First Generation
1. William Buckalew. Born in 1620 in Scotland or Holland.
Alternate spelling of William: "Willem" or Willimse" ("w" being pronounced as an English "v".
Probable source of the name "William" in the Buckalew Family, i.e., The Dutch Connection:
"William I, known as William The Silent (1533-84), Prince of Orange and Dutch patriot, born in Dillenburg, in the Duchy of Nassau (now Germany), the son of William, Count of Nassau (d. 1559)... In 1555 Philip II, son and successor of Charles, as king of Spain, made William stadholder of the Dutch provinces of Holland, Zeeland, and Utrecht. The same year William succeeded his father as count of Nassau.
"Under Phillip, Spanish imperial rule in the Netherlands was harsh and intolerant, especially toward Protestants, who were persecuted by the Inquisition. William and other members of the Dutch nobility organized a strong movement against Spanish oppression... William was forced to flee to Germany...assembled an invasion army and in 1568 he entered the Netherlands, where he was soon defeated because the Dutch failed to support him. The rebellion gradually grew stronger, however, and in 1572 the northern Dutch provinces of Holland and Zeeland revolted successfully against the Spanish and elected William, who had become a Calvinist, as their stadtholder. After several more years of bitter fighting, sixteen of the seventeen provinces united against Spain...Nov. 8, 1576....A few years later, William was killed by an assassin. He was succeeded as stadtholder by his son Maurice of Nassau.
The following information which was found in William Anderson's "The Scottish Nation; or The Surnames, Families, Literature, Honours, and Biographical History of The People of Scotland," Vol.I, pp 448ff; A. Fullarton & Co.; 44 South Bridge, Edinburgh; and 18 Newgate Street, London; 1871.
Much of this information is taken from Anderson's book, Vol. 1, p.448, which he introduces thusly: "There is (1871) in the possession of the present Lord Polwarth, who is himself a noble branch of the Scotts, a genealogical table, prepared by and holograph of Sir Walter Scott, of Abbotsford, Bart., in which he traces the origin and descent of this family ..."
[SIR WALTER SCOTT OF BUCCLEUCH
First Lord Scott of Buccleuch
Enrolled in the baronies of Branxholm,&c., as heir to David Scott, his grandfather's brother, on 21 June and 10 Oct 1574.
Received knighthood from James VI, by whom, in 1590, on the fall of his step-father, the earl of Bothwell, he was appointed keeper of Liddesdale and warden of the west marches (borders).
Did not support Bothwell's rebellion, but entered into pact (6 Aug 1591) with those that supported the king. On the next day went to France for three years. Upon his return was granted to him and Lord Hume the office of warden of the east marches, and, along with Sir Robert Ker, heir of Cessford, the office of warden-depute of the middle marches, and to organize within these bounds opposition to the Earl of Bothwell.
Subsequently, he carried on an active predatory warfare against the English, and is renowned for the singularly daring exploit of rescuing one of his dependents, known by the name of Kinmont Will, from Carlisle castle on 13 April 1596. This achievement is the subject of the ballad of Kinmont Willie, inserted in the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish border."
After the succession of James to the English throne, Buccleuch was very active in quieting the borders, and to accomplish this he raised a regiment of the boldest and most desperate of the borderers, and carried them over to fight against the Spaniards in the wars of Holland. He attained considerable renown as a military commander under Maurice, prince of Orange, and was, for his services and military merit, raised to the peerage of Scotland 16 Mar 1606 under the title of Lord Scott of Buccleuch.
An interesting e-mail message from James Irvine Robertson:
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Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 09:28:02 +0000
From: "James Irvine Robertson" <jamesir@zetnet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Dutch Service
I'm no expert but thousands of Scots acted as mercenary soldiers on the continent during the 17th & 18th centuries &, for all I know, beforehand. The Swedes, the French and the Dutch all had Scots, sometimes in brigades and regiments of their own. A commission in my hand, in Dutch, appoints William Stewart a lieutenant in the 1st battalion of the regiment 'Schotten' of Col Dundas. 6th March 1777, signed by Wm, Prince of Orange. Stewart took his family to Holland to escape a charge of murder. So he, at least, was treating the Dutch service in the same way that many people used the French Foreign Legion this century - to escape the law. However foreign service was an entirely honourable career for most of them. The Scotch brigade fought against the British at Fontenoy and Scots in the French service came back to Britain to fight for the rebels in 1745. As the rules of war demanded, they were repatriated to France at the end of the Rising whilst indigenous Scots
suffered the full penalties of the laws of treason.
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Robert Bain, in his "Clans and Tartans of Scotland," states, "Sir Walter, 13th Baron, was created Lord Scott of Buccleuch by James VI and his son was raised to the dignity of Earl of Buccleuch in 1619."
WALTER SCOTT, EARL OF BUCCLEUCH
Second lord, raised to the dignity of Earl of Buccleuch 16 Mar 1619 with secondary title of Lord Scott of Whitechester and Eskdale with remainder to his heirs male, and afterwards extended to heirs whatsoever.
Had command of a regiment in the service of the states of Holland against the Spaniards.]
Here follows a report of my time in Scotland in 1997:
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July 1997
After the First Annual Bucklew Genealogy Conference, 22-23 March, 1997, I had the opportunity to serve as interim pastor from 26 March through 21 May of the Nairn (Scotland) Baptist Church, 16 miles east of Inverness. Although we had to pay our own airline fare, the church provided the manse and an automobile. We planned it so that the last two weeks overlapped with my replacement, relieving us of all responsibilities at the church for that period. Earlier, the only responsibilities that we had were two services on Sundays and a Bible study and prayer meeting on Tuesday evenings. Otherwise, we were free to travel, and one of the laypersons would even take the Tuesday evening activity leadership if Norma and I were on one of our many excursions.
We drove over 3,000 miles on the "wrong" side of the road with the steering wheel on the "wrong" side of the car and with "five on the floor" that I had to manipulate with my left hand (and I hadn't driven a manual shift automobile in many years). If the clutch and brake had been in other than normal position, I'd have given up in favor of a fast walking stick.
We went to Isle of Skye, Orkney Islanda, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Balmoral, Edinburgh, and intervening points. Our main interest was The Borders around Selkirk because our ancestors were originally the Scotts of Buccleuch. This included Hawick, Galashiels, Peebles, Abbottsford and Melrose. Upon arriving in America in mid 17th century--either by accident of registrar's pen or intentially--our ancestors dropped the name Scott and took Buccleuch as their surname, changing the spelling to BUCKLEW. Subsequent generations were quite ingenious and indefatigable in their modifying the spelling of the name.
Although Bowhill, the Duke of Buccleuch's estate, was not open to the public while we were there, I was asked to leave a written message with my query about a family historian that might know something about the Scottish military units that served in Holland. (Lord Walter Scott of Buccleuch formed and took a regiment there in 1603, and his son Francis, the first Earl of Buccleuch later commanded another such regiment there.) That evening, while at dinner in our hotel in Selkirk, the Duke surprised and honored me with a phone call. Our conversation was cordial and wide-ranging. He had no new information for me, but asked that I share with him in the future such as I might discover. He asked if I knew of Clan Scott here in America, and was glad to be informed that I am a member. He was also interested to learn that last 22-23 March, at the Mountain Brook Inn in the southern suburbs of Birmingham, some fifty family historians from throughout America attended the first annual Bucklew Genealogy Conference. I've now mailed to him a report of the conference and a group photograph of those attending.
During my 25 years in the US Air Force, three of those years (1968-1971) were spent stationed at Camp New Amsterdam, the American sector of the Dutch Air Base Soesterberg. I was the Installation Chaplain, and we travelled widely throughout Europe. In 1969 we toured the UK, including Scotland, but at the time had no idea of my Scottish ancestry.
I've been doing genealogy for about four years, and about two years ago came to realize that there is a definite Dutch/French connection in the history of the Scotts of Buccleuch. I now have reason to believe that William, one of the Buccleuch Scotts, was with the Scottish regiments (and the military units were there 1572-1697) in Holland and/or France. As is true whenever there is extended military deployment, I believe that William and others chose to remain on the European continent when they completed their military service. Then, it seems, that some of them in mid-17th century--a politically and religiously very turbulent time in Scotland (and England)--chose to venture to America rather than return to Scotland.
The city of Inverness, sixteen miles west of our assignment point, has an excellent genealogy library, and the resident genealogist Ian McLeod was most helpful. He directed my attention to a three-volume work, entitled "Papers Illustrating the History of The Scots Brigade in The Service of The United Netherlands 1572-1697," Edinburgh, Printed at The University Press by T. and A. Constable for the Scottish History Society 1899.Also, the Historian of the city of Selkirk was most helpful. I made copies of much pertinent information, and have addresses of other Scottish genealogy resource centers that can be mined in the future.
(Les Buckalew)
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"William was one of the great patriots of Dutch history. He gave his fortune and his life to the cause of Dutch independence and religious freedom. Although he was unable to unite all of the Netherlands provinces, the Union of Utrecht became the nucleus of the present Dutch nation." "Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia," Vol. 25, pp. 133-134.
The Dutch were in possession of Manhatten and Staten Islands in the early years of the 17th century. One of William's son's name is found as "Willem" and "Willimse", Dutch spellings. His son Peter, Sr., married a Dutch bride on Staten Island. Her father was Dutch and named "Frederick" Jans Janssen. See with his entry the notes relating to the "Probable source of the name 'William' in the Buckalew Family, i.e., The Dutch Connection."
Here is a pertinent e-mail message:
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From: MGunnell@aol.com
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 10:27:56 EDT
Subject: Johan Maurits
Going through some more information I would make the the assumption that Johann Maurits (1604-1679), son of Johann VII, son of Johann VII (brother of William I the Silent) is the same John mentioned in your previous e-mail where Frederick Janse had a father named John. The Dutch nationality fits as well as the dates.
In addition, history shows that Johann Maurits was known as "The Brasilian." One more identifying mark since the family emmigrated to the Brasilian Dutch colony for some time.
Martin Gunnell <MGunnell@aol.com>
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I do not have hard proof that Francis was the son of William and brother of Peter, but age and location, i.e., NJ, make it seem plausible if not probable. Francis could very well have been William's eldest child.
[...a reference to the ship CALEDONIA (History of the Old Tennent Church by Rev. F. R. Symmes, 1904) which states that "it is supposed that this ship brought emigrants from Scotland as early as 1685, and it is a matter of history that it bore to New Jersey many Scotch families about 1715."]
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This genealogy web site will terminate production on December 31, 2004.
Thank you for allowing us to be part of your life these past six years. - Les Buckalew