It's your Electric Scotland newsletter meaning
the weekend is nearly here :-)
You can view what's new this week on Electric Scotland at
http://www.electricscotland.com/update.html and you can unsubscribe to
this newsletter by clicking on the link at the foot of this newsletter.
See our Calendar of Scottish Events around the world at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/calendar_help.htm
CONTENTS
-----------------
Electric Scotland News
Books
The Flag in the Wind
The Scottish Nation
The Southern States of America
Poems and Stories
Clan Newsletters
Scottish Canadian Newspaper
Proceedings of the Scotch-Irish Congress in Columbia, Tennessee May 8-11,
1889.
History of Scotland
Highlanders in Spain
ELECTRIC SCOTLAND
---------------------------------
I've actually held back this newsletter a wee bit so I could get a wee
flavour of the Scottish elections. Up to around 5am in the morning in
Scotland it looked like the SNP had a chance of being the largest single
party but it will be around 2pm in Scotland before we'll know the final
results. Then of course well have to see how they work out who's going to
lead the Scottish parliament :-)
I got in an email from Ranald McIntyre in Scotland telling me of the
availability of "The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of
Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands" which was published in
1884.
The commission was set up as a response to crofter and cottar demonstrations
against excessively high rents, lack of security of tenure on land that had
been in families for generations and the forced evictions of crofters.
The demonstrations started in Wester Ross and Lewis in the 1870's, and by
the early 1880's had moved to Skye. Local police forces were called upon by
the landlords to enforce what they believed to be their rights. However,
with limited resources, the police found it difficult to cope with the
increasing demands put upon them. Therefore, it became an issue needing the
attention of Prime Minister Gladstone’s government and he ordered the
appointment of the commission.
Under the orders of William Gladstone, and backed by Royal approval, the
commission was appointed in 1883, by the Home Secretary, Sir William
Harcourt. Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier, was selected as chairman, with
five other members - Sir Donald Cameron of Locheil; Sir Kenneth MacKenzie of
Gairloch; Charles Fraser – MacIntosh MP; Sheriff Alexander Nicolson of
Kicudbright and Professor Donald MacKinnon of Edinburgh university – making
up the panel.
The commission began its work in Braes on the Island of Skye and travelled
the length and breadth of the Highlands and Islands (including Orkney and
Shetland) gathering evidence from crofters, landlords and others who were
familiar with the plight of the indigenous population.
The final report was hastily published in 1884 and led obliquely to the 1886
Crofters’ Holding Act.
The Napier’s Report is a valuable piece of documentary evidence from the
Highlands and Islands (including Orkney and Shetland) in 1883, presenting
facts and information on the population, as well as the political,
historical and social climate of the time.
You can read this report at
http://www.highland-elibrary.com/7.html#report
I have just acquired the book, "The Civil and Ecclesiastical History of
Scotland A.D. 80 to A.D. 818" by Thomas Innes.
Going by the very expansive Preface of the book the author was highly
regarded for his painstaking research and so I hope this will contribute to
our understanding of early Scottish history. Not sure when I'll get to this
book but likely sooner rather than later.
I've also found the missing 3 volumes of the History of Scotland by Tytler
meaning that I'll now be able to put up all 9 volumes :-)
ABOUT THE STORIES
-----------------
Some of the stories in here are just parts of a larger story so do check out
the site for the full versions. You can always find the link in our "What's
New" section at the link at the top of this newsletter and pick up poems and
stories sent into us during the week from Donna, Margo, Stan, John and
others.
Books
---------
Two books to feature this week...
I just wanted to let you know that my first fiction novel is now being
published and will soon be available at Borders Bookstores
http://www.bordersstores.com (in
addition to Amazon.com, etc). It is called Castle Dreams Book One of the
Highland Lairds Series by Cheryl MacMillan (my pen name).
The following is on the back cover of Castle Dreams:
This spellbinding fiction is filled with adventure, exciting history and
romance. The characters leap off the page with vibrant, emotional, and
sensual power. Enriched with wit and passion, this dramatic story brings
to life moving and meaningful moments in history. It vividly weaves
the tale of vast fortunes, wars, loyalty, and cherished relationships.
Malcolm Lochlan MacMillan
Handsome nobleman split between two countries and two cultures, England
and Scotland, circa 1748. Heir to the title of Earl of Kilford through his
English mother and Laird of Clan MacMillan through his Scottish father, he
faces an impossible situation. Educated as an English Lord, however
he found joy, excitement and ultimately love among his fathers clansmen.
Loyalty and responsibility...which destiny will he chose?
Catherine Leslie MacArthur
The Scottish lass who stole Malcolm’s heart when he was only twelve, has
now grown into a beautiful, free-spirited and fiercely loyal young woman
who has once again captured his attention...perhaps his heart. Courageously
surviving the aftermath of the Scottish uprising of 1745 when British
soldiers
burned and pillaged their ancient castle and village in the Highlands.
