05/09/2026
5th SEPTEMBER 1891
NEW MINISTER FOR CULTER
It was announced, by the Presbytery of Aberdeen, that the minister for the Peterculter Free Church, at Contlaw, would be the Rev. John Kelman.
He was assistant to the Rev. George Adam Smith at Queen’s Cross Church, Aberdeen. He was ordained as minister on 15th October, 1891. In 1893, the congregation decided to build a new Church nearer the village. Three sites were considered, one near Willow-wood on Malcolm Road, one opposite Craigshannoch, and the finally chosen site at Craigton.
The foundation stone for the new church was laid, by Mrs Kelman, on 28th April 1894. Under the stone was placed a case containing the history of the congregation, the names of the ministers, present office-bearers, the name of the architect and contractor, a picture of the old church, copies of local newspapers on that date, current coins of the realm, and a drawing of the new church. She then declared the stone “well and truly laid.”
The Rev. John Kelman died, in Edinburgh, on 3rd May 1929. In December, Mrs Kelman presented a photograph of her husband to the church which now bore his name, Kelman Memorial Church -to be hung in the vestry.
“The congregation greatly appreciate the gift, which commemorates the distinguished minister who built the present church and manse”.
On the eve of his departure, as Chaplain in France, in 1916 he wrote:
‘We built a new Kirk together and I can remember, as if it were yesterday, standing beside some of you on the Brae where now the Manse stands, and looking over the empty fields to the Dee. Visions of your future rose before my eyes, thoughts of your children and you children’s children, and my heart rose in prayer to God that His blessing would rest upon you and yours through all the generations to come”.
