The Pump-house Project

Photo courtesy Tom Lewis

The Freeland property at Omena - called "Freeland's" during its days as a summer resort - was a property that bound together five generations of my family on my mother's side. The first Omena property owned by our family was several dozen acres acquired by Thomas Edward Hart McLean, who was the uncle of Mary (McLean) Frazier. This Mary was the mother of Mary (Frazier) Freeland, who was the mother of my Nana, Mary (Freeland) Smith.

Our Anti-Prelatick Scots Ancestor: David Frazer

David Frazer (also sometimes spelled Fraser, Fraizer, and Frazier, depending on his mood) was the immigrant founder of our line of the Frazier clan in America. 

He was born in Scotland around 1720, and would have been old enough to have joined his countrymen in the Battle of Culloden. It's unknown exactly when he made it to the colonies. The earliest written evidence shows him working a farm near a place called Marsh Creek, Pennsylvania in 1750, so it is possible he was banished to the American colonies by the English as punishment after Culloden. He later left Marsh Creek and moved southwest to a farm near a little town called Gettysburg. Therein lies a Frazier tale for another day.

He was a devout member of what became known in the colonies as the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and would have supported Bonnie Prince Charlie against the usurping Hanoverian princes. He may even have been among the first people to sing "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean," which our children still sing today. He was well educated, and had a considerable library, including, among other titles, the delightfully named title to the right.

Some American Scots became ardent Patriots when the War of Independence came. Many others were Loyalists. There is a scholarly explanation of the divisions among the Scotsmen in this website. 

David died in 1782, shortly before the war was won.

Here's a painting of Bonnie Prince Charlie. He really was quite bonnie.