In the summer of 1650, the ecclesiastical authorities in the region of Wigtown directed their attention toward the parishes of Old and New Luce. Among those identified in the official records of the Presbytery was Jonet Paterson, whose case was formally registered on the 1st of July. As a resident of Old Luce, Jonet was swept into a broader series of inquiries that saw a cluster of individuals from these neighboring parishes brought under the scrutiny of local church officials, who acted as the primary engines of investigation during this period of intense scrutiny.
Following the initial registration of her case under the reference C/JO/3020, the administrative machinery of the Scottish legal and ecclesiastical systems moved toward a formal hearing. The subsequent trial, indexed as T/JO/1285, marked the progression of Jonet through a judicial process that sought to determine the validity of the suspicions cast upon her. Throughout these proceedings, the records remain focused on the procedural tracking of her identity and residence, situating her experience within the documented legal framework of mid-seventeenth-century Galloway.