Samuel Ford was known as a feuar, but what exactly is a feuar?
If you look for a definition of a ‘feuar’ in the 1800s in Scotland you will find a reference along the lines; someone, a male, who had control over the land on which he lived and on paying a ‘feu duty’ to a ‘superior’ could pass on that property to his eldest male heir. Peculiarly to Scotland, these ‘feuars’ arose as a class of people who, unlike tenants, who could only ‘rent’ land and dwellings, effectively had some security over the property on which they lived.
I have added a page giving an account of feuars which may be found here.