What were they?
In the first half of the 18th century in Britain ... William III & Mary II co-sovereigns had died ..ending their reign as Protestant monarchs .. the Prostetant religion actually required then as now by the Act of Succession - which commands that a Protestant, only sit on the UK throne.
The Stuarts Charles, James .. too Catholic or near Catholic had been replaced as sovereigns, by William & Mary through the Glorious Revolution .. Parliament simply conferred the Crown on its choice --actully kindred Royal Stuarts & descendants equally, of Henry Tudor (VII). Stewart supporters wanted Charles II's line reinstated and made war ..suppressed ..then appeased after William & Mary's death by the succession of Queen Anne Stuart ... who was acceptable, to Parliament, to wear the Crown because she had no children & could not pass the crown to more Stuarts.
When she died - Parliament selected the Elector of Hanover -- who became George I ,,, actually speaking little English and mostly German .. he was crowned. The Scots, in part, refused allegiance .. so did many Irish clans.. and some other British ... and with an invitation to French and other powers - purchased armies at times .. rose in rebellion to bring James V (Stuart) to the throne.
Jacobus or Jacob, Latin for James gave the rebellion its name. James & Bonnie Prince Charlie ..Scots hopefuls in actual rebellion and claim of the British Crown were defeated, last in 1745.
Those who could swore loyalty to the Hanover Crown ..others fled ..some faced confiscation of their lands. Others, though Catholic, by 1770 were needed to people British colonies like New Scotland (Nova Scotia & PEI & New Brunswick) ..and New France which had been ceded by Great Britain'sfinal 163 defeat of France in the New World.
Some Scots today still claim Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped over the Isle of Skye to Nova Scotia. .
.. Scotland's clans made their peace with the Crown and were trusted with lands in grant & purchase in Nova Scotia against French re-occupation. Protestants settled peacably with Catholics in PEI - Baptists, Presbyterians, Church of England. Others made trips to the Carolina colonies and settled the United States - a few as debtors or indentured servants (a 7 year hitch).
French families who took a loyalty oath to the British Crown were permitted to stay- but in lesser numbers in the Maritimes. Parliamentarians like Sir Edmund Burke as the eloquent Conservative did with the American issue, appealed for leniency and good English legal/political processes. He was partly successful .. and the travail of French deported to Louisiana who preferred French nationality -The Evangeline Legend - was lessened.
Americans benefitted too in part from Burke's politics --- but would lose, not an ally in Burke, but their self-government .. as Britain decided to apply the equivalent of the North American Act - direct rule and disarmament and dissolution of material colonial local government to the American colonies.
By 1775 -- the Americans would be in full armed revolt. (Seeking Canadians, too!)
A 1750's? Royal Governor of Massachusetts Colony - Governor Belcher, for whom Belchertown, Massachusetts is named - would reflect the times by striking the name New Glascow from the Western Massachusetts map -- and re-namng it 'Brimfield'.
SCOTTMCON (Scott M COnnolly of these pages) -- of PEI Scots ancestry lives in West Springfield, Massachusetts -- Highland Games - moved from Brimfield -- are held annually in nearby Westfield's Stanley Park.
His Scots ancestry is shared with MacNeills, McCormacks,McPhees, MacEacherns, MacDonalds from Scotland to PEI ... and Scotts & McGowans in the USA ..with other mixes.
Some of his MacNeils joined the MacNeil in the Rebellon ... some of the McCormacks with names changed to McCormicks, as early as 1681 helped re-people Ulster-Ireland with peacekeeping loyalists -- others are from ULST in the Hebrides.
His MacNeills may have been some of the MacNeills rescued ironically, by the French they would replace in 1770 at the Annabelle shipwreck in PEI .. and would farm and shellfish at and around MalPec Bay .. a now-famous oyster source .. its French Bretonnaise & Normande Belon Oyster the seed for modern MalPec stock.
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