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Sunday 15 October 2017

If Your Scottish Ancestor Was a Covenanter


If your ancestor arrived in Massachusetts in the 1650s, it is possible that they were Covenanters. Many thousands of covenanters were executed. In your In the event that your covenanter ancestor made it to trial, rather than being executed on the spot, the records of their trial will also be in the records of the High Court, available from the National Records of Scotland.  

Following conviction, the covenanter would be imprisoned and then sent to the colonies of North America. The court papers will provide the detail of the crime (preaching in public), the names of any witnesses and then the details of their sentence.

Both Ancestry and FindMyPast have searchable databases for Covenanters.

A great resource for reading detailed information about the individual covenanters is the website Reformation History. This website is run by the Reformed Presbyterian Church and is a wonderful resource for honouring the Scottish Covenanters. 
http://reformationhistory.org//covenantersscotland.html

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