Will she give Malcolm a chance to recapture her heart?
Castle Dreams is the first book in this series of five I have written - I
hope to have Highland Dreams Book Two of the Highland Lairds Series
published in late fall of this year - my publisher has already requested it.
It is the story and adventures of Malcolm and Catherine's eldest son John.
You can visit my website at:
http://www.macmillanbooksinc.com to learn more about this forthcoming
series.
Thanks for your time and consideration of my request. By The Way - I do
happen to list you and ElectricScotland on my acknowledgements page - as I
did part of my research on the Highlands from your website - which as you
know is FULL of great information! Thank you!
Also, FYI - I have taken out an AD in the Program at Grandfather Mountain
Highland Games announcing Castle Dreams and an Author Booksigning in the
Clan MacMillan Tents. I will also be doing a Booksigning at the Greenville
Scottish Games in June (if the book is in my hands by then.) I am attending
regardless, since our Clan Chief George MacMillan will be the guest of honor
at our Clan MacMillan Ball held on Saturday evening during these games. (We
visited with him at Finlaystone - near Glasgow - this past May 2006 during
our trip to Scotland.)
and
Dark Birthright was recently reviewed in "The Urlar", the magazine of the
Clan MacPherson Association, US Branch.
Here is what Becky Dodge had to say:
"Once I started, I could not put it down. It has many different facets, not
only the history but also legend, myth, and a touch of ancient Celtic
beliefs, characters that really seem to be from that period, family
intrigues and the mystery of how the relationships developed to create the
personalities of the principal characters. I actually felt anger, sympathy,
and several other emotions as I got to know the characters. There is sadness
or cheerfulness at the events and emotions whenever certain characters enter
the scene again – some of those happy and some a bit sad. One really becomes
a part of this book quickly and it is a very good read! I highly recommend
this book for anyone who wants to visit and be a part of Scotland in the
early seventeenth century."
Jeanne Treat will be a featured author on May 5-6, 2007 at the Celebration
of Celts near Albany, NY. Join her in the Spoken Word tent for readings,
signings, and a chance to be a sketch in the next book.
You can read more about the book at
http://www.darkbirthright.com/
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
------------------------------------
Mind that The Flag is now in two sections (1) Political and (2) Cultural.
The Flag is being delayed one day so they can announce the results of the
Scottish elections.
You can read the Flag, listen to the Scots Language, enjoy the Scots Wit and
lots more at
http://www.scotsindependent.org
The Scottish Nation
----------------------------
My thanks to Lora for transcribing these volumes for us.
Now on the G's and added this week are Gibson, Gifford, Gilchrist, Gilfillan
and Gillespie.
I thought I might remind you that this is the story of Scotland through
looking at the names of the people of Scotland. So the general format of an
entry is general information on the name followed by mini biographies of
persons of that name.
To illustrate this here is the entire entry for Gibson...
GIBSON, a surname common to both Scotland and England, evidently having its
root in the baptismal name of Gilbert, among the son-names, nurse-names, and
diminutives of which are Gib, Gibbs, Gibbie, Gebbie, Gibson, Gibbons, and
similar appellations. [Lower’s Essays on English Surnames, vol. I. P. 168.]
The name of Gibson is of great antiquity in Scotland, and no less than five
families of this surname, branches of the same stock, have been raised to
the dignity of baronet.
The progenitors of the Gibsons of Durie, in Fife, were free barons of that
county and Mid Lothian before the fourteenth century. Their immediate
ancestor was Thomas Gibson, who lived in the reign of King James the Fourth,
and is particularly mentioned, with several other barons of the county of
Fife, in a charter by Sir John Moubry, of Barnbougle, knight, in favour of
his son, William de Moubry, in 1511. He left two sons, George his heir, and
William, successively vicar of Garvock, rector of Inverarity, and dean of
Restalrig. By James the Fifth the latter was appointed one of the lords of
session, at the institution of the college of justice in 1532, and by that
monarch he was frequently employed in embassies to the Pope, who honoured
him with the armorial bearing of three keys, as being a churchman, with the
motto Caelestes pandite portae, and as a reward for his writings on behalf
of the church, he obtained the title of Custos Ecclesiae Scotiae. [Douglas’
Baronage, p. 568.] In 1549, Cardinal Bethune conjoined the dean of Restalrig
with himself as his suffragan, that he might have the more leisure to attend
to the affairs of state. He was to retain the benefices which he already
held, and to receive, from the cardinal and his successors, a pension of
£200, during his life.
George, the elder son, had a son, also named George, who succeeded him. The
son of the latter, George Gibson of Goldingstones, was a clerk of session,
and died about 1590. By his wife, Mary, a daughter of the ancient family of
Airth of that ilk, in Stirlingshire, he had two sons, Sir Alexander Gibson,
Lord Durie, the celebrated judge, first baronet of the family (1628), of
whom a memoir is subjoined; and Archibald, who was bred to the church, and
obtained a charter, under the great seal, of several lands near Glasgow,
dated 22d May, 1599. Sir Alexander, Lord Durie, purchased the lands of that
name, anciently belonging to the family of Durie of that ilk, and had a
charter of the same in 1614. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas
Craig of Riccarton, lord advocate of Scotland, and, with 3 daughters, had 3
sons, Alexander, 2d baronet, Sir John Gibson of Pentland, who carried on the
line of the family, and George, of Balhouffie.
