EXILES FROM SCOTLAND
transcribed by C. Parziale; posted on USGenWeb
The fact is well known that Oliver Cromwell took ten thousand prisoners
at the battle of Dunbar, 3 September 1650, and as many more at the battle
of Worcester, just one year later. Those taken at Dunbar were marched down
to Durham and New Castle by way of Berwick and entrusted to the care of
Sir Arthur Heselrig. Many perished on this march, and some were shot because
they could not or would not march. They had little to eat for eight days.
Disease swept off 1,500 in the course of a few weeks. One hundred and fifty
were sent over to Boston, Mass., in the ship Unity, and since a
score or so of them settled at what is now South Berwick, Me., that place
was called the Parish of Unity. Many more of these Scotch prisoners were
sent to Virginia, and more still were sent to West India islands.
The prisoners taken at Worcester were marched up to London and there
confined for a few months in the artillery grounds at Tuthill fields, perhaps
half a mile west of Westminister Palace. Here they were allowed for daily
rations a pound of bread and half a pound of cheese. Shelter seems to have
been provided for the sick only. Two hundred and seventy-two of these prisoners
were sent to Boston in the ship called the John and Sara and were
consigned to Thomas Kemble, a merchant of Charlestown, Mass.
This Thomas Kemble was part owner with Valentine Hill in the mills at
Durham Falls and Lamprey River. He also owned lands in Maine and did an
extensive business in lumber. He saw that the young Scotch prisoners would
be useful men in sawmills and so he disposed of many of them in this way.
Richard Leader had charge of some Scotchmen at the Lynn Iron Works and
later, in 1652, took some of them with him to work in the mills at South
Berwick, then called Great Works.
All the Scotchmen brought in the two ships above mentioned were sold
to planters and others who needed workmen throughout New England. The usual
price paid was twenty pounds per man, and after working from five to eight
years, nominally to pay their passage money, and to learn some trade as
apprentices, they were given their liberty. Many of them received grants
of land in the towns where they had worked.
The records of Dover, under date of 5 October 1652, have the following:
"Given & granted unto Mr. Valentine Hill, his heires Executors administrators
or assigns foure acres of land adjoining to Goodman Hudsons Lott for his
Scots." Later, about 1663, we find another record as follows, "Layd out
and Bounded to Henrey Brown and James Ore fower ackers which were given
and granted unto Mr. Valentine Hills seven Scotes in the yeir 1652. Said
land lyeth on the northern side of the land that was granted to Hudson
and now in the hands of Edward Patterson." It bordered on the "freshet,"
that is, the mill-pond above the dam at Durham Falls, and was on the south
side of the river, and on the Newmarket road. It is probable that they
worked by shifts in the mills, having three days in the week to work in
their gardens. They were not allowed to marry till they got their liberty.
Some of them never married. Some married daughters of their employers.
Some married Irish maids who had been kidnapped and brought over as house
servants and to swell the population of the colonies.
A study of these Scotchmen clears up a lot of mystery heretofore connected
with certain names that appear in early tax lists of Dover and in court
records. Let us see who they were. Nyven Agnew, called also Niven Agneau,
is called "Nivin the Scot" in the Dover tax-list of 1659, shortly after
he got his freedom. He administered the estate of James Barry, another
Scotchman of South Berwick, Me., about 1676, and lived on the land that
Kittery had granted to Barry. Agnew’s will, 16 September 1687, mentions
debts due to him from James Barry, his predecessor. He divides his property
between Peter Grant and John Taylor, two other Scotchmen. In the inventory
of his estate is this item, "To a sword that Peter Grant did say he would
give ten shillings for." Neither Barry nor Agnew married.
