MySource:Samples 59/Sempill of Saint Croix, Vigin Islands

Alexander Hamilton (Founding Father of the United States)

• Alexander Hamilton, of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Founding Father of the United States and 7th great-grandson of Sir John Sempill, 1st Lord. He corresponded with John Sempill (whom next).

Enclosure: To Sempill and Company, in Founders Online: National Archives, 18 May 1786.

Alexander Hamilton appoints John Sempill and William Amorey Saint Croix Merchants.

Virgin Island Families: Sempill of Scotland and Related Families

• Holsoe, Svend E. Virgin Island Families: Sempill of Scotland and Related Families. (27 May 2013) - VIRGIN ISLANDS FAMILIES - Sempill - Origin: Scotland - Related Families: Carstensen, Rengger, Ruan - V.I. Location: St. Croix - Contributor: Svend E. Holsoe

John Sempill was born in Scotland [North Britain], in about 1760. He arrived on St. Croix in about 1781. On 31 May 1782, he received a Burgher Certificate for the first time. In 1788, he was a merchant in Christiansted and Anna Maria Rengger was living with him at 3 Prince’s Street. Living with them, in 1788, was a Maria Hansson, born in New York. He was married on 8 February 1797 in the St. Croix Dutch Reformed Church to Anna Maria Rengger, who was born in Antigua, at 3 Prince's Street, Christiansted. In 1815, he was the owner of estate Butler Bay, Northside A Quarter. On 13 September 1815, his Burgher Certificate was renewed as a Planter.

He died in about 1817.

Child of John and Anna Maria (Rengger) Sempill:

1. i. John Rengger Sempill, b. 4 December 1798, d.17 February 1844

• 1. i. John Rengger Sempill, who was born on St. Croix, on 4 December 1798, baptized in the St. Croix Dutch Reformed Church, 20 December 1798.

On 20 February 1826, he purchased at auction estate Butler Bay, 24 Northside A Quarter.

He was married to Ann Ruan, who was born on St. Croix on 27 June 1799, and baptized in the Frederiksted Anglican Church on 21 July 1799.

He received a Burgher Certificate on 6 October 1834.

In October 1841, they were living with their children at estates Butler Bay & Prospect Hill (Northside A Quarter, nos. 23 & 34), owned by John Sempill, where he was the Planter, and Captain and Chief of the Center Division of the West End Company.

He died on 17 February 1844 and was buried in the Frederiksted Anglican graveyard.

In October 1846, she was living at estate Butler Bay, as a widow and the Proprietor of the estate.

On 19 June 1849, she sold estate Butler Bay & estate Prospect Hill to the Loan Commission for $25,000.

She died 18 September 1868 and buried in the Christiansted Anglican churchyard.

Children of John Rengger and Ann (Ruan) Sempill:

2. i. Mary Ann Sempill, b. c 1829

3. ii. Emily Sarah Sempill, b. c1831

4. iii. John Rengger Sempill, b. 1832

• 2. i. Mary Ann Sempill was born on St. Croix in 1829 and was baptized in the Anglican Church.

She was a member of the class of 1839 at the Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies at Bethlehem, PA.

In 1846, she was living at estate Butler Bay with her mother, unmarried.

She was married on St. Croix to Georg Johan Bernhard Carstensen, who was born in 1812 in Algiers, Algeria.

He was the founder of Tivoli garden in Copenhagen. He was on St. Croix as a Danish military officer, coming in 1848 and leaving in 1850.

He died in 1857, leaving a widow, two children and a bankrupt estate.

• 3. ii. Emily Sarah Sempill was born on St. Croix in about 1831 and was baptized in the Anglican Church.

In 1841, she was living at estates Butler Bay & Prospect Hill (Northside A Quarter, nos. 23 & 34), with her parents and brother.

• 4. iii. John Rengger Sempill was born on St. Croix in about 1832 and was baptized in the Anglican Church.

In 1841, he was living at estates Butler Bay & Prospect Hill (Northside A Quarter, nos. 23 & 34), with his parents and sister.

(ie. Later lived at Lafayette, Tippecanoe, Indiana and m. Susan Stockton)

• Charles Sempill was born on St. Croix in about 1804 and baptized in the Danish Church. He was married to Elizabeth, who was born on St. Croix in about 1815, and baptized in the Anglican Church. In 1841, they were living with their daughter at 12 Market Street, Christiansted, where he was a Shoemaker, and a Private in the Brand Corps. She died and was buried in Christiansted on 17 June 1846.

