HISTORY OF THE REDLON FAMILY.
585
he hears the echoes of a woodman's axe and the lowing of cattle; the
voice of the plowman urging on his team and the welcome shouts of chil-
dren, proving the proximity of a settlement. And now he stands in the
midst of rude log-cabins, surrounded by a crowd of curious spectators,
who, viewing his naval costume and strange appearance, plied him with
many questions as to his origin and adventures. When his history was
briefly stated he was permitted to share the best provisions of the place.
This was in the year 1717. Here, in Old York, Magnus Ridland settled
and commenced life for himself; here he was united in marriage with a
lady of Scottish parentage and reared a family; here, as a yeoman, he
cleared his own farm and gathered his harvests.
He remained in York until 1729-30, when he sold his farm and removed
to Biddeford, where he purchased land and lived until the death of his wife.
He then married Massie Townsend, purchased land in Pepperellborough
(now Saco), and settled on "Rendezvous Point," near the bank of Saco
River. Children blessed the second union. The elder sons married and
settled near their father. Grandchildren gathered round the knees of Mag-
nus, and he told them the history of his strange life, and sung to them
the wild songs learned in the island home of his childhood; here he passed
a tranquil old age, surrounded by a numerous posterity; here he died and
was laid down to rest,- down upon the shore of old ocean.
―
His trials were now over; his name stands upon the page of history as
one of the original members of the first church organized in his town, and
he has undoubtedly been gathered to "his fathers," where no rolling sea can
separate the sainted ones. Many of his countrymen had settled around
him, and every effort was made to hear from kindred left in the Ork-
neys, but no news ever reached the American family. The tradition of
the romantic adventures of Magnus has been told at the firesides of every
generation, of his descendants till scarcely one of the name can be found
who has not heard it in childhood.
The aged parents of Magnus had waited and hoped for the return of
their long-absent son, or of some account of his fate, but this was not to
be; old age came on apace, and bowed with a burden of years, they went
down to death and were laid to rest in the "ould kirk-yard," where they
had so often led their children to hear the Word of God. How many
times had these parents looked toward the hill over which their son passed
when last they beheld him! With what anxiety and suspense did they
look away toward the sea, hoping some approaching vessel would bring
back their boy! Alas, he never returned! One by one the family on
both sides of the Atlantic have fallen, and now the gathered ones on the
celestial shore are more numerous than the family on earth. No meeting
of members of the European and American families is known to have
taken place till William Ridlon, of Boston, Mass., called on Jerome
Ridland, who had come from Shetland to that city.
In the common tradition no mention was made of a daughter in the fam-
ily of Magnus, the American ancestor; all told of the "seven sons of the
little Scotchman," and had supposed they had no sister; but the records
of the town of York prove there was a daughter Susanna, her mother's
namesake, who died in infancy, and was buried where
"The wild waves roar on old ocean's rugged shore."
The seven sons grew to maturity, and settled in their native state,
Ebenezer, in Buxton; Matthias followed his sons to Hollis; John lived
