Adam Hude was one of the Covenanters transported aboard the Henry and Francis in 1685. Born about 1661, he came from the Eastern Borders and worked as a weaver before his imprisonment.

In March 1685 Hude was described by the authorities as a “disaffected person”. During the trial of the young Covenanter preacher James Renwick he was accused of dictating a “seditious letter against the government and orthodix clergie” that had been left at Ashkirk church in Selkirkshire. Two months later, in May 1685, he refused to take the oath of allegiance demanded by the government. Such refusals were treated as proof of political and religious disloyalty. Had Hude taken the oath he would likely have been released, but his refusal led instead to imprisonment in Dunnottar Castle and ultimately to transportation in September. Amongst the other prisoners was Marion Renwick from Tongland in Kirkcudbrightshire who became his wife not very long after their arrival in the colony.

The transported prisoners were intended to be sold into indentured servitude on arrival. Hude, however, was one of those who argued in the County Court against this arrangement and secured his freedom. For a time, he lived on Staten Island, across the Arthur Kill from East Jersey, where he had opportunities for work and trade and found himself amongst others sympathetic to his Presbyterian beliefs.

Settled in Woodbridge

In 1695 Adam purchased land in Woodbridge in Middlesex County and moved from Staten Island not long afterwards. Over the following decades he became a well-established member of the community. Records show him serving on juries and undertaking other public duties, indicating the standing he had achieved among his neighbours. In 1701 he became a Member of the Provincial Assembly of New Jersey. In the same year he purchased further land in Woodbridge.

Adam remained a staunch Presbyterian and was formally admitted as a member of the new Presbyterian Church in Woodbridge in 1710.

Adam and Marion had six children in Woodbridge, two daughters and four sons. Both Robert and James were to follow their father into public life, holding local offices in Middlesex County.

Hude was appointed a judge on the Court of Common Pleas of Middlesex County in 1718 and was subsequently Presiding Judge for over 10 years, to 1733. His career illustrates the striking transformation experienced by many of the transported Covenanters: men who had been imprisoned and banished for their religious convictions in Scotland later became respected members of colonial society.

He lived to an advanced age, dying in 1746 at about eighty-five, Marion having pre-deceased him in 1732.

Further details, including sources, of Adam Hude’s life and family can be found in the East Jersey Bound database:

See database entry for Adam Hude

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 and refused to name those who had preached or attended. For this, he was sentenced to transportation to the plantations. He was imprisoned in Edinburgh Tolbooth and, by December, placed aboard the St Michaell of Scarbrugh, intended for Virginia. However, the ship never left port as the contractor responsible, London merchant Ralph Williamson,  failed to appear and the prisoners were released at Gravesend. [Another in the party was William Layng from Hawick who was also later transported to East Jersey.]

Niven returned to Cathcart around September 1679, but his freedom was short-lived. In 1684 he was again imprisoned, this time in the Canongate Tolbooth, accused of disloyalty to Church and Crown and refusing to take pledges of allegiance. In May 1685, he was formally sentenced to banishment. He was among the many Covenanters held in grim conditions at Dunnottar Castle. During his captivity, he took part in a failed escape attempt and suffered torture by lit matches tied to his fingers.

On 5 September 1685, Niven was shipped aboard the Henry and Francis as a banished prisoner. He arrived in Perth Amboy, East Jersey, on 7 December 1685. A legal case brought in early 1686 by the ship’s captain, Richard Hutton, shows that Niven was among the prisoners successful in opposing his claim for their transportation costs. Despite his traumatic exile, Niven managed to return to Scotland by around 1692.

Back home in Pollokshaws, he appears to have resumed a normal life. By 1703, he had some social standing, serving as an elder in the local Church of Scotland. He had at least one child, also named William. He died sometime after 1703.

See database entry for William Niven