Emigrants on the Edinburgh, 1771

GENEALOGY Record Office Archivist, Hugh Hagan. Hagan recognized that "St. Johns" was Emigrants on the Edinburgh, 1771 actually Prince Edward Island, and that a passenger list from Kintyre for A New Passenger List for Prince Edward Island 1771 was of great potential signifi- cance. Indeed, the passenger list pro- vides important evidence of a well known, but poorly documented, emi- ur knowledge of our history in for good, old-fashioned hard work, on gration to Malpeque, Prince Edward O Prince Edward Island is due to occasion, good fortune plays an impor- Island from Scotland. Moreover, it the collective and cumulative efforts of tant role in the process. Last summer, sheds some very useful light on our a great may people over a great many just such a stroke of good luck sup- early settlement history. years. Disparate sources — family tra- plied us with another piece of our his- ditions, oral history, archival docu- torical puzzle: important new evidence ments, community histories — are on the story of the early Argyll settlers The Emigration of 1771 woven together to form a cohesive pat- in Malpeque. tern from which we attempt to better The new evidence came to light The story of the Stewart-sponsored understand our past, and, ultimately, when a gentleman carrying out settlement of Kintyre families at ourselves. While there is no substitute research in the Scottish Record Office Malpeque has been told in many in Edinburgh stumbled across two pre- places, most recently in the last issue viously unknown passenger lists: one of this magazine.* It remains here only for North Carolina and the other for to see what the passenger list can add By Michael Kennedy "St. Johns." They were filed with a to our existing fund of knowledge. batch of loosely related documents First, some context. Lt. Col. Robert concerning administration in Stewart, whose family had been promi- late 18th-century Campbel- nent in southern Kintyre, was granted town, Kintyre. Fortunate- half of Lot 18 on Prince Edward Island ly, the gentleman (until 1799 known as St. John's Island) brought them to during the "Great Lottery" of 1767 in the attention of reward for his military service in the the Scottish Americas during the Seven Years' War. Unsuccessful competition with another mercantile house in Campbel- town evidently led the Stewarts to switch the focus of their business efforts from Kintyre to the develop- ment of their property in St. John's Island as a means of providing themselves with a secure T future. Members of the ft I C H >I O X B ,i v Stewart family emigrated Cape Avlesbuiy from Kintyre to the Island, and by the 1780s, /W., they had acquired the other half of Lot 18 from co-proprietor William <-/' MA L PEC Allanby, giving them 20,000 acres in the Malpeque area. From this base, they would play an influential role in the new colony's business and government. *That is, James Lawson's "The Princetown Pioneers, 1769-71," in Number 38 (Fall-Winter 1995). W ' 'j& 39 According to Jim Lawson, the Stewarts had begun recruiting settlers from Campbeltown and Southend in southern Kintyre in 1768-69. In 1770, the Annabella, owned by the Stewarts and commanded by Lt. Col. Robert Stewart's brother, Dugald, arrived at Kintyre Malpeque with a contingent of settlers, which, tradition holds, included his sister Annabella and her husband, also (and confusingly) named Robert Stewart. Shortly after her arrival, the Annabella was wrecked on the treach- erous sandbanks off Darnley, and almost all of the pioneers' precious cargo was lost. In response, another Stewart brother, Peter (then Provost Marshall of Campbeltown, but soon to be Chief Justice of St. John's Island), dispatched a fresh cargo in the summer of 1771, along with new settlers. The vessel he chartered for the pur- pose was the Edinburgh, a 75-ton brig- antine used in the Kintyre-to-North Carolina trade by the Stewarts' mercantile rivals, the MacAlestars. On the 27th of July 1771, the Edinburgh cleared customs in Campbeltown and set sail for St. John's Island. The Kintyre area of Scotland. The port of Campbeltown is located at the head of an estuary at the lower end of the The List Kintyre peninsula. Our newest piece of evidence concerning this emigration, the partially complete passenger list for this sailing of finally, four names are recorded below probably end up being in the