John Barber was taxed in Dover in 1659 and was received as an inhabitant
of Exeter in 1678. He had wife, "Sisly," and a seat was assigned to him
in the church at Amesbury, Mass., in 1667. He had at least two sons, John
and Robert. John Barber, Jr., married Anne, daughter of Robert Smart and
lived on Hilton’s Mill Grant in 1696. He had a grant of fifty acres in
1725. His wife, Anne, made a deposition, 23 June 1759, aged 83. They
had sons, Joseph who was a soldier at Crown Point in 1756, and John, who
was living in 1768. Perhaps this was the John Barber who married Jane Davis
in Durham, 19 January 1736/7.
Robert Barber, son of John, senior, was born in Amesbury, Mass., 4 March
1669/70. He had a grant of fifty acres in Exeter in 1698 and was killed
by Indians 1 July 1706. He had children, Abigail, Mary, Daniel and
Robert.
Henry Brown and James Orr, Oar, or Ore, lived together all their lives,
unmarried. They were admitted as inhabitants at Oyster River, 10
November 1658, and were taxed in 1659. They and Edward Errin bought in
1662 "a farm at Bradboate Harbour in Pischataq River at the Wadeing place,
with 50 acres of upland." This was near the line between Kittery and York,
called long afterward "Scotchman’s Neck." In 1686 Brown and Orr brought
suit against John Bray for carrying away their grass at brave Boat Harbor.
June 3, 1675, "Henry Brown and James Oare, Scotchmen & now residents
in the township of Wells", bought 200 acres of Henry Sayward, at "Mowsome."
In 1662 Brown and Ore had a grant of eight score acres near "Moharimits
marsh." October 9, 1669, James Ore of Saco Falls belonging to Winter
Harbor, for himself and Henry Brown, sold to James Smith of Oyster river,
tailor, land granted to them by Dover, a "mile and a halfe or there abouts"
from Oyster River, on the south side of said river, eight acres.
Brown and Orr lived many years in Wells, Me., and ran a sawmill, having
learned the trade of Valentine Hill. They associated with them one
Robert Stewart, another Scotchman, and left all their property to him.
Thomas Canyda has been already mentioned as killed by the falling of
a tree upon him near the house of Thomas Humphreys, in 1660.
John Curmuckhell came in the John and Sara from the battlefield
of Worcester. John Cernicle, called also Carnicle, was taxed at Oyster
River in 1657. John Chirmihill bought land of John Pearce of York, 26 December
1660, and married Pearce’s daughter, Ann. He had a grant of upland
at York Bridge in 1671. Ann, wife of John Cyrmihill, was presented at court,
6 July 1675, "for not frequenting the publique worship of God on the Lord’s
days." He died soon after this, and his widow married Micum McIntyre of
York.
"Davey Daniel" is suspected of being a Scot. He is first mentioned in
the settlement of a Scotchman’s estate. It is known that James Daniels
was one of the thirty-five Scots employed at the Lynn Iron Works in 1653.
He is also called Danielson and his son founded the town of Danielson,
Conn. The Daniels family of Durham was first called Daniel. The name originally
might have been McDaniel. The Mc was dropped, as in many other names, when
the Scotchmen came to New England. Later its equivalent was added to the
name, making Danielson, or shortened to Daniels.
Patrick Denmark was taxed in Dover in 1662. He had wife, Hannah, and
children found in records of Dover, viz., Patrick born 8 April 1664 and
James born 13 March 1665. He is once called Patrick Denmor. He removed
to Saco, Me., soon after 1665, where children are recorded. In 1685
he petitioned for a grant of 100 acres in Saco, "having now a great Charge
of Children." His son, James, married Elizabeth Littlefield of Wells.
