Town council minute books are not known for their exciting dramas but every so often they relate a story straight from a soap opera. A Forfar Town Council minute book records a supplication made to them by Jean Milne, widow of Provost David Dickson. Her son William was a soldier with the Laird of Claverhouse. He had been charged with fornication with Jean Cuthbert, daughter of Bailie William Cuthbert.

A child had been born of their irregular union but the minister Thomas Small had refused to baptise it. He demanded William and Jean should stand before the congregation and answer for their sin. William could not do so because he had left Forfar for military service. Nor could Jean appear before the minister as she had left town after depositing the baby with William's mother, Jean Milne.

Jean wanted the Town Council's help to persuade the minister to baptise the child, as she was afraid to have an unbaptised child in her house. She succeeded in her supplication. The Council agreed to send a delegation of Provost John Carnegy and Bailies Andrew Coutie and John Binnie to entreat with Rev. Small

There is no record of a baptism of a child born to William Dickson and Jean Milne in the Forfar Old Parish Registers.

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