The eldest son, Sir Alexander Gibson, younger of Durie, was appointed one of
the clerks of session on 25th July 1632, and as such was one of the clerks
of parliament. On the attempt of Charles I. To impose the service book on
the people of Scotland, he protested, with others, at the market cross of
Edinburgh against the royal proclamations, on 8th July and 22d September
1638. He was also one of those who presented the petition against the
bishops to the presbytery of Edinburgh and the General Assembly, in November
of that year. As clerk of parliament he refused to read the royal warrant
for the prorogation of parliament from 14th Nov. 1639 to 2d June 1640. In
the latter year he was appointed commissary-general of the forces raised to
resist King Charles I. On 13th November 1641, he was nominated lord clerk
register by the king, who, on the 15th of the previous March, had conferred
on him the honour of knighthood. He was also appointed one of the
commissioners for the plantation of kirks. On 1sat February 1645, he was
named one of the commissioners of exchequer, and on 8th March following, a
supernumerary member of the committee of estates; as also of the committees
of a similar nature appointed in 1646, 1647, and 1648. On 2d July 1646, he
was admitted a lord of session, on the favourable report of that court to
the king. Having joined “the ‘Engagement,” he was deprived of his offices by
the act of classes, on 13th February, 1649, and in the following year, as an
entry, in Lamont’s Diary states, “both Durie and his ladie was debarred from
the table because of their malignancie.” In August 1652, he was one of the
commissioners chosen for Scotland to attend the parliament of England; and
he again went to England in January 1654. He died in June 1656.
His son, Sir John Gibson of Durie, 3d baronet, sat in the first Scots
parliament of Charles II. In 1660. His only son, Sir Alexander Gibson of
Durie, having died without issue, n him ended the male line of the eldest
son of the 5th baron, Sir Alexander, Lord Durie, the eminent judge, and the
title and estates devolved upon the grandson of Sir John Gibson of Pentland,
his lordship’s 2d son. A steady loyalist, Sir John Gibson of Pentland
attended Charles I. In all his vicissitudes of fortune, and in 1651
accompanied King Charles II. To the unfortunate battle of Worcester, where
he lost a leg, and for his gallant behaviour was knighted by the king. He
had, with 2 daughters, 3 sons: 1. Sir Alexander Gibson of Pentland and
Adiston, one of the principal clerks of session, and clerk to the privy
council of Scotland; 2. Sir John Gibson, Bart., colonel of a regiment of
foot, and governor of Portsmouth; 3. Sir Thomas Gibson of Keirhill, created
a baronet in 1702.
The eldest son, Sir Alexander Gibson, with five daughters, had four sons,
namely, Sir John, who succeeded Alexander, progenitor of the present family;
Thomas Gibson of Cliftonhall; and James, a lieutenant-general in the service
of the queen of Hungary.
Sir Alexander’s eldest son, Sir John, 5th baronet, m. Elizabeth, daughter of
Lewis Craig of Riccarton, and had, with two daughters, two sons; Sir
Alexander, 6th baronet, and John, merchant, London. Sir Alexander, the
elder, leaving no male issue, was succeeded by his nephew, Sir John, 7th
baronet, son of John Gibson of London. He also dying without male issue, was
succeeded by his brother Sir Robert, 8th baronet. At Sir Robert’s death in
America, without issue, the title reverted to the descendant of Alexander
Gibson, of Durie, 2d son of Sir Alexander Gibson, clerk of the privy
council, above mentioned. This gentleman, Alexander Gibson, one of the
principal clerks of session, obtained from his father, the lands of Durie in
1699. His eldest son, John Gibson of Durie, married Helen, 2d daughter of
Hon. William Carmichael of Skirling, (son of John, 1st earl of Hyndford, and
father of 4th earl,) by his first wife, Helen, only child of Thomas Craig of
Riccarton, and had, by her, with 3 daughters, 5 sons, viz., Alexander;
William, merchant, Edinburgh, father of James Gibson, W.S., created a
baronet in 1831, and on succeeding to the estate of Riccarton, Mid Lothian,
assumed the additional name of Craig (see CRAIG, Sir James Gibson); Thomas,
lieutenant- colonel 83d regiment; and two who died young. John Gibson of
Durie, the father, sold the estate of Durie to the ancestor of Mr. Maitland
Christie, the present proprietor. His eldest son, Alexander, had two sons,
John and Thomas.
