In 1688, James II, a Catholic, was deposed by his Protestant daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange, in a bloodless coup known as the Glorious Revolution. James fled to France and in 1689 landed in Ireland, hoping to incite his Catholic supporters there and regain the British throne. Aided by French forces, James captured Dublin in late March and in April marched on Derry, the northern town where Irish supporters of Britain had fled.
On April 20, 1689, James, having encircled Derry, began a bombardment of the fortified city, causing devastating fires and significant loss of life. However, despite this and other assaults, the city refused to surrender, and its poorly supplied defenders managed to repulse repeated attacks from James’ soldiers. In the face of famine conditions, George Walker, the joint governor of the town and an Anglican clergyman, gave inspired public sermons that roused the people to a fierce resistance. Finally, on August 1, after 105 days of siege, British forces arrived to relieve the defiant Protestant city, and James retreated.
In 1689, John and Martha McDuffee were in the Siege of Derry [now known as Londonderry]. “Matchless Martha” McDuffee was made famous by saving a quantity of meal during the siege of the city anddistributing it among the starving people.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. John McDuffiePosted 19 Apr 2013 by JoLawrence1943
from: Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs ..., Volume 2
e dited by William Richard Cutter
"The McDuffies were MC DUFFIE among the emigrants from Scotland who settled in Londonderry, Ireland at about the beginning of the seventeenth century AD. In the year 1612 John McDuffie and family left their home on the island of Colonsay the west coast of Scotland in the county Arygle and settled in Londonderry as before stated. In Johnston's Book of the Scottish Clans p 50 it is stated that the clan is now known as the Clan MacFie.
The Clan MacFie is supposed to be a branch of the race of Alpine the name is spelt in a variety of ways Dubhsith in Gaelic has passed into Duffie in English which in its MacDuffie form has passed into MacFie which is also spelt Macafee, Macfee and Macphee, the name implying dark colored tribe. After the Norse occupation, Colonsay in the county of Argyle fell under the sway of the Lords of the Isles. In 1549 Archdeacon Munro informs us that -"The lie is bruck et be ane gentle capitaine callit McDuffyhe and pertained of auld to Clan Donald of Kin tyre"- The MacDuffies or MacPhees seem to have possessed the island for a considerable time. On the tombstones of Oronsay they figure as warriors and ecclesiastics. The island was held by the MacPhees as late as the middle of the seventeenth century, there are still several freeholders and many respectable families of the name in the county and elsewhere.
During the civil war of 1645, Coll Mac Donald, a companion of the Marquis of Montrose, was accused of having been guilty with some of his followers of the slaughter of Malcolm MacPhee of Colonsay. The clan having been dispossessed of its original inheritance became a Broken Clan, lost its independence, and so was obliged to rank under more powerful clans. The greater part followed the MacDonalds of Islay, others settled in the country of the Camerons under Lochiel where they were distinguished for their bravery, others found homes on both entrances to the firth of Clyde, whilst others settled in the north of Ireland where the name is spelt according to the primitive pronunciation McKaffie and MacAfee .
At the battle of Culloden 1745, the Camerons were one of the few clans who made furious onset which nearly annihilated the left wing of the Duke of Cumberland's and almost led to a brilliant victory. Camerons suffered severely and with a proportionate number of the Macfies soon loyalty to the reigning dynasty was the ascendant and the armorial bearings the race have for motto the words Pro rege.
The name of the family was originally Mac Duff but it is said that on the accession of Malcolm to the throne of Scotland in the year 1050, he gave to the representatives of this branch a tract of land in country of Fife as a reward for services and he added 'fee' to the name indicating it came from the crown and thus McDuff became McDuffie. A coat of arms was given to the family at the same time which in the Scotch heraldry was a lion rampant with a sword in his paw guarding the crown and Kingdom of Scotland having three hawks under his feet representing the three witches who were met by MacBeth and a thorn bush representing Birnan Wood Motto Pro Rege.
The tomb of the early MacDuffies is shown on the island of Iona, Scotland and over the grave of Malcolm MacDuffie there is a monumental stone on which there is a Keltic inscription giving to him many honorable characteristics. In the Lord of the Isles by Sir Walter Scott the name is given as McDuKth Lord of Colonsay.
The son of the John before mentioned, who is from Scotland, also named John and his wife, Martha, were living in or near Londonderry, Ireland at a place called Desert Martin during the time of its siege in the year 1689. She acquired the name of 'Matchless' for having saved a quantity of meal for the people who were nearly starved and then dispursed it among the suffering who were at the unexpected relief. This memorable siege lasted one hundred and five days, distressed inhabitants being ultimately saved by the English who at length came to their rescue.
