David Toschach of Monzievaird (c.1645-1689)

David Toschach, 7th of Monzievaird, led a party of 25 emigrants to East New Jersey in 1685 and set up a fur trading post in New York. David Toschach [or Tosheoch] was born around 1645 in the parish of Monzievaird and Strowan, Perthshire into a minor landed family. He was the son of Andrew Tosheoch, […]

David Jamieson (1659-1739)

David Jamieson was born in March 1659 in Linlithgow, West Lothian, to David Jamie and Bessie Tod. He grew up in a Covenanter household and learnt the tailoring skills of his father’s business. The authorities accused him of being a member of the Covenanter army at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge on 22 June 1679. […]

Jean Moffat (c.1666-c.1749)

Jean Moffat was born in about 1666 at Netherbarns just outside Galashiels, the daughter of James Moffat, tenant farmer and determined Covenanter. Jean was perhaps even stronger her beliefs and persistently refused to attend the services of the local minister. In consequence her father was fined 1,000 merks, for failing in his legal responsibility to ensure religious […]

Scots and the control of East New Jersey

“The Scotch had the sole rule”? Scots did not just emigrate to East New Jersey in the late seventeenth century, they sought to exert control over the land and commerce of the colony. In 1703, the English colonial official Robert Quarry observed that the preceding twenty years had seen a ‘contest in East Jersey…whether the […]

Andrew Paterson (1659–1746)

Andrew Paterson was a Covenanter who was transported in 1685 and made his way to Connecticut where he settled and had a family. Andrew Paterson [or Patterson] was born in 1659 in Hamilton, Lanarkshire. He was firm in his Covenanting beliefs and may have been in the Covenanter army at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge […]

John Cockburn (c.1659- aft.1712)

John Cockburn was a mason from the Borders who emigrated as an indentured servant and was one of the very first freemasons in Colonial America. He emigrated aboard the Shield of Stockton, leaving Leith on 3 July and landing at the Patuxent Rover, Delaware on 29 September. From there he and all the other passengers […]

David Simson (c.1632–c.1686)

David Simson was an exiled Presbyterian minister and amongst the oldest Scots emigrants. David Simson, a Scottish Presbyterian minister, was born around 1632 and served faithfully in parishes of Argyll for several decades before being exiled to East Jersey for his religious convictions. He began his ministry in 1656 at Killean and Kilchenzie parish in […]

David Falconar (c.1632-1713)

David Falconar played a significant role in the East Jersey venture as a promoter and investor and was a leading member of the Quaker community in Scotland. David Falconar (or Falconer) was born around 1632, the eldest son of Sir John Falconer, Master of the Cunziehouse (the Scottish Mint), and Sibil Ogilvy. Though he never […]

William Niven (c.1654-1703)

William Niven, a smith from Pollokshaws in Cathcart parish, Renfrewshire (now part of Glasgow), lived through some of the harshest years of the Covenanter persecutions in late 17th century Scotland. His religious nonconformity led to repeated imprisonments, torture, and eventual transportation across the Atlantic. In May 1678, Niven was arrested after attending an illegal conventicle […]

William Ridford (c.1642–1726)

William Ridford [or Reidford] was one of the first Scots emigrants to East Jersey in the 1680s. He was born around 1642 in Friershaw, near Lilliesleaf in Teviotdale, Roxburghshire. He was a Quaker, a member of the Kelso Monthly Meeting. By 1682, tenant farmer Ridford was in negotiation with Arent Sonmans, one of the East […]