Sir John, the elder, succeeded Sir Robert as 9th baronet, and assumed the
name and title of Gibson Carmichael of Skirling, on inheriting the estates,
as heir of entail, of the 4th earl of Hyndford, his grand-uncle. Having only
a daughter, he was succeeded in 1803 by his brother, Sir Thomas Gibson
Carmichael of Skirling, 10th baronet of the Gibson family. By his wife, a
daughter of General Dundas of Fingask, Sir Thomas had 7 children. The
eldest, Alexander, born at the family seat, Castle-Craig, Peebles-shire,
June 6, 1812, succeeded his father in 1849. Educated first at Harrow, and
subsequently at Cambridge, immediately after leaving the university, he
entered upon public life. At the election of 1837 he contested the county of
Peebles, but was defeated by a small majority. He subsequently became
private secretary to the Hon. Fox Maule, wh in 1852 succeeded his father as
2d Lord Panmure. Sir Alexander Gibson Carmichael died 1st May 1850. He was
remarkable for his piety, and a brief memoir of him is inserted in the
volume of the Christian Treasury for 1850, p. 376. He was succeeded by his
brother, Sir Thomas, 12th baronet, who died Dec. 30, 1855, when his next
brother, Rev. Sir William Henry, born Oct. 9, 1807, became 13th baronet. The
latter married, in 1858, Eleonora-Ann, daughter of David Anderson, Esq. of
St. Germains.
GIBSON, SIR ALEXANDER, Lord Durie, an eminent lawyer, was the son of George
Gibson of Goldingstones, one of the clerks of session. On 14th December
1594, on a commission from the lord clerk register, he was admitted third
clerk of session. King James in person was present at his admission, and for
the readiness with which the first and second clerks complied with his
desire that he should be received, he promised in presence of the court to
reward them with “ane sufficient casualtie for said consents.” On 10th July
1621, he was appointed a lord of session, when he took the title of Lord
Durie, his clerkship being conferred upon his son, to be held conjunctly
with himself, and to devolve on the longest liver. In 1628 he was created by
Charles the First, a baronet of Nova Scotia, on which occasion he received a
grant of land in that province. In 1633 he was named a commissioner for
revising the laws and collecting the local customs of the country. In 1640
he was elected a member of the committee of estates, and on 13th November,
1641, his appointment as judge was continued under a new commission to the
court.
While the office of president continued elective in the senators of the
college of justice, Lord Durie was twice chosen head of the court, namely,
for the summer session on 1st June 1642, and for the winter session of 1643.
This able and upright judge died at his house of Durie, June 10, 1644.
Having, from 11th July 1621, the day after his elevation to the bench, to
16th July 1642, preserved notes of the more important decisions, these,
known as ‘Durie’s Practicks,’ were published by his son, at Edinburgh, in
1690, in one volume folio, and are the earliest digested collection of
decisions in Scottish law.
Of this judge the following remarkable circumstance, highly illustrative of
the unsettled state of the country at that period, is recorded. The earl of
Traquair, lord high treasurer, having a lawsuit, of great importance to his
family, depending before the court of session, and believing that the pinion
of Lord Durie, then lord president, was adverse to his interests, employed
Willie Armstrong, called Christie’s Will, a noted and daring moss-trooper,
to convey his lordship out of the way until the cause should be decided.
Accordingly, one day when the judge was taking his usual airing on horseback
on Leith sands, without any attendant, he was accosted by Armstrong near the
then unfrequented and furzy common called the Figgate Shins, forcibly
dragged from his saddle, blindfolded, and muffled in a large cloak; in which
condition he was carried to an old castle in Annandale, named the Tower of
Graham. He remained closely immured in the vault of the castle for three
months, debarred from all intercourse with human kind, and receiving his
food through an aperture in the wall. His friends, supposing that he had
been thrown from his horse into the sea, and been drowned, had gone into
mourning for him, but upon the lawsuit terminating in favour of Lord
Traquair, he was brought back n the same mysterious manner, and set down on
the very spot whence he had been so expertly kidnapped.
GIBSON, PATRICK, an accomplished artist and able writer on art, was born at
Edinburgh in December 1782. After receiving an excellent classical education
at the High school, and at a private academy, he was placed as an apprentice
under Mr. Alexander Nasmyth, the celebrated landscape painter, and about the
same time attended the Trustees’ academy, then taught by Mr. Graham. Besides
mathematics he carefully studied architectural drawing, and acquired a
thorough knowledge of perspective and the theory of art in general. Many of
his landscapes are valuable from the masterly delineations of temples and
other classical buildings which he introduced into them. He distinguished
himself also by his criticisms and writings on art. Having been appointed
professor of painting in the academy at Dollar, he removed from Edinburgh to
that village in 1824. He died there, August 26, 1829, in his 46th year. He
had married in June 1818, Isabella, daughter of Mr. William Scott, the
eminent teacher of elocution, and had three daughters and one son, the
latter of whom died in infancy.
Mr. Gibson published,
Etchings of Select Views In Edinburgh, with letterpress descriptions. Edin.
