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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => East Lothian (Haddingtonshire) => Topic started by: Hibee on Wednesday 26 October 11 09:30 BST (UK)
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Hi
I'm hoping to be able to prove that the John Adam, who was one of 12 killed in the Tranent Massacre of 29 Aug 1797, was my ancestor.
What I have so far is that John Adam was killed half way along the Tranent-Macmerry road, and that the troops went through his pockets.
A John Adam was buried at Newton (home of my Adam people) on 1 Sep 1797. Newton is about 5 miles west of Tranent.
The age of the massacre victim, or the name of his wife, would be most useful.
Thanks.
Hibee
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Hibbee, not sure if this description may help. From the Courier and Evening Gazette, London on September 4, 1797:
...Another man of the name of ADAMS, who was coming on the road for some medicines for his wife lying in childbed, was also killed on the high road, a little way from Tranent.
Monica
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Thanks, Monica. Yes that's him....he was murdered by troopers, and robbed of 2 shillings.*
I'm fairly certain he's my relative, as he has a daughter born 8 days earlier.
Hibee
* Lamp of Lothian, by James Miller, pp 303-330. An interesting read available to view online from Google Books.
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With the new born reference, certainly as you think, likely to be him.
Awful reading the reports on all of this :'( However, in the main, the London based newspapers of the time wrote it up in fairly bland terms...
Monica
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Hi Hibee,
how did you get the information that the soldiers went through his pockets pleas.
Lord Dundas wrote a letter to the Home Secretary saying that Lawson and Adam were innocent and regrettably lost their lives.
I suppose you might have these, this is the list of families with the name of Adam at Newton, try and match the christian names that tie in with your own as the Scots kept the names alive in the family.
Hi Monica, at times I am not getting notification of posts which means I am unable to reply or see it by accident.
Cheers.
Archie.
John Adam
birth: 11 Sep 1759
christening: 14 Sep 1759 , NEWTON, MIDLOTHIAN, SCOTLAND
residence: 1759 Newton, Midlothian, Scotland
parents: Thomas Adam, Elspeth Jamison
John Adam
Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
birth: 19 Apr 1762
christening: 25 Apr 1762 , NEWTON, MIDLOTHIAN, SCOTLAND
residence: 1762 Newton, Midlothian, Scotland
parents: David Adam, Margaret Scott
John Adam
birth: 27 Aug 1755
christening: 31 Aug 1755 , NEWTON, MIDLOTHIAN, SCOTLAND
residence: 1755 Newton, Midlothian, Scotland
parents: Henry Adam, Marion Murdoch
John Adam
birth: 02 May 1782
christening: 12 May 1782 , NEWTON, MIDLOTHIAN, SCOTLAND
residence: 1782 Newton, Midlothian, Scotland
parents: Andrew Adam, Jean Bennet
John Adam
birth: 09 Dec 1775
christening: 16 Dec 1775 , NEWTON, MIDLOTHIAN, SCOTLAND
residence: 1775 Newton, Midlothian, Scotland
parents: Andrrew Adam, Christian Wilson
John Adam
birth: 25 Jan 1764
christening: 03 Feb 1764 , NEWTON, MIDLOTHIAN, SCOTLAND
residence: 1764 Newton, Midlothian, Scotland
parents: Henry Adam, Marion Murdoch
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Hi Archie
Reference to John Adams' having his pockets gone through here www.rootschat.com/links/0g1c/ (I've shrunk the link).
Re your notifications on posts. Have a look at your 'Notification and Emails' page. To do this, click on your user page then on the l/h side, under Modify Profile, you will see Notifications and Email. Click on that. You should have all three boxes ticked. If not, then make sure they are and then click on Save Settings. Hopefully, this should resolve any issues.
Monica
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Hi Archie
The fullest account that I've found is in here... http://tinyurl.com/5scbj5f
Page 320 has the section on John Adam, whom I'm hoping to prove is the last one which you listed (the link to my website is below my avatar).
Do you have a copy of the Lord Dundas letter?
Thanks.
Hibee
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Hi Hibbee
I've been looking on and off since your posting went up and only came up with a few things with details - the newspaper account and a book.
