Jamaica Campbell letters,
1747-1757
The following
letters are from the MacTavish of Dunardry Papers, which are held in the Argyll
and Bute archives in Scotland.
They give some detail about the Campbells of Western Jamaica, their activities
and their family and commercial connections on both sides of the Atlantic – mostly from or in Argyll. This earlier series
of Campbell letters complements those by London merchant Duncan
Campbell and others, which are already available on this site. The early career
of ‘Skipper Duncan’ as merchant mariner, is touched upon several times during
this period.
The Campbells who
settled in this part of Jamaica
were, essentially, one family who were all closely related to Colonel John
Campbell of Black River. As a measure
of their influence after 50 years, five cousins represented only one percent of
landowners in Hanover, Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth yet owned ten percent of
all the cultivated land in the three parishes. Colin Campbell of Black River was appointed to the Council of
Jamaica shortly after his father’s death in 1740. In later years, John Campbell
of Salt Spring and John Campbell of Orange
Bay several times represented Hanover in the Assembly
and each in turn was also appointed Custos of the parish. Their cousin, John
Campbell of New Hope,
Westmoreland, became a Supreme Court judge and was also appointed to the
Council.
____________________________________________________
FIFTH LETTER
Colin Campbell of New Hope, Westmoreland, to
James Campbell of Kaims, 22 August 1757.
Dear Cousin
I answ[ered] yours Nov:26
1755 & that of April 11th 1756, the latter I rec[eived] in June
1756 Via Kingston
& answer’d both the 6 Sepr. 1756 to which I referr. I rec[eived] none
since the above dates which gives me some uneasiness, fearing it sho[ould] be
from an afflicted State of Health; However I wait with Impatience to hear from
you. I am now to inform you that Cuss: John Black River[1]
left this Island the 18 Ap: 1756 for N[orth] America owing to a bad State of
Health, & left me the direction of his affairs, w[hich] no doubt led you to
think I would have Discharg’d your Demand w[hich] I have the greatest desire
imaginable to do, but the unhappy turn the affairs of this Island has taken for
want of Goverm[ent’s] taking due notice of us in time to put our Mercantile
State upon the most Rigid Methods to recover their Debts as you are too
Sensible of the Situation you left us in, you may believe I have met with no
lenity & indeed is the reason I have not been able to make any paym[ments]
to the Lucea House[2]
on your acct; However I flatter my Self I shall be able to pay a large part of
it in 1758. – It has not been in my Power to do any thing in regard to your
part of the Ship, as there has been Nothing but Dissappointmts &
oppression these 12 mo[nths] last past. I find Cuss: Duncan[3]
proposes to have her sold on his getting home & procured a Power from me to
transact my part of her; if this sho[ould] be the Case I dare say He’l
acco[unt] justly with you, what Schemes He’s upon, I’m a stranger too, but no
doubt will inform you on his getting home. Cuss: John Salt Spring [4]
is his Passenger & will write you fully of your friends here which prevents
my taking up your time with what you must have before this comes to hand. –
Long before Cuss John went off He solicited an Int[erest]: in Mrs B-gr-e [5]
but to no effect, & is determined to Continue in the same Scituation till
her Sons affairs are Settled & then be the only Creditor. I believe next
Crop will go very nigh Discharging the whole & this from the Produce of the
Estates only, so there is nothing of the Personality yet receiv’d; This wth the
Com[missions] as Administratrix & Guardian to her Son will make her in a
very few years a very Considerable Subject; She seems to have a very great inclination for Great Britain to give her Son[6]
an Early Advantage of a Liberal Education, how far her Bror & Cuss: young K-k-y
[7]
can influence her is yet uncertain, tho’ it is surmised her Brother would
willingly have her have a further Connection there, & it is said there must
be some such Scheme led at home before K-k-y wou’d agree to let his only
Chick come this length a Fortune hunting, of this I shall be able more to
inform you in my next. – I am now to give you some little Account of my Self. –
in October last I was seized with a little fitt of the Gout less or more till
Decemr when I recover’d a little & being desirous to go to Luan
to see Stock sold, Cuss: John Salt Spring accompanied me that length, so
far in his way to Windward & indeed a general Tour. He propos’d w[ith] Mr
Harvey to St Thomas
in the East & from thence to St. Mary’s.[8]
I spent a week very agreeably in the different Pastures, Mountains & up as
far as Mr Briscoes,[9]
& returned I imagined pretty well; I was within a few Days from staying out
late at Night & getting wet seiz’d w[ith] a smart fit of the Gout for above
3 weeks w[hich] so alarmed my wife[10]
tho’ within a month of being in the Straw, that She came up from her own House
by 10 o’ Clock and Staid with me for ten days & at least being apprehensive
of her own Situation, got me Conveyed home by Water, & since I have been
less or more Confin’d & have not been from my own House above 3 Miles since
that time. – I am now getting pretty well & propose in a few Days to Visit
our N. Side Friends w[hich] I have not
been able to do since Novr last. – My Wife Continues in her old Industrious
way: She has blest me with another Girl now 7 M[onths] old; they say She’s
rather hansomer than any of the rest; Her name [11]
Marg[aret] By this Increase you’l see there’s little hopes of my being
able to pay you a Visit agreeable to my inclinations, therefore must be
satisfied with my hearing from you at a Distance, & that as often as can be
convenient for you, tho’ I’m sensible you’l Retort my own Remissness on this Head.