1818, 4to.
Report, purporting to be by a Society of Cognoscenti, upon the works of
living artists, in the Exhibition of 1822, at the Royal Institution,
Edinburgh, Anonymous.
A Letter to the Directors and Managers of the Institution for the
Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland. 1826.
To the Encyclopedia Edinensis he contributed the article on Design,
comprising the history, theory, and practice of the three sister arts of
Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving, concluding with an able treatise on
Linear Perspective; illustrated by drawings. He also furnished the articles
Drawing, Engraving, and Miniature-painting to Dr. Brewster’s Edinburgh
Encyclopedia. The paper entitled A View of the Progress and Present State of
the Art of Design in Britain, in the Edinburgh Annual Register for 1816, was
written by Mr. Gibson. To the New Edinburgh Review, edited by Dr. Richard
Poole, he contributed an article on the Progress of the Fine Arts in
Scotland.
A short practical work on Perspective, written shortly before his death, was
printed, but never published.
You can read the other entries at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/index.htm
The Southern States of America
----------------------------------------------
Published in 1909.
I completed the third volume of this publication by adding...
Declaration of Independence
Knights of the White Camelia
Ku Klux Klan
Union League of America
Governors of the Southern States
As I only heard back from one person about continuing this publication I've
decided to hold to what I had originally intended which was to publish the
general histories in the first 3 volumes. I am adding a few biographies from
the final two volumes and this week have added...
James Blair
BLAIR, James, clergyman and educator: b. Scotland, 1656; d. Williamsburg,
Va., Aug. 1, 1743. He graduated at the University of Edinburgh in 1673 and
became an Episcopal clergyman. In 1685, at the earnest persuasion of the
Bishop of London, he went to Virginia as a missionary. He was minister at
Henrico City, Jamestown, and Williamsburg. In 1689 he became commissary of
Virginia, the highest ecclesiastical post in the colony. Realizing the lack
of educational facilities, in 1690 he resolved to establish a college in
Virginia; and in the face of the opposition of the colonial officials he
obtained the charter of William and Mary College on Feb. 14, 1692, having
previously solicited subscriptions to the amount of £2,500. He was president
of the institution until his death, although he did not formally enter upon
the duties of his office until 1729. In spite of bitter opposition, the lack
of wealthy patronage and the burning of the building in 1705, his tireless
energy gave success to the enterprise. After 1693 Blair was a member of the
Council of Virginia, of which he was for some time president. He was
instrumental in securing the removal of Governors Andros, Nicholson, and
Spotswood. He probably did more than any other one man for the intellectual
advancement of Virginia during the colonial period, and was truly the
founder of Southern culture. His works are: Our Savior's Divine Sermon on
the Mount (1722, republished 1740), containing 117 discourses; The Present
State of Virginia and the College (with Hartwell and Chilton, 1727), one of
the best accounts of Virginia in the latter part of the Seventeenth century.
and
Hugh Henry Brackenridge
BRACKENRIDGE, Hugh Henry, jurist and author: b. Campbeltown, Scotland, 1748;
d. Carlisle, Pa., June 25, 1816. In 1753 he accompanied his father to
America, and settled in York county, Pa., near the Maryland border. He
supported himself by farming and teaching while preparing for Princeton,
where he graduated in 1771, a classmate of James Madison and Philip Freneau.
The graduating exercises included a poetical dialogue, The Rising Glory of
America, written by Brackenridge and Freneau, and published in 1772. He
taught for a time at Princeton, obtained license to preach, went back to
Maryland, and became both teacher and clergyman. In 1776 he removed to
Philadelphia as editor of the United States Magazine. After a short service
as chaplain in the Revolutionary army, he studied law at Annapolis, Md.,
went to Pittsburg in 1781, and in 1786 was sent to the legislature. In 1794
he was prominent as a mediator in the whisky insurrection, and in 1799 was
appointed to the supreme bench of Pennsylvania, in which position he
remained until his death. Other works are: The Battle of Bunker Hill (1776),
a drama written for his pupils; The Death of General Montgomery (1777), a
drama in which he portrays the English as the acme of all that is bad; Six
Political Discourses, Founded on the Scripture (1778), some of his
"gunpowder" sermons; Incidents of the Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania
(1795); and Modern Chivalry (in two parts, 1796 and 1806), a political
satire - the best known of his publications, and the only one of present
literary interest.
The book index page is at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/south/index.htm
Poems and Stories
----------------------------
Donna has completed her stories about her 93 year old Mother which can be
seen at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/donna/velma/story4.htm
Donna also sent in a Frugal story, I’m Not Depressed at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/donna/frugal/depression.htm
Clan Newsletters
------------------------
Added the Dunardry Heritage Association Newsletter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/newsletters/dunardry/index.htm
Added the Clan Gregor newsletter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/newsletters/gregor/index.htm
Added the May/June 2007 newsletter for the Utley family at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/newsletters/utley/index.htm
Scottish Canadian Newspaper
--------------------------------------------
Added another issue of this newspaper...
