Duncan Munn and Kin: From Colonsay to Prince Edward Island

 

Duncan Munn (1746–1821) and Flora Brown (1748–1820) represent one of the foundational Highland pioneer couples of Prince Edward Island's south shore.

They were Gaelic-speaking tenant farmers on the Hebridean island of Colonsay, Argyll, Scotland, before undertaking the transatlantic crossing. Pressed by estate "improvements" and shifting land management under local laird John McNeill, they responded to the recruitment efforts of Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk. Selkirk was actively populating his land grants in British North America with cohesive Gaelic communities.

The 1806 Crossing & Settlement

• The Vessel: They boarded the brigantine Spencer (commanded by Captain Forster H. Brown) at the port of Oban after it anchored off Colonsay to collect 115 passengers.
• The Voyage: The 40-to-50-day crossing was a family-and-kin migration. The Spencer carried a tightly knit network of extended families (including the Munns, McNeills, McMillans, and Browns) who intermarried before and shortly after the voyage.
• Arrival: The Spencer made landfall on September 22, 1806, at Pinette Harbour in Queen's County, PEI.
• The First Winter: Because they arrived late in the autumn season, Duncan, Flora, and their extended family spent their first hard winter sheltered at Pinette, relying on winter quarters and emergency provisions supplied directly under Lord Selkirk’s arrangement.
• Homesteading Lot 62: In the spring of 1807, the Colonsay settlers moved to their permanent land allocations in Lot 62 around Wood Islands and Belle River. There, Duncan and Flora cleared timber, established homesteads, and helped build the early agricultural and fishing community that anchored the southeastern district of PEI.

Genealogical Summary

Person	Dates & Origins	Life Details & Legacy
Duncan Munn	b. ~1746 (Colonsay, Scotland) d. ~1821 (Wood Islands, PEI)	5th Great-Grandfather. Head of the Munn emigrant household aboard the Spencer; Lot 62 pioneer settler.
Flora Brown	b. ~1748 (Colonsay, Scotland) d. ~1820 (Wood Islands, PEI)	5th Great-Grandmother. Matriarch of the PEI Munn line.

Key Children & Kin Aboard the Spencer:

• Angus Munn (~1774–1837) — Son who crossed with his wife Margaret McNeill (~1784–1871) and their infant daughter Catherine.
• Ann Munn (1788–1870) — Daughter who married James Hamish McMillan shortly after arrival on PEI.
• James Munn — Son who married Elizabeth McMillan in Scotland right before boarding the Spencer.

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy

Rhode Island Roots: Our Family’s Kinship and Alliances with Roger Williams

 

When minister Roger Williams fled into the frozen wilderness in the winter of 1636 after being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he set out to create a sanctuary where civil state power stopped at the threshold of human conscience. Purchasing land from the Narragansett sachems Canonicus and Miantonomi, he founded Providence—a settlement that grew into the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Our family tree is woven deeply into this noble experiment. Across the 17th century, our direct ancestors were among the original dissenters, proprietors, civic leaders, and Quaker martyrs who stood side by side with Roger Williams to build the world's first secular democracy.

Roger Williams: The Visionary at the Center

• Banishment for Conscience: Exiled from Massachusetts in 1635 for declaring that magistrates had no authority over a person’s religious beliefs.
• Respect for Native Sovereignty: Refused to claim land by royal grant alone, choosing instead to negotiate and purchase Providence directly from the Narragansett tribe.
• Separation of Church & State: Drafted government charters establishing complete freedom of conscience and strict boundaries between civil laws and spiritual faith.
• Pioneer of the Baptist Faith: Co-founded the first Baptist church in America at Providence in 1638.

