A COLONIAL SCOTTISH JACOBITE FAMILY THE ESTABLISHMENT IN VIRGINIA OF A BRANCH OF THE HUM-ES of WEDDERBURN Illustrated by Letters and Other Contemporary Documents By EDGAR ERSKINE HUME M. .A... lL D .• LL. D .• Dr. P. H. Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Member of the Virginia and Kentucky Historical Societies OLD DoKINION PREss RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 1931 COPYRIGHT 1931 BY EDGAR ERSKINE HUME .. :·, , . - ~-. ~ ,: ·\~ ·--~- .... ,.~ 11,i . - .. ~ . ARMS OF HUME OF WEDDERBURN (Painted by Mr. Graham Johnston, Heraldic Artist to the Lyon Office). The arms are thus recorded in the Public ReJ?:ister of all Arms and Bearings in Scotland (Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms) : Quarterly, first and fourth, Vert a lion rampant Argent, armed and langued Gules, for Hume; second Argent, three papingoes Vert, beaked and membered Gules, for Pepdie of Dunglass; third Argent, a cross enirrailed Azure for Sinclair of H erdmanston and Polwarth. Crest: A uni­ corn's head and neck couped Argent, collared with an open crown, horned and maned Or. Mottoes: Above the crest: Remember; below the shield: True to the End. Supporters: Two falcons proper. DEDICATED To MY PARENTS E. E. H., 1844-1911 AND M. S. H., 1858-1915 "My fathers that name have revered on a throne; My fathers have fallen to right it. Those fathers would scorn their degenerate son, That name should he scoffingly slight it . " -BORNS. CONTENTS PAGE Preface . 7 Arrival of Jacobite Prisoners in Virginia, 1716.......... 9 The Jacobite Rising of 1715. 10 Fate of the Captured Jacobites. 16 Trial and Conviction of Sir George Hume of Wedder- burn, Baronet . 17 His letters ................................ 14, 17, 25 Forfeiture of the Wedderburn lands.................. 22 Lady W edderburn's Petition to the King, 1716. 49 Letter of Grisell Hume, Lady Baillie of Jerviswood, 1717. 41 Sketch of the Early Humes of Wedderburn............ 27 Sir George Hume of Wedderburn, Comptroller to James IV . 32 Rev. Ninian Ho~ of Billie ..... 26, 37, 39, 42, 43, 47, 48, 100 His letters ............................. 39, 53, 62, 63 Transportation of Francis Hume of Quixwood to Vir- ginia .......................•.......... 9, 50, 00 His letters ................................ 507 527 54 George Hume, second son of the forfeited Laird of Wed- deroum . 61 His Birth, 1698. 49 Serves as a Jacobite, 1715 ................... 12, 17,. 18 His Arrival in Virginia, 1721. 65 Appointed Surveyor, 1723 ............... 72, 78, 79, 86 His Marriage, 1728. 73 Commissioned a Lieutenant in Virginia, 1729. 74 A Vestryman . 82 Crown's Representative in Lord Fairfax's Suit, 1723. 75 George Washington his Assistant in Surveying. 77 His Death; Settlement of his Estate, 1760 ...... 126, 127 His Six Sons ................... 94, 98, 116, 132n, 133 Letter to his brother David. 77 Letters to his brother Patrick .................... 83, 92 Letters.to his brother John .................. 88, 95, 116 Letter to his brother James . 94 Letters to his sister Isabel. .................90, 98, 113 Letters to Home of Jardinfield ....... 91, 9CJ, 109, 119 Letter to Rev. Ninian Home of Billie. 65 Letter to James, son of Rev. Ninian Home of Billie.. 71 Letters from his brother Patrick ...... 78, 82, 91, 96, 121 CONTENTS-CONTINUED PAGE George Hume of Culpeper County (continued) : Letters from his brother James ........ 84, 85, 86, 87, 93 Letters from his sister Isabel .......... 96, 100, 112, 122 Letters from Home of Jardinfield .......... 97, 108, 124 Letters of Alexander, son of Francis Hume of Quix- wood, 1752 ............................. 102, 103 Murder of Margaret Hume, Lady Billie, 1752. 106 The French and Indian War ......... 109, 113, 115, 116, 119 Letter from the Earl of Marchmont to David Hume of Wedderburn, 1761 . 135 Death of David Hume of Wedderburn, 1762 and Suc- cession to Lands. 136 The Peerage of Marchmont .......................... 139 The Counts de Hume de Cherisy of France. 153 Conclusion . 155 Bibliography ........................ ·............. 157 ILLUSTRATIONS Arms of Hume of Wedderburn ................. frontispiece Wedderburn Castle ......................... facing page 12 "The Flodden Banner!'. 29 The East Marches of the Scottish Border. 38 The Tidewater Counties of Virginia .................... 73 Title Page, Field Book of George Hume ................ 80 Autographs and Seal : Francis Hume of Quixwood and George Hume of Culpeper County . 90 Chart of Descent : Showing branches of the family of Hume ........... 163 PREFACE HE causes that lead up to the quitting of one's native land T for a distant and all but unknown shore, must of need be weighty. The desire for the right of free worship, the hope of acquiring a fortune, the longing for escape from a life of ill-repaid toil, all played their parts in pecwling the English colonies of North America. But the purely political causes of emigration are less well known. Britain's transportation of prisoners, particularly those who had borne arms against the Hanovarian succession, sent many a brave soldier to the plantations there to succeed or fail according to his abilities and fortune. Something of the romance which attaches to the Jacobite cause, reached Virginia with these unfortunate men. Many Virginians, keeping alive the ·Cavalier spirit which had held the colony loyal to King Charles during the Cromwellian wars and earned for her the title The Old Domi:nrion from Charles II, received the Jacobites kindly, and secretly felt that their cause was one of justice. Rare it is that these, or indeed any colonists, were able long to keep in touch with their families and friends at home, and still rarer for the record of such communication to be preserved. The letters and other documents :that are quoted in the narrative which follows, are in the opinions of many Virginia historians, unique in their completeness and extent. An attempt has here been made to use them as the warp in weaving this story of the establishment of a Colonial branch of an old Scottish Border family. It is a chapter of family history rather than a genealogy, and seeks to describe the con­ £used events leading up to the participation by the head of the family in the Jacobite Rising of 1715, and the yet more com­ plex circumstances attending the alteration of the succession to his lands. The sketch might have been extended greatly. Only the most brief space could be given to the history of this family prior to the eighteenth century, though a glance at the com­ prehensive bibliography will suffice to indicate how much more might have been added. Similarly to trace the fortunes of the descendants of the earliest Colonial members of that family is beyond the scope of this account. The descendants of the first 8 PREFACE of the family in Virginia, the Jacobite prisoner who reached Yorktown in 1716, live in Scotland. The numerous descend­ ants of the nephew of that Jacobite, he who came in 1721, live in many parts of the United States, and the task of recording their lives nmst fall to others. Acknowledgment of invaluable assistance, during the last twenty years, in gathering the materials for this account is gratefully made to the officials of the Library of Congress, the British Museum, the Parliamentary Library of Canada, the Office of the Lord Lyon, the Virginia State Library, the New York Public Library, the Newberry Library, the Vir­ ginia and Kentucky Historical Societies, the Society of Anti­ quaries of Stotland, the College of William and Mary, the CoUI1!ty Clerks of nearly all of the older counties of Virginia and Kentucky, and to many interested persons the list of whom, unfortunately, is too long to record here. The sketch appeared serially in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography for 1930 (Volume XXXVIII), and its reproduction, with ad­ ditions and corrections, has been permitted by the Virginia Historical Society. EDGAR ERSKINE HUME. Headquarters of the Infantry School Fort Benning, Georgia October 1, 1930 A COLONIAL SCOTTISH JACOBITE FAMILY Establishment in Virginia of a Branch of the Humes of Wedderburn. "It was a' for our rightfu' King We left fair Scotland's strand ... My love and native land farewell For I maun cross the main." The Fareu1t?ll-Bums. QN Saturday, October 13, 1716, the ship Elizabeth & Anne, of Liverpool, arrived in Yorktown, Virginia, bringing one hundred and twelve unfortunate Scotsmen whose names ap­ peared in the ship's papers as "Rebel Prisoners". Twenty-nine of the prisoners were under indentures and the remaining eighty­ three were not indented, to use the terms of the passenger list. The list is certified by the master and on the back is indorsed: VIRGINIA By His Majesty's Lieutenant Gov­ ernor & Commander in Chief of this Dominion. These are to certify that the above list of one hundred & twelve Rebel Prisoners Imported into this Colony in the Ship El~zabeth & Anne of Liverpool, Edward Trafford, Master, was taken (by my order) uppon the arrival of the said ship in York River by the Officers of the Customs there and contains the Names of all the Prisoners Imported in the sd. ship & that besides the said one hundred and twelve persons the Master did Report that one other Prisoner by name Duncan Mackfale died at sea which upon Examina­ tion of the other prisoners appeared to be true. Given under my hand at Williamsburg this 24th day of January 1716 (1716-17].1 (Cal. of State Papers of 1 The dates are of course of the "Old Style" or Julian calendar. The year began on March 25 so that January came after October, which ex­ plains the apparent discrepancy, as Francis Hume reached Virginia in October 1716. The double dates for the period of the year between January 1 and March 25 were used until 1752 when Great Britain adopted the "New Style" or Gregorian calendar. The date 24 January 1716-17, Old Style is 1717 New Style.