He died and was buried in Christiansted on 15 November 1846.

Child of Charles and Elizabeth Sempill:

1. i. Constancia Sempill, b. c1840

• 1. i. Constancia Sempill was born on St. Croix in about 1840 and baptized in the Danish Church. In 1841, she was living with her parents at 12 Market Street, Christiansted.

• Bertram W.[?] Sempill was born in about 1824 on St. Croix and was baptized in the Anglican Church.

In October 1846, he was unmarried, living at estate Oxford, where he was the Manager of the estate.

West Indies (Sugar Trade) & Family Ties to the Region

• Hugh Sempill, 11th Lord - Governor of Barbados in 1746 but did not take office

Provost Marshall Patrick Crawford, of Leeward Islands was the husband of Sarah Sempill and son-in-law to Hugh Sempill, 11th Lord Governor of Barbados.

• Renwick, Robert; George Eyre-Todd; and Sir John Lindsay. History of Glasgow. (Glasgow [Scotland]: Maclehose, Jackson & Co., 1921-1934), Vol. 3, CHAPTER XVIII, Pages 150-159, 1934.

CHAPTER XVIII - COLONEL WILLIAM MACDOWALL AND THE WEST INDIA TRADE

[Extarct of record]

"Colonel William Macdowall was a cadet of an ancient family, the Macdowalls of Garthland in Galloway. He and a fellow-officer, Major James Milliken, while quartered in the island of Saint Kitts, in the West Indies, had wooed and won two heiresses of the island, owners of great sugar estates, the Widow Tovie (ie. wife of Richard Tovey), whose maiden name had been Mary Stephen, and her daughter Mary. Returning to Scotland, Colonel Macdowall in 1727 bought the fine Renfrewshire estate of Castle Semple, for centuries the home of the Barons Sempill, and six years later Major Milliken bought the neighbouring estate of Johnston, to which he gave his own name of Milliken, its name today. In the same year Macdowall acquired from Daniel Campbell the great Shawfield Mansion in the Trongate of Glasgow, and with his fellow-officer of previous years settled to business in the city.

"It has almost been forgotten that the sugar trade of Glasgow was at least as old as the tobacco trade. According to Cromwell’s commissioner, Tucker, writing in 1651, certain Glasgow merchants had ventured their ships as far as Barbadoes, Britain’s oldest sugar colony, but had met with such losses through having to return late in the year that they had ceased to make the attempt. The sugar refiners of Glasgow—there were ultimately at least four “sugar houses,” or refineries, in the city—were forced to depend for their supplies of raw material upon Bristol, at that time the chief sugar port of Europe.

"By the arrival of the sugar heiresses and their husbands from St. Kitts all this was changed. The ships with their sugar cargoes came into Port-Glasgow, and Glasgow itself became the market for their sugar and rum. Thus the Glasgow “sugar houses” got their supplies direct from the sugar estates, and thus was founded in reality the great West India trade of the city.

"The story of the great business founded by the two ex-officers forms one of the most brilliant and tragic romances of Glasgow trade. The two founded the West India house of James Milliken & Co., out of which, in alliance with the Houstons of Jordanhill and the Raes of Little Govan, grew the great West India business of Alexander Houston & Co. For three-quarters of a century the firm carried on an immense trade, owning ships and sugar estates on a vast scale, and when the crash came, in 1795, it was the greatest failure Glasgow had ever seen. That, however, was in the time of the grandsons of Colonel Macdowall.

"Meanwhile, till his death in 1748, the Colonel continued to inhabit the finest residence in Glasgow, and, with his fine presence, was probably the most notable figure in town. Owner of a noble mansion in the country and a rich estate in the West Indies, with ships on the seas and cargoes of sugar and rum constantly coming home, he had also the social prestige of his army rank and his long family descent, and must have held the regard of everyone as he stepped, with his tall gold-headed cane, along the causeway. Moreover, his coming had opened up new prospects of wealth for the city.

