MICUM McINTIRE – A TIMELINE

1625                 Born at Glenoe, Argyll, Scotland.  Brother Robert born 1629, Philip born 1630.

1645                 Covenanting battles of Inverlochy and Auldearn – Micum was 20 years old, Robert 16, and Philip 15.  Micum may have served in Campbell of Lawers’ infantry regiment at these battles—the MacIntyres owed feudal allegiance to the Campbells.

Sept. 2, 1650   Battle of Dunbar.  Micum (25), Robert (21) and Philip (20) were probably in the Campbell of Lawers’ regiment of professional soldiers, accounting for their survival.

Sept. 4            3,900 Dunbar prisoners are marched south, with brief pauses at Belford, Alnwick, Morpeth, and Newcastle.  About 1,000 men are lost to escape (a few), execution for resisting (some), or (many) die of exhaustion, starvation, and disease during the march.  About 900 prisoners—officers and desperately sick regular soldiers—are left at Newcastle.

Sept. 16           During the march, the Secretary for Cromwell’s Council begins negotiations with New England entrepreneurs seeking access to the prisoners’ labor.  The prisoners arrive in Durham in late September.

Oct. 23            The Council recommends shipping some of the prisoners to New England.

Oct. 31             Sir Arthur Haselrigge writes that since the approx. 3,000 men arrived at Durham from Newcastle, about 1,600 have died of disease, and “about Five hundred sick in the Castle [mostly officers], and about Six hundred yet in health in the Cathedral [regular soldiers], the most of which are probably Highlanders, they being hardier then [sic] the rest.” 

Nov. 3             Haselrigge receives instructions “to deliver 150 Scotch prisoners to Augustine Walker, master of the Unity to be transported to New England.”  The men are marched to Newcastle, put on board ship, and sailed down to London.  The Unity sits on the Thames, delayed by reports of “ill-usage” of prisoners and concerns about security in New England.

Nov. 11             Augustine Walker receives orders to sail, and the Unity makes a fast late fall/early winter crossing (5 months, 5 days) of the North Atlantic with about 150 men in chains below decks.

Dec. 23            The New England ketch Unity arrives at its home berth in Charlestown, just upriver of Boston, and the prisoners are disembarked.  The men are in poor condition.  They are fed, cleaned up, reclothed, and tended, and their indentures are sold. 

Dec. 25            Prisoners destined for the iron works at Lynn are already on route in a smaller coastal transport boat (the Puritans did not celebrate Christmas).   Robert and possibly Philip were on that boat.  Robert’s indenture was bought by an iron works specialist, Thomas Wiggins, who worked as a subcontractor for the iron works.  Philip’s indenture was bought by a merchant or farmer nearby who likely traded with the iron works.  Neither’s indenture  was owned directly by the Company of Undertakers of the Iron Works.  Robert disappeared after 1653.  Philip settled in Reading, MA and has many descendants.

Early 1651        Oyster River – Micum’s indenture and those of six other Dunbar prisoners were purchased by Boston merchant and international shipper Valentine Hill, who was building mills and a community at Oyster River (now Durham, NH).  Micum and the men were probably transported to Oyster River in early 1651.

1651-1658         For at least seven years, Micum and his fellow Scots (soon joined in 1652 by Worcester prisoners) worked off their indentures for proprietor Valentine Hill, constructing dams and mills, logging, milling lumber, clearing land for farming, plowing, and planting, and building wharfs, homes, commercial buildings, and civic buildings (meetinghouses).  It is possible they fished for Hill in the nearby Great Bay of the Piscataqua River.  Hill acquired 4 acres immediately south of the mill pond on which the men built either a bunkhouse or cabins for 2-3 men each, and probably gardened for themselves.

Nov. 1659        Micum is taxed at Dover (the larger township of which Oyster River was a part), indicating that his indenture had ended and he was a member of the community expected to pay taxes to support a minister and other community expenses.

1661                 Valentine Hill dies.  Micum had probably continued to work for Hill after his indenture was over, to acquire more resources to settle.  Hill’s early death complicated matters.  Hill’s affairs were in disarray, so it is possible Micum had to seek other work at mills in Dover and/or east across the river in Kittery (Newichawannock, now South Berwick, ME).

