Coordinates: 56°13′N 4°13′W / 56.21°N 4.22°W / 56.21; -04.22

Balquhidder
Ruins of Balquhidder Church.
Balquhidder  Balquhidder shown within the Stirling council area
Council area	Stirling
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
EU Parliament	Scotland
List of places: UK • Scotland •

Rob Roy's Grave.Postcard c.1910-1920

Balquhidder ( listen (help·info); Scottish Gaelic: Baile a' Chùil Tìr the land lying behind the country)^[1] is a small village in the Stirling council area of Scotland. It is overlooked by the dramatic mountain terrain of the Braes of Balquhidder, at the head of Loch Voil. Balquhidder Glen is also popular for fishing, nature watching and walking. The village's railway station is no longer open.

The MacLarens acquired the district as early as the 9th century and occupied it for several hundred years until forced to share the area by the MacGregors, a neighbouring clan, who had repeatedly raided their lands, and, in 1558 slew the chief and many of his followers.^{[citation needed]}The Parish is also an ancient seat to branches of the Stewart and Fergusson Clans. Balquhidder was the scene of some of the exploits of Rob Roy, who died there in 1734. The local kirkyard is his final resting place, his grave marked with the appropriately defiant motto 'MacGregor Despite Them'. He lies with the remains of his wife and two sons, the graves marked by three flat stones. One of these is contemporary, but the remaining two are re-used medieval grave monuments.^{[citation needed]}

St. Angus[link]

St Angus came to Balquhidder Glen in the 8th or 9th century and recognised what the Celts called a "thin place" where the boundary between Earth and Heaven was close. He knelt and blessed the glen at the spot where the house "Beannach Aonghais" (Gaelic 'blessing of Angus') now stands and built a stone oratory at Kirkton, where he spent the rest of his life. Angus was the first to bring Christianity to Balquhidder. Behind the present kirk is Tom nan Angeae, the hill of fire, where until the 19th century hearth fires were renewed at Beltane and Samhain to encourage ancient gods to bring warmth to the land. Angus was buried at the foot of this hill and a flagstone laid over him which stands today in the present church. This stone, formerly in the floor of the medieval church, has a crudely incised figure of a priest holding a chalice. The carving is probably late medieval in date.^{[citation needed]}

There are some foundations of the east end of the small medieval parish church of Balquhidder around the grave of Rob Roy and his family (which seem deliberately to have been buried at the site of its altar). A few metres to the west are the roofless ruins of this building's 17th century seccessor. The present church, built on a new site to the north of the ancient graveyard, is of 19th century date. As well as the slab attributed to St. Angus, the ancient, primitive font, probably of early medieval origin, is preserved in this building. There is a display on the history of Balquhidder in the church, which is open to the public during the summer, when there is also a programme of evening concerts in the building.

Glen Buckie, now a quiet backwater on the south side of Balquhidder Glen was the scene of one of the last acts of the 1745 rising. Dr Archibald "Archie" Cameron of Locheil had returned to Scotland in the early 1750s hoping to raise support for a possible last-ditch coup against George II.^{[citation needed]} He was captured in the glen, and was later hanged in London, the last Jacobite to be executed for treason.^{[citation needed]}

The Reverend Robert Kirk, who translated parts of the Gaelic Bible and wrote The Secret Commonwealth, also lived here for several years from 1664.^[2]

Notable people associated with Balquhidder[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

• Sir James Black, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine; his family traced their origins to a dominie from the village^[3]
• James Cameron, the Canadian film director, traces his family origins to the village
• David Carnegie, who funded the construction of Sankta Birgittas kapell in Gothenburg, modelled on the Kirk in Balquhidder, where the Carnegies had a home
• Sandy Lyle, golfer
• William Stewart of Baldorran (c1440-c1500), founder of the Balquhidder Stewart clan.
• Robert Roy MacGregor, Scottish patriot, buried in Balquhidder Church yard.

References[link]

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Balquhidder". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links[link]

• Balquhidder Kirk
• http://fotografico.ning.com/photo/scoziamg0693-1?context=album&albumId=3410616%3AAlbum%3A40824
• http://fotografico.ning.com/photo/scoziamg0693-1/next?context=album&albumId=3410616%3AAlbum%3A40824
• Balquhidder at www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk Retrieved December 2011

Alma Gluck

Alma Gluck (May 11, 1884 – October 27, 1938) was a Romanian-born American soprano, one of the world's most famous female singers at the peak of her career (circa 1910).

Life and career[link]

Gluck was born as Reba Feinsohn to a Jewish family in Bucharest, Romania, the daughter of Zara and Leon Feinsohn.^[1] Gluck moved to the United States at a young age. Although her initial success came at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, Gluck later concertized widely in America and became an early recording artist. Her recording of "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" for the Victor Talking Machine Co. was the first celebrity recording by a classical musician to sell one million copies. Gluck was a founder of the American Woman's Association.

Her daughter Marcia Davenport was the child of her first marriage (to Bernard Glick, a dentist - ???). Gluck later married violinist Efrem Zimbalist and had two children, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. and Maria. Gluck evidently adopted her professional surname as a variation of her first husband's surname ("Glick").

Gluck retired to New Hartford, Connecticut to raise her family in 1925. Although by background an assimilated and nonpracticing Jew who continued to consider herself ethnically Jewish, she found herself attracted, along with her husband Efrem, to Anglican Christianity, and they regularly attended the Episcopal Church in New Hartford. Efrem Jr. and Maria were both christened there, and the couple financed Efrem through an Episcopal boarding school in New Hampshire. Efrem Jr. later became active in evangelical circles and was one of the founders of Trinity Broadcasting Network.^[2][3][4][5] Gluck recorded several Christian hymns in duet with Louise Homer, among them "Rock of Ages",^[6] "Whispering Hope",^[7] "One Sweetly Solemn Thought",^[8] and "Jesus, Lover of My Soul".^[9]

Death[link]

Alma Gluck died in 1938, aged 54, from liver failure in New York City.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Fan site with photos and biographies
• Alma Gluck biography on Marston Records

Recordings

• Discography of Alma Gluck on Victor Records from the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (EDVR).
• Alma Gluck: streaming audio at the Library of Congress.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2011)

Roy MacGregor is a Canadian author of fiction and non-fiction. He grew up in Huntsville, Ontario.^[1] His work tends to focus on Canadian topics; Shelagh Rogers has dubbed him the "heir to Peter Gzowski". He has a longstanding interest in the life of Tom Thomson, and has written both a novel and a biography exploring the artist's life and mysterious death.^[2]

Bibliography[link]

RoyMacGregor talks about Northern Light on Bookbits radio.

• Northern Light. Random House, Canada, 2010.
• Home Team: Fathers, Sons and Hockey
• A Life in the Bush
• Canadians: A Portrait of a Country and Its People
• Canoe Lake
• Screech Owls

References[link]

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