"Of his partner, Major Milliken, less has been said. He had, perhaps happily, no son to succeed him, so his fortune escaped disaster when the crash came. His daughter and heiress married General William Napier, a lineal descendant of the inventor of logarithms, and became the ancestress of the baronet house of Milliken Napier, which has given several distinguished soldiers to the service of the crown." [end Extract of record]

Milliken House

• The Regarde Bien - Issue No. 18 - Major James Milliken of Milliken - Milliken-Napier Pedigree

"Major James MILLIKEN of MILLIKEN, b. 1669, at Knock, Ayrshire, eldest son of Thomas MILLIKEN in Knock and latterly Lochranza, Island of Arran; adm. Burgess and Guild brother of Irvine, Ayrhire, on August 12, 1692; first mentioned on the Island of Nevis, West Indies, in 1700; m. Mary Stephen, widow of Richard Tovey, planter of Nevis; appointed Councillor of Nevis in 1707, then Councillor of St. Kitts in 1715; received patent for 200 acres of land in the French Quarter of Basseterre, St. Kitts, on May 8, 1716; returned to Scotland with Col. William MacDowall, his son-in-law, in 1728; adm. Burgess and Guild brother of Glasgow on August 27, 1733; partner and founder of the South Sugar House in Glasgow; purchased part of the Johnstone estate from George Houston, in 1736, and renamed it the barony of Milliken, as Mr. Houston chose to retain the title of Johnstone; d. February 1741 aged 71 years; his widow died September 12, 1746; they had issue:

1. "Anne MILLIKEN, b. Island of Nevis, West Indies, mentioned in the last will and testament of her maternal grandmother, Margaret Tovey of Nevis, dated April 19, 1715; probably died in St. Kitts; nothing more is known.

2. "James MILLIKEN, Esq. of MILLIKEN, b. 1710, Island of Nevis, West Indies; m. April 21, 1734, Jean MacDowall, only daughter of Alexander MacDowall 16th of Garthland and Jean Fergusson daughter of Sir John Fergusson of Kilkerran; succeeded to his father estates in Scotland and St. Kitts in the West Indies in 1741; partner in the South Sugar House in Glasgow; made large improvements to Milliken estate; d. June 7, 1776; had issue:

3. "Parnell MILLIKEN, b. Island of Nevis, West Indies, mentioned in the last will and testament of her maternal grandmother Margaret Tovey of Nevis, dated April 19, 1715; d. November, 1728, buried High Kirk of Glasgow, on November 13, 1728, styled Miss Parlan Millikine, daughter of Major Millikine, Governor in St. Christopher.

4. "Francis MILLIKEN, b. Island of Nevis, West Indies, mentioned in the last will and testament of his maternal grandmother, Margaret Tovey of Nevis, dated April 19, 1715; apparently died young in the West Indies."

(Source) Freepages, Genealogy, Rootsweb, Ancestry.com

• Patrick Ludovic Colquhoun, of Demerara, is the 8th great-grandson of John Semple, 5th of Fulwood and also the 8th great-grandson of Robert Sempill, 3rd Lord.

• Smeaton, William Henry Oliphant. Tobias Smollett: Famous Scots Series. (New York, Edinburgh & London: C. Scribner's Sons - Olipahnt Anderson & Ferrier, 1897), Pages 45, 46.

Tobias Smollett, is the 6th great-grandson of Sir John Semple, 1st Lord of Fulwood, he married Anne Lascelles, of Kingston, Jamaica

The Lascelles Slavery Archive

The Lascelles Family and the Caribbean

The Lascelles family, now earls of Harewood, had interests in the Caribbean from 1648 until 1975, when the family sold its last plantation. The fullest and most interesting account of their activities is Simon Smith's study Slavery, family and gentry capitalism in the British Atlantic: the world of the Lascelles, 1648-1834 (Cambridge Studies in Economic History, Cambridge University press 2006:

Cambridge catalogue

This website is heavily reliant on Smith's work for much of the information it contains about the Lascelles' activities.

• Ebenezer Campbell, Merchant in Kilbarchan, married Annabella Semple

Find A Grave

John Rengger "J.R." Sempill, Sr, (1798-1844).

Johan Bernhard Georg Carstensen, (1812-1857).

Bertram M Sempill, (1823-1857).

John R Sempill, (1833-1895).

Susan Sempill, (1840-1872).

Willie Beech Sempill, (1860-1863).

William Ruan Sempill, (1881-1957).

Bertram J Sempill, (1899-1916).