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Subject: Covenanters 2nd part 5-31-1997
Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 14:45:05 -0400 (EDT)

From National Genealogical Society quarterly, Vol XX. No. 4, December, 1932,
pp. 16-18.
COVENANTERS AND THE WORK OF REV. JOHN CUTHBERTSON by Miss S. Helen Fields,
Washington, D. C.

From the works of Woodrow and glasgow we learn that in 1685 many Covenanters
in Scotland who would not take Oath of Allegiance to the Ruler because of
religious scruples, were confined in the Tolbooth of Leith. One George
Scott, Laird of Pittochie, was given a promise of liberty and a gift of about
100 prisoners provided he transported them to Eastern New jersey and landed
them before September 1686. Failure in any way on his part meant a penalty
of five hundred marks. A ship of three hundred and fifty tons, with twenty
great guns, named "Henry and Francis", was chartered from New Castle by
Scott, or Pittochie, as he was called, with Richard Hutton as Master. From
the above prisoners Scott made up a company of 15, of which number 31 died on
the voyage. In addition to these there were a few others who voluntarily
came to America. Five pounds of sterling was required of each adult, and
less for children, and if this could not be paid the adult ws promised 25
acres of land and a new suit of clothes after he had given four years of
service. Scott and his lady died at sea and John Johnstone, Pittochie's
son-in-law, had charge of the prisoners and urged them to sign an agreement
toserve the four years at Perth Amboy, N. J., because of the expense incurred
by Scott. This they refused to do, and instead filed a protest against their
banishment and cruel treatment. The ship sailed from the road of Leith on
September 5, 1685, and landed at Perth Amboy the middle of the following
December. It twice sprung a leak, fever broke out, food and treatment were
intolerable. Influenced by Hutton tosail to Jamaica or Virginia whre he could
better dispose of the prisoners, Johnstone decided to do so, and only due to
a change of the wind ws Captain Hutton forced to sail to new Jersey as first
planned.

The Covenanters were not welcomed by the people who lived on the coast, but
at an inland town (thought to be Woodridge) they were kindly received and all
who could travel were invited to live with them, and horses furnished for
those who could not walk. The following spring Johnstone had them all cited
before a legal tribunal of the Province. Because they had not voluntarily
gone to the ship nor bargained in any way, there were, in accordance with the
laws of this land, assorted, and were scattered throughout Eastern
Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut.

Thereafter, from time to time, the Covenanters were banished from Scotland to

New Jersey, Delaware and South Carolina until the latter part of the 17th
Century, when the religious persecution ceased.
Into the midst of these distressed but brave people came John Cuthbertson,
sent by the Presbytery of Scotland because of their pleading for an Under
Shepherd. He set foot on American soil at New Castle Delaware, August 5,
1751. With him came his sister, Mrs. Archibald Bourne, with her husband and
infant son John, and a colony of Covenanters. Mr. Cuthbertson was the First
Reformed Presbyterian Missionary to come to America. young, fearless, and
imbued with a God-like spirit, he began his work without delay, and
throughout the years traveled long distances on horseback and on foot
(usually from his headquarters at Middle Octooraro, Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania) over mountain and stream, to bring consolation to his fellow
country men and to others. He frequently speaks of being cold, sick, hungry,
distressed in body and mind, molested, but still never faltered in the task
he had set before him. We find him, old and broken, carrying on up to a few
months before his death in 1791.
The names of those who came to America on the "Henry and Francis" in 1685 are
cited here as a preliminary to the more than 5,000 different families in
Doctor Cuthbertson's Diary, which appear in the manuscript of Miss S. Helen
Fields, now ready for printing under the title of "Register of Rev. John
Cuthbertson."

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