American Revolution Ancestor of James Rule Watson
Captain James Trotter promoted to Colonel at end of War (1717 Ireland-1807 Bourbon, KY)
(Buried on Family gravesite intersected by highways on Univ. of Ky. Horse Farm, Lexington)
James Trotter lived next to Valentine Sevier's farm in Virginia. He was given a commission due to his rank in society at that time. Trotter was his wife’s family name taken to hide the family as they fled England. A cousin to Mary Queen of Scots, James (Trotter) Ruthven of the Ruthven Valley Clan was banned from the British Isles in 1601 by James I. The clan fled to all parts of the world. James family with a noble heritage back to Lord Thor (Finnish) circa 1100 A. D. had kidnapped James I as a child, fought the English and defeated them and slaughtered Mary's cohort with a 1000 stab wounds. They had to forfeit their castles (3) and lands. Many were hanged. The Trotters fled to Holland, Canada, and finally Philadelphia. The holder of the title is now in Australia. James had a son who was made a Colonel and after the war made a Brigadier General for the 1812 War because of the Sevier relationship and he had married the daughter of a North Carolinian Statesman.
Another son was made a lieutenant. The third son, my grandfather was a private. All served in the Virginia Line. James was usually placed in military courts where at one time he had to try a deserter named James Trotter. (No relation).
James lived on his oldest son's plantation until he died. That plantation is now the horse farm for the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
The relationship with Sevier continued because after the war, the son who was a private fell into hard times and left his family fatherless. His son John was given a grant in Sevierville, TN and made an officer in the local militia by John Sevier, now Governor of Tennessee and head of the state militia. John's father-in-law was given a smaller grant next door to John.
Captain James Trotter's wife was a Mary (?) from Ireland and they were married about 1737 in Ireland. She was born about 1715 and died about 1811 and buried with him. They had 8 children, all born in Augusta Co. Virginia; Joseph, William, James Jr. David, George Sr., Samuel, John, Mary, all born about two years apart.