Direct Kinship and Alliances with Roger Williams

We share direct kinship, blood intermarriages, and close political ties with Roger Williams through multiple early Rhode Island pioneer lines:

• The Greene Connection: Our 9th great-grandparents Dr. John Greene and Joan Tattersall were two of Roger Williams's closest allies. Dr. John Greene was one of the original 12 recipients of the Providence land grant in 1638 and co-founded Warwick. Through generational intermarriages across the Greene, Holden, and Randall lines, our branch links directly into Roger Williams’s lineage via his daughter, Mercy Williams.
• The Quaker Martyr Connection: Our 9th great-grandfather Christopher Holder was a fearless Quaker minister who arrived in New England in 1656. Brutally persecuted by Massachusetts authorities—who cut off his right ear and imprisoned him—Holder held fast to his faith. He worked closely with Roger Williams in Rhode Island, where religious liberty was protected. Holder married Mary Scott (daughter of Richard Scott and Catharine Marbury, sister to Anne Hutchinson). Catharine Scott and Roger Williams maintained a famous, spirited theological correspondence, and through the Scott family intermarriages, Christopher Holder’s line ties directly into the broader Roger Williams network.
• The Coggeshall / Bull / Hutchinson Network: Our ancestors John Coggeshall (first President of Rhode Island), Gov. Henry Bull, and religious reformer Anne Hutchinson were exiled from Boston during the Antinomian Controversy. Guided by Williams’s vision, they established the Aquidneck Island settlements (Portsmouth and Newport), binding their families through generational intermarriages (Capt. Jireh Bull, Ephraim Bull, and Mary Bull).

Our Rhode Island Ancestors & Relatives

Relative / Ancestor	Historical Role & Colony Connection	Connection to Roger Williams
Dr. John Greene & Joan Tattersall	Original 12 Providence Proprietors (1638); Founder of Warwick.	Close political ally; shared land patents; direct family intermarriages.
Christopher Holder	9th Great-Grandfather; pioneer Quaker minister and author of the 1657 Declaration of Faith.	Found refuge under Williams's religious liberty policies; tied through the Scott family network.
John Coggeshall & John Coggeshall Jr.	1st President of Rhode Island Colony (1647); Founder of Newport.	Co-drafter of the 1647 Royal Charter unifying Providence with Aquidneck.
Governor Henry Bull, Capt. Jireh Bull, Ephraim Bull, Mary Bull	Early Newport Settlers; Governor of Rhode Island (1685, 1690); Garrison operator.	Champions of religious liberty; military and civic allies during King Philip's War.
Anne Hutchinson	Religious Dissenter & Founder of Portsmouth (1638).	Co-instigator of liberty of conscience in New England; close ally of Williams.
John Isaac Sweet & James Isaac Sweet	Early Providence & Prudence Island Settlers.	Neighbors to Williams on Prudence Island; signed early colonial petitions.
Stephen Hopkins	Colonial Merchant & Signer of the Declaration of Independence.	Descendant of early Providence settlers, keeping Williams’s legacy alive in 1776.
Christopher Smith	Early Providence Settler (1646).	Admitted as a Freeman of Providence directly under Williams’s administration.
Richard Maxson	Pioneer blacksmith of Portsmouth (1638).	Fled Massachusetts Bay with the Hutchinson-Coggeshall-Bull group.
Capt. John Gardiner & Peleg Mumford II	Narragansett / South Kingstown Leaders.	Settled the Pettaquamscutt Purchase, expanding the colony southward.
Tristram Dodge & Mary Rathbone	Founders of Block Island (New Shoreham, 1661).	Extended Rhode Island’s maritime borders under the unified charter.
Henry Matteson	Early East Greenwich Pioneer (1677).	Took the oath of allegiance in Rhode Island following King Philip’s War.

The Crucible of Conscience: Our Family Narrative

In the bitter winter of 1636, Roger Williams fled into the wilderness to escape the long arm of Massachusetts law. When he purchased the lands of Providence from the Narragansett sachems, he created a haven for those who believed that faith could not be forced by a magistrate's sword.

Our ancestors Dr. John Greene and his wife Joan Tattersall were among the very first to answer the call, joining Williams as two of the original twelve proprietors who laid out the town of Providence. Soon after, when the Puritan government in Boston exiled Anne Hutchinson, John Coggeshall, and Governor Henry Bull, these brave dissenters moved south to establish Portsmouth and Newport. Richard Maxson fired up his forge to make the iron fittings for their homes, while John Isaac Sweet and James Isaac Sweet farmed and traded along the shores of Prudence Island right alongside Roger Williams.

