Robert Minto

Resident slave-owner in Jamaica, purchaser of estates and enslaved people in the 1780s and at his death highly indebted. His creditors gained the compensation for most of his estates and enslaved people.

1. Robert Minto, born circa 1740 in Scotland, was the brother of Walter Minto, born Scotland, who was, in turn, the father of Walter Minto, the mathematician at Princeton. Robert offered a position in Jamaica to the young Walter who refused it. Walter’s brother, Thomas, took up the offer.

2. Robert Minto, occupation given as "jobber & overseer" and a settler in St James in 1774 with 120 enslaved people and 2 stock. His estate included 3 men bearing arms and 0 women or children.

3. Robert Minto was involved in a court case in 1781 re mortgage debts on Water Valley and Dry Valley plantations, through which he came into possession of the estates.

4. Robert Minto of the parish of Liverpool, gentleman, married Elizabeth Fletcher, spinster, at St George's Liverpool, 03/02/1779 (Elizabeth was the daughter of Jacob and Isabella Fletcher of Liverpool.) They had three children baptised in Trelawny, Jamaica: Walter (born 1779, baptised 1783), Isabella (born 1781, baptised 1783) and Elizabeth Fletcher (born 1782, baptised 1783). Elizabeth died in Jamaica 17/04/1783.

5. Robert Minto, aged 63, was recorded on a monumental stone at Roslin Castle, 03/05/1803. He may have remarried, after Elizabeth's death in 1783, although no remarriage record has been found for him. Nicola Minto, the widow of Robert Minto of Trelawny, died at her house on Park Hill, Torquay 01/12/1832 and was buried 05/12/1832, age 71. Her will, under Nichlas [sic] Minto, proved 18/12/1832, betrays no relationship to Jamaica.

1. William L Clements Library Manuscripts Division Finding Aids: Minto-Skelton Papers 1757-1956 - Biography of William Minto at http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/clementsmss/umich-wcl-M-4423min?byte=8882400;focusrgn=bioghist;subview=standard;view=reslist [accessed 08/11/11] and Google Books: Encyclopaedia Perthensis at https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iGQIaEXH03QC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Encyclopaedia+Perthensis&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiS1cDQ_J3aAhVqLsAKHQc7At0Q6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=minto&f=false [accessed 08/11/11].

2. Edward Long, 'A List of Sugar Estates and other Properties in the Parish of Saint James as they were in the Month of September 1774 shewing the number of white People residing in said Parish particularising those able to bear Arms, the number of Slaves & Stock & the number of hogsheads of Sugar made on the several Estates in the Crop of the year 1774' transcribed at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/StJames1774.htm.

3. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Xo0wAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA119&dq=appellant+robert+minto&hl=en&ei=agK7ToOKDITS8QPqis3JBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=appellant%20robert%20minto&f=false [accessed 09/11/11].

4. David Dobson, Scots in the West Indies (1998) vol. 1 p. 105; Findmypast.co.uk, Cheshire Marriage licence bonds and allegations 1606-1905 [online database with images]; James Henry Lawrence-Archer, Monumental inscriptions of the British West Indies (London, 1875) p. 317.

5. Dobson, op. cit., p. 105; Lawrence-Archer, op. cit. p. 329; Caribbeana Vol. IV 'Monumental Inscriptions in England, pertaining to Jamaica', p. 280; Findmypast.co.uk, Devon Burials [online database with images]; PROB 11/1809/188.

We are grateful to Michael L. Barrett for his assistance with compiling this entry.