1. Samuel Vetch was a Scottish military officer and colonial administrator who thrice served as the governor of Nova Scotia between 1710 and 1717.
17 Facts About Samuel Vetch
1. 2.
Samuel Vetch was a leading figure in the Darien scheme, a failed Scottish attempt to colonise the Isthmus of Panama in the late 1690s.
3.
Samuel Vetch's father, William Veitch, was a politically active Presbyterian minister.
4.
Samuel Vetch was then commissioned a cornet in the Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons, "though very young", at the age of 20.
5.
Samuel Vetch was wounded at Steinkirk and was in battle at Landen.
6.
Samuel Vetch formed connections with the politically powerful Livingston family, marrying Margaret, the daughter of Robert Livingston.
7.
The embassy was a success, and Dudley permitted Samuel Vetch to make a trading voyage to New France in 1705.
8.
Samuel Vetch was spotted upon his return, and the outcry compelled Dudley to have him put on trial and convicted in 1706 for trading with the enemy.
9.
Samuel Vetch then sailed to England to appeal his conviction, and to lobby for military action against New France.
10.
Samuel Vetch's proposals included the deportation of the Acadian people to the West Indies so that Nova Scotia could be peopled by Protestant settlers.
11.
Samuel Vetch was named the first governor of Nova Scotia, and the town was renamed Annapolis Royal in honour of the queen.
12.
The garrison that was left there was woefully undersupplied, and Samuel Vetch apparently funded at least some of its expenses, although he did get some official assistance from Massachusetts.
13.
Samuel Vetch then returned to England to recover his reputation and his lost funds.
14.
Samuel Vetch was formally replaced as governor in 1717 by Richard Philipps, and spent his remaining years in unsuccessful attempts to recoup his expenses and acquire other colonial postings.
15.
In 1700, Samuel Vetch married Margaret Livingston, the daughter of Robert Livingston and Alida Schuyler Van Rensselaer.
16.
Samuel Vetch died in King's Bench Prison, where he had been sent because of his debts, in 1732.
17.
Samuel Vetch's descendants included William Bayard, Samuel Bayard and Harriet Elizabeth Bayard Van Rensselaer.