vicinity of the Edinburgh, was compiled on 9 July the main form, and include no amplify- 73, which would tally nearly exactly 1771 at Campbeltown, three weeks ing detail whatsoever. with other sources. In any case, the prior to the vessel's departure. The list The first thing that the passenger list minimum number of emigrants on the gives the names of heads of families, clearly does is to confirm those sources vessel is 61. the number of individuals in each party, that state that 70 additional immigrants The presence of a Mrs. Robert the rate of charge (70 shillings for a arrived from Kintyre in 1771. Although Stewart among the cabin passengers is berth in the hold, 90 shillings for a the customs clearance for the intriguing. Obviously, she is a person cabin), the total cost to each party, and Edinburgh (cited by Jim Lawson in the of some stature, since all seven mem- the name of the persons paying the last Island Magazine) recorded only 20 bers of her party have paid the higher fare, indicating whether they had paid passengers, it should be noted that fare for cabin berths. Is this Annabella A. MacAlestar in Campbeltown or were heads of families and total numbers of Stewart, sister of Lt. Col. Robert to settle accounts on St. John's Island. passengers are often confused with one Stewart and wife of Robert Stewart, Unfortunately, the list does not appear another in emigration documentation, who is supposed to have come out on to have been finished. Thirteen of the as appears to have happened in this the Annabella in 1770? The temptation entries are complete; three are lacking case. The total number of heads of fami- is to say yes, but it is impossible to be only the final total (which can be calcu- ly on the passenger list is 24, and the definite on that score. lated from the information that is total number of passengers is 61. If the recorded); eight have no information four men noted beneath the main body about where the fares were to be paid of the list represent incomplete entries The Montgomery Connection (although the fares for at least five of rather than crew members, then those these were probably pre-paid, since numbers become 28 and at least 65, The Edinburgh passenger list also they were sponsored by the Stewarts); respectively. Based on the assumption clearly resolves the confusion that that those four men were passengers, exists concerning the arrival of Hugh (Previous page:) The Malpeque area, and keeping in mind that the average Montgomery and Mary MacShannon, according to Samuel Holland's famous size of party brought out by each head the ancestors of Prince Edward survey of 1764-65. of family in the Edinburgh was three, Island's most famous author, L. M. the total number of immigrants would Montgomery. In fact, Hugh Mont- 40 A word of explanation with respect to this transcription is in order. "Do,/' means "ditto," i.e. "same." Hie monetary values are j expressed in pounds, shillings, and pence. In light of the prevailing misapprehensions concerning the use of "Mac" and "Me" in surnames, it should be noted that the standard Gaelic prefix "Mac," meaning "son," is frequently contracted as "Mc" or "M"' in records. The use of "Mc" in some modern surnames derives from this contraction and has no historic, ethnic, or linguistic signifi- Aect Passengers to St Johns [Passage? Aboard?] the Edinburgh and payment of the Freight 1771 July 9 | Passenger Names | By Whom Paid Cabin Hold Rate P. A. MacAlester Bills pay* j Exchan Bills Total1 PayleatSt.Johns Hugh Montgomery himself 0 • i 70 17.10.0 i 0.0.0 0.0.0 17.10.0 I Neill Montgomery Hugh Montgomery MMRRR t Do 1,10.2 2.11.7 I 0.0.0 4.1.9 Joseph MacLean Proot. Stewart MMMR i Do. 3.10.0 0.0.0 0.0.0 3.10.9 James Woodside himself •Nl MRRi Do. 7.0.0 0.00 0.0.0 7.0.0 Janet Finlay herself MNiWS^ Do. 3.10.0 I 0.0.0 0.0.0 3.10.0 Alex MacKay Sailor himself NH HMM Do. 10.10.0 0.0.0 i 0.0.0 10.10.0 ! Neil MacKay for [?] himself Do. 7.0.0 o.o.o i 0.0.0 7.0.0 Archd. MacKay Neill MacKay MNiMft i hisBror WIMRM I Do. 3.10.0 0.0.0 0.0.0 3.10.0 John MacVicar himself MR W§SB Do. 3.10.0 0.0.0 0.0.0 3.10.0 Hector MacShenaig his father RM ^^M Do. 3.10.0 0.0.0 0.0.0 3.10.0 Dun: MacWilliam himself Do. 14.0.0 0.0.0 0.0.0 14.0.0 d RM ^^B Dug. Campbell in part Pse. RM RRRl Do. 3.0.0 0.0.0 0.0.0 Neill Shaw himself as under RM RRNI Do. 10.3.10 5.8.8 1/2 1.4.6 1/2 Neill MacCallum himself RM HHi Do.

Load more