John McDuffie and Martha, his wife, (THESE ARE OUR ANCESTORS) of Londonderry, Ireland had several children: Mansfield, Daniel, Archibald (THIS IS OUR ANCESTOR), John, and possibly others. Mansfield went to London, England. Daniel, Archibald and one more, came to America. Daniel came in 1720 and Archibald about the same time. There was also a William who brought over the coat of arms."
JOHN McDUFFEE, by ALONZO H. QUINT, D. D. ; History of the town of Rochester, New Hampshire, from 1722 to 1890, by McDuffee, Franklin, 1832-1880; Hayward, Silvanus, 1828-1908, ed, Publication date 1892, Pgs 367-368:
To men of their own energetic stock, who, refusing all political preferment, have given comprehensive abilities, sterling integrity, and sagacious industry to the development of business, many New Hampshire towns owe an imperishable debt. John McDuffee's record is in the prosperity of Rochester.
At Gravesite
It has been noted that EVEN THOUGH we have quite good information on John and Martha listed below, we may still need more definitive information on them. (Feb 2018)
JOHN McDUFFEE, by ALONZO H. QUINT, D. D. ; History of the town of Rochester, New Hampshire, from 1722 to 1890, by McDuffee, Franklin, 1832-1880; Hayward, Silvanus, 1828-1908, ed, Publication date 1892, Pgs 367-368:To men of their own energetic stock, who, refusing all political preferment, have given comprehensive abilities, sterling integrity, and sagacious industry to the development of business, many New Hampshire towns owe an imperishable debt. John McDuffee's record is in the prosperity of Rochester.
The name itself suggests that strong Scotch-Irish blood which endured the siege of Londonderry, in which were Mr. McDuffee's ancestors, John McDuffee, and his wife, Martha, honored in tradition. John and Martha McDuffee had four sons: — Mansfield, Archibald, John, and Daniel. Mansfield went to London, England; the other three came, with their parents, to America, in the emigration which gave New Hampshire the powerful stock of Derry and Londonderry, John, the father of these sons, settled in Rochester in 1729, on land on the east side of the Cocheco river, adjoining Gonic Lower Falls — the farm of eighty-five acres remaining without break in the family, and now owned by the subject of this sketch.
McDuffee/MacFie Historical Reference, by Jay McAfee, 25 Apr 2013:
The Clan MacFie is supposed to be a branch of the race of Alpine; the name is spelt in a variety of ways. Dubhsith in Gaelic has passed into Duffie in English, which in its MacDuffie form has passed into MacFie, which is also spelt Macafee, Macfee and Macphee, the name implying dark colored tribe. After the Norse occupation, Colonsay, in the county of Argyll, fell under the sway of the Lords of the Isles. In 1549 Archdeacon Munro informs us that "The lle is bracket be ane gentle capitaine callit McDuffyhe, and pertained of auld to Clan Donald of Kintyre." The MacDuffies, or MacPhees, seem to have possessed the island for a considerable time. On the tombstones of Oronsay they figure as warriors and ecclesiastics. The island was held by the MacPhees as late as the middle of the seventeenth century; there are still several freeholders and many respectable families of the name in the county and elsewhere.
During the civil war of 1645, Coll MacDonald, a companion of the Marquis of Montrose, was accused of having been guilty, with some of his followers, of the slaughter of Malcolm MacPhee, of Colonsay. The clan having been dispossessed of its original inheritance, became a "Broken Clan," lost its independence, and so was obliged to rank under more powerful clans; the greater part followed the MacDonalds of Islay, others settled in the country of the Camerons, under Lochiel, where they were distinguished for their bravery; others found homes on both entrances to the firth of Clyde; whilst others settled in the north of Ireland, where the name is spelt according to the primitive pronunciation, McKaffie and MacAfee.
John McDuffee abt. 1612 - 20 Argyll (Argyllshire) Scotland to Ulster, Northern Ireland; by Jerry McAfee April 25, 2013:We are indebted to John McDuffee4 (Daniel3, Daniel2, John1) and to his son, Henry Clay McDuffee5, and eleventh child, for recording the history of this family. John4 was born 16 Jun 1766, and was 10 years old when the first shot of the Revolutionary War was fired at Lexington, MA. His grandparents, Daniel McDuffee and Ruth Britton, were the first of the family to come to America, and he may well have heard the tale from their own lips. He and his son, Charles, born 9 Nov 1827, furnished names and dates to local historians. His son, Henry Clay McDuffee #187311952, became the family genealogist and continued to trace the extended family until his death on 10 Jun 1910. The following brief facts are taken from his McDuffee Family History, (H.C.M. b. 3 Oct 1831):
Political unrest was seething when James VI of Scotland became James I of England. The Presbyterians felt that their religion was under attack, and that they were being persecuted. Then at the close of the Catholic rebellion in the northern part of Ireland, two million acres of land, almost the whole of the northern counties, including Londonderry, fell to King James. He therefore encouraged his Scottish and English subjects, by liberal grants, to settle upon these lands, hoping in this way to control and awe the Irish Catholics. Among these Protestant colonists who came from Scotland to Ireland in 1612 were John McDuffee and his wife, who had been living in Argyllshire.
