OUR MAYFLOWER FOREMOTHERS #4: Faith McCall-6GGM

 Ancestry of 6th GGM: Faith McCall (1737-1785) 

(Benajah, James III, James II, James the Immigrant)

JAMES MACKALL (later spelled McCall) 
(c.1620-1660) Scotland to Massachusetts

10th GGFather & POW

OUR MAYFLOWER FOREMOTHERS: Story Index

FAST FACTS: The McCALL family branch of our Mayflower lineage is distinctly different than the other branches for a number of reasons:

(1)       Immigrant James McCall was Scottish, not English.

(2)    He came to America in 1650, much later than the other families in this line who emigrated between the years 1620-1635 in the “First Great Migration” from England.  

(3)    As a soldier in the defeated Scottish Covenanter army at the Battle of Dunbar, he fought against Cromwell’s English troops and, as prisoner, was part of the forced march of 5,000 captured Scots to Durham Cathedral prison. Only sixty percent of them survived the 100-mile journey.  Prison conditions and disease would take the lives of another 1,500 prisoners before James was selected for transportation to the Colonies. Those chosen for removal were to be “well and sound, and free from wounds” after two months of rough confinement in England. So, James was one of the lucky few.

(4)    An “involuntary immigrant” as transported prisoner-of-war, James was among sixty-two Scots sent to work at the first colonial ironworks at Saugus and Braintree.

(5)    As prisoner-of-war, he was likely sold by agents at a cost of 20-30 pounds for seven years of indentured servitude. Early records show how the prisoners arrived in the Lynn area after their long voyage on the Unity. They also show that James worked at the Saugus Iron Works as a forge hand under John Vinton. Perhaps recognizing the value of his military background, the company supplied James with a musket, bandolier and sword. Indentured servant or not, James quickly became a useful asset to the community.

(6)    Once his time was served, James remained and settled in Braintree to begin a new American life as a free man, husband, and father of twins. Unfortunately, just as his freeman’s life began after only ten years in America, so it ended. James did not live to see his children turn three years old.  His son James, grandson James, and great grandson Benajah represent the family line leading to 6th GGMother Faith McCall. (Faith’s mother’s lineage goes back through the females to the Mayflower’s Elizabeth Tilley and her mother, Joan Hurst Tilley.) We will explore this family line next.

McCall Immigrant Ancestry

SOURCES include:

(1)    PRISONERS-BATTLE OF DUNBAR 1650 https://www.geni.com/projects/Scots-Prisoners-and-their-Relocation-to-the-Colonies-1650-1654/3465

(2)    JAMES McCALL OF LYNN AND BRAINTREE, MASSACHUSETTS,  https://scottishprisonersofwar.com/james-mccall/

(3)    JAMES MYCALL AND MARY FARR OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, http://catnip13.tripod.com/Mycall.html

(4)   NEW WORLD IMMIGRANTS, Vol. I; Scottish Prisoners Deported to New England by Cromwell. M.Tepper, ed. Baltimore. 1979. (167-168)

(5)   New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635 for James Mycall Great Migration Begins, Vol 3, P-W

OUR MAYFLOWER FOREMOTHERS #3: Tracing Our American Roots

OUR MAYFLOWER FOREMOTHERS: Story Index
OUR MAYFLOWER LINEAGE: (SMITH, Ona Dort Post, Mae Dort, Lydia Winsor, Mary Secord, Lydia Harris, Asa Harris, Faith McCall, Hannah Otis, Hannah Thacher, Lydia Gorham, Desire Howland, 1620 Immigrant Elizabeth Tilley, 1620 Immigrant Joan Hurst Tilley)

“Our Mayflower Foremothers” is a series of posts that trace our American roots back to the year 1620. In the coming weeks I will attempt to provide a glimpse into our unique female lineage that first converged through the marriage of Mayflower passengers, the Tilley’s, whose daughter Elizabeth provided the maternal foundation for four hundred years of American-born Mayflower descendants that is now in its seventeenth 'GloverSmith' generation through my mother's descendants.

This journey of four centuries (1620-2020) will begin with the family heritage of my sixth great-grandmother, Faith McCall. Faith was the mother of the only male generation in this Mayflower lineage: Asa Harris IV. Faith’s great-great grandmother Desire was the first American-born daughter of Mayflower passengers, Elizabeth Tilley and John Howland.

Since previous posts have already focused on the more recent Mayflower-connected generations of Harris, Secord, Winsor, Dort, Post, and Smith, this series will trace each generation prior to Asa Harris simply because his mother, Faith McCall, marked where our Mayflower branch met up with subsequent generations. Faith’s matrilineal Mayflower ancestry will highlight each of her preceding generations based on the surnames of her “The Great English Migration” immigrant ancestors, each providing their own special stories. Theirs are the stories that shaped American history -defining the heritage of our family …and a new nation.

Remember, each generation will be based on the male immigrant whose last name provided the branch from which our female ancestor was born. For instance, Faith had eight sets of great grandparents, most of whom were the original immigrants but some were already first-generation Americans. Although I won’t be able to tell every story, I will endeavor to share with you some of the best recorded and most interesting ones. At times, I will also include stories of some amazing accomplishments by cousins, uncles, and aunts that may surprise you, too.

Our matrilineal (female line) ancestry grew from among these patrilineal (male line) branches of 17^th Century immigrants (and more):

JAMES McCALL (@1650)

HUMPHREY TURNER (@1628)

WILLIAM RANDALL (@1635)

JOHN OTIS (@1635)

NICHOLAS JACOB (@1633)

NATHANIEL THOMAS (@1635)

ANTHONY THACHER (@1635)

JOHN GORHAM (@1635)

JOHN HOWLAND (@1620) ~ Mayflower passenger

JOHN TILLEY (@1620) ~ Mayflower passenger