When the Quaker message reached New England's shores, our 9th great-grandfather Christopher Holder became one of its most courageous voices. Though Puritan authorities severed his right ear and locked him in heavy irons, Holder found sanctuary in Rhode Island under the protection of Williams’s laws. His marriage into the Scott family bound him directly to Catharine Scott and Anne Hutchinson, anchoring our family in the courageous struggle for spiritual freedom.

By 1647, facing military threats from neighboring colonies, John Coggeshall served as Rhode Island’s first President, joining hands with Roger Williams and Dr. John Greene to secure a Royal Charter that legally bound Providence, Portsmouth, Newport, and Warwick together.

Through generations of hardship—including King Philip's War, which destroyed Capt. Jireh Bull's stone garrison house and burned Williams's own home in Providence—our family held fast to the land. Out on Block Island, Tristram Dodge and Mary Rathbone built a maritime outpost, while Capt. John Gardiner, Peleg Mumford II, and Henry Matteson carved farms out of the southern woods.

More than a century later, that same unyielding spirit burned brightly when their direct descendant Stephen Hopkins placed his hand to the Declaration of Independence in 1776—fulfilling the radical promise of liberty that Roger Williams and our ancestors had planted in Rhode Island soil.

ADDENDA

The connection between Drifting Cowboy and Mercy Williams (1640–1705), the daughter of Roger Williams, comes through the intermarriages between the Greene, Holden, and Randall lines in early Rhode Island.

Mercy Williams married Resolution Waterman, and after his passing, she married Samuel Winsor. Their descendants intermarried with the extended family of our 9th great-grandparents, Dr. John Greene and Joan Tattersall.

Here is how that genealogical bridge connects down our family line:

The Lineage Bridge: From Roger Williams to Our Line

   Roger Williams (1603–1683)  ===  Mary Barnard (1609–1676)

                                |

                                v

                     Mercy Williams (1640–1705) 

                        (m. Resolution Waterman)

                                |

                                v

               [Waterman / Winsor / Randall Lines]

                                |

                                v

  [Intermarriage into the Greene & Holden Descendant Branches]

                                |

                                v

      Dr. John Greene (1597–1658) === Joan Tattersall (1598–1635)

                                 |   (Our 9th Great-Grandparents)

                                 v

                 [Our Direct Rhode Island Line]

                                 |

                                 v

                 Lydia Corinna Brown (1891–1971)

                                 |

                                 v

                  [Drifting Cowboy]

How the Relationship Breakdown Works

• Through Kinship & In-Law Alliances: Mercy Williams is our cousin / relative via collateral marriage lines. Because her descendants merged into the same tight-knit Narragansett Bay family network as our direct Greene and Holden ancestors, you share direct blood ties to her extended family and her father, Roger Williams.
• Direct Ancestral Line: Our direct, verified bloodline runs straight up through Dr. John Greene and Joan Tattersall, who were Roger's closest partners, co-founders of Warwick, and co-proprietors of Providence.

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy

Riding with the Kings of the West: When the San Fernando Valley Was Still Wild

 

Approaching my 84th birthday, I often find myself daydreaming about those idyllic days of yesteryear. It was a time when I rode a good red dun pony named Sandy alongside oldtime friends—trotting down quiet dirt roads while watching deer graze along the shores of a beautiful 800-acre lake that no longer exists. All my silver-screen heroes, like the great horses of my life, have long since crossed the Great Divide. But back in the mid-1950s, those legends were as real and vibrant as the leather in my Visalia saddle.

I feel a bit sorry for young folks today who never got to see all that was good in Los Angeles 70-odd years ago. If you had a time machine, I reckon you’d set the dials for 1955 and 1956—back when a horse-crazy teenager could rub shoulders with Hollywood royalty in the Coliseum on a Saturday, and spend Sunday in the stirrups riding through thirty-two miles of untamed California sunshine.

