ADAMS: Rooted in History, Scottish Prisoner of War

8th Great Grandparents

Lambson Branches

James Adams

BATTLE OF DUNBAR

A battle of the War of Three Kingdoms in England's Civil War

On 3 Sep 1650, the Scottish army fought against the Crown of England in the Battle of Dunbar. The Scottish soldiers were defeated and some of the men captured by Oliver Cromwell were marched to Gravesend, near London. Some of the men were deported to America on the vessel Unity to serve as indentured servants. The ship arrived in Charleston, Massachusetts in late December 1650. My 9th great grandfather, James Adams was one of them.

SAUGUS IRON WORKS

Saugus, Massachusetts

James Adams

James was born circa 1632 in Scotland. He was a soldier at the Battle of Dunbar, captured, and sent to Massachusetts as an indenture to work off his sentence at Saugus Irron Works.

James married Priscilla Ramsdell on 7 May 1662 in Concord Massachusetts. They had nine children. 

Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPC7-J218:31 Oct 2019), James Adams and Priscilla Ramsden, 7 Nov 1662: citing Marriage, Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, Massachusetts secretary of the Commonwealty, Boston: FHL microfilm 007011227.

Priscilla Ramsdell was born in Lynn, Massachusetts circa 1640 to John and Priscilla Ramsdell. John Ramsdell was born circa 1602 in Halifax, Yorkshire, England. It is believed that he and his wife immigrated as part of the Winthrop Fleet, but I found not documentation to support this. John is briefly mentioned in History of Lynn and Ironworks onf the Saugus, where he was employed. He and his wife are believed to have moved to Topsfield, but that may have been his son. John died 27 Oct 1688 and his wife Priscilla died 18 1717. 

There is limited information of John Adams, but for more information of the Scottish soldiers at Dunbar, or Saugus Iron Works the following book may be of interest:

Gerrard, Chris, Pam Graves, Andrew Millard, Richard Annis, and Anwen Caffell. Lost Lives, New Voices: Unlocking the Stories of the Scottish Soldiers at the Battle of Dunbar 1650. Oxford an Philadelphia: Oxbow books. 2018.

Hartley, Edward Neal. Ironworks on the Saugus: The Lynn and Braintree Ventures of the Company of Undertakers of the Ironworks in New England. 1990. 

James Adams was one of the founders of the Scots' Charitable Society in 1657. James died 2 Dec 1707 in Concord Middlesex, MA, 

Children of James Adams and Priscilla Ramsdell

Priscilla (1663-1737) 

Elizabeth Adams (1665-1710) ~ m. Joseph Lambson Jr

James (1668-1741)

Hannah (1670-1727)

John (1672-1744)

Nathaniel (1674-1707)

Dorcas (1677-Unk)

Richard (1678-1749)

Abigail (1661-1707)

Descendants of James Adams and Priscilla Ramsdell

Elizabeth Adams ~ m. Joseph Lambson Jr

Ebenezer Lambson ~ m. Mary Matson

Elnathan Lambson, Revolutionary Soldier ~ m. Jane Hayes

Jesse Lambson, Revolutionary Soldier ~ m. Ruth Miller

Boaz Lambson ~ m. Polly Walsworth

Alfred Boaz Lambson ~ m. Melissa Jane Bigler

Edna Lambson ~ m. Joseph Fielding Smith

Edna Melissa Smith ~ m. John Fife Bowman

John Hyrum Bowman ~ m. Rosetta Ellen Jackson

* For privacy reasons I did not list my parents, children, siblings, or cousins