David Comee, d.1676
David Comee, of Scotland, was taken prisoner along with many others after the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651 during the English Civil War. Four thousand Scots died, but ten thousand more were taken prisoner. David, along with other royalists fighting for King Charles II, was forced to walk to London where the prisoners who managed to stay alive during the march were then shipped to various locations around the world, such as Virginia, Barbados or Guinea.
David Comee was one of the 272 Scots who arrived in Boston in 1652 aboard the John and Sara to be sold by investors as indentured servants to Massachusetts locals for £15 to £30.
Listed as David Mackhome on the transport list, David was indentured to Edward Burt of Charlestown. After serving his indenture, David settled in Woburn and later Concord.2
David married Elizabeth, last name unknown, probably around 1660. Elizabeth and David had five children before Elizabeth died 4 Mar 1671.3 Five months later David Comee married Esther Harvey in Charlestown, Suffolk, Mass.4 Esther and David had two more children, an unnamed daughter and in 1676, a daughter named Esther.
These Scots were not high on the social scale. They were considered to be property and listed in wills and other documents as such, like African slaves. The Puritans disliked them on religious and political grounds. Most spoke Gaelic and could not read or write, and life for these new immigrants was difficult.
In 1676 David was killed in an Indian attack at Sudbury, not far from Concord, while fighting with eleven others from Concord under the command of Captain Samuel Wadsworth during King Philip's War.5 They were killed in the meadow near "Haynes's Garrison" - one of several fortified houses where the town settlers sought refuge during the attack. The meadow was near the Sudbury River and the garrison house was near the junction of Water Row and Old Sudbury Road.6
David's wife, Esther, went to the court for assistance, petitioning the court to appoint guardians and put the children out into good homes. Some of the children may have been put in foster homes.7 Esther later married Samuel Parry.8 The eldest child, Elizabeth, married John Kendall in 1681 and gave birth to eight children before dying in 1701 in Woburn. Her husband John remarried twice more. Mary, the next daughter married Joshua Kibby in 1688 in Woburn. The second son, David Comee died before 1676. No more is known about the two daughters of Esther and David Comee.
John, the oldest son, married in 1688 Martha Munroe, daughter of William Munroe, and they had six children.Their youngest, Abigail, would marry Jonas Peirce in 1728. They were the grandparents of Rhoda Darby who married Jarvis Peirce Sr. and moved to Illinois.
Related Links
Petition of Esther Comee, 1676
The Pierce/Peirce family
Jarvis Peirce Sr. & his wife, Rhoda Darby, a descendant of David Comee and Elizabeth
3-generation descent report for David Comee through Abigail Comee Peirce who married Jonas Peirce
Direct descent tree from David Comee to Mary E. Pierce, 4th great granddaughter of David and Elizabeth Comee
Probate papers of David Comee's son, John Comee, 1729, Middlesex County
Photograph of the Scottish Memorial commemorating the Battle of Worcester. The memorial stone, a two-ton block of Scottish granite, near Old Powick Bridge in Worcester, was dedicated in 2001 to mark the 350th anniversary of the final battle in the English Civil Wars when Oliver Cromwell and the Parliamentary forces defeated the Scots Royalist army. Photo taken by Philip Halling, Geograph.org.uk, and licensed for use under Creative Commons.
Historical marker commemorating the Attack on Sudbury, Massachusetts, during King Philip's War. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike by the author Magicpiano.
King Philip?s War, also known as the First Indian War, lasted from 1675 to 1676 and involved New England colonists fighting various Native American tribes. It was one of the bloodiest colonial wars. King Philip, also known as Metacom, was a Wampanoag chief who led the rebellion. King Phillips was killed a few months after David Comee, in August 1676.
Hester, or Ester, Harvey is named Ester Hardy in another source; David Comee originally was David Mackhome and went by Macomy for this marriage in 1671 according to Allen H. Bent in his history of the Comey-Comee family.
