The Scottish Covenanter Genealogical Index - (1630-1712): (1630-1712)

By Isabelle McCall MacLean

This work evolved out of a love for my ancestors, one being John Whitelaw, the Covenanter Monkland Martyr, who was executed for his religious beliefs in Edinburgh, 1683. While searching for his records I came across reference to thousands of other Scottish Covenanters. This Index lists those Covenanters found in some books written about the period between 1630 and 1712.There are many, many more Covenanters, whose names need to be added to this work, and, God willing, I will do it.

The Covenanters were steadfast in their Presbyterian beliefs and refused to take an oath unto the King stating that he was the head of the church. They believed that Christ was the Head of the Church and their loyalty to this belief allowed them to lay their lives down for it. The Royalists and Dragoons, who were seeking to bring them into obedience to the King, relentlessly chased the Covenanters from glen to glen. This disregard for their civil rights was brutally carried out basically in the Lowlands of Scotland.

Many of their records were destroyed along with their lives and their stories only live in family lore and books that were written about them. I have extracted some of their names and created The Scottish Covenanter Genealogical Index, which is by no means complete, but is a work in progress.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 22, 2007
• ISBN: 9781462081820

Isabelle McCall MacLean

I learned to love my Covenanter ancestors at the knees of my father, James McCall MacLean and my grandfather, Thomas McCall McLean. As many Covenanter records had been destroyed during the "killing times" in Scotland, only scanty histories and some court records remained. What I found, I indexed for myself and for other family history researchers. You can contact the author at www.isabellemmaclean.com.

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The Scottish Covenanter Genealogical Index—(1630-1712)

by

Isabelle McCall MacLean

Author of The Oath and The Covenant: the Killing Times In Scotland

A Historical Novel based on the stories of the Covenanters

iUniverse, Inc.

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The Scottish Covenanter Genealogical Index

(1630-1712)

Copyright © 2007 by Isabelle McCall MacLean

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN-13: 978-0-595-42040-7 (pbk)

ISBN-10: 0-595-42040-0 (pbk)

CONTENTS

PREFACE

PROCEDURE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

LIST OF REFERENCES REFERRED TO BY NUMBER IN THE NOTES

REPOSITORIES

PREFACE

This work evolved out of a search for the records of my ancestors and particularly for John Whitelaw, the Covenanter Martyr of Monkland, who was executed, 1683, in Edinburgh for his religious beliefs. In accordance with family tradition, I was told that John and his three brothers were tall, red headed and held off the English army by themselves for several hours at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge. Well, you and I both know how these stories become embellished for the sake of family glory; however, where there is that much smoke, there must be a little fire!

Armed with that thought, I began my search and did find a record of Whitelaw’s dying words in John Howie’s book, Scots Worthies, along with the declarations of other Covenanters who, also, gave up their lives for their Protestant beliefs. I soon learned that many of their records existed only in books that preserved their stories and not, typically, in the Church records. And in my mind, that shouldn’t be….. especially after the valiant effort these brave souls put forth for our present freedoms.

The Covenanters were steadfast in their Presbyterian beliefs and refused to take an oath unto the King that declared that he was the head of the Church; thus, they were forced to pay the ultimate price. These religious fanatics, as the Royalists called them, believed that Christ was the Head of the church and were willing to lay their lives down for this belief. The Royalists and Dragoons, who were relentless in seeking obedience to the King’s oath, chased the Covenanters from glen to glen, mainly in the Lowlands of Scotland. If anyone was found hiding these fugitives, they, too, suffered imprisonment and/or death. This brutality was not reserved for the strong and healthy—no, no,—women, children and the elderly were subjected to the punishments as well.

This Index will lead the researcher to passages in books, (listed in the bibliography), where he will read how his ancestors’ kneecaps were crushed in the iron boot; and children’s fingers were mangled in thumbscrews for not revealing where their parents were hiding. An elderly man was tied to a spit and roasted over a fire and still would not take the oath. Women were pulled from their beds in the throes of giving birth and still they would not give up their husbands’ hiding places. Fortunately, witnesses and their descendants made it their business to record these atrocities and the last words of the executed victim (as was the custom of the day—if the spoken words could be heard over the drum rolls), as well as thousands of other incidents, in books, family histories and diaries which have been published over the ages.

Many thanks need to go to Robert Paterson, born about 1690,