What became of the emigrants?
How did the emigrants fare?
This page explores what happened to the Scots who emigrated to East Jersey between 1683 and 1685. It considers their economic, social, and religious outcomes up to 1702, when East and West Jersey were united into a royal colony. Drawing on evidence from land records, wills, court documents and letters, it assesses how free settlers, indentured servants, and transported prisoners fared in the New World. While intergenerational outcomes lie outside the scope of the research, you will gain a flavour of how the emigrants and their families fared, hinting at how they fared in the longer term.
Some trace can be found of nearly 60% of the known Scots emigrants, and where subsequent records can be found just over a quarter died after 1702. It is possible to account for almost all of the free emigrants, but fewer of the servants and ex-prisoners. Most of the ‘missing’ were single and less likely to leave markers.
Settling in East Jersey
The Scots settled in certain parts of East Jersey, such as Perth Amboy, Woodbridge, Piscataway and Rahway. Near Freehold and on the Jersey Shore, the Scots created a village called New Aberdeen and banded together to build a quay to facilitate trade. Over 30 Scottish families owned land in this area, Monmouth County.
As Ned Landsman pointed out in his Scotland and its First American Colony, their settlement patterns resembled the dispersed ferm touns of Scotland more than English-style villages. And when Scots moved, they typically headed for places inhabited by other Scots.
A few not tied by indenture settled elsewhere such as in Bergen where there were Dutch and English populations. Peter Russell, one of the recaptured Dunnottar escapees, wrote to his family in 1688, telling them that he was living in Newark with another Scot and was aware of a few others in the vicinity.
Religion and social cohesion
The Scots in East Jersey created a tightly knit society. In more than 50% of the marriages involving the emigrants, their partner was another Scot, and most property transactions occurred within their community. Legal records suggest significant levels of trust and strength of cultural identity.
Despite strong religious convictions, emigrants adapted to the reality of religious diversity. Presbyterians and Quakers were willing to cooperate, as in the development of New Aberdeen. The bonds of Quakers to their religious community also weakened later in the period when one of their leaders, George Keith, led a schism considering that Quakers in America had lost respect for doctrine and scripture. Quakers such as John Hamton and John Reid became Anglican. This church was a natural fit for those emigrants who had adhered to the Episcopalian church in Scotland, such as George Willocks, son of a Jacobite minister, and for those who sought a place in New York business and society.
Religious practices in this early period of settlement were improvised, there were few preachers and fewer places of worship. The timeline below shows the development of religion in places settled by Scots.
Political influence
Scots were played a disproportionate role in colonial governance, when compared with settlers from other origins. Of 25 men who served on the East Jersey Board of Proprietors between 1684 and 1702, 15 were Scots, three of whom serving for the whole period. Notable figures like John Barclay, Thomas Gordon, and John Johnstone held multiple influential roles, including in Johnstone’s case, as Mayor of New York. This political dominance extended into judicial and land survey offices, helping Scots secure economic advantages and defend their proprietary rights.
There were repeated accusations of the Scots in public office favouring their compatriots. Many of these related to trade, with suspicions of contravention of the Navigation Acts under which maritime trade operated in English colonies. Few cases were instigated against Scots merchants, though in one instance, in 1685, it was Thomas Gordon who brought the charges.
Read more: see Joseph Wagner’s article on this website for more on the Scots and their control of East Jersey.
Who prospered?
The context for how emigrants fared was one where the local economy was predominantly agrarian, with some growth in inter-colonial trade, especially across the Hudson with New York, comprising foods and wood for fuel. Over 90% earned their living from the land, comparable to the other North American colonies. Little currency was in circulation, what there was could include Dutch or Spanish coins, and many payments were made in kind.
While returns on land investment were often lower than the early investors anticipated, several Scots rose to prominence. Andrew Hamilton became Deputy Governor and amassed 6,000 acres. John Johnstone benefitted from his wife’s inheritance and built large estates, introducing his family to elite networks in New York through trade and marriage. John Reid, the indentured gardener and overseer of the 1683 arrivals, became Deputy Surveyor and used his knowledge of the land and its potential to assemble 3,700 acres. Others became ‘planters’, owners of smaller estates such as Robert Hardy of South River and Gawen Drummond of Locharbor.
It was not until 1698 and 1702 that the Proprietors received significant bounties of more land on their original investment, and some allocations had taken a long time to be developed, thanks in part to labour shortages.