Being at a Distance from our Cotton Merch[ants] & my own Confin’d Situation
prevented my sending you the Cotton this year & may depend if I live that
you shall have both the Sugar and the Cotton by either Hutchison or Walkinshaw.
I have already bespoke the Cotton to prevent a Disappointmt – I rec[eive]d the
Carp[enter] Duncan Morrison c/o the Hawk Capt. Campbell. – I’m sorry to tell
you He’s the most worthless Fellow that I ever met w[ith]; neither able or
willing to do any thing, Sorded in his Disposition & a Drunkard to the
greatest Degree. I propose to give him his Ind[entures] to be quit of him.[12]
His Shipmate w[ith] Cuss: Salt Spring is a tolerable Workman very willing &
perfectly good Natured. – I observe what you say about the Articles of Medicines
in Morrisons Ind[entures] which will of Course drop of if I turn him off &
I believe will be the case soon. – My nephew Lachlan was here with me a
few days agoe, telling me they were greatly Distress’d this year from the large
Credits given for Negroes in Hanover, St. James’s and St. Ann’s & no
paym[ents] made. The Credit of the Island is totally Sunk as these two last
years Sugar & Rum fell at our Markets here to a pistole to 26/6, the best
Rum 2/ & 2/3; This you’l own to be as Considerable Downfall to what they
were several years before you left the Island. This Disappointm[ent] prevented
their sending for any Cargoe this year, & do’s nothing now but collect
their Debts. – Malcolm[13]
very Easy on the occasion as Laird of Pell River & in perfect Health; He has
some tho[ughts] of going home & join Giblets with some Healthy young Girl
in Argyleshire, so that you may be looking out some proper Object for him. –
I’m obliged to you for the Notice & Supply you gave to our old Nurse. – I
shall be glad to see her Grand Child if you think He’s Capable of doing any
thing for himself, & if free of Vice I can be of some Service. – Distiller
Dugald proposes a trip home. He’s now worth £1,000 St[erling], tho’ not worth a
Shilling the Day he came to me. – I could put that young fellow in the same way
which w[ould] soon make him a Man, in your next I shall be glad to know how the
Old Woman’s Sons and Dau[ghters] are provided for. Having now wearied you by a long Scrawl Concludes me with my best
Complim[en]ts to your Brother Mrs Campbell & your wife all other your
Connections & that my Wife and little Family joins me in our Love &
Sincerest regard for yourself & that I am, Dr Cuss your m[ost]
affec[tionate] & most oblig’d h[onourable] Serv[ant] Colin Campbell
P.S.
whatever charges you are w[ith] our Nurses Grandson I’ve Discharg’d
My
kind Complim[ents] to Dunardre[14].
I wish I had it in my Power to serve his son. He’s at present in St. Thomas in the East.
In what Scituation I know not when I was in Kingston in June 1756, cou’d then
learn nothing of him, tho’ I made the Strictest Inquiry: Mr Duncan Tomson his
Friend is remov’d from Leguinea to Biscany Estate in St. Elizabeth’s, by John
Harvey Esq. of Kingston Merch[ant] & one of the acting
Exec[utors] of Alexander McFarlane.[15]
It is said he died £100,000 in Debt and notwithstanding a few years will
Discharge it without Disposing of any of his Property; So you see there are
other Great People that owes as much as we do, We have Discharg’d £30,000 out
of the £64,000 due so as I hope Cave Valley[16]
will make Sugar this year (as we have drawn all the Black River Negroes from
thence) three or 4 years more will make us pretty clear if the Proprietor [17]
keeps within Reasonable [bounds]
[1] John Campbell, eldest son of
Hon. Colin Campbell, ‘the Councillor’, who had died in Jamaica in
1752. John Campbell had only come of age to take up his inheritance in January
1756 [b. January 1735 in London]
[2] The Lucea House, a merchant partnership
at Lucea, Hanover
(perhaps Kerr & Co referred to in 1747)
[3] Capt. Duncan, in 10 years, had
progressed from first mate to master, to owner and master.
