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 […]

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 […]