Saugus Iron Works
My 9th Great-Grandfather, James MacCall, a Scottish P.O.W. in 1651, was ‘forced to work’ here as an indentured servant shortly after the forge was constructed. He was captured at the Battle of Dunbar during England’s invasion of Scotland in the aftermath of their own Civil War. I find it astonishing that of the 3000 Scottish prisoners of war captured that day, he was among only a few dozen picked to be sold off to work in the Puritanical Colony of Massachusetts Bay.
After a few years laboring at the forge, he was allowed to marry, and sire two children before his death circa 1660. When researching deep family history, records are far and few between. It’s nice when ancestors ran ‘afoul of its laws’ so to say. Events from their lives may not have been documented otherwise.
Saugus, once part of Lynn and called Hammersmith in the 1600s, is located a short distance from Boston, and was only a few miles from the hotel we were staying for the weekend. The historic site is seasonal and the buildings were closed, but the grounds are freely walkable. We saw maintenance work being done on the foundry building so it is not pictured.
The significance of the site is that is the first integrated ironworks in North America, founded by John Winthrop ‘the Younger,’ and was in operation between 1646 and approximately 1670. The National Parks Service placard states this was ‘the birthplace of the American iron industry.’
An extract of the ironworks wiki follows:
"SKILLED WORKERS WERE BROUGHT OVER FROM ENGLAND TO PLY THEIR TRADE AT THE IRON WORKS. THESE EMIGRANTS DID NOT FIT IN WITH THE LOCAL PURITAN SOCIETY AND OFTEN RAN AFOUL OF ITS LAWS. MANY IRONWORKERS WERE ARRESTED FOR CRIMES SUCH AS DRUNKENNESS, ADULTERY, GAMBLING, FIGHTING, CURSING, NOT ATTENDING CHURCH, AND WEARING FINE CLOTHES. THE LESS EXPERIENCED LOCAL MEN WHO WORKED AT THE IRON WORKS MET WITH FREQUENT AND SOMETIMES FATAL ACCIDENTS.ANOTHER SOURCE OF LABOR WAS INDENTURED SERVANTS WHO TYPICALLY WORKED AT THE IRON WORKS FOR THREE TO SEVEN YEARS FOR LITTLE OR NO PAY IN EXCHANGE FOR THEIR PASSAGE TO MASSACHUSETTS AND THE PROVISION OF FOOD, CLOTHING, HOUSING, AND OTHER NECESSITIES.FOLLOWING THE BATTLE OF DUNBAR IN 1650, 60 SCOTTISH PRISONERS OF WAR WERE SENT TO THE IRON WORKS TO WORK AS INDENTURED SERVANTS. 35 OR 37 OF THE 60 SCOTS INTENDED FOR THE IRON WORKS WERE EMPLOYED THERE, WHILE THE REMAINDER WERE SOLD FOR BETWEEN 20 POUNDS AND 30 POUNDS EACH TO VARIOUS INTERESTS IN MASSACHUSETTS, NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND MAINE. THE SCOTS MOSTLY WORKED AS UNSKILLED LABORERS, PERFORMING TASKS LIKE CHOPPING WOOD. SOME LEARNED SKILLS SUCH AS MAKING CHARCOAL, BLACKSMITHING AND CARPENTRY. MOST SCOTS WERE ABLE TO GAIN THEIR FREEDOM AFTER SEVEN YEARS AND AFTERWARDS THEY REMAINED IN MASSACHUSETTS OR MOVED TO MAINE, WHERE THEY STARTED FAMILIES AND ASSIMILATED INTO PURITAN SOCIETY."
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Wikipedia, Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site (https://en.wikipedia.org : accessed 29 March 2023)
I created the image-collages below from pictures taken on site, and modern construction was removed from the background.
Ironworks House by ColeyChi is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Forge and Slitting Mill by ColeyChi is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Coley: “I just expected a building and maybe one plaque or something, but it ended up being a whole park that you could walk around. They're doing renovations on it, so we're going to go back and see what they've done differently. It was really nice, yeah. We saw ducks.”
Some of the pictures of the SAIR:
