The Grand Design - A Scots-Irish Journey

The Grand Design - A Scots-Irish Journey 2007

The Story of the Grand Design - a brief synopsis
In 1740, an emigration scheme, called the Grand Design, was devised with the goal of bringing about 200 Scots-Irish Presbyterians to Philadelphia. They were compelled to leave Northern Ireland as a result of social prejudice, religious zeal and environmental disaster.

The ship, Martha & Eliza, left Londonderry, Northern Ireland July 28, but encountered a storm which disabled masts and set the ship adrift. After 11 weeks in the merciless North Atlantic, they were cast on the desolate shore of Grand Manan Island, now in New Brunswick, Canada. Many passengers had succumbed to stress and deprivation.

The captain and crew left the survivors and sailed in the longboat to Fort Frederick at Pemaquid, Maine where, twelve years earlier, Colonel David Dunbar had brought a group of Scots/Irish from Ulster to rebuild the fort and had remained a thriving colony . The captain and crew of the Martha & Eliza tarried here for several weeks. As winter weather grew more difficult, they decided to return to the wreck to salvage the goods on board.

Finding passengers still alive, the crew removed only the healthiest to New Harbor. They were charged an exorbitant fee for the rescue, stripped of their clothes and sold into service. This first group registered a complaint with the Governor in Boston. Another ship set out seeking to plunder the remaining goods. Two sister were found alive and removed at this time, thinking that they were the last of the survivors.

Because the captain had originally dispersed the people around the island, ten women and an infant were left to endure the entire winter. These were finally discovered in April by local Native Americans (Passamaquoddy). In spite of the danger to themselves, both elemental and socio-political, these men carried letters to the fort in St. George, Maine over 100 miles southeast of the island, and arranged the rescue. The survivors were taken in by the people of the midcoast Maine Scots-Irish communities. Many remained, married locally , and their descendants still live in the area.

Notes on the Music In choosing the music for this story , I first went to collections of music popular in the first half of the 1700's. It is clear that the musical life of the people was multi-dimensional and I found a wonderful variety of music, from tavern songs to deeply religious unadorned hymns, from chamber music to country dance tunes. The music reflects the social experiences of the people and their Scots Irish heritage.

If I could not find an appropriate song or melody to underscore the story , I composed one in the traditional style. In some cases, the melodies of the times had evocative names -The Dangers of the Sea, Crossing from Ireland, The Death of my Friend, Any Privation But This, Fye, Let Us To the Bridal- and coincidentally were perfect in emotional content for the score. Separation of Soul and Body was composed by Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan who died in 1738. This version of Auld Lang Syne is circa 1733, 26 years prior to the birth of Robert Burns.

John Bear Mitchell contibuted the traditional Passamaquoddy songs and made the words for the Ancestor Song which he says is a chant combined with the words of the prayer to the Four Directions. It thanks the ancestors for their wisdom and knowledge.

The Grand Design
© 2005 Julia Lane