July 2, 1891 at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/scotscan/issue32.htm
This issue carries an article about Culzean Castle on the front page.
You can see all the issues to date at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/scotscan/index.htm
Proceedings of the Scotch-Irish Congress in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania May 29
to June 1, 1890.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Continuing this volume on the Second Congress.
Added this week are...
The Scotch-Irish of New England. By Prof. Arthur L. Perry, Williams College,
Williamstown, Mass.
General Sam Houston, the Washington of Texas. By Rev. Dr. D. C. Kelley,
Gallatin, Tenn.
The Scotch-Irish of Western Pennsylvania. By Hon. John Dalzell, of
Pittsburg, Pa.
The addresses and historical papers are substantial with much good
information.
Here is how The Scotch-Irish of New England starts...
Mr. President and Brethren of the Society—
The Scotch-Irish did not enter New England unheralded. Early in the spring
of 1718 Rev. Mr. Boyd was dispatched from Ulster to Boston as an agent of
some hundreds of those people who expressed a strong desire to remove to New
England, should suitable encouragement be afforded them. His mission was to
Governor Shute, of Massachusetts, then in the third year of his
administration of that colony, an old soldier of King William, a
Lieutenant-Colonel under Marlborough in the wars of Queen Anne, and wounded
in one of the great battles in Flanders. Mr. Boyd was empowered to make all
necessary arrangements with the civil authorities for the reception of those
whom he represented, in case his report of the state of things here should
prove to be favorable.
As an assurance to the governor of the good faith and earnest resolve of
those who sent him, Mr. Boyd brought an engrossed parchment twenty-eight
inches square, containing the following memorial to his excellency, and the
autograph names of the heads of the families proposing to emigrate: "We
whose names are underwritten, Inhabitants of ye North of Ireland, Doe in our
own names, and in the names of many others, our Neighbors, Gentlemen,
Ministers, Farmers, and Tradesmen, Commissionate and appoint our trusty and
well beloved friend, the Reverend Mr. William Boyd, of Macasky, to His
Excellency, the Right Honorable Collonel Samuel Suitte, Governour of New
England, and to assure His Excellency of our sincere and hearty Inclination
to Transport ourselves to that very excellent and renowned Plantation upon
our obtaining from His Excellency suitable incouragement. And further to act
and Doe in our Names as his prudence shall direct. Given under our hands
this 26th day of March, Anno Dora. 1718."
To this brief, but explicit memorial, three hundred and nineteen names were
appended, all but thirteen of them in fair and vigorous autograph. Thirteen
only, or four per cent of the whole, made their "mark" upon the parchment.
It may well be questioned, whether in any other part of the United Kingdom
at that time, one hundred and seventy-two years ago, in England or Wales, or
Scotland or Ireland, so large a proportion as ninety-six per cent of
promiscuous householders in the common walks of life could have written
their own names. And it was proven in the sequel, that those who could
write, as well as those who could not, were also able upon occasion to make
their "mark."
I have lately scrutinized with critical care this ancient parchment stamped
by the hands of our ancestors, now in the custody of the Historical Society
of New Hampshire, and was led into a line of reflections which I will not
now repeat, as to its own vicissitudes in the seven quarter-centurys of its
existence, and as to the personal vicissitudes and motives, and
heart-swellings and hazards, and cold and hunger and nakedness, as well as
the hard-earned success and the sense of triumph, and the immortal vestigia
of the men who lovingly rolled and unrolled this costly parchment on the
banks of the Foyle and the Bann Water ! Tattered are its edges now, shrunken
by time and exposure its original dimensions, illegible already some of the
names even under the fortifying power of modern lenses, but precious in the
eyes of New England, nay precious in the eyes of Scotch-Irishmen
every-where, is this venerable muniment of intelligence and of courageous
purpose looking down upon us from the time of the first English George.
It is enough for our present purpose to know that Governor Shute gave such
general encouragement and promise of welcome through Mr. Boyd to his
constituents, that the latter were content with the return-word received
from their messenger, and set about with alacrity the preparations for their
embarkation. Nothing definite was settled between the governor and the
minister, not even the locality of a future residence for the newcomers; but
it is clear in general, that the governor's eye was upon the district of
Maine, then and for a century afterward, a part of Massachusetts. Five years
before Boyd's visit to Boston, had been concluded the European treaty of
Utrecht, and, as between England and France, it had therein been agreed that
all of Nova Scotia or Acadia, "according to its ancient boundaries," should
remain to England. But what were the ancient boundaries of Acadia? Did it
include all that is now New Brunswick? Or had France still a large territory
on the Atlantic between Acadia and Maine? This was a vital question, wholly
unsolved by the treaty. The motive of Massachusetts in welcoming the
Scotch-Irish into her jurisdiction was to plant them on the frontiers of
Maine as a living bulwark against the restless and enterprising French of
the north, and their still more restless savage allies; the motive of the
Ulstermen in coming to America was to establish homes of their own in fee
simple, taxable only to support their own form of worship and their strictly
local needs—to escape in short the land lease and the church tithe; the
bottom aims, accordingly, of both parties to the negotiation ran parallel
with each other, and there was in consequence a swift agreement in the
present, and in the long sequel a large realization of the purposes of both.
