TITLE: Exiles from Scotland — Dunbar and Worcester Exiles to Durham, New Hampshire

SOURCE: History of the Town of Durham, New Hampshire,
(Oyster River Plantation), by Everett S. Stackpole
and Lucien Thompson, Published by vote of the Town,
©1913; pgs 75-83 from the Chapter “Exiles from Scotland”

SUBMITTED: Transcribed by C Parziale, Feb 2001

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“EXILES FROM SCOTLAND”

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 kidnaped 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.
See Daniel family in Genealogical Notes.
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. See Old Kittery and Her Families, pp. 121, 437.
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. See Old Kittery and Her Families, p.
468.
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. See Old Kittery and Her Families, p.
472. 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. For family see Genealogical Notes.
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 incumbrance,
dues, or demands concerning her father’s estate or concerning
herself. See York Deed, VII, 262.
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 smith 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. For family see old Kittery and her Families, p. 568.
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. See Court Files at Concord.
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. For his family see
Genealogical Notes.

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