Posted on: Middlesex Co. NJ Query Forum Board URL: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/NJ/Middlesex?read=1022 Surname: GASTON ------------------------- My ancestor John Gaston and family sailed from Inverness, Scotland in 1715. The family is said to have emigrated to Connecticut, Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, Massachusetts, and Jew Jersey. I believe that he arrived in New Jersey on the last voyage of the ship "Caledonia." I am interested in all information about this ship and passengers on its various voyages. I have been unable to find passenger lists for this ship. Perhaps we could reconstruct lists from other sources. Here are some notes and citations I have collected about the "Caledonia." An interesting site, "End of Empire - Darien: Scotland's Pre-UK Colonial Misadventure." can be found at http://www.macfarlane.org/darien.htm. The ship "Caledonia" is mentioned. Source: Mackenzie, George Nonbim. "Colonial Families of the United States of America." Baltimore, Maryland: Seaforth Press, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1912. Vol. III, pp. 175-176. | John Gaston emigrated from France to avoid religious persecution. He was a Hugenot. He went to Scotland and then to Ireland to live with his sons John, William, and Alexander. They sailed from Scotland with four other families. The Gaston, Mount, Rue, Rew, and Davidson families sailed from Inverness, Scotland on the ship "Caledonia," under the command of Captain John Anderson in 1715. Source: Bergen, Teunis G. The Bergen Family. Bergen & Tripp. New York. 1866. page 174. | The ancestor of Jonathan Combs, it is said, came from Scotland, in the old ship Caledonia, which brought the first emigrants from the land of stern Presbyterianism; they seeking a home in the wild conntry from the intolerance of Papal and Episcopal power and persecution. Source: Huidekoper, Frederick Louis. The American Ancestry of Frederic Louis Huidekoper and Reginald Shippen Huidekoper. 1930. Reprint, Geneva, Switzerland: Imprimerie Albert Kundig, 1931. pages 22-23. | 7. James CHRISTIE, born in Scotland in 1670, presumably at St. Ninians, Stirlingshire, on October 9, 1670; died at Schraalenburg (now Dumont), New Page 22 Page 23 Jersey, April 16, 1768; supposed to be the second son of John Christie 8 and Anna Ramsay, of Stirlingshire, and a member of the family of Christie--which first appeared as a surname in northern Scotland in the 12th Century and in the southeastern counties in the 15th Century--that acquired "the lands and barony of Canglar, commonly called Charterhouse, in the parish of St. Ninians"(*); joined the ill-fated Darien Expedition, organized by William Patterson, the founder of the Bank of England, and sailed from Leith, Scotland, in the Caledonia, for the Colony of New Caledonia, Isthmus of Darien, July 26, 1698; sailed from the Isthmus of Darien in the Caledonia, June 18, 1699, for New England, en route back to Scotland; arrived at New York, August 3, 1699, and resolved to remain in the American colonies; settled at Schraalenburgh (now Dumont), New Jersey; married at Hackensack, New Jersey, September 18, 1703, Madeleine des Marets, 1684-1749 (vide des Marets 7, page 26). Source: Lee, Francis Bazley, ed. Genealogical and Personal Memorial of Mercer County New Jersey. Page 310. | (I) Alexander Laird, the pioneer ancestor of the Laird family in this country, emigrated to America, making the voyage in the sailing vessel "Caledonia." He came from the county of Fife in Scotland, and made his home in Englishtown, Monmouth county, New Jersey, where all his descendants in a direct line have been born. Among his children was a son, William. Sincerely, William Henry Roll Link: The Roll Family Genealogy Windmill URL: <http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~windmill>