[4] John Campbell Salt Spring,
the son of Dugald Campbell of Salt Spring [d.1744] and Anne Launce of Jamaica
[5] Mrs Blagrove was Elizabeth
Campbell, sister of John Campbell of Orange Bay.
Her husband, Thomas Blagrove had died suddenly in Hanover in July 1755 at the age of 21. She
later married William Witter of Jamaica,
but died unhappy in London
in 1776. She retained full control of her son’s large inheritance
[6] John Blagrove, for his ‘liberal education’, was sent to Eton
and Trinity College Cambridge (his uncle John
Campbell Orange
Bay had also gone to Trinity College in 1748). Blagrove married, in Jamaica, Ann Shakespear, a great granddaughter
of Colonel John Campbell 1 of Black River
[d.1740]. He inherited Orange
Bay from his uncle in
1808
[7] Young K-k-y: Archibald
Campbell, son of Archibald of Knockbuy. In 1759, Young
Archibald married in Jamaica Ann Brown. In the parish of St.
Ann, he established a stock pen, Minard, named after Minard
on the shore of Loch Fyne
[8] Perhaps a visit to
relations. An Alexander Campbell had property in St. Thomas and a Daniel Campbell property in
St. Mary
[9] Wastel Briscoe, merchant and
planter from Cumbria, owner of Holland in St. Elizabeth, who married Deborah
Woodstock, the widow of Peter Campbell 1 of Fish River
[d.1739]. Briscoe took charge of the estates that Deborah Campbell had
inherited from her brother, Barnard Andreis Woodstock, his late business
partner. The family of Peter Campbell 2 Fish River thrived mainly
due to Briscoe’s later generosity
[10] Wife: Mary Graham. The
Westmoreland parish register records only the marriage of Colin Campbell &
Mary Tomlin, in 1739. The baptisms of
all of Colin Campbell’s children are also recorded. The possibility exists that
Mary Graham was either the young widow of ____ Tomlin or Campbell’s second wife.
[11] Margaret Campbell, baptised 28 January,
1757. Her married name and title was Lady Hay. She was widowed by 1801
and died in April 1837, at Boulogne,
France.
[12] Indentured tradesmen were particularly
sought after, especially carpenters, millwrights and masons. After serving
their time, they often set up on their own, buying slaves whom they trained in
their trade.
[13] Dugald Malcolm of Pell River, Hanover
[14] Dugald McTavish of Dunardry
[15] Dr Alexander McFarlane had been
a close acquaintance of Councillor Colin Campbell; both men were members of the
Royal Society
[16] A plantation in Hanover
parish adjoining Campbelton (John Black River’s) and Fish River
(Peter Campbell’s)
[17] John Campbell 3 of Black River. Colin hints here that the young man
enjoyed money. John Black River married in Virginia
but returned to Jamaica on
his own, in 1767, to sell his property and clear the debts he had run up in America. A
letter to his wife, in 1767, records the predicament. According to court
records in Virginia, some £70,000 was owed on Salem plantation
alone. He returned to Virginia
in 1770 but left for the last time in early 1776
There
may have been something of a black sheep about him:
1777:
in London, he
disappointed ‘Skipper Duncan’ by his behaviour over bills that were owed and
his younger brother, Colin, ‘flatly refused’ to stand security for his
remaining debts
1783:
he was somewhere abroad when his mother died; her only legacy to him was a
‘chintz counterpain’; Colin was made executor and inherited the rest of her
assets (her widow’s annuity since 1752
had been £1,000)
1793:
when Colin died, John was left with a seemingly generous £1,000 in cash but his
cousin, Thomas Foster-Barham, a wealthy Jamaica proprietor, was left the
remaining £5,000. The Jamaican lands which Colin inherited had been sold
already. There is evidence to suggest that John Campbell lived in Brussels for a while but died in Paris before 1802