A later John McDuffee, probably grandson or great-grandson of the immigrant, married Martha who earned for herself the title of “Matchless Martha” during the memorable Siege of Londonderry in 1689, when the Catholic Irish supported an attempt by James II to retake the British throne from the new King William, Prince of Orange - a Protestant. The siege lasted 105 days, and “the garrison was reduced to the vilest and most unwholesome food.” When the need became dire, Martha brought out a quantity of meal which she had concealed at the beginning, enabling many more to hold out until two ships laden with supplies conveyed by the (British Naval) Frigate Dartmouth arrived relieving the starving defenders. Henry Clay adds that, “An Act was passed exempting from taxation all who had borne arms in the city. And this provision was extended to those who afterward came to America, until the American Revolution. The lands were known and designated as the ‘Exempt farms'. John and Martha McDuffee were among those so honored!" - See below for more clarification on the Siege:
[The Scots in Ulster, Pocket History 1600 - 1800, From Ulster to America:
5. The Williamite War in Ulster:
The accession of James II, a Catholic, to the throne in 1685 created considerable unrest among Ulster’s Protestants. In 1688 William of Orange arrived in England and was declared king in what was known as the ‘Glorious Revolution’. James II fled to France and the following year landed in Ireland with a large French army. Protestant resistance in Ulster had already been mobilised. On 21 March 1689 the famous 105 day siege of Derry began. As many as 30,000 settlers as well as a garrison of 7,000 men were packed into the city; it was reckoned that 15,000 of them died of fever or starvation or were killed in battle. The siege was lifted in late July and soon afterwards a large Williamite force under the command of the Duke of Schomberg landed near Bangor, County Down, and by the autumn of 1689 James’ forces had been all but removed from Ulster. As the war moved south, with decisive battle fought at the Boyne on 1 July 1690 and Aughrim on 12 July 1691, the province began to recover from the consequences of the conflict.
The aftermath of the Williamite war saw a fresh influx of thousands of Scots in the north of Ireland, encouraged by harvest crises in their native land. About 1700 it was noted that due to a fresh wave of migration from Scotland, ‘the dissenters measure mightily in the north’. In some places there were Presbyterian ministers and congregations where previously there had been none. An anonymous Jacobite tract of c.1711 noted that after 1690 ‘Scottish men came over into the north with their families and effects and settled there, so that they are now at this present the greater proportion of the inhabitants’. Though this was an exaggeration of the overall numerical position of the Scots, it was probably the case by this time that they outnumbered English settlers by 2:1. ]
Motivated by pressures both religious and economic, Ulstermen began looking to the New World early in the 1700s, and Daniel McDuffee, his wife, Ruth Britton, and their two year old daughter, Martha, came to America in 1720 landed in Boston, soon went to Andover, Massachusetts, then joined their old friends in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Their pastor, Rev. James McGregor, of whose church he was a member, left Ireland a year or two before with some 16 families of his parish. Daniel was one of the original Proprietors of the town, with 100 acres, and was a locksmith and a blacksmith. In The Clan MacDuffee, Part I, Descendants of New Hampshire MacDuffees, by Marion Lang Driscoll, she says:
“On the list called "A schedule of the Names of the Propriators of London Dery" are the names of John1, Archibald2, John2, Daniel2 and Matthew2 MacDuffee. John must have been an old man when he came to this country, and it is said he and his wife are buried in the Old Presbyterian Churchyard in Londonderry, among the several graves marked only by field stones! See below for reference in Newsletter 6.
4 Colonsay is
an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, located north of Islay and south of Mull.The ancestral home of Clan Macfie
In the year 1612 John McDuffie and family left their home on the island of Colonsay the west coast of Scotland in the county Arygle and settled in Londonderry
Plantationsin 16th- and 17th-centuryIrelandinvolved the confiscation of Irish-owned land by theEnglishCrownand thecolonisationof this land withsettlersfromGreat Britain. The Crown saw the plantations as a means of controlling,anglicisingand'civilising'Gaelic Ireland. The main plantations took place from the 1550s to the 1620s, the biggest of which was theplantation of Ulster
Ulster is
one of the four traditional Irish provinces.It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); the remaining three are in the Republic of Ireland.
John and Martha McFEE (surname also recorded as MACFEE, McDUFFEE and MACKAFEE) who were living in Londonderry Ireland during the 1689 siege. According to a family story, Martha was known as "Matchless Martha," because she "concealed a quantity of meal and dealt it out to the famishing people when rats were being sold for food at a guinea each."