John (Nisbet) Nisbet of Hardhill (abt. 1627 - 1685)

Born about 1627 in Ayrshire, Scotland [uncertain]

Ancestors

Died 4 Dec 1685 at about age 58 in Grassmarket, Edinburgh

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John (Nisbet) Nisbet of Hardhill was a historically significant person of Scotland. Join: Scotland Project Discuss: Scotland

Biography

John (Nisbet) Nisbet of Hardhill is Notable.

John was born about 1627. He was the son of James Nisbet and Janet Gibson. John the martyr took up arms for the covenant, was severely wounded at Pentland, “did good service” at Drumclog and Bothwell. he was captured by a relation Lieutenant Robert Nisbet, (see research notes) and executed at Grassmarket of Edinburgh on 4 December 1685. He was hanged because of his adherance to the Covenanteers of the Protestant faith.

Children

• daughter baptized 1664 ^[1] this fits that she is older than James 1670 When I was three years old, I fell into a pond of nasty water where I had certainly perished, had it not been the kind providence of God and my sister who was two years older (June 1664 to Feb 1667 is 2 years) and she died 1683/84
• James I was born in the month of Feberuary, 1667, of parents both of them realy and eminently religious; ^[2]
• Alexander
• Hugh

Documentation for 4 children

• 1677 “they beat my mother and my eldest brother” no name given (is this the oldest son in the family or the oldest of James two younger brothers) Page 54 PLP 1827 version
• 1679 Four children alive sister 1664 James 1667 brother 1672 and another brother
• 1682, when in the thirteenth year of my age, things in my father's family began to take a turn. My younger brother was sent to live with a kinsman of my father's--this is same brother born 1672 --- Hugh or Alexander born about 1672--Year 1682. The cruel enemy got my dear brother into their hands. after they had used all the cruelty they could, he would not open his mouth to speak one word to them; and although he was a very comely proper child, ^[3], yet they called him a vile, ugly dumb devil, and beat him very sore, and went their way, leaving him lying on the ground, sore bleeding in the open fields. ^[4]
• Dec 1683/Jan 1684 3 of the children were in the cave with their mother so either Alexander or Hugh is missing in 1682. Quite possibly then the brother born about 1672 who was sent away in 1682 and is he still staying with relatives? If that is the case both brothers are younger than James as he also calls his brother in the cave younger..^[5]

• Traditional Scottish naming tradition First son is named for the Father's Father. That would then make James the oldest of the brothers, but there are sometimes deviations.
• only younges brother alive when he wrote My father was the tenth of my nearest relations that suffered death within the compass of seven years, to seal that noble cause with their blood, and so my dear youngest brother and I were stripped naked of our relations, and left as orphans, destitute of all paternal or relative care. ^[6]

Military

John the martyr served abroad according to all accounts, where and when?

Some say he gained his military in the Thirty Years’ War, and returned home. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) was a series of wars John the Martyr would have been only 21 when it ended.

It was not uncommon to join at a young age so this is possible, but he came back much later so continued his service after the end of the above war.

Thomas Lindsay another claimed descendant Says John Nisbet was one of Gustavus Adolphus’ Scotch officers, which is also possible .

The first Scots in Sweden were soldiers. 40 000 Scots fought for the anti-imperial forces during the 30 years war (1618 –1648). McKay’s highlanders served in the Scots brigade under the ‘Lion of the North’, King Gustavus Adolphus II.

John Howie who wrote The Life of JOHN NISBET of Hardhill Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies)writes: at his return, John Nisbet, being somewhat advanced in years, and one who had the advantage of a tall, strong, well-built body, and of a bold, daring, public spirit, went abroad and joined in the military, which was of great use to him afterwards. Having spent some time in foreign countries, he returned to Scotland, and swore the covenants when king Charles at his coronation swore them at Scoon in 1650. Then, having left the military, he came home and married one Margaret Law,

Relatives

nine of my father's nearest relations did all seal the same cause with their blood, betwixt 1679 and 1685, inclusive, viz: Thomas Nisbet, James Nisbet, Joseph Nisbet, John Brown elder, John Brown younger, James Wood, Joseph Gibson, Joseph Law elder, and Joseph Law younger,

Research Notes

I have seen BIRTH 1627 Drakemyre, North Ayrshire, Scotland

I have never seen either a documented birth place or year would be good to have a reference to where this information came from and that it is correct.