It does say in your link that his wife was 'lying in child bed' so is there any info about a baptism around that time. (I see that there was a daughter of 8 days)
There is also a book written by Sandy Mullay
You could contact East Lothian about the book:
http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=422&pageNumber=11
gnu
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From what you mentioned and referencing it to Archie's list, the John Adam you are looking at was born 25 Jan 1764 and then married Janet Kinlay? From the link on your site http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=adamsmidlothian&id=I1311
Youngest daughter Jackie Adam showing as born 21 Aug. 1797 in Newton (from IGI). Also, last entry showing for births/christenings on IGI for this couple...
Monica
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Hi Folks,
boy has this caused some interest great stuff, I have the Sandy Mullay book I think £4.50 from the Haddington Library or you can buy on ebay I think.
The book is very interesting but does not say any more about John Adam except that he was shot and stabbed, the Minister of the Parish at the time held documents ob the Massacre but where it is nobody knows, some say 8 were killed then it is 12 then 15 so who knows.
Sorry Hibee I don't have the letter I only put down what was in the book, one man from another village came to Tranent to get his wages, there he met his friend I assume he was paid but when he saw what was happening he left, just at that time the Massacre had started he was Peter Ness.
The Newton Village they were born in is no longer there, the one we see today is the newest and built around possibly the 1930's.
The original Village directions : If you travel from the Sheriff Hall r/abot gopast the Cockatoo Restaurant and through Millarhill, when you pass Jewsons Builders yard keep an eye out on the right, travel a bit slowly and you will see the start of a Farm, there is a Barn at the roadside best the worst for wear.
Just before you reach the Barn you will see a nice green field and that was the site of the original Village, Newton House is tucked in behind the trees.
The original Church : Again travel from the Sheriff Hall R/About and go on the bypass heading for the A1 travel along till you come near the bend carefully keep a lookout on your right, you should see a square tower in between trees you will only see about half the Tower, the Church is no longer there but this is where the Parish of Newton was.
I was told when doing my research that the Farmer can't Plough the field for fear of digging up bodies, remember in those days there were no coffins and they buried their dead around 10 deep the last one in was about 2 feet from the top, they stopped the latter practice due to the smell of rotten flesh.
The original name for the Village was Neatone, the newer Church that is till standing near Danderhall was built in 1742, the Miners wanted to attend the services but were banned, it took around seven years of writing letters the Presbytery before they were listened to.
Eventually it was decided a balcony would be made for them, however, there were certain demands made, they would enter the church by an outside stair and around 15 minutes before the congregation, the same applied after the service, this was so that the congregation would never see the Miners as they were the lowest form of life.
There were Cottages named Adam's Row in the Village.
List of Miners when the Petition was put in to attend services below:
1732 - John Pentland, Abraham Steel, Abraham Moffat, Richard Boyd, Thomas Bennet, John Boyd, James Bennet, William Bell, Thomas Pentland.
1747 - Robert Archibald, Hugh Adam elder, Thomas Archibald, Hugh Adam younger, Henry Archibald, Henry Adam James Kinghorn, John Adam.
Thanks Monica for your input it is appreciated and regarding notifications I got this one no problem but will check after this.
Once I get time after this I will list all those that were affected at the Massacre.
Cheers.
Archie.
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Hi gnu, and thanks for your input.
I splashed out 22p on Amazon for the Sandy Mullay book, a couple of days ago, and I'm awaiting its arrival.
There is a baptism for Jackie Adam in Newton, on the 2 Sep 1797, a day after the mort cloth entry there for a John Adam. The baptism record makes no mention of John Adam being deceased, which is the only point I'm concerned about.
I might be accused of being over careful in identifying the Tranent/Macmerry John Adam as "mine", but there were so many of that name in the area.
Hibee
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Note from NAS on Dundas Letter:
Letter, with enclosures, from Robert Dundas of Arniston, Lord Advocate, Arniston, to [Henry Dundas] on the state of the various counties, the [Militia] Act, the late riot at Tranent, and recommending John Anderson, Cork, contractor for the mail coaches and roads in Ireland, at the request of Robert Allan, printer of the 'Caledonian Mercury'
Dates 13 Sep 1797
Ref: GD51/5/32/1-3
Status: Closed....why I wonder ???
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Hi Hibee and Monica,
Hibee it could be his death was not registered at that time but the burial went ahead, I then see that he went for medicine for his wife, the question I have is, why travel all that way to Tranent for the medicine, he could have got it at Musselburgh or Dalkeith ( BOOTS the Chemist )!!!, all joking apart Tranent was a heck of a hike or he had a Horse & Cart.
Monica, the whole thing was closed without the bat of an eyelid, Joanna ( Jackie ) Crookston's death was never registered as if it never happened she just disappeared, I have tried on SP and not dot on her except her birth, her husband was William Ross.
They made a mess of the whole affair from the start, firstly the Act should have been that, I think 1 in 10 young men would be called up for service in the new United Kingdom only and not fight any Wars abroad, I think the way the Act was printed looked like our men would fight abroad and that is where the riots started.
The schoolmaster was given the job to inform the powers to be who would be legible for call up from his records, many of the schoolmasters in Scotland done a runner if they were involved.
It still points out that a Mass Murder was committed on UK soil and nobody was brought to task and nobody found guilty, if it happened today it would be a different story, even the newspapers had to watch how they printed anything.
Cheers.
Archie.
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Hi Archie
He was living in Penstone, Macmerry, so Tranent was a mere skip and a jump away, on any other day.....
The only two registered deaths I have found are those for Adam (in Newton) and Moffat (in Salton). I think the records must have been "redacted" in Tranent.
Hibee
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Hi Hibee,
sorry for that I was getting mixed up with Newton where the rest of you Kin came from, did you try SP ?.
Cheers.
Archie.
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Hi Folks,
Here is a list of those affected by the Troopers.
Cheers.
Archie.
KILLED
Joanna ( Jackie ) Crookston - Shot in the street but was found a few days later lying dead in a hedge.
Isabel Rodger -19 years old she was buried the following day.
William Smith - Killed on a stair.
George Elder - Shot in the street.
William Hunter - Shot dead on a rooftop.
William Lawson - A carter going to Tranent was shot in the groin then shot again.
Stephen Brotherston - Shot on the road.
William Laidlaw - He was working in the Field when shot.
Kemp - A young boy of 13 years stabbed in the chest then had his head cut in two. Brother of William Kemp
Alexander Moffatt - A Servant to a Brewer pleaded for his life but shot in the back.
John Adam - A Miner at Penston was shot through the head and robbed of 2 shillings.
WOUNDED
Janet Hogg. John Caddell smashed her face on the door of the Inn.
Janet Forsyth - Was working in the field but left to see what was going on, she was wounded in the arm and carried the bullet the rest of her life.
Adam Blair - stabbed 5 times and recovered. Although severely wounded he eventually became a Prominent Minister and was loved by his Parishioners, he gave a full acount of what had happened that day but was ignored.
Alexander Robertson
Robert Ross - Shot but survived.
William Symington - Shot but survived.
John Blackie - A Carter was shot in the ear near Annfield.
William Montgomery - Shot 4 times but saved by an Officer.
Peter Ness - From Ormiston the soldiers stole his watch.
David Reid - A young boy had one of his fingers cut off.
William Tait - Was stabbed at but the Sabre missed him, he was walking to school with Adam Blair.
William Montgomery - Aged 70 years saved by an Officer.
Thirty people were arrested and stood Trial.
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Nice work, Archie.
Still have not found a Tranent burial on SP for any of the fatalities.
Hibee
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Is there nothing at all in the Sessions records, Hibee? Very strange :(
gnu
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Gnu, I saw (or think it was you, forgive if not) you mention in another post some days ago the issue of taxation for parish register entries for this period of late 18thC - Hibee, the introduction of this tax did have an effect for this period that you are looking at and might explain the lack of entries on the burial registers.
If anyone is interested in further research, there looks to be useful references is this letter/email from a local Tranent Historian http://rcrookston.com/other_information.htm
Archie, in this link above there is a mention of a D KEMP in the list of the dead. Wondered whether this may be the unnamed brother of the William Kemp you mentioned.
Monica
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The Stamp Duty Act (1783) was repealed in 1794, Monica. It wasn't popular :-X
I knew about it because it affects some of my ancestors' records in KKD :(
gnu
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That was it! So as it was repealed by 1794, does not then explain the lack of burial data 3 years later so clearly.
Monica
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It's very strange that there are no records but I have the feeling from reading about it that the powers 'that be' were terrified of a rebellion/revolution over here that aped the French one :-\
I wonder if the Mullay book has any further explanation :-\
gnu
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Remember that the two victim burials outside Tranent (Adam at Newton, and Moffat at Salton) were recorded.
Hibee
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Hi Folks,
Monica many thanks for the details on the Crookston name, below is the book I got my information on lately, I did not put all the details in but leave it for you to read.
Hibee I hope you find it interesting it is really very graphic and great reading, the author is Sir Walter Scott who actually was at the Court defending some of people of Tranent.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=EdQvAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA308&dq=tranent+massacre&hl=en&ei=K9mpTvTpCIvTsgbyoYGnBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=tranent%20massacre&f=false
I had no idea that they taxed the records as well what a country this is even when your dead it costs.
Throughout the years they had the Hearth Tax depending on how many fires in the house.
A Watch Tax back then it was only pocket watches.
Window Tax depending on how many you had, that's why we see so many buildings with the windows bricked up.
A Cart Tax depending on the size bigger the Cart more Tax.
A Horse Tax again depending on what size of Horse, a Clydesdale would be taxed the highest.
A Roof Tax that is why we see so many old buildings of that period as derelicts, if the owner could not sell and moved to other premises he removed the roof, that in turn led to that building falling in to decay.
Cheers.
Archie.
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;D I could run through a whole range of 21st C taxes, as bad really!
Monica
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Hi Monica,
correct, we are the highest taxed country in the world but where does the money go.
At one time we were the richest country in world, well the rich were, when you see how our ancestors lived and were treated they had nothing but gave a lot.
Cheers.
Archie.
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:-X
I'll not have a word said about the Farm Horse Tax - found that my 4 x great grandfather had one farm horse in 1797 - and he paid 2/3 in tax ;D
(It also confirmed where he farmed ;) )
PS - and just checked that another one had 2 horses and paid 4/6
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Hi All,
For those reading gnu's last reply, 2/3 was 2 shillings and three pence, about 11 1/4p in today's money.
the 4/6 was 4 shillings 6 pence which was about 22 1/2 p.
Even just writing it, made me realise how much I missed the pre-decimal coinage.
Tom
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It seems that suppression of details of the Tranent Massacre may not be the reason that no Tranent burials are recorded for its victims.
SP has 293 Tranent burials for the period 1780 to 1790, but only 3 for 1790 to 1800. Either the records have gone missing, or (less probably) they were not recorded at all.
Hibee
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I've just been looking through the Old Statistical Account for Tranent, Hibee, at edina. There's a footnote saying that the burials were recorded very thoroughly until 1791 and then refers to the Stampt Duty Act as being the cause of the lack of burial records afterwards.
I'm not sure if the particular account was written at the beginning of the OSA report period or to the end. Maybe the clerk got out of the habit of recording them, or there was a change of clerk.
gnu
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But why would this only apply in Tranent?
Hibee
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I'm just stating what's in the Old Statistical Account and offering a possible reason :-\
Are you saying that it was just Tranent or the whole parish of Tranent?
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What fantastic and interesting find! I have just loved reading about ADAMS. Didnt know there was a massacre - does anyone know how and why it started?
Lorna1320
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Hi Lorna,
it basically started because the villagers were fed up with their young men being called up for Army duty, each village schoolmaster had to put forward names of those who were of age to join up ( Early Conscription ) I think the number men needed from Scotland was 6000.
If we look at what had happened in the near past of that time in East Lothian we had the Battle of Prestonpans in which I am sure many locals were involved and many killed, with this in mind the local population was fed up with this happening, plus why should they fight in foreign Wars started by the English Government.
All the surrounding villages and Hamlets seemed to gather in Tranent and at that time it was probably the second largest village, the people started off demonstrating peacefully until the man who owned the coalmine a John Caddell ordered them to break up and go home.
When he seen that the people were not going to do that he called for the soldiers who were in the Pub to go out and break it up, the soldiers were drunk but when they set foot on the street they were told to go back, Caddell then sent for the Cinque Port Troopers to come and break it up, when they arrived they were ordered to fire blank rounds to scare the villagers.
Caddell then ordered the troops to kill everyone, this really stirred the people up as it was a real threat, witnesses said they had seen Caddell throwing a stone at the soldiers and of course the soldiers thought it was the villagers that had done it, the Cinque Ports then started to shoot live rounds wounding an killing the villagers.
To date I don't think there was ever an apology given, I am thinking of starting a petition and make it public, my 5th g-aunt was Joanna ( Jackie ) Crookston killed, another relation Janet Hogg her face was slammed of the Pub door by Caddell and possibly Robert Ross who was injured.
Cheers.
Archie.
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Archie,
Whow - this must have been some sight to see, pretty scary and confusion no doubt. Thank you so much for telling me how it happened.
I think a petition is a great idea - very courageous. I will certainly sign it.
Well done Archie,
Lorna1320