William Campbell

• Name	William Campbell
  Birth	Muirkirk, Ayrshire, Scotland
  Gender	Male
  Imprisonment	Aug 1684	Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland   [1]
  	Escaped from Edinburgh Tolbooth with his brother and eight others
  Residence	Abt Dec 1684	Muirkirk, Ayrshire, Scotland   [2]
  	One of a number of Wellwood related fugitives living in the hills
  Role	1685	East Jersey, New Jersey, USA
  	Transported prisoner - returned
  Religion	1685	Scotland
  	Presbyterian - Covenanter
  Residence	Abt Apr 1685	Muirkirk, Ayrshire, Scotland   [3]
  	"in Murekirk"
  Legal	Abt 15 May 1685	Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland   [3]
  	Refused the oath of allegiance and sent to Burntisland to join the Covenanter prisoners. Held in Glasgow Tolbooth.
  Imprisonment	24 May 1685	Dunnottar, Kincardineshire, Scotland   [4, 5, 6]
  	Held in Dunnottar Castle until c12 August, then marched to Leith arriving 17 August
  Departure	5 Sep 1685	Leith, Midlothian, Scotland
  	Aboard the Henry and Francis
  Arrival	7 Dec 1685	Perth Amboy, Middlesex, New Jersey, USA   [7]
  Residence	Abt 1686	London, England   [8, 9]
  	Having returned, claiming that he "could not live there [New Jersey] for the "extreme povertie of the place". Arrested and brought by ship from London to Kirkcaldy.
  Legal	21 Jan 1686/87	Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland   [9]
  	Made a statement to Thomas Douglas, reported to the Privy Council: Having been banished he returned to London and from to Kirkcaldy, aboard a Kirkcaldy ship, master Clinkclatter, accompanied by his brother John (now fugitive) and all his banished family
  	He had been captured at a conventicle at Polbaith Burn near Galston where David Houston was preaching. See https://drmarkjardine.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/covenanters-captured-at-david-housto ns-preaching-at-the-polbaith-burn-in-1687/
  Imprisonment	23 Feb 1686/87	Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland   [8]
  	Examined following his arrest for attending a conventicle.
  Legal	29 Jun 1688	Ayrshire, Scotland
  	On list of Ayrshire heritors required to disown involvement in the escape of preacher David Houston in 1687
  Origin	Muirkirk, Ayrshire, Scotland   [3]
  	Upper Wellwood
  Person ID	I44579	East Jersey Genealogies
  Last Modified	7 Dec 2025

  
  

  Father	of Shaw William Campbell
  Relationship	natural
  Family ID	F31589	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Jean (Campbell)
  Family ID	F31588	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	7 Dec 2025

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - - Muirkirk, Ayrshire, Scotland Imprisonment - Escaped from Edinburgh Tolbooth with his brother and eight others - Aug 1684 - Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland Residence - One of a number of Wellwood related fugitives living in the hills - Abt Dec 1684 - Muirkirk, Ayrshire, Scotland Religion - Presbyterian - Covenanter - 1685 - Scotland Residence - "in Murekirk" - Abt Apr 1685 - Muirkirk, Ayrshire, Scotland Legal - Refused the oath of allegiance and sent to Burntisland to join the Covenanter prisoners. Held in Glasgow Tolbooth. - Abt 15 May 1685 - Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland Imprisonment - Held in Dunnottar Castle until c12 August, then marched to Leith arriving 17 August - 24 May 1685 - Dunnottar, Kincardineshire, Scotland Departure - Aboard the Henry and Francis - 5 Sep 1685 - Leith, Midlothian, Scotland Arrival - 7 Dec 1685 - Perth Amboy, Middlesex, New Jersey, USA Residence - Having returned, claiming that he "could not live there [New Jersey] for the "extreme povertie of the place". Arrested and brought by ship from London to Kirkcaldy. - Abt 1686 - London, England Legal - Made a statement to Thomas Douglas, reported to the Privy Council: Having been banished he returned to London and from to Kirkcaldy, aboard a Kirkcaldy ship, master Clinkclatter, accompanied by his brother John (now fugitive) and all his banished family - 21 Jan 1686/87 - Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland Imprisonment - Examined following his arrest for attending a conventicle. - 23 Feb 1686/87 - Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland Legal - On list of Ayrshire heritors required to disown involvement in the escape of preacher David Houston in 1687 - 29 Jun 1688 - Ayrshire, Scotland Origin - Upper Wellwood - - Muirkirk, Ayrshire, Scotland  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S3716] Jardine, Mark, William Adam: The Wanderer at Wellwood. https://drmarkjardine.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/william-adam-the-wanderer-at-wellwood/ [S3533] Wodrow, Robert, The History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution, Volume 4, p51. [S3611] Privy Council of Scotland, The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 3rd Series, XI, pp289-294. [S3589] Somerset, Douglas W. B., "The Dunnottar Prisoners of 1685", p115. [S3589] Somerset, Douglas W. B., "The Dunnottar Prisoners of 1685", p202. [S3610] Anderson, James, The Black Book of Kincardineshire, p10. [S3601] Glasgow, W. Melancthon, History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America, pp 230-231. https://archive.org/details/historyofreforme00glas [S3611] Privy Council of Scotland, The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 3rd Series, XIII, p125. [S3611] Privy Council of Scotland, The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 3rd Series, XIII, p131.