Also claimed but unknown if true or not. .(Alexander Nisbet b. 1671; Will Nisbet b. 1695; Elizabeth Nisbet of Hardhill b. 1730, d. 1813, married Charles Weir 1750 from Parish of Shotts to Blantyre).

His relative Lieutenant Robert Nisbet, who was second-lieutenant of the Grenadier Company, to William Garioch, in the regiment of the Earl of Mar (19 June 1682). He was said to be the son and heir of Robert Nisbet related to Nisbet of CARFIN. Lieut. Robert Nisbet, eldest son and heir of Robert Nisbet, at Loudoun Kirk, of the family of Nisbet of Carfin married (marriage contract dated 1689) to Anna, daughter of John McKerrell the laird of Hillhouse, from Dundonald parish, Ayrshire, and she died in 1691.He was no doubt promoted to rank of Captain between 1684 and November 1685. In January 1692, when his company was given to James Kygo, ^[7] he was described as “Mr. Nisbet, who served very well to my certaine Knowledge “^[8] He is said to be a relative of John Nisbet of Hardhill, who he captured with three others in November, 1685 as well as cousin german of James Nisbet of Highside captured in 1684 who was supposedly related to Nisbet of Carfin

Captain John "The Martyr" Nesbit was the son of James and Jane Gibson Nesbit.

He married Margaret Law September, 1651. Children There were no sons called Allan or Thomas

Hugh was not the oldest? but one of the 2 youngest?

CAUTION:

Many "family legends" and publications have a made up connection to John that keep getting repeated.Only 4 known children

In 1679 only 4 known and living children: daughter b.1664, James oldest son b. 1667, and Hugh and Alexander both younger than James---

"They met at the borough and offered 3,000 merks for him, 100 for my mother, and 100 for each of their four children, and threatened all the country under a great penalty no to harbor him, her, or any of us. ³p54 "

After the death of the parents only 3 sons Hugh James and Alexander survived as the daughter (see (2)) had died in 1683 "They had sentenced him to die upon Friday the 4th of December; and when the Day came, they did to him as they had determined He died in the 58 Year of his Age, and left three Sons, Hugh, James, and Alexander."

All the children had died by 1728 (see (4)) and James had no children only a nephew. Unfortunately we do not know who this nephew is or whose son he is. It could even be possible it was a son of one of his wife's siblings.

Conflicting information and known errors

Too many NN (Nesbitt/Nisbet) researchers have used their time and efforts to try and connect to John the Martyr instead of tracing their ancestor line, Unfortunately these “wishful connections” have ended up with many older publications with speculative and undocumented connections that keep getting repeated.

Sources

1. ↑ About the year 1664, he, having received the sacrament of baptism to his child, from one of the outed ministers [John Blackader], came to be troubled by the enemies on that account In another account about the year is then changed to in the year In the year 1664, he baptized a child with the Reverend Mr John Blackader, one of the outed ministers
2. ↑ Extracts from the Diary of Sergeant James Nisbet
3. ↑ going in ten years of age
4. ↑ Extracts from the Diary of Sergeant James Nisbet.
5. ↑ In the month of December of that year, my father took me along with him to the place where my mother and her children were. I stayed with them all Sabbath day which was spent in the worship of God. On Monday morning, I returned from my errand for my mother, I found my younger brother fallen in the fever, and my sister near to death of a consumption. I sank into fever one night and lost my senses, which continued so with me for 15 days. On the second day, my mother turned sick, so we were all four lying like persons deadly wounded in the field of battle. My mother died on the seventh day of her sickness -my sister's burial who died the sixth day after my mother. Some short time after their burials, it pleased the Lord, the fever left me and my younger brother and we both recovered our health.
6. ↑ Extracts from the Diary of Sergeant James Nisbet.
7. ↑ (Dalton, The Scots Army, pp 115 and 117 nr 46)
8. ↑ (Connely to Brown, 27 January 1691 Letter Book fol. 25)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nisbet 1 Link to picture

2 A TRUE RELATION of the Life and Sufferings of John Nisbet in Hardhill published 1718 (The ’true relation’ which precedes the ’last testimony’ is by James Nisbet his son)

• 1670 When I was three years old, I fell into a pond of nasty water where I had certainly perished, had it not been the kind providence of God and my sister who was two years older. She cried out and when I came floating above the water, my mother took hold of me and drew me forth, and turning my head downwards, I revoked a great deal of nasty water from my mouth. p45

