Sir William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness - The Trail of the Templars Full Episode - The Curse of Oak Island - HISTORY.com

Sir William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness is your first cousin 23 times removed.

Sir William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness is my 5th cousin 17x removed

Henry Sinclair, 1st Earl of Orkney, is my 20th ggf. According to his Geni profile, he is the Oak Island explorer. Curious as to why you featured his grandson, William, Iin connection to North America?

Henry Sinclair, 1st Earl of Orkney, is my 20th GGF also. I to am curious why you have William with Oak Island? William is my 18th GGF.

Henry Sinclair, 1st Earl of Orkney, is my 16th great grandfather.

Oak Island went to Rosslyn Castle, Roslin, Midlothian, Scotland, They said Sir William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness talked about him on the show.

I simply used it as a referance to his name and history. I had no intent on making him something he was not. My intent was that I could connect him to a modern TV show that I happen to enjoy. I do not say they are correct or incorrect just an Observation

My brother & my son are really into the Oak Island program, too. I haven't watched the program, but read about it years ago. Hope they get to the bottom of it, so to speak!

The story about Oak Island is fun. And the Newport Tower. And the Westford Knight. But we should remember that these are stories that are getting more elaborate with each new book.

The basic idea of the story depends on a theory that Henry was the same person named as Prince Zichmni in the Zeno letters. It's not certain that the letters are authentic, and even if they are, not certain that the voyage really happened, that it went to America, or that Prince Zichmni was really Henry Sinclair.

Wikipedia has a good summary:

"The authenticity of the letters (which were allegedly rediscovered and published in the early 16th century), the exact course of the voyage, as well as whether it even took place, are challenged by historians. Most regard the letters (and the accompanying map) as a hoax by the Zenos or their publishers. Moreover, the identification of Zichmni as Henry Sinclair has not been accepted by most historians, although it is taken for granted by the supporters of the theory."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_Sinclair,_Earl_of_Orkney

None of that stops me from reading and enjoying the stories ;)

he is my 16th great grandfather - William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, 3rd Earl of Orkney

Thank you Justin Swanström, I like the show, don't trust all of it but it is a grand adventure. It reminds me of Lord of the Rings. I didn't want to start a problem, just liked that I could put names and places to people long gone yet are relevent today

I didn't see the "show" everyone is speaking of but I do believe the accounts I have read of the first settlers in Massachusetts being astounded that some of the Indians could speak their language. As I recall at least one of the native Americans said he had been to Europe.

There are a lot of similar shows on YouTube. I like to listen to them while I'm working. A lot of things they claim could be true. I don't know enough to judge. When I do know a little about the subjects it's pretty easy to spot a lot of fakery. I wish the people who write these things would do a better job of cutting out the nonsense, even if it meant the story isn't quite as sensational.

I've heard the first English settlers were surprised that some of the Indians spoke their language. I suppose that could be true, but if it is, there's another theory that would explain it.

The English and Portuguese knew about the fishing banks off the coast of Newfoundland at least as early as 1497. Some people think they knew about the fishing a lot earlier, but kept the location secret to deter competition. Fish were one of England's primary exports. Big commercial stakes here.

Some people even think the fishermen might have had temporary camps in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

The English didn't officially arrive in Massachusetts until 1620. That's 123 years later, and maybe much longer. Plenty of time for the fishermen to have explored further south and for there to have been many undocumented contacts with the Indians.

In other words, we don't need Templars to get English-speaking Indians ;)

Larry, you might be interested in reading about David Thompson. He began coming to North America in 1607, at age 14, on the fishing fleets. He is considered to be the " founder of New Hampshire & the first non-native settler"...Thompson's Island, off the coast of Boston is named for him.
He lived in a couple of ill-fated settlements, prior to the 1620 arrival of the Pilgrims, & was very helpful in facilitating their interactions with the natives.

LInda, I had no idea. That little tidbit is going straight into my notes!

David Thomson

The "About" section of David's profile mentions the Indians that had been to Europe, that Larry was talking about.
BTW, when the Pilgrims were starving, the 2nd winter, they came to David Thompson & he provided the food for the 2nd Thanksgiving.
His wife re-married a man named Samuel Maverick, who resisted Puritan authority & the word "maverick", meaning a rebel, is attributed to him.
David is my 11th ggf.
Sorry to go off topic, Bill!

PS - there is a family website, wellswooster.com, that documents David Thompson, also.

Great info, Linda.

I found one of the pieces I was looking for. In 1501 Henry VII issued letters patent to three Bristol merchants and three "esquires" from the Azores, giving them a license to sail any seas unknown to Christians on a course north of the areas previously visited by men from Bristol.

There were two voyages under this patent. One brought back hawks and the other brought back three savages taken in the new found land.

This is from Carl O. Sauer, Northern Mists (1968), 44.

I also had a quick look at Farley Mowat, The Farfarers (2000). He wrote several books about the Norse exploration of America, and also one about the year he spent in the Canadian arctic studying wolves. In Farfarers, he explores his theory that the "Irish monks" who inhabited Iceland before the Norse were really part of a Scottish / Irish settlement, and that with the coming of the Norse they left and went to America ahead of Leif Eriksson.

Mowat devotes seven pages to Zichmni, but doesn't identify him with Henry Sinclair. He says, "The bulk of the [Zeno] book deals with a series of piratical voyages for Norway, Orkney, Shetland, and Iceland mainly conducted by the Zeno brothers serving as mercenaries in the employ of a chieftain whom they referred to as Zichmni. The chieftain's real identity remains unknown, but he seems to have been a sea lord from Scotland's western isles."

Great info, Linda. Please go off topic it is a wonderful way to learn. I am always " Off Topic" Thanks Linda Wellman 12th cousin

Justin, that is absolutely fascinating!
You were talking about oral history in another discussion. My grandmother always told us that her family was here 4 years before the Mayflower. It was exciting to find David & corroborate her story. I found 2 third cousins on Ancestry.com that had additional info.
May I add another family story, on the off-chance that you may have/encounter any details that could aid in my search?
Wellman is, of course, a trade name which makes it more difficult to search. We know that the family came from Somerset, ENG, but grandma said that we were Welsh. Only recently, I encountered a mention that the borders of Wales were once much larger & encompassed Somerset.
Grandma's story is that there was a Wellman family with 6 sons. The father died & the mother had the family silver melted into 6 shares, giving one to each son as his inheritance. I can trace the family with certainty to William Wellman (1624). Family search.org adds 2 generations of Williams further back, from Misterton, Somerset, but not sure how much I credit the info. Anyway, if you run across any Wellmans, I would greatly appreciate any info! Thanks!
PS - We are not related to Thomas Wellman, who emmigrated about the same time as William!

Linda I did some work on our line here is a start for you John Hall

He is my 22 great uncle. His sister Beatrix (Bethoc) Sinclair, Countess of Douglas is my 21st great-grandmother. William's 3rd wife was my 19th great-grandmother as well.