Thomas Doughty was received as an inhabitant of Dover in 1658. He was
born in 1630, as a deposition shows. In this deposition he declares
that he worked for Valentine Hill and cut a road for Hill to his meadow
at Wheelwright’s Pond, where said Hill built a house and kept cattle. Hill
paid Doughty ten pounds for cutting the road. Doughty removed to Great
Works, South Berwick, and managed the sawmill there a short time. He married,
24 June 1669, Elizabeth Bulie of Saco. The Indians drove him from
Wells to Salem, Mass., where he died about the year 1705. He left children,
viz., James who married, 10 April 1707, Mary Robinson in Hampton, N.H.,
and settled in Cape Elizabeth, Me.; Joseph of Salem; Elizabeth who married
Thomas Thomes and went to Falmouth, Me.; Benjamin; Margaret, who married
Samuel Wilson of Malden, Mass.; Abigail who married in Lynn, Mass., 28
October 1717, Robert Edmonds; and Patience who married Benjamin Follett
of Salem, Mass. The descendants of Thomas Doughty are many in Maine
and Massachusetts.
Edward Erwin was received as an inhabitant of Dover in 1658. He was
taxed as Edward Arin in 1659. He with Henry Brown and James Oar bought
land in Kittery in 1662. "Edward Irwin and Company" were taxed in Dover
in 1662. Edward Eurin died in Exeter, 9 November 1667. He is called
Duren and Dowreing in the administration of his estate. James Kidd and
George Veasey were administrators, and John Roy, a Scotchman of Charlestown,
seems to have been his heir. I think he was the Edward Dulen, so
erroneously reported in the passenger list of the John and Sara,
and that he was captured at the battle of Worcester, 3 September 1651.
William Furbish was taxed in Dover
in 1659 as William Ferbush. The statement that he was taxed in Dover in
1648, made in Old Kittery and Her Families, is an error, the result of
the misreading of the name William Furber. William Furbish was in Scotland
probably William ffarrabas, and a family of the same surname in Massachusetts
is now called Forbes, once pronounced in two syllables. William Furbish
owned land in Kittery, now Eliot, before 1664, and had a grant from the
town in 1668. He died in 1701, having had seven children. He was punished
in 1681 for calling His Majesty’s authorities "Divills and hell bound,"
thus showing his lasting antipathy to the rule of Englishmen. The fight
at Dunbar was not yet ended in his breast. His descendants are very numerous.
William Gowen, alias Smith, was taxed as William Smith at Oyster River
in 1659. William Smith, alias Gowin, was fined "for fighting and bloodshed
on ye Lords day after ye afternoone meeting," 30 June 1668. He was on a
coroner’s jury at Oyster River in 1660. The Scotch word gowen means a smith,
hence the change of his name. "Elexander Gowing," perhaps the same man,
was taxed at Oyster River in 1661. William Gowen, or Smith, was a carpenter.
He first appears in Kittery, now Eliot, in 1666. There he is married, 14
May 1667, Elizabeth, sister of major Charles Frost, and had a grant of
a house lot in 1670. He died 2 April 1686, leaving eight Children.
Peter Grant was taxed at Oyster River in 1659. He had previously been
employed in the Lynn Iron Works. He bought land at what is now South Berwick,
21 October 1659. A deposition, made 13 September 1701, calls him "upwards
of 70 years old." He married, about 1664, Joan, widow of James Grant of
York though court records show that both of them had wives in Scotland,
to whom they could not return. Peter Grant left eight children and his
descendants are numberous. He was a member of the Scotch Charitable Society
in Boston in 1657.
John Hudson came in the John and Sara. He is mentioned
at Oyster River, 5 October 1652. He settled at Bloody Point, Newington.
There were granted to John Hudson, 19 March 1693/4, ten acres joining to
land he bought of William Furber. He married, 25 July 1689, Mary Beard.
This was probably a second marriage. He died about 1717, leaving most of
his property to his grandson, Hudson Peavey.
Walter Jackson came in the John and Sara and was received as
an habitant at Oyster River in 1658. He had wife, Jane, in 1663,
and, Ann, in 1667.
