Mary Rae's Well

Andrew C. · Post by **Andrew C.** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 2:16 pm

Close to where I was brought up and where my mother still lives is the Covenanting monument of Mary Rae's Well. When I was young it was a couple of hundred yards walk across a field to a well maintained monument over a natural spring. Now the monument is hidden amongst a maze of new houses, the monument neglicted and the well dry. The story is Mary nursed her injured husband after the Battle of Bothwell Bridge at this well.

I though I would try and find any reference to Mary on the genealogical web sites and there are a few Mary Rae's so it is a bit of a needle in a hay stack. i did find a James Rae from Uddingston (not too far from either Bellshill or Bothwell Bridge) who was a Covenanter who was sent to America from Leith prison in 1865. Could this have been Mary's husband did she nurse him only to see him arrested and sent to the colonies. Would she have been sent with him, did they survuve the crossing.

Does anyone have any additional information about Mary Rae?

Post by **SarahND** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:12 pm

Hello Andrew,
Your dates have me confused. A google tells me that the Battle of Bothwell Bridge took place in 1679... How could someone who fought there have been sent to America in 1865?

And if you meant 1665, then how could he have been at the Battle after having been sent to America??

My head is spinning

Could you clarify what you meant?
Regards,
Sarah

Andrew C. · Post by **Andrew C.** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:16 pm

Sorry should have been 1685.

Post by **SarahND** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:32 pm

That helps!

Since it was so long ago, before the census records were taken, it is often hard to tell whether the wife is there or not. But... is this the record you mean?

Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s Record

Name: James Rae
Year: 1685
Place: New Jersey
Source Publication Code: 714
Primary Immigrant: Rae, James
Annotation: Contains passenger listings mentioned in Lancour, A Bibliography of Ship Passenger Lists, 1538-1825 (1963), nos. 72-76, 78B, 79, 81-83, 83 note, 85, 87A, 88, 89, 98(1), 100, 102(1A), 104-106, 107A, 110-111, 111 corr., 112-114. Includes index to ship names
Source Bibliography: BOYER, CARL, 3RD, editor Ship Passenger Lists, New York and New Jersey (1600-1825). Newhall, Calif.: the editor, 1978. 333p. 4th pr. 1986. Reprint. Family Line Publications, Westminster, MD, 1992.
Page:248

Andrew C. · Post by **Andrew C.** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:41 pm

Yes that would be the same person.

Post by **SarahND** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:54 pm

I'm afraid that's all I can find about him

There is a Mary Ray who came to Virginia in 1703, but that ship appears to be transportation of people from a London workhouse... so is unlikely to be the same person.

Sorry. It's hard to locate people that far back unless they settled in New England where the town records were kept more or less well.

Sarah

Andrew C. · Post by **Andrew C.** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 9:51 pm

Thanks for looking anyway.