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As one of three ministers from Scotland who helped to promote the spiritual interests of the settlers who founded the colony of Caledonia, or New Caledonia, on the Isthmus of Panama in the late 1690s, Archibald Stobo and his colleagues dispatched a letter to the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland dated February 2, 1700 giving an account of the colony shortly before it was abandoned the following month. It was primarily authored by the famous Covenanter minister Alexander Shields, signed by each minister of the newly-formed Presbytery of Caledonia, and reproduced in Francis Borland’s account of what is now known as the Darien Scheme, or Expedition. We have added this letter to Stobo’s page on Log College Press recently. Also included by Borland is an extract from Stobo’s letter to Borland which briefly gives an account of the famous storm that caused Stobo to be stranded in Charleston, South Carolina, where he took up his home and embraced a life in America, never to return to Scotland. Alexander Shields also never made it home to Scotland, having died of the “malignant fever” at Port Royal, Jamaica in 1700 [this writer once lived there, but Shields’ grave is unmarked]. So Borland’s memoir of the Darien expedition is a most important resource.
These first-hand accounts from Stobo and friends are valuable to students of both church history and world history. As we have noted before, Stobo was involved in both the founding of the Presbytery of Caledonia, in Panama, in 1699-1700, and the first presbytery in the Southern United States, Charles Towne Presbytery, or the Presbytery of James Island, in 1722-1723.
Also of note on his page is the affidavit that he and Reformed Baptist William Screven signed in 1705 in case involving the Anglican suppression of Protestant dissenters in 1704, a subject which Daniel Defoe wrote about.
We know of additional writings by Stobo and hope to add more in the future. Meanwhile, take time to read of Stobo’s experiences in Caledonia and Charleston. He is a pioneer Presbyterian that we are glad to highlight here at Log College Press.
