Excerpt from A Memoir of John Elder: Engineer and Shipbuilder, Glasgow The first of those regarding whom we possess definite information was alexander elder, wright at Craigo, about two miles west Of Milnathort, born towards the end of the seventeenth century. He married Marion Ireland. His son david elder, born in 1724, was a wright at Little Seggie, in the same neighbourhood; and from note-books of his, which are'still preserved, he appears to have been a man of talent and information, and to have pos sessed considerable knowledge of mathematical and mechanical science. He was cut Off in 1756, at the early age of thirty-two, leaving, by his wife Ellen Henderson, three sons and three daughters. His eldest son, alexander, born at Little Seggie about 1748, carried on at that place, and afterwards at Milnathort, the same business. He married Eliza beth Morrison, by whom he had two sons and three daughters, and died at Milnathort in December 1823. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.