Joel Campbell, the subject of this blog, descended from Robert Campbell who arrived in Perth Amboy, New Jersey in December of 1685. Robert was Joel's grandfather.
Earlier in 1685, Robert Campbell had been part of a rebel army in Scotland. He was joined by his father and two brothers. They were all captured, imprisoned, and banished from Scotland.
In the Inveraray Sheriff Court Records is a thirty-three page list of names of the rebels from the shires of Argyll and Tarbet. "It is neither signed nor dated, but it appears to have been drawn upon for the list of rebels forfeited on the 12th October 1685 which is given on pages 18 to 22."
The small town of Inveraray was the center of Clan Campbell. The clan leader had his main castle there, as he does even today. It sits in the shire of Argyll.
Duncan MacTavish transcribed these court records in 1935 and published them as The Commons of Argyll. The title comes from the proclamation of the occupying general, John Murray, Marquess of Atholl.
June 1685Many of the "commons" or tenant farmers in these shires had been "prest" or forced against their will to join the rebel army. Robert Campbell testified that he indeed was "prest" along with his father and brothers.
"Whereas we are informed that many of the commons of thes two shyres of Argyll and Tarbet have been forced and prest by the rebells to joyne with them Therefore by vertew of our Commission of Livtennentrie we doe hereby grant protection for ther lives goods and gear to all such commons Provydeing alwayes that they come in and lay down arms and compear befor us or befor the governor of Inverarey or any other governor or governors of garisons to be by us appoynted and hereby impowered to give protections to such personse They always taking the benefit of this indemnitie Betwixt and the twentie day of this moneth of Juny And to the effect that they may not pretend ignorance We hereby recommend to the ministers of the rexive paroaches of thes two Shyres schoolmrs or readers in ther absence or to any oyr loyall persons within the same who can read to make publict intimatne hereof on the nixt Lord's day after these come to ther hands after Divine Service And that they return cerificates yrof under ther hands to our Sherif deput."
--ATHOLL
The only reference to them in The Commons of Argyll is on page thirteen where the rebels of the "Kilmeden or Glendaruell paroch" are listed.
"Kildalvine - Archibald Campbell and three sons all banished furth of the kingdome"
Their laird and master is listed separately as "Kildolvein - John Campbell of Kildolveine." [MacTavish states that items in italics were entered in the original list by a different hand.]
In rereading The Commons of Argyll a few observations can be made which may or may not be significant regarding Robert Campbell and his family.
1. The entry for Archibald and his three sons (one of which was Robert) states they were banished. Out of the hundreds of names in this list only one other had the "banished" notation. However, we know from the Privy records that hundreds of rebels were banished. Is this record inaccurate? Or were the banished rebels mostly from shires other than Argyll and Tarbet? It seems unlikely as these shires were the ones where Argyll recruited most heavily for his rebel army.
2. The sons of Archibald are not list separately by name. This is very unique in the list. In fact, only one other record in the entire list does not include the proper name of the rebel (p. 14 "his boy"). Were the sons' names unknown to the list maker? Could they have been the only rebels from Argyllshire imprisoned outside of Inveraray (and hence did not "compear" in person before the governor in Inveraray)? It seems a bit odd.
3. Many of the names have the word "prest" written after them. This word was always entered in a "different hand." Did this indicate a judgment as to whether they were truly forced into the rebel army? For the parish of Kilmodan, the home of Archibald and his sons, nine of sixty-one names were tagged with the "prest" designation. Did this mean that even though Archibald and his sons said they were forced into service (according to their depositions in the Privy Council Record), that the "courts" determined they were not "prest"?
4. We know two of the names of Archibald's sons from the Privy Council Records: John and Robert. How common were these? Was the Robert Campbell banished on the Henry & Francis the same Robert Campbell from Kildalvan? There were at least two Robert Campbells in prison at the time the Henry & Francis sailed. Luckily, "Robert" was not that common of a name. Four other Roberts are listed in The Commons of Argyll and there is no indication they were imprisoned or banished. [Robert Campbell of Orchard; Robert Campbell in Uig, Parish of Kilmun; Robert Campbell in Leckimor; Robert Campbell in Catteltoun.]
"John", however, was a very common name. There are thirty-three "John Campbells" in The Commons of Argyll. Tracking a "John" Campbell would be very difficult.
Robert Campbell's name appears on several occasions in the Privy Council Records in close proximity to a David Campbell. It has been postulated that David was the third brother. A David Campbell is on one of the Henry & Francis passenger lists. Duncan Beaton (Campbell Genealogist) says that David Campbell is known to be from Falkirk, not Argyll. Interestingly, there is no "David Campbell" listed in The Commons of Argyll.
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