James Jackson also came in the John and Sara. He was taxed at Oyster
River in 1663. June 27, 1661, James Jackson was freed from training "by
reason he hath lost one of his fingers." Did he lose it at the battle of
Worcester or in Valentine Hill’s sawmill? He married a daughter of John
Smith of Cape Nedick, York, where he had a grant of twenty-eight acres
in 1667, next to land of his father-in-law. He was probably killed by Indians,
with his wife and two children, in 1675. He left a daughter, Elizabeth,
who in 1685 acquits her uncle, John Smith, Jr., of York, from any encumbrance,
dues, or demands concerning her father’s estate or concerning herself.
Patrick Jameson came in the John and Sara. He seems to
have been the one who is called "Patrick the Scott" in the Dover tax-list
of 1657. Valentine Hill sold to "Patrick Gimison of the same town," 11
may 1659, land on the north side of Oyster River, that later was the estate
of George and Deliverence Chesley. The village school house is on this
lot. Hill declared that Jameson had been a servant of his and was useful
in his mills and, therefore, he sold the land to Jameson. In 1664 Patrick
Jameson was chosen with Philip Chesley to lay out a road from Oyster river
to Cochecho. Patrick Jennison, his mark, probably the same man, witnessed
a deed at Kennebunk, in 1674. He was accused of crime at Oyster River,
in 1669, and ordered to be sent to Boston for further trial, but the case
seems not to have been pushed. In 1677 the administration of the estate
of Patrick Gynnison, deceased, was granted to Samuel Austin of York, as
court records at Alfred, Me., say. There is no record of any family.
Robert Junkins was taxed at Oyster river in 1657, and as "Robard Junkes"
in 1663. He removed to York before 1674 and took the oath of allegiance
there 22 March 1681. He had a garrison house in the upper part of York,
that was standing in recent years.The region is called "Scotland" unto
this day. November 31, 1715. "Sarah Junckins, aged seventy years, living
at her father’s house at Cape Nedick on the north east side of cape Nedick
river, near the ferry place, testifieth that her father John Smith senior
lived there 48 years agoe, as she can well remember, that he lived near
where Samuel Webber now lives." This was found among the Court Files at
Alfred, Me. His wife, then, was Sarah, daughter of John Ssmith of
York. He died about 1699, leaving widow, Sarah, and three sons, Alexander,
Daniel and Robert. Alexander married Catherine, daughter of James and Margaret
(Warren) Stacpole. Daniel Married Eleanor, daughter of Deacon Arthur Came,
another Scotchman, as was also James Warren, father of Margaret. The Junkins
name still exists and must be distinguished from the surname Jenkins of
Kittery and Durham.
John Kye, Key, Keiay, or Keays, was taxed in Dover in 1657 and was living
at Salmon Falls, in what is now South Berwick in 1667. He and his
son John and daughter Abigail were captured by Indians and carried to Canada
about 1689. His son, James, was then killed. The name of his first wife
is not known. He married (2) Sarah, Widow of
Jonathan
Nason and daughter of Reynold Jenkins. He and son, John, were prisoners
at Quebec in 1695. Very likely this was the John Mackey, who came in the
John and Sara. The name might be pronounced in different dialects
like Ke and Ki, with long sound of the vowel. July 1, 1703,
John Key senior, aged about 70 years, deposed that James Barry, Niven Agnue
and John Taylor owned in Succession a farm in upper Kittery, now South
Berwick. In his will, 1710/18, he is called both Key and Kye.
James Kidd was fined and taxed in Dover in 1657. He had a grant of 100
acres, near the great pond, in 1656, laid out in 1714. He had a grant of
four acres for a house lot, on Back River, next to Lieut. Ralph Hall, 1
February 1658. He removed to Exeter and was one of the executors of the
estate of Edward Erring, or Erwin, 1673. He took oath of fidelity, 30 November
1677. In 1665 he had a grant of twenty acres in Exeter, next to Henry Magoons,
another Scotchman. He is repeatedly called James Skid in Exeter records
and as a witness to one of the York Deeds. His name and his associations
with Scotchmen create the impression that he also was one of Cromwell’s
Scots. He died before 1712.