Dec. 1662        Micum, probably still in Dover, obtained a land grant at the northern edge of the Newichawannock settlement.  He never lived on the property, but allowed fellow Scot John Neal to live there.

Dec. 1663        Micum is taxed in Dover—still living there (?)—as “Micom the Scotchman.”

1663-1668        South Berwick – Micum works at mills in Newichawannock, including notably the Salmon Falls mills operated by John Wincoll (who paid inconsistently—in 1671, he still owed Micum 28 pounds).  The community of former Scots prisoners in Newichawannock was large enough that a later church parish serving the community was called Unity Parish.  

Several former Scots prisoners had begun to settle in the western end of York on the land around the end of the tidal reach of the York River.  This area that came to be called, then and now, Scotland District.  The Scots settlers included Micum’s friend Robert Junkins and distant cousin Alexander Machenere (MacNair).

1668                 York – Micum obtained his first land grant in York on the south side of the York River.  It’s not clear when Micum moved to York, but he may have lived first with Alexander Maxwell—many of the Scots boarded with one another.

1670                 Micum buys 42 acres on the north side of the York River from English fisherman John Pierce.  The same year, he acquired a property from fellow Dunbar Scot James Grant that had first been obtained as a land grant by fellow Scot John Carmichael, who was married to Ann Pierce, daughter of John Pierce.  The Scots kept property in the community.

                        Micum’s distant cousin Alexander MacNair, sickly and disabled, dies before Dec. 1 when his will was probated, having asked Micum to care for his wife Dorothy Pierce.

1671                 Micum and Dorothy marry before Sept. 4, when Alexander Maxwell gifted them the land and house in which Alexander MacNair and Dorothy had lived.

1675-77            King Philip’s War erupts, the first region-wide conflict with Native Americans.  There are several attacks on Newichawannock in 1675.  On September 26, 1676, Dunbar Scot James Jackson, his wife and children are killed in a raid on the Cape Neddick village in York.  On April 7, 1677, Dunbar Scots John Carmichael and Andrew Rankin, John Frost (father of Alexander Maxwell’s wife Annis), and four other men were killed by a raiding party while preparing their fields for planting.  Micum served as administrator of Carmichael’s estate. 

1677                 Micum and Dorothy’s oldest verified son, John, is born.  The birth dates for their middle son Daniel and youngest Micum Jr. are not recorded.

1689-90            King William’s War (1689-97) begins.  On March 18, 1690, Newichawannock is overrun and destroyed by 150 Abenaki warriors and French troops, with numerous casualties and kidnappings for later ransom.  York settlers are killed in several small raids.

1691                 Only the settlements of Wells, York, Appledore, and Kittery remain in colonists’ hands.  Life on the frontier is precarious and tense.

Jan. 1692         The Candlemas Massacre.  On Jan. 23, York is attacked by about 150 New England and Canadian Abenaki (Penobscot) warriors.   About 48 settlers are killed, including John Pierce and his wife Phebe, and 80 or so captured for ransom.  Of the several fortified garrison houses in York, at the end of the day, only two remained unburned and untaken.  One of them is the Junkins Garrison in Scotland District, defended by Micum, Robert, and their fellow former Scots prisoners, who are all in their 60s and 70s.  Micum was probably 67.      

1694                 On July 18, the Oyster River settlement is overrun and destroyed, with 50-100 settlers killed or captured.  On August 20, fellow Scots Daniel Livingstone and an unnamed boy were killed by a small raiding party in Scotland District itself.

                        Despite the constant threat of raids, Micum, Dorothy, and their children prosper in York.  Working as a farmer, fisherman, and woodcutter, he continued to accumulate land.

Abt. 1700         Dorothy (Pierce) McIntire dies, inspiring Micum to write his own will, dated April 17, 1700.

1702                 Queen Anne’s War (1702-17) begins.  In 1705, sometime before Oct. 2 when his will was probated, Micum McIntire died, age 80.  He died in his own bed, in his own home, on his own land, having raised three sons.  Through difficulty, Micum had achieved things not possible for him in Scotland, and he had come home.

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