Donald: I have a bit of background for you, though you may have already have much of it: BENJAMIN MOODIE, 10th of Melsetter in the parish of Walls, Orkney, born 1/1/1789 or '90, died 2/4/1856 at Groot Vaders Bosch, Swellendam, South Africa, and was buried there. On the death of his father james Moodie in 1820(?), as Melsetter had to be sold, he organised the settlement in South Africa of some 200 Scottish families, and bought the farm of Groot Vaders Bosch. He married 1st, c. 1817, Margaret, dr. of Mr Malcolmson in Walls, Orkney, - she died at Groot Vaders Bosch in 1838; 2nd, at Blackheath, London, in 1841, Susan Barnett, who d.s.p. in England, c. 1858. He had 8 children. His younger brother Lt Donald had emigrated to the Cape Colony in 1816. There is doubtless more information in "The Moodie Book" by Melville AHD HEDDEL and the Marquis of REVIGNEY and RAINEVAL , though this is not reputed for its accuracy. I have no idea how an Orcadian recruited men from Dunmfriesshire. James Irvine Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:52:09 -0500 (EST) From: [email protected] Subject: [DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY] Capt Benjamin Moodie's 1817 emigrants to South Africa To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" As part of the SCOON one-name study, I've been trying to follow up two brothers Robert (b c 1789) and James (b c 1792) SCOON who travelled to Cape Town in 1817 on The Brilliant. They were part of a group of about 200 skilled artisans from various parts of Scotland who were indentured to Benjamin Moodie who was involved with several other groups to the same area from all over the UK. The South African records tell us a lot about the brothers' lives (and deaths) in South Africa, but unfortunately very little about their ancestry. All we know for sure is that Robert came from the Hawick area, but that James described himself as a 'native of Dumfriesshire' in his 1826 will. Robert, originally a cooper, became quite a renowned explorer before dying unmarried in 1837; James stuck to his trade as a blacksmith and farrier in Cape Town, married and fathered 3 children before dying in 1827. The most likely explanation for this is that they were they sons of Walter Scoon and Mary Elliot b 1788 and 1790 respectively at Todshawhill a few miles SW of Hawick. Their elder brother Walter moved to Langholm (1800-10) and became a master blacksmith, so it would well have been possible for his younger brother James to have followed or gone with him and learnt his trade in Langholm - hence the description in his will. However, this is very much in 'best guess' territory and I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has more information about the pair or indeed has any connections with the group of 200 as I have found it very difficult to find out where or how they were recruited - did Moodie perhaps visit Langholm or somewhere nearby? Donald Grant Scoon One Name Study (GOONS #5642) www.donjgrant.me.uk/schp.html ------------------------------ To contact the DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY list administrator, send an email to [email protected] To post a message to the DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY mailing list, send an email to [email protected] __________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body of the email with no additional text. End of DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY Digest, Vol 7, Issue 10 ************************************************

They probably left Scotland for the same reasons that so many today are looking to move - overpopulation, poverty and the promise of opportunities elsewhere. I noticed in the Scotsman a couple of days ago that 1 in 5 Scots now lives in poverty. That is a horrendous number. Cliff. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of James Irvine Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2012 3:49 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY] Capt. Benjamin Moodie's 1817 emigrants Donald: I have a bit of background for you, though you may have already have much of it: BENJAMIN MOODIE, 10th of Melsetter in the parish of Walls, Orkney, born 1/1/1789 or '90, died 2/4/1856 at Groot Vaders Bosch, Swellendam, South Africa, and was buried there. On the death of his father james Moodie in 1820(?), as Melsetter had to be sold, he organised the settlement in South Africa of some 200 Scottish families, and bought the farm of Groot Vaders Bosch. He married 1st, c. 1817, Margaret, dr. of Mr Malcolmson in Walls, Orkney, - she died at Groot Vaders Bosch in 1838; 2nd, at Blackheath, London, in 1841, Susan Barnett, who d.s.p. in England, c. 1858. He had 8 children. His younger brother Lt Donald had emigrated to the Cape Colony in 1816. There is doubtless more information in "The Moodie Book" by Melville AHD HEDDEL and the Marquis of REVIGNEY and RAINEVAL , though this is not reputed for its accuracy. I have no idea how an Orcadian recruited men from Dunmfriesshire. James Irvine Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:52:09 -0500 (EST) From: [email protected] Subject: [DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY] Capt Benjamin Moodie's 1817 emigrants to South Africa To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" As part of the SCOON one-name study, I've been trying to follow up two brothers Robert (b c 1789) and James (b c 1792) SCOON who travelled to Cape Town in 1817 on The Brilliant. They were part of a group of about 200 skilled artisans from various parts of Scotland who were indentured to Benjamin Moodie who was involved with several other groups to the same area from all over the UK. The South African records tell us a lot about the brothers' lives (and deaths) in South Africa, but unfortunately very little about their ancestry. All we know for sure is that Robert came from the Hawick area, but that James described himself as a 'native of Dumfriesshire' in his 1826 will. Robert, originally a cooper, became quite a renowned explorer before dying unmarried in 1837; James stuck to his trade as a blacksmith and farrier in Cape Town, married and fathered 3 children before dying in 1827. The most likely explanation for this is that they were they sons of Walter Scoon and Mary Elliot b 1788 and 1790 respectively at Todshawhill a few miles SW of Hawick. Their elder brother Walter moved to Langholm (1800-10) and became a master blacksmith, so it would well have been possible for his younger brother James to have followed or gone with him and learnt his trade in Langholm - hence the description in his will. However, this is very much in 'best guess' territory and I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has more information about the pair or indeed has any connections with the group of 200 as I have found it very difficult to find out where or how they were recruited - did Moodie perhaps visit Langholm or somewhere nearby? Donald Grant Scoon One Name Study (GOONS #5642) www.donjgrant.me.uk/schp.html ------------------------------ To contact the DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY list administrator, send an email to [email protected] To post a message to the DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY mailing list, send an email to [email protected] __________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body of the email with no additional text. End of DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY Digest, Vol 7, Issue 10 ************************************************ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message