "Pathfinder" used then Major Alexander Duncan as the hero Major Lundie of his novel.

The significance of influence in Patrick Matthew's Life is based greatly by the fact that Patrick Matthew grew up with a close relationship with Admiral Duncan as well as his older brother Colonel Alexander Duncan the fourth. His two major works "On Naval Timber and Arboriculture" and "Emigration Fields" are both replete with knowledge of both the Royal Navy and The British Army which obviously someone had planted seeds of knowledge in Patrick's early life. Born in October of 1790 he was nearly 15 years old when Admiral Duncan died in August of 1804. Almost three years later he would inherit the estate of Gourdiehill which along with the estates of Autchmuir and Seaside had been part of the Lairds of Lundie Land Holdings since the late 1500's. All three had once been part of the Barony of Errol... Gilbert Hays the then reigning Baron having been forced to sell off land to pay off debts acquired from a frivolous lifestyle. Hays sold the properties with the hope of reacquiring them later...to his cousin Alexander Duncan the First...the Great Grandfather of Admiral Duncan. Over the years the inheritance of the three properties went from Alexander Duncan the First...then the 2nd then onto Alexander the 3rd then onto Alexander the Fourth who despite being married left no increase which is why Admiral Adam Duncan came into their possession. Admiral Duncan was the previous owner of all three before Patrick Matthew became heir to Gourdiehill at the age of 17 in 1807. The other two properties were divided among the other children of Admiral Duncan.

While at this juncture may I also include that Alexander Duncan the First, being the first of the four Duncan Lairds of Lundie by the first name of Alexander was married to Anna Drummond of Megginch. Anna Drummond's Brother Adam owned the estate of Megginch Castle...which just so happened to have been an estate adjacent to and bordering on the Estate of Gourdiehill. The castle of Megginch is still there. I have pictures of my Grandmother Helen Matthew Minnick and her sister Julia Matthew visiting there in the mid 1930's before the second World War. Up until the 1990's the old Mansion House at Gourdiehill a little over half a mile away though damaged by fire in the early 1980's was still standing. It has now been razed and been replaced with a development of small cottages where the House once stood. There is a lane between the two locations...a lane that is still shaded with oaks and other trees that were planted by Patrick Matthew and his close friend and relative Admiral Adam Drummond. Through Anna Drummond the wife of Alexander Duncan the First, a second member of the Admiralty and a second high ranking officer of the Royal Army, his younger brother General Gordon Drummond, would also play significant roles in the life of Patrick Matthew. Admiral Adam Drummond and his brother Gordon were the 2nd Great Grandson's of Alexander Duncan the First and Anna Drummond, Admiral Drummond having been born in 1781 was nine years older than Patrick Matthew. He died in 1849 when Patrick Matthew was 59 years old. thus a 59 year window of influence. Admiral Drummond had the privilege of being mentored by both Admiral Duncan and Admiral Nelson having been an under officer under Admiral Duncan at the Battle of Camperdown and a more senior officer with Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar...the battle that Nelson won at the cost of his life. Where else would Patrick have become so knowledgeable about Military operations and Naval Timber and why else would he have chosen to write his two critical works if it were not for such influences in his life. "On Naval Timber and Arboriculture" and 'Emigration Fields" have increasingly been and still are becoming more significant in the history of Evolution based on the theories on Natural Selection of Patrick Matthew.

Note: If your organization is to remain or even be seen as credible then you need to reign in some of your ad hoc editorial staff who take it upon themselves under the table  to explicitly perpetuate myths and to continue to sanctimoniously propagate someone else's agenda by misleading, removal of or omitting key factual evidence than it to me seems evident that part of the reason you have problems raising money to continue your services is because of the disservice your staff have laid upon people like myself. You need to get your act together.

Howard L. Minnick Major, Corps of Engineers United States Army Botanist, Range Conservationist & 3rd Great Grandson of Patrick Matthew.