Allexander Mackdouel or McDaniel, was taxed at Oyster River in 1661,
and his estate was taxed in 1663. He was drowned between York and Dover,
16 January, 1663, and his property was awarded to a kinsman, John Roy of
Charlestown, Mass. His estate was appraised by John Tod, John Alt, Walter
Jackson and Henry Brown. There were bills from Edward During and
William ffurbush. The debts were to Walter Jackson, Philip Chesley,
Thomas Dowty, Patrick Denmark, and David Danniell. The following deposition
is found in Boston among the papers pertaining to the settlement of his
estate: "The testimony of Phillip Cheasly aged about forty six years saith
that about ten dais before Ellexander Magdunell was drowned being att the
sd deponents house heard the sd Magdunell say that if he died that he would
give all that he had to his cosen John Roye livinge att Charlestown and
further saith not." dated 2 February, 1663.
Micum McIntire appears in the Dover tax-list of 1664 as "Micome the
Scotchman." Micum appears to be Highland Scotch for Malcolm. I think that
he worked in the mills at Cochecho. He had a grant in Kittery, above Salmon
Falls, 11 December, 1662. He settled in the upper part of York, or Scotland
Parish, and his garrison house is still standing. Micum appears in
the Dover tax list of 1659. He was twice or thrice married and there are
a host of descendants. The tradition has floated down that after he was
taken prisoner in Scotland he was drawn up in line with others, that every
tenth man might be shot. He saw that death was coming to him, broke rank
and ran for life. A mounted officer pursued and wounded him, but
his life was spared.
James Middleton was received as an inhabitant at Oyster River in 1658.
He was appointed administrator of the estate of Mrs.Ludeces of Dover Neck
in 1664. He May have worked in the home of David Ludecas Edling, as he
is called, whose widow, Elizabeth, died 16 November 1663. James Middleton
was convicted, 3 June 1659, of frequenting the taverns and quarreling and
fighting. He was fined twenty pounds, and Valentine Hill was surety on
his bond for good behavior. Philip Chesley, Thomas Footman and William
Smith (Gowen) were convicted of quarreling with James Middleton at the
same time and were fined. Also George Vezie was convicted of being more
than half an hour in the tavern, at the same time, and was fined two shillings.
James Middleton was east of the Kennebec in 1665, and in Pascataqua river,
sold to William Gowine, alias Smith, all right to lands on the Kennebec,
especially "at Small Point, which I lately bought of Patricke Denmarke."
See York Deeds, III, 67. James Middleton of Newichawanock, laborer, brought
suit for debt against George Jeffrey of Great Island in 1683.
James Morrey, or Murray, was received as an inhabitant in 1658. He died
at Oyster River, 11 November 1659. A jury of inquest, impaneled by John
Bickford, found that James Morrey was killed by the limb of a tree falling
on his head. Among the jurors were William Smith (Gowen), Niven Agnew,
Jonas Bines, James Bunker, Thomas Stevenson, Matthew Williams and others,
all of Oyster River.
Edward Patterson was taxed at Oyster River in 1667/9. He is mentioned
in 1660 as a voter. The following is found in Dover Town records:
"31:10:1660, Granted to Edward Patterson a tract of land lying between
his land and the Brooke which Runneth out of the long marsh on the east
side of the highway from Oyster river fall to lamperell river and on the
west side by the South branch of Oyster River, not intrenching on anie
former grant, always provided that thear be a convenient way alowed to
the Scochmen to thear lott." He sold this lot to William Roberts.
Edward Patterson was a grand juryman in 1660. There died at New Haven,
Conn., 31 Oct 1669, Edward Paterson, "one of the south end men."
Had he wandered so far to join some of his own countrymen there?
William Thompson was another Scotchman, without doubt, as were George
Thompson of Reading and Alexander Thompson of Ipswich, Mass., by convincing
evidence. |