3 The Private Life of the Persecuted was written by James Nisbet (1667-1727), son of John Nisbet the martyr. He appears to have written the work late in his life, but apparently not published until 1827 in Edinburgh by William Oliphant. The small book is 288 pages and gives first hand details and accounts of the persecutions faced by the author and his family members of the Parish of Loudoun in Ayrshire. ----Introduction: The author of the following memoir, a son of John Nisbet of Hardhill, Ayrshire, of whom some account is given in the appendix, was born and educated among the wanderers, and gives a faithful exposition of their principles, practices, and way of life. He entered as a volunteer into the Cameronian Regiment at the Revolution, and afterwards appears to have been employed in an official situation, under government, of some trust. He died at an advanced age.

4 Ayr 1728 “JAMES Nisbet, son to JOHN Nisbit of HARDHILL, Ensing or Lieutennant in the Castle of EDINBURGH, dyed some moneths ago. He was a very eminent and singular Christian-- A little before his death, he gote my Lord Grange’s acquaintance, and he sometimes visited him in the Castle. He said to my Lord, HE WAS THE LAST OF HIS OLD FAMILY, (AND HAD NO CHILDREN), and had a nepheu bound to be a barber, to whom he was to leave his papers, and an old Wickliffe’s Neu Testament, which had been in the family of Hardhill since the Reformation, and his Diary. 1 That his papers about civil affairs wer in some disorder, and he had nobody he could trust those to till his nepheu greu up but his Lordship, and begged he would take the trouble of them.” Lord Grange made some difficulty about undertaking this responsibility, and meanwhile “It pleased the Lord, as a great mercy to JAMES Nisbit, to incline his nepheu to a liking to what is good and serious…. A feu dayes before his death he sent my Lord, and told nou he was adying, and he had gote his papers and rights in some order, and could nou trust his nepheu…with them and the family Wickliffe’s Testament.” - Wodrow in his “Analexta,” under the year 1728 (vol.iii p. 518),

Executed by King James II of Scotland.

A family of the name of Nisbet, which settled in Ayrshire, was distinguished in the religious history of Scotland. One of the most eminent martyrs of the Covenant was John Nisbet of Hardhill, in the parish of Loudoun, in that county. Born about 1627, he was a lineal descendant of Murdoch Nisbet of Hardhill, one of those who, about 1500, were styled the Lollards of Kyle. He spent his youth in military service on the Continent, but returning to Scotland in 1650, he was present at the coronation of Charles II. at Scone, and swore the Covenants at the same time that profligate monarch subscribed them. He soon after married, and went to reside at Hardhill. He was a man of a bold, decided, and straightforward character, and a fine specimen of the Covenanters of his class. In 1664 he incurred the displeasure of the Episcopalian incumbent of his parish, for having had a child baptized by one of the ejected ministers; and in consequence of his attachment to Presbyterianism, he was much exposed to the persecutions of those tyrannical times. In 1666 he joined in renewing the Covenant at Lanark, and in the engagement at Pentland Hills, November 28, he behaved with great courage and resolution, and was so severely wounded that he was left for dead among the slain. On his recovery he returned home, but was not allowed to remain long in peace, and again taking up arms, he distinguished himself at Drumclog and Bothwell Birg, where he had the rank of captain. After the defeat and dispersion of the Covenanters, he was denounced a rebel, and a reward of three hundred merks was offered for his apprehension. Lieutenant Nisbet, a cousin of his own, with a party of Colonel Buchan’s dragoons, surprised him and three others in a house called Midland, in the parish of Fenwick, upon a Sabbath morning, in the month of November 1685. His companions were killed upon the spot, but Nisbet was preserved for the sake of the reward. He was carried first to Ayr, and then to Edinburgh, where he was examined before the privy council, and finally condemned to be hanged. He behaved with much consistent firmness both during his confinement and at his trial, and he met his death with the utmost fortitude. His execution took place at Edinburgh, December 4, 1685. By his wife, Margaret Law, he had several children, but only three sons survived him, namely, Hugh, James, and Alexander. The second of these was author of the ‘Private Life of the Persecuted, or Memoirs of the first years of one of the Scottish Covenanters,’ published from the original MS., at Edinburgh, in 1827.

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