Dunlop, an early 20th century writer, says: "It is a noteworthy fact that there exists no memoir of John Welsh of Irongray, though from the Battle of Rullion Green till Bothwell Bridge he was the most conspicuous Covenanting minister in Scotland.

Had he glorified God in the Grassmarket, or fallen in some scuffle with Claverhouse's dragoons, or even like his friend Blackadder of Troqueer languished in prison on the Bass Rock, some pious hand would have been moved to write his story.

"[4] Dunlop also wrote: "The events of Welsh's life must be sought for in the pages of Wodrow and Kirkton and in the letters and State papers of the reign of Charles II.

He seems to have sought refuge with John Neilson of Corsack, where other outed preachers, Gabriel Semple of Kirkpatrick-Durham and Blackadder of Troqueer also found shelter.

"Particularly the said Mr John Welsh does presume frequently, at least once every week, to preach in the parish of Irongray in the Presbytery of Dumfries, and himself and those who frequent his conventicles do convene together armed with swords and pistols; at which meetings he also baptizes children which are brought to him by disaffected persons.

"[12][13] He is recorded as giving communion to between 3000 and 6000 people along with John Blackadder at Bishop's Forest, Irongray.

Welsh may have found shelter in his own parish, but probably he was nearer his pursuers than they imagined; at any rate in 1668 he was lurking at the house of one Robert Grey in Edinburgh.

On one occasion, John Welsh preached to a large crowd at Kinkell, near St Andrews.

"[21] He preached "when Tweed was frozen in the midst of the river, that either he might shun the offence of both nations, or that two kingdoms might dispute his crime.

Lord Fountainhall mentions it in his Diary, adding : – "He was not so gross as to disown the King, as the Cameronians did: his grandfather, Mr John Welsh, was a great enemy of the bishops, and died in France."

Wodrow, on the authority of a son of Hamilton of Kinkell, says that "Mr Welsh's burial was the greatest that for many years had been seen in London; that most of the Dissenters changed their text that Sabbath he was buried; that their congregations were invited to the burial, at which there was a vast number of ministers, persons of fashion, and, if my memory fails me not, some hundreds of coaches.