The Arrival of the Ulster-Scots in the Pejepscot Region

For Pejepscot History Center’s final Spring Zoom lunchtime program, John Mann, President Emeritas, Maine Ulster Scots Project; and Ian Saxine, Visiting Assistant Professor of History, Bridgewater State University, and author of Properties of Empire: Indians, Colonists, and Land Speculators on the New England Frontier will present The Arrival of the Ulster-Scots in the Pejepscot Region.

The Ulster-Scots, or Scots-Irish, began populating the southern Midcoast of the District of Maine in the early 18th century. Many families in the area today trace their lineage back to these families. Who were these people and why did they leave their homeland to travel to the “New World?” Why did they settle were they did? What aspects of their culture did they bring with them that helped form the State of Maine?

Along with the English and the French, the Ulster-Scots were some of the earliest “immigrants” to arrive en masse on these shores, and are the ancestors of many residents today—and yet they were also, above all, colonists. Their collective impact on the Wabanaki, the People of the Dawnland, was profound, and has reverberated throughout history to the present day. What was the relationship like and how did it change over time? How did Wabanaki seek to hold onto their “Dawnland” amidst multiple parties vying for control of the abundant natural resources? This talk with John Mann and Ian Saxine will discuss these and other aspects of the Ulster-Scots’ arrival in the Pejepscot Region.

Image in event graphic: Maine Historical Society, Maine Memory Network, MMN 11714; “Map of Brunswick, 1725”; Proprietors of the Township of Brunswick Pejepscot Proprietors papers.

Ian Saxine received his PhD from Northwestern University. He teaches US History and British Atlantic World History. His research focuses on colonial and Native American history, especially in New England. His first book, Properties of Empire: Indians, Colonists, and Land Speculators on the New England Frontier, was published NYU Press in 2019. Saxine was the Project Historian for the Eastham 400 program, reexamining the encounter between Wampanoag and Plymouth colonists on Cape Cod in 1620, and hosts the podcast Mainely History, featuring conversations about Maine and New England in the past, to better understand them in the present.

John Mann is founder and President Emeritus of the Maine Ulster Scots Project (MUSP). He is a descendant of Scots-Irish emigrants arriving in Maine on the “Robert” in 1718. John is Professional Land Surveyor, founder, and president of Mann Associates, Inc., a land surveying and consulting firm with more than four decades of experience surveying private and municipal boundaries in southern Maine. His work has been primarily within the Kennebec and Casco Bay settlement areas. John is the author Ulster Scots on the Coast of Maine, Vol. 1: The Means Massacre Background and Location and various articles. Most recently, he published a collection of short stories titled Sideshots: Stories of a Land Surveyor’s Traverse through the District of Maine.

Tickets: $5 PHC Members; $8 Non-Members