GOOLD, William ^{1 2}

   Another name for William was GUILD, William.⁴

  General Notes:

Old Parish Register
Denny Parish Stirlingshire
Baptisms

"1753
Janr 15 Alexr Goold Wm Danskine
Margaret Hill (Parents) William (Child) John Short (Witnesses) "


In the baptism record of his daughter Janet of 1778 in Edinburgh parish, William Guild was recorded as a 'Chaise driver'. In her marriage record of 1798, he was recorded as the 'late William Guild Grassmarket'. ^{2 3 5}

  Research Notes:

CHAISE DRIVER

A chaise driver drove a chaise, which was a two-wheeled open horse-drawn carriage for one or two persons.

"On the journey private chaises were met, for there were those who preferred to hire vehicles of their own rather than ride with the crowd. An American traveller in England wrote that he often saw such chaises 'with one or more inmates reclining luxuriously amidst silken cushions, absorbed in a book' or, quite as frequently the case, lost in less sentimental oblivion. The carriage ordinarily hired, at a post house, is a light chariot with seats for two, furnished with glass windows and blinds in front, and in the doors on either side. The post boy, dressed in a gay jacket of red, yellow or blue, with a jockey cap, white pantaloons, or small-clothes and long boots, does not usually drive from a box in front like a coachman, but rides on one of the horses as postillion; and thus, an unobstructed view of the country around, is enjoyed from within.'"

from Coaching Days And Ways at www.oldandsold.com/articles25/railroads-1.shtml -

GRASSMARKET EDINBURGH 18TH CENTURY a contemporary narrative

"My father, Alexander Nasmyth, was the second son of Michael Nasmyth. He was born in his father's house in the Grassmarket on the 9th of September 1758. The Grassmarket was then a lively place. On certain days of the week it was busy with sheep and cattle fairs. It was the centre of Edinburgh traffic. Most of the inns were situated there, or in the street leading up to the Greyfriars Church gate.

The view from my grandfather's house was very grand. Standing up, right opposite, was the steep Castle rock, with its crown buildings and circular battery towering high overhead. They seemed almost to hang over the verge of the rock. The houses on the opposite side of the Grassmarket were crowded under the esplanade of the Castle Hill.

There was an inn opposite the house where my father was born, from which the first coach started from Edinburgh to Newcastle. The public notice stated that "The Coach would set out from the Grass Market ilka Tuesday at Twa o'clock in the day, GOD WULLIN', but whether or no on Wednesday." The "whether or no" was meant, I presume, as a precaution to passengers, in case all the places on the coach might be taken, or not, on Wednesday,

The Grassmarket was also the place for public executions. The gibbet stone was at the east end of the Market. It consisted of a mass of solid sandstone, with a quadrangular hole in the middle, which served as a socket for the gallows. Most of the Covenanters who were executed for conscience' sake in the reigns of Charles II. and James II. breathed their last at this spot. The Porteous mob, in 1736, had its culmination here. When Captain Porteous was dragged out of the
Tolbooth in the High Street and hurried down the West Bow, the gallows was not in its place; but the leaders of the mob hanged him from a dyer's pole, nearly opposite the gallows stone, on the south side of the street, not far from my grandfather's door.

I have not much to say about my father's education. For the most part, he was his own schoolmaster. I have heard him say that his mother taught him his A B C; and that he afterwards learned to read at Mammy Smith's. This old lady kept a school for boys and girls at the top of a house in the Grassmarket. There my father was taught to rear his Bible, and to repeat his Carritch."

from
http://www.fullbooks.com/James-Nasmyth-Engineer-An-Autobiography1.html

William married Ann YOUNG, daughter of William YOUNG Flesher and Margaret STUART, on 21 April 1776 in Edinburgh parish, Edinburgh, Scotland. (Ann YOUNG was born on 13 May 1759 in Edinburgh parish, Edinburgh, Scotland ¹.)

  Marriage Notes:

Old Parish Register
Edinburgh Parish Midlothian
Marriages

"Sabbath 21st Aprile 1776
William Guild GentlMans Servant O: Grayfryers Parish & Ann Young same p Daughter to Wm Young Flesher"

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