Early American Jamesons of Maine - the Immigrants

The earliest American Jamesons of what is now Maine, were all descendants of one particular immigrant, William Jameson (1675-1734), who arrived with his wife and children, in the Fall of 1718, as part of a large group of Scots Irish, emigrating from Ulster, Ireland.[1] Although it is possible there were earlier Jam?sons, in what is now known as the state of Maine, we do not know of them. We do know there were other Jam?son families who eventually came to Maine, even in Colonial times, they were however, few and far between, and apparently unconnected with this Jameson family.

Because of harsh new religious repressions enacted under Queen Anne,[2] in 1704,[3] many in Ireland lost their social and economic benefits gained by the 1689 Tolerant Act, under King William. These new policies made life very difficult for most people living in Ireland, particularly the Presbyterians in Ulster. Virtually treated as outlaws, they were deprived of their churches and schools, their marriages invalidated, and they were prohibited from holding office above that of petty constable. For these reasons many people left Ireland, notably those Ulster Scots of County Londonderry and County Antrim, who with four Presbyterian Ministers: John Holmes, James MacGregor, William Boyd, and William Cornwell, and their respective congregations,[4] came to America. This exodus continued as things got worse throughout much of the latter part of that century. Among those who left Ireland at that time were many Jameson families, not all related. At least one particular Jameson family of this group, became the patriarch of most Jamesons to be found in Maine, was part of this vast exodus, later to become known as the Great Migration of 1718.[5]

Before emigrating to America, a group of these like minded Ulster-Scots sent an emissary, Reverend William Boyd, with a memorial to Samuel Shute, then Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, seeking permission and approval for such an undertaking. Reverend Boyd returned to Ireland in March of 1718 with a favorable response including a promise of land grants anywhere within his area that wasn't already occupied or otherwise spoken for. There were 319 signatures to this document, of which included both William and John Jameson, assumed to be brothers.[1]

By late spring of that same year, the Great Migration of 1718 began. Amongst the earliest group of these emigrants, was William Jameson, who along with his wife and children, arrived at Boston Harbor on one of several different ships, in July through September of 1718.[6][7] About a week or so later, William Jameson and his family, were then part of a group of about 300 people[8] from that large number of those who had landed in Boston, who sailed north eastward, intending to find some unoccupied territory as a place for a suitable permanent settlement, as had been previously promised to them by Governor Chute. They were aboard the ship "Robert," one of the ships which had come from Ireland, which most likely included the Reverends MacGregor, McKeen, Cornwall and their followers. They made it as far north as Casco Bay, landing there in November 1719, near the already established town of Falmouth, where they stayed the winter.

This first winter in Casco Bay was a difficult one for these new Scots-Irish immigrants. They had arrived late in the year in what was to be a particularly cold and brutal winter and were ill prepared and under supplied even for the best of conditions. Their ships were likely quarantined due to smallpox, a problem in this area at that time, and undoubtedly frozen in the ice. Not everyone was able to build even basic shelter on land, forcing many to remain in the most deplorable conditions aboard the ship.[9] Things were bad enough that the people of Foulmouth petitioned authorities of the Massachusetts General Court for help, successfully bringing 100 bushels of cornmeal to help sustain them through winter.

Come spring, some twenty to thirty of these families stayed here, where as others moved on. Some sailed further northeast to the Kennebec area of Maine, some returned south, back to Massachusetts. One separate group of about sixteen families went back south and turned inland at Newburyport, sailing down the Merrimack River as far as Haverhill, eventually finding their way to the Londonderry area of New Hampshire, where in 1719, they established an important colonial settlement known as Nutfield, which itself eventually became the home of a large number of Jameson families.

Those who remained in the Falmouth area established their settlement in the area then known as Purpooduck, which is now part of Portland. The settlement in Purpooduck was actually on Cape Elizabeth, across from what is now Portland and sometimes called the "Neck," on the south shore and mouth of the Fore River at Casco Bay, between the Point and what was then the village of Falmouh, William Jameson was one of these, which when officially established in 1719 was said to be 138 people.[10]

The early existence of William Jameson and his fellow immigrants in the Purpooduk and Falmouth area of main was one of difficulty and pioneering hardships, equal to that of any early colonial New England family. Not just difficult winters and typical issues with building a homestead and life out of nothing, but with battling Indians and other unusual hardships not even imagined by us today. Churches, schools and local governments all had to be created in what was then the harsh frontier of early colonial America.

It is very likely that there were other Jamesons of this family, siblings and cousins, who emigrated from Ireland to all sorts of other places, as well - then or later. It is also that there were those of this same Jameson family that never emigrated and remained in Ireland or Scotland. In fact, DNA testing strongly suggests all of these. One such person was probably John Jameson who was apparently part of the same group who left Ulster in the summer of 1718, but stayed in Boston, after arrival, eventually moving on to Connecticut. E.O.Jameson himself said that there were two older brothers, Robert and Henry Jameson, of the above William and John listed here, who emigrated about ten years earlier into Pennsylvania. Eventually DNA testing of living descendants of these and other families may help to prove, or disprove that and other possible connections.[11]