Thomas Ramsey

Another character in the Hidden Angels series is Thomas Ramsey. He was born Thomas Ramsay in 1695, but spelling was seldom consistent in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, and the family descended from him eventually settled on the Ramsey spelling. Even earlier in the family history, the name had been de Ramesie, so what’s a small variant in spelling between family members? His paternal line was related to the Earls of Dalhousie in Scotland. He was his father’s youngest son and, finding himself unlikely to inherit his father’s holdings, decided early on a life of adventure. When the Tuscarora War came along, he joined the forces sent from South Carolina to help the North Carolinians. From there, what happened over the next few years was documented in the chapter “Indian Wars (1711)” in the first volume of the series. Matthew West became his Mentor, and when the Yamasee War came along in the Spring of 1715, he brought Matthew West into the fight. This in turn led to his settling among the Ochese Creek Muscogee with a large number of wives. The Muscogee sometimes practiced polygyny lightly, especially for rich and successful men, although Ramsey became a very extreme case.

Matthew West set Thomas Ramsey up as a very wealthy trader among what would become known as the Creek Confederacy and later as the Grand Duchy and eventually Kingdom of Hyperborea. Because of West’s actions in Ocmulgee, Thomas Ramsey was married to twenty widows and the sister of a young warrior on 1 June 1715. One of the widows had many children very quickly with Ramsey, and his wives started competing not only for his affections, but also to see who would have the most children. Because Matthew West not only made Ramsey rich, but also helped him to continue growing his fortune, Ramsey became a very desirable man among the Muskogee. As some of his original wives died, other clans pushed their daughters onto him as wives. Also, since the Muscogee figured descent matrilineally, if one of his wives died without surviving daughters or with very few daughters, the clan she was from would provide Ramsey with another wife to ensure they would have his descendents in their clan. Ramsey also married several women of European descent and one former slave of African descent. Between the number of wives, the competition between them, and Ramsey’s long life, he had a very large number of children. Of course, not having special health genes, not all of those children made it to adulthood or lived long lives. Still, some of his descendants would eventually rule many of the world’s nations, particularly Hyperborea and Meropis.

After 1715, we will not see much of Thomas Ramsey directly in the series. He did teach at The Fortress in Charleston, and his sons who lived to be old enough attended that institution. Ramsey or his male descendants also participated in Matthew West’s adventures in various wars, although they are not directly mentioned within the first two volumes. Thomas Ramsey never was able to spend long years away and on campaign, though, due to the demands of his wives, younger children, and businesses. Eventually, he and his descendants who had trained at The Fortress would set up a similar university within the Creek Confederacy’s territory, The Stronghold. That institution would later move to Brunswick, which had been part of Georgia before negotiations which transferred the city and some other disputed areas of Georgia to Hyperborea.

In the 1720’s the French started trying to have more influence in the area to counteract English expansion in Georgia. They built Fort Toulouse not too far from Ramsey’s base in Ocmulgee. Ramsey traded with the French and helped them survive a lack of supplies coming from New Orleans. He also married several of his daughters off to the French officers and soldiers of the fort. This started as a way for Ramsey to keep an eye on the French and diminish their influence, particularly since he held an officer’s commission in the South Carolina and later other militias from English colonies. Eventually, after the American Revolution, he was playing the powers off each other and held general officer commissions for the United States, Britain, Spain, and the West Florida Colony, which would later become Meropis.

There were also waves of British and Spanish traders throughout the Indian lands while Ramsey was there. Many of these also married Ramsey’s daughters or granddaughters or great-granddaughters. Understandably with the number of daughters he had, he was more than willing to co-opt the competition by merging them into his family.

Like Matthew West, and with West’s assistance, Ramsey built many mills and factories around Ocmulgee and later throughout the Creek Confederation’s territory. While not living long enough to see the creation of the new nation of Hyperborea, he created the industrial base that would be the foundation of that nation’s wealth and power. He also helped spread some of Matthew West’s ideas on medical issues, and so helped the Muscogee in preventing many epidemics that would have otherwise ravaged them.

Thomas Ramsey was what anyone would call a good man. He worked hard. He took care of his wives and family. He was neither quick to anger, nor overly keen for war and adventure. (The latter being one of Matthew West’s flaws.) He was fair and reasonable. He was erudite. He liked to teach: the people of Ocmulgee, his descendants, the students at The Fortress, etc. While given extensive opportunities and wealth, he did not rest on that wealth, but worked hard to build it, to serve his family, and his community. Of course, with over a thousand children, a man does have motivation to work hard. He was a loyal man. He was loyal to his king and to his friends. He was loyal to the Muscogee people among whom he had settled, and he started them on their path to an independent nation. While we do not see a lot of him in the books, he and his family