August 4, 1718, five small ships came to anchor near the little wharf at the
foot of State street, Boston, then a town of perhaps 12,000 people. On board
these ships were about one hundred and twenty families of Scotch-Irish. They
reckoned themselves in families. It is certain that the number of persons in
the average family so reckoned was, according to our modern notions, very
large. There may have been, there probably was, at least seven hundred and
fifty passengers on board. Cluttered in those separate ships, not knowing
exactly whither to turn, having as a whole no recognized leader on board, no
Castle Garden to afford a preliminary shelter, no organized Commissioners of
Immigration to lend them a hand, the most of them extremely poor—the
imagination would fain, but may not picture the confusions and perplexities,
the stout hearts of some and the heartaches of others, the reckless joy of
children and the tottering steps of old men and women. One patriarch, John
Young—I know his posterity well—was ninety-five years old. And there were
babies in arms, a plenty of them!
You can read the rest of this chapter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotsirish/congress2-12.htm
The book index page is at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotsirish/congress2ndx.htm
History of Scotland
----------------------------
In 6 volumes By Patrick Fraser Tytler (1828)
I have now completed the 2nd volume and made a start at the third.
The sections in the 2nd volume...
Section I - General Appearance of the Country (Pages 197 - 224)
Section II - Distinct Races in Scotland (Pages 225 - 260)
Section III - Ancient Parliament of Scotland (Pages 261 - 282)
Section IV - Early Commerce and Navigation (Pages 283 - 336)
Section V - State of the Early Scottish Church (Pages 337 - 398)
Section VI - Sports and Amusements of Ancient Scotland (Pages 399 - 435)
Notes and Illustrations (Pages 436 - 486)
... are full of great information and well worth a read.
The first two chapters in the 3rd volume are...
Contents
Chapter 1 (Pages 1 - 67)
Robert the Second (1371)
Chapter 2 (Pages 68 - 132)
Robert the Third (Part A) (1390)
Here is how State of the Scottish Church starts...
IN reference to any efforts for the religious instruction or improvement of
the people, the Scottish Church was equally cold, idle, and useless, as the
rest of the Catholic churches in Europe. Her services were performed, and
the Bible was shut up, in an unknown tongue, whilst a system of masses and
homilies, sometimes not understood even by the priests who performed them,
and a blind adoration of relics, saints, and images, usurped the place of
that holy and spiritual worship which can alone be acceptable to God. So
far, therefore, as regards these paramount objects, there is nothing in our
ecclesiastical annals at this period but a dark void; yet another subject
remains upon which it will be necessary to say a few words; I mean the civil
influence which the church exerted upon the character of the government and
of the people. And here I cannot help observing, that the history of her
early relations with Rome, is calculated to place our clergy in a very
favourable light as the friends of liberty. The obedience which, in common
with the other churches in Christendom, they were disposed to pay to the
great head of the Catholic religion, was certainly far from partaking of
that obsequious servility, which it was the main object of the Papal throne
to impose upon its subjects; and it is singular that the same fervid
national spirit, the same genuine love of independence, which marks the
civil, distinguishes also the ecclesiastical annals of the country. The
first struggles of our infant church were directed,however, not against the
encroachments of the Papal power, but against the attacks of the
metropolitan sees of York and Canterbury. It was, at an early period, the
ambition of one or other of these potent spiritual principalities to subject
the Scottish primate, the Bishop of St Andrews, to the dominion of the
English church, by insisting upon his receiving the rite of consecration
from the hands of one of the archbishops of England ; and nearly the whole
reign of Alexander the First was spent in a determined resistance against
such an encroachment, which concluded in the complete establishment of the
independence of the Scottish church.
To introduce civilisation and improvement amongst his subjects, and to
soften the ferocity of manners and cruelty of disposition, which
characterised the different races over whom he ruled, was the great object
of Alexander's successor, David the First; and he early found that the
clergy, undoubtedly the most enlightened and learned class in the community,
were his most useful instruments in the prosecution of this great design.
Hence sprung those munificent endowments in favour of the church, and that
generous liberality to the ecclesiastical orders, which has been too rashly
condemned, and which was, perhaps, necessary, in another point of view, in
providing something like a counterpoise to the extravagant power of the
greater nobles. Under this monarch, the individual freedom of the Scottish
church was rigidly maintained; while, at the same time, it declared itself a
willing subject of the Papal throne, and received the legate of the Supreme
Pontiff with much humility and veneration. Individual independence, however,
was esteemed in no degree incompatible with a general acknowledgment of
subjection to the Chair of St Peter ; and it is remarkable, that, at this
remote period, there are traces of a freedom of discussion, and a tincture
of heretical opinions, which, if we may believe an ancient historian, had,
for a long time, infected the faith of the Scottish clergy.'
You can read the rest of this account at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotland/history20s.pdf
As all the chapters are .pdf files I'll just point you at the index page of
this publication where you can read the other chapters at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotland/historyndx.htm
Highlanders in Spain
------------------------------
By James Grant (1910)
Now up to Chapter 21 of this book so 6 more chapters added this week. Here
is a wee bit from Chapter 15...
THE patron of Ronald's billet could not give him any information about Donna
Catalina, or any of the inmates of her mansion,—the Hotel de Villa Franca,
as the citizens named it. He knew that it had been occupied by the French,
whose commanding officer quartered himself upon it as the best house in the
place, and that his soldiers had burnt it when they saw that they should be
compelled to abandon Merida, on the second advance of the British. From the
first occupation of the town by the enemy, none of the Villa Franca family
had been seen. This was all the information he could obtain ; and Ronald was
led to conclude that Catalina and her cousin had escaped, and might be at
Majorga, or some other town on the Spanish frontiers.
The poor patron was a potter by trade, and made brown earthenware crocks and
jars, which he retailed through Estremadura, in panniers slung on the back
of a mule; but he earned barely sufficient to support his wife and family.
Nevertheless, to show their loyalty to King Ferdinand, and their gratitude
to his allies, the patrona had, by dint of much exertion, procured for
Ronald, on the morning of his departure, what was considered in Spain a
tolerable breakfast.
On the wooden table was placed a large crock full of boiled pork and peas,
opposite to which stood a jar of goats'-milk, plates of eggs, dried raisins,
and white bread,—even coffee was on the table; a display altogether of
viands that raised the wonder and increased the appetites of the six hungry
children who crowded round the board, holding up their little brown hands
with many exclamations of wonder, and cries to their madre and padre to help
them; but their parents were intent on doing the honours of the table to the
noble caballero.
In one corner of the miserable apartment lay the glossy hide of an English
horse. Ronald, by some particular spots, recognised it to be that of
Evelyn's charger, about the flaying of which the host had been employed
since daybreak, intending, as he said, to make it into caps and shoes for
his children. The latter were all swarthy and active, but sadly disguised by
rags and filth, which obscured the natural beauty of their Spanish faces and
figures, excepting one little girl, about ten years of age, who appeared to
be her mother's pet, and' consequently was more neatly dressed. Ronald was
often amused at the looks of wonder with which this little creature watched
him while eating—keeping at a distance, as if he were an ogre ; but when she
became more familiar, venturing to touch the black feathers of his bonnet,
and other parts of his glittering-dress, though always keeping close to the
short skirt of the madre's petticoat, as if she feared being eaten up, or
carried off for some future meal, by the strange caballero, the richness of
whose uniform fined the little boys with wonder and envy.
At last, by dint of much entreaty, she permitted herself to be drawn towards
him. Raising up her radiant eyes, she took a copper crucifix from her bosom,
and asked him if the people in his country wore a thing like that. On his
telling her no, she broke away from his arm, and crying, 'O mi madre—the
heretic! the devil!' hid her face in her mother's skirt; while the rest of
the children shrunk around their father, grasping his legs for safety, and
even he seemed much discomposed. Not liking the idea of being regarded as a
bugbear, Ronald, in the gray daylight, finished his breakfast as speedily as
possible, and was hurried in doing so by the warning bugles for the march.
Ronald Dhu and his six pipers blowing the gathering, in concert with the
drums of other corps beating the 'assembly' in the Plaza, soon followed, and
he left the house of the hospitable but superstitious potter, who would not
accept a single maravedi for the entertainment he had given,—a circumstance
which Ronald did not regret, his pecuniary affairs not being then in a very
flourishing condition, as the troops were three months' pay in arrear.
You can read the rest of this chapter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/spain/romance21.htm
You can read the other chapters at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/spain/romancendx.htm
And that's all for now and hope you all have a good weekend :-)
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com
ELECTRIC SCOTLAND ADVERTISING
-----------------------------
With Electric Scotland's new site design it is now possible for you to
advertise your company on all 150,000+ pages of our site. Email address and
contact information can be found at
http://www.electricscotland.com/contact.htm
OUR NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES
-----------------------
You can see old issues of this newsletter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/newsletter/index.htm
GET YOUR OWN EMAIL ACCOUNT @electricscotland.com
------------------------------------------------
For only $10.00 per year you can have your own email account @electricscotland.com
with both POP3 and Web Access. For more details see
http://www.electricscotland.com/email_account.htm
CHANGE YOUR SETTINGS OR UNSUBSCRIBE
-----------------------------------
To manage your subscription or unsubscribe visit
http://www.electricscotland.com/maillist.htm and select "Manage
Subscriptions" at the foot of the Application box. |