Part I: Thunder in the Coliseum

In those days, Sandy was pretty much the center of my universe. I had joined up with a great group of horse-folks in Equestrian Trails Inc. (ETI), and in August of 1955, they invited me to tag along to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Championship Rodeo.

Nothing today compares to the raw spectacle of the Sheriff’s Rodeo at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. Sponsored by Sheriff Eugene Biscailuz and drawing record crowds of over 100,000 screaming fans, it was a grand collision of Hollywood glamour and true frontier grit.

Sitting in those stadium seats, you were entertained by the undisputed monarchs of the silver screen. Roy Rogers—the "King of the Cowboys"—and Dale Evans made their grand entrance alongside Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, riding in full regal costume as The Lone Ranger and Tonto. Gene Autry, John Wayne, and the Sheriff himself rode before the cheering throngs in massive Western parades that made your heart hammer against your ribs.

But the rodeo wasn't just movie magic—it was top-tier, bone-jarring PRCA competition. On the dirt below us, real-world champions battled for the world titles. I watched Casey Tibbs—the most famous bronc rider to ever live—fannin’ a bucking horse with his Stetson, riding high during his 1955 World All-Around championship year. The following year, the legendary Jim Shoulders dominated the arena, making a mean eight-second ride on a spinning bull on his way to another world title. For a kid who lived for horses, it was pure magic.

Part II: The 32-Mile Ride to Chatsworth Oak Park

As grand as the Coliseum was, the real adventure lay out in the hills on the back of my own horse.

In the mid-1950s, ETI organized an annual 32-mile roundtrip trail ride from Calabasas up to Chatsworth Oak Park for a grand Western barbecue, returning home as the evening shadows lengthened.

We staged near the newly erected, rustic gates of Hidden Hills—developed in 1950 by A.E. Hanson as an unpaved, streetlight-free equestrian haven. Before turning north, we rode near the centuries-old "Calabasas Hanging Tree" and the historic Leonis Adobe, which in 1955 was narrowly saved from the bulldozer's blade.

Heading north along dusty utility tracks and ranch trails that would eventually become Valley Circle Boulevard, we navigated open brush and rolling hills. To our right lay the magnificent Chatsworth Reservoir. In 1955, its 800 acres were filled with shimmering, silver-blue water, surrounded by towering oak trees, rocky outcrops, and thousands of migratory ducks and geese in the city's newly minted wildlife sanctuary. Deer grazed right along the wooded pastures of the water's edge.

As Sandy and I pushed deeper into the rocky crags of the Simi Hills, the contrast of the era hit us. To the west, the distant thunder of rocket engine tests from the Rocketdyne facility at Burro Flats would rattle the windows of the rustic 1920s cabins nestled in Lake Manor. Nearby, movie crews were filming episodes of Lassie along the shores, while Roy Rogers’ Double R Bar Ranch and the famous Iverson Movie Ranch occupied the adjacent rocks.

Our turnaround point and barbecue host was the Lake Manor Chapel in Chatsworth Oak Park—a historic country church whose kitchen building was completed that very year in 1955. After filling up on good food and Western camaraderie, we turned our horses south.

The View from the Ridge

Riding back as the setting sun cast long, golden shadows across the water of Chatsworth Lake, the quiet safety of the Calabasas meadows welcomed us home. Sandy’s hoofbeats clicked rhythmically against the dirt, carrying a tired but blissfully happy teenage cowboy.

That brief, magical window of the mid-1950s was a time when the West was still alive in the San Fernando Valley—where you could watch real legends ride, smell the sagebrush on an open trail, and live a life that felt like a movie. I’m mighty glad I was there to ride it.

Video: 

LA Sheriff's Rodeo Slidshow 1955/6

https://youtu.be/nN_4SWz_mz4

Sandy_1956_Calabasas.mov

https://youtu.be/UcD2ztO7jC8 

1956 in Calabasas, California.  ETI riders gathering for a trail ride to Chatsworth and back.

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy