The Staggering State of Scots Statesmen by John Scot of Scotstravet

Edinburgh, Scotland: William Patterson, 1872

pages iii-v, 1-5, 11, 14, 18-24, 99, 121-122 of 164; 76 individuals cited

It appears the last time I spent any time on the ancestry of Barbara Hume was in 2007. At that time I found mention of both a Dr. John Johnstone and a John Johnstone in The Stevens Family Papers and suspected this Dr. Johnstone in Perth Amboy and New York circa 1709 was the uncle of Barbara.

It turns out I was correct. This January I took another stab at it, beginning with a review of my Home/Hume data, most of which was from third-hand sources such as ‘Stirnet’ and ‘Genealogics’.

New Aberdeen declares: "A Miss Hume came over in the vessel with Johnstone. Whether her father and mother (who was Johnstone's sister) were of those who perished on the voyage, we do not know, but she became the wife of William Hoge named above."

It says Dr. John Johnstone, an apothecary in Edinburgh, was persuaded to come to New York by George Scot, Laird of Pitlochie, and that Scot and his wife and his wife's sister and husband died on the voyage leaving Scot's daughter Eupham an orphan, and heiress to substantial property.

It does appear that the 'romantic' legend of Barbara Hume might actually be the story of Eupham Scot, but I think it's more likely Barbara's parents did die similarly and on a previous voyage. Outbreaks of disease during those voyages were common and the mortality rate was high.

One explanation that occurrs to me is that William Hoge and Barbara Hume and her parents did indeed cross the Atlantic in 1682 on the Caledonia with William Gregg The Quaker, and that her parents having died during that voyage, Hoge took Barbara back to Edinburgh and delivered her into the care of her mother's oldest brother James Johnstone, who was an apothecary at the sign of The Unicorn. Then James left Barbara in the care of his younger brother John and sailed for New Jersey. Or James had already sailed by the time William Hoge returned to Edinburgh with Barbara, and so Hoge left her with her uncle John Johnstone.

On 12 December 1684 James Johnstone wrote from New Jersey to his brother John in Ediburgh, describing America as the land of opportunity and urging him to come. In 1685 John Johnstone, then a bachelor, sailed on The Henry and Francis for New Jersey with his niece Barbara Hume.

That Barbara's parents are not among those listed as passengers of the 1685 voyage of The Henry and Francis, nor as having died as a result of it, supports the theory that they died on a previous voyage. Either that or before having left Scotland.

Also keep in mind that the legend is that it was Barbara's father, Baron Hume, that bailed William Hoge out of jail for being a Presbyterian Covenanter, and so William probably considered delivery of Barbara safely to her relatives his duty, and a matter of the utmost importance.

Doctor John Johnstone subsequently married Euphaim Scot. She was the granddaughter of John Scot, of Scotstarvet, who is probably best known for The Staggering State of Scottish Statesmen from 1550 to 1650, of which hand-written copies were privately circulated for a hundred years before it was first published. Scotstarvet was Chancellor of Scotland and said to be the richest commoner in the country. He is frequently cited in The Scots Peerage

His line is said to trace back to Sir David Scott, 1º of Buccleuch, but note that I've assumed the link from Alexander Scot to Robert Scot of Allenhaugh. The Scots Peerage states Robert Scot of Allenhaugh is the ancestor of Scot of Scotstarvet but does not continue the line. Meanwhile, Scotstarvet only traces his line back to his grandfather Robert, leaving it to his biographer to provide Robert's father Alexander, who I've presumed is the son of Robert Scot of Allenhaugh.

Isobel Maitland, the grandmother of Barbara Hume, was the wife of Reverend William Johnstone of Laverocklaw and was not the daughter of John Maitland, 1º Duke of Lauderdale, and Anna Home.

New Aberdeen parrots Whitehead's History of Perth Amboy in presuming the father of Doctor John Johnstone was John Johnstone of Ochiltree, "who had been listed by the government in May, 1684 as a fugitive having been in arms against the crown."

Subsequent sources convincingly establish that his parents were Reverend William Johnstone of Laverocklaw and Isabel Maitland.

The Hayes Family Tree shows this Isabel to be the daughter of John Maitland, 1º Duke of Lauderdale and Anna Home, and for several months I was showing these parents for Isabel in my data, prompted by the discovery that John Maitland and Anna Home did indeed have a daughter Isabel, christened 3 Sep 1635 at Cannongate.

The Scots Peerage in its "Addenda Et Corrigenda" mentions this Isabel and says that "she must have died young", but does not say why this ‘must’ be.

However, in October, Judy Parker Richardson from Texas noted in my Guestbook that, per the entry for William Johnstone of Laverocklaw in the Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ (Vol. 2), their Margaret (not Marjorie) was assisted by the Presbytery in 1700 as "the daughter of an outed minister", whereas my Marjory (and her husband) died At Sea circa 1682. This entry mentions 3 children for this family: James, Margaret, and William. Most notably, there is no mention made of any son John. Nor is any mention made regarding the parents of Isabel other than to say she ‘must’ be descended somehow from the Lauderdale family.

The same source (Vol. 1) has an entry for Thomas Maitland who married Margaret Durie. It says they had two children: Isabel, and Anna. And this Isabel, christened 3 Dec 1626 in Haddington, was the wife of Reverend William Johnstone of Laverocklaw. And her father Thomas ‘must be’ a cadet of the Lauderdale family.

As for Margaret being alive in 1700, some 18 years after Marjory died At Sea – The Somerset Historical Quarterly gives 6 children for Reverend William Johnstone and Isabel Maitland: "James, John, William, Margaret, Isabel, and a daughter unnamed."

I've assumed the "daughter unnamed" is my Marjory Johnstone. It was common to give a child the same name as one that had died, particularly if the deceased child was named after the mother or father. If Margaret had been born after Marjory died, she would not have reached her legal majority by the year 1700, which could have something to do with why she was granted "assistance by the Presbytery" in that year. My Marjory would have to have been the first born of William & Isabel as her daughter Barbara was 12 when she died At Sea in 1682.

This assignment gives me at least one corroborating source for all the children of William Johnstone and Isabel Maitland mentioned by the Somerset Historical Quarterly article, except for Isabel. However, in those days "Elizabeth" and "Isabel" were interchangeable and considered the same name, and there is a christening record for Elizabeth daughter of William Johnston and Issobell Maitland in "Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950" from FamilySearch. Therefore, I've concluded Elizabeth and Isabel were the same person and thereby corroborated all the children mentioned by The Somerset Historical Quarterly.

Janet Home, wife of Sir William Cockburn, 12º of Langton, was not the daughter of John Home of Easter Blackadder and Beatrix Blackadder, but the daughter of David Home of Wedderburn and Mariota Johnstone

Report on the manuscripts of Colonel David Milne Home of Wedderburn Castle
by the Historical Manuscripts Commission

London, England: Mackie & Co. Ltd, 1902

pages 1-12; 111 individuals cited

In 2009 I was in the process of citing Report on the manuscripts of Colonel David Milne Home of Wedderburn (‘The Home Report’) when I came to a screaching halt at the parents of Janet Home who married William Cockburn, 12º of Langton.  In 1888, House of Cockburn, which had been my source for this family, boldly declared that Janet was the daughter of John Home of Easter Blackadder and Beatrix Blackadder. And Stirnet, Powys-Lybbe, and Leo's Genealogics all appear to have either directly or indirectly copied this error.  The Home Report showed Janet to be the daughter of John's uncle, David Home of Wedderburn, and his wife Marjorie Johnstone. Unable to make sense of this, I put it aside.

Some four years later when I stumbled across this again it seemed obvious to me that The Home Report was the superior authority, certainly for the Homes; it was the work of a commission, and it was published nearly 15 years subsequent to The House of Cockburn.

I sent Tim Powys-Lybbe a note about this and he agreed, updated his data and sent me a pedigree chart of the revised ancestry of Janet Home. This chart has several generations of ancestry for Mariota Johnstone (not to be confused with Marjorie Johnstone) that I'd not seen before.

Subsequently, I discovered that Cockburn Family Records was published 25 years later to correct the numerous errors found in the House of Cockburn. So, I began anew on the Cockburns using Cockburn Family Records as source and ultimate authority.

Thinking that Isabel Maitland, daughter of John Maitland, 1º Duke of Lauderdale and Anna Home, was the grandmother of my 7th great-grandmother Barbara Hume, I spent considerable time adding the related families, mostly from the Scots Peerage.

Sir Saint Thomas More doesn't have much of anything to do with the other families here, but Martin Wood brought this genealogy to my attention some years ago and I finally got around to adding it this year.

His grandson, Thomas Moore II married Maria Scrope, my 1st cousin 15 times removed through my (ahem) presumed 6th great-grandfather Joseph Howe.

History and Genealogy of the Harlan Family by Alpheus H. Harlan

Baltimore, Maryland: The Lord Baltimore Press, 1914

pages 1-64, 90-92, 22-225, 494-498, 511-519, and 979 of 1,134;
2,003 individuals cited

Speaking of William Gregg the Quaker of New Castle, Delware – his 2nd son Thomas married Dinah Harlan. And their descendants (and the Harlans) intermarried with the Hoges, the Greggs, the Dixons, the Janneys, and the other Quaker families in that area such that I am somewhow related to 240 of the individuals cited from this Harlan Genealogy.

They had a son John who had a son Thomas who had a daughter Elizabeth Gregg who married my 2nd cousin 6 times removed Jesse Hoge. Among their descendants is Solomon Lafayette Hoge.

This same son John had a daughter Ruth Gregg who married my 2nd cousin 6 times removed David Hoge.

This same son John had a son Caleb who had a son Abner who had a daughter Elizabeth who married my 4th cousin 4 times removed Joshua Hoge, Senior (1832-1901).

This same son John had a son Caleb who had a son Elijah who had a daughter Ann Gregg who married my 3rd cousin 5 times removed Thomas Elwood Hogue.

This same son John had a son Joshua Gregg who married my 2nd cousin 6 times removed Lydia Hoge. And they had a son Hendley H. Gregg who married my 3rd cousin 5 times removed Amy Hoge. And they had a son Joshua H. Gregg who married my 4th cousin 4 times removed Amy Gregg Hoge.

This same son John had a daughter Sarah who married William Smith and had a son Jonas Smith who married Miram Russell and had a son Thomas Russell Smith who had a daughter Sarah Haines Smith who married my 5th cousin 3 times removed Howard M. Hoge. The father of Sarah Haines Smith had a brother Joshua Smith who had a daughter Laura Smith who married my 5th cousin 3 times removed Henry J. Hoge. And there are many more intermarriages between the descendants of Thomas Gregg and Dinah Harlan and the Hoges.

Aaron Harlan married my 4th cousin 5 times removed Elizabeth Gregg, great-granddaughter of George Gregg (brother of Thomas Gregg, son of William Gregg the Quaker) and Sarah Hogg, my 1st cousin 8 times removed.