6. At Edinburgh, Tobias Shattock, an Indian of the Narraganfet tribe, province of Rhode ifland. This young man, and John his brother, came over, in a fhip from New York, as is faid by the advice of Sir William Johnfon, to lay fome grievances before the King. They arrived at Glafgow about the middle of April; and came thence to Edinburgh; where both were feized with the fmall pox. Tobias died; but John recovered, and fet out foon after for London. The Scots Magazine, May 1768, Marriages, Births, and Deaths, Vol. xxx, p. 278, Deaths One of the recurring themes of the late colonial period was the tendency for land disputes to arise between the white settlers and the diminishing Indian populations, by extension creating tensions within the tribes themselves. A case in point was the dispute which sundered the Narragansett tribe of Rhode Island. One faction vehemently opposed Chief Thomas Ninigret’s insistence upon alienating tribal land, mostly for the purpose of settling his own extravagant personal debts. Two brothers, Tobias and John Shattock, were selected to travel to England to petition the King to halt this practice, which posed an existential threat to the continuing viability of the tribe. Missions of this nature were exceedingly common during this period, this one differing only in that instead of heading directly to the seat of Empire in London, the Shattock brothers, like two exotic birds blown off their accustomed migration path, landed in Greenock, Scotland, in the spring of 1768, having accepted an offer of free passage from a Scottish sea captain. After a brief stay in Glasgow, Tobias and John proceeded to Edinburgh, where they were accommodated by a local merchant named Alexander Mowbray. Both soon succumbed to smallpox, and Tobias died on 6th May 1768. He was buried in the Greyfriars churchyard, more generally known in connection with Covenanters and Greyfriars Bobby, on the following day. John made a full recovery, and eventually made his way to London, where, however, his arduous mission, like so many before him, proved futile. Full text of ‘Samson Occom and the Christian Indians of New England’

The Diamond’s Ace - Scotland and the Native Americans