Contrasting fortunes
Others struggled. Lord Neill Campbell returned to Scotland in financial difficulty, unable to track his East Jersey holdings and account to his partner Robert Blackwood in Edinburgh. Merchant David Mudie had cargo confiscated and died with modest means. Thomas Fullarton relocated to Barbados and later returned to Scotland, buying estates with wealth from colonial ventures. David Toschach of Monzievaird was extremely disappointed by his land allocation in East Jersey and soon left with his brother-in-law Patrick McGregorie and their families to set up a fur trading post up the Hudson River from New York.
Trade and the merchant class
Initial hopes for Perth Amboy as a trade hub faded because of its proximity to the much larger port of New York. Some merchants, like David Vilant and George Mackenzie, moved to New York, with McKenzie later transferring to Barbados. Sloop trade and coastal commerce proved more viable than transatlantic exports. Nevertheless, Scots merchants formed useful alliances with Dutch and English networks, facilitating gradual upward mobility.
Indentured servants: mixed outcomes
Of the 220 known indentured servants, about half disappear from the records. Nearly 70 secured land after their service, though significant numbers of them were happy to sell on and earn their living in ways other than on the land. Some left for Philadelphia, New York, or West Jersey in pursuit of better opportunities.
Several developed their holdings and did well for themselves and their families, including Peter Watson (with over 300 acres), John Hebron (500 acres) and William Clark (over 600).
There is little evidence of the indentured servants being exploited as sometimes the case in later decades; rather they shared the same hardships as their fellow emigrants commensurate with the tasks in becoming settled in what was for them new ground.
And amongst the transported Covenanters...
Of the transported prisoners, 70% vanished from records. Only those who were shipped in 1684 were made to enter indentures to pay for their passages. Those arriving in 1685 were successful in their legal suit to avoid this imposition. Most stayed in East Jersey though a good number made their way to New England where they hoped to find communities supportive of their brand of Presbyterianism. They included Robert McEwen and Andrew Paterson, settled in Connecticut and Jean Moffat and John Fraser who later returned to Scotland. Others known to have come back were Archibald Riddell and Robert McClellan who captured by a French ship and spent some time in jail in France before they were able to return.
A few rose significantly: Adam Hude became a judge in the Court of Common Pleas and John Muirhead, the High Sheriff of Burlington County (in West Jersey) while David Jamieson became Chief Justice of New York and New Jersey, acquiring land and marrying into New York’s elite.
Land, labour and ethical legacies
Relationships with the indigenous Lenni-Lenape
Some of the land settled by the Scots had previously been purchased from the indigenous people, the Lenni-Lenape, and more had to be bought to meet the commitments to the Scots who had been granted land. The sellers amongst the Lenape appear largely to have been satisfied with their transactions but there were some tensions over the continuation of traditional privileges, eg, in hunting and in maintaining villages. Though settler expansion was slower than expected, it was likely to have contributed to longer-term displacement of the Lenape given that increasingly they gave up land by the rivers which was important to them for fishing, mobility and growing their own crops.
Enslaved Africans
Few Scots brought enslaved people: only six were registered on arrival as accompanying the settlers between 1683 and 1685. Ownership remained low due to costs and ethical objections, particularly among Quakers and some Presbyterians. Nevertheless, a few Scots families later engaged in slaveholding, mainly in urban or commercial settings. Out of 1,500 wills recorded in New Jersey up to 1730, 182 mentioned ‘slaves’, and of these only seven involved Scots emigrants or their children. Instances like John Hebron’s abolitionism, however, stand in contrast to the attitudes of the Scots merchants who developed ties with New York’s slaveholding elite.
Conclusion: how did the Scots fare?
Scots in East Jersey had varied outcomes. Landowners and merchants often fared best, especially those who established political influence or built commercial ties with New York. Many indentured servants and prisoners gained new opportunities, some joining the landowning class or taking public office, while others migrated for better prospects. Religious freedom was largely achieved, and tensions between Presbyterians and Quakers eased in the colonial context. The settlement owed much to Lenape land sales and exploited enslaved labour little at this stage. Compared to other ventures like the Darien scheme, the East Jersey venture led to a relatively successful and enduring Scottish colonial presence.
Read more
The Scots in East Jersey
Derrick Johnstone, ‘Scots Emigrants to East New Jersey, 1682-1702: Motivations and Outcomes’. M.Phil (Research), University of Glasgow, 2025