On 2/5/2013 9:59 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>>> beats living on convict island.
>>
>> Number of people in jail:
>>
>> #1 United States: 715 per 100,000
>> ....
>> ....
>> ....
>> ....
>> #73 Australia: 116 per 100,000
>>
>> http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cr...ers-per-capita
>>
>>
>
>
> I guess he wasn't aware that British used to send their convicts and
> debtors to the American colonies. They had to stop that after the
> revolution so they started sending them to Australia.

That's how my father's family got to the US. They were Scots captured
at the battle of Bothwell Bridge, 1679 by the Brits. Father and son
were transported to the "colonies". They had been sold to a Virginia
planter as indentured servants. During the crossing the captain of the
ship died. The man who assumed command was a friend of the McQuown's.
He changed the course of the ship. They landed at Amboy, NJ (now Perth
Amboy, so named by the Scots). From there they made their way to
Pennsylvania. They received land grants from William Penn and became
farmers. If the Captain hadn't died things would have turned out very
differently for the McQuown's...

Jill