Julie Hornung's Page

Battle of Dunbar prisoners

By the end of October 1650, approximately 1,600 Scots had died horrible deaths in Durham’s much-revered House of God. Only 1,400 of the 5,100 men who started the march from Dunbar in September were still alive less than two months later, when England’s traders in human flesh came for them. Nine hundred of those survivors went to the New World, mainly Virginia, Massachusetts and Barbados colony in the Caribbean. Another 500 were indentured the following spring to Marshall Turenne for service in the French army, and were still fighting seven years later against the Spanish, side by side with a contingent of English soldiers sent over by Cromwell.

The shocking reality is that far more Scots died as English prisoners than were killed at Dunbar. In Durham, disposal of the bodies had become a major problem. The mystery of what became of them was not solved until almost three centuries later, in 1946, when workers installed a central heating system in the cathedral’s music school. They came upon a mass grave while digging a trench for heating pipes on the north side of the cathedral. That grave went in a straight line from the cathedral’s North Door under a line of trees and then under the music school. The bodies had been buried without coffins or Christian services. The corpses had been tossed into the trench, one on top of the other, like so much garbage.

I have found the following lists, but they fall far short of the total.

There is an Alex Douglas listed as a Dunbar prisoner on this list: http://www.stclairresearch.com/content/Dunbar-Prisoners.pdf

There might be 2x William Duglis on this list, which I am having difficult reading: http://www.stclairresearch.com/content/Dunbar-Prisoners.pdf  These, I think, were employed draining the Cambridgeshire Fens.

This list http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GEN-NYS/1997-12/0882000216 of Scotch Prisoners sent to Massachusetts in 1652 does not include any Douglases, as far as I can see.

The "John & Sara" out of London 1651 and bound for New England with Scottish Prisoners appears not to have carried any Douglases

There is a Yahoo group studying cots Covenanter ancestors who were taken prisoner after the Battles of Dunbar (1650) and Worcester (1651): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scottish_war_prisoners/

Hi Julie,  I'm  on this site and still searching for the "guys".  As of now I'm thinking the start of my ancestors was sent to Lynn, MA after the Battle of Dunbar.

Hmmm...can't find a Rachel on my chart?

Which Gilbert are you related to? Brother of Benjamin and son of Benjamin (b. 1859)?

Are you related to the Gross family from Michigan? I thought they were descendants of Gilbert (my grandfathers brother).  

Hi Julie - Ed sent this comment to me:

Thought I would follow up with you as I believe you are in the line under Gilbert Dennison Douglas (b. 1894 I think??), who was the brother of my grandfather, Benjamin Douglas. My mother was Kathleen Douglas (Dannemiller) and I've been playing around with our history and wanted to get more info on Samual Townsend and Benjamin (my great grandfather). Can you help?

Edward Fenner Douglass III added a comment to your profile on The Douglas Archives

------------

I descend from William Douglas, b. abt 1610.

Samuel Townsend Douglass is in my database.  I am missing information to understand how you descend from him.  Would you share?  I have quite a bit of information about Samuel's lineage and will share gladly.

Julie Hornung of the Wm Douglas b. abt 1610 research group descends from Benjamin and then Gilbert Denison Douglass.

There was another Samuel Townsend Douglass, b. 1853, son of Silas Hamilton Douglass, brother of your Samuel Townsend Douglass.  I presume you know about him.

Are you related to us through a female Douglass?

Best regards,

Ed Douglass, FTDNA kit no. 78870

Hi Julie, as I said I live in Harker Hights Texas, zip 767548.

I don't know how private the com. we are corre sponding on are, you can send me a number on the email adress I sent and I will call you if you would let me know the best time to call you, I will give you a call and we can talk Douglas Family. Jack

Hi Julie, I live in Texas, Its hard for me to now much about who I am. I am just now getting to finding out who I am. I am 74 years young. I had my DNA done by familytreedna. as it turned out I am mach with the Douglas family. my grand mother was a Marksberry, and the say the frist Marcksberry changed his name from Douglas. I have read that the Douglas say that is not so. But my DNA is strong for the Douglas line. I live in Texas now but have lived in Ca. I would like to here more about your Douglas. My store is long an hard for me to unerstand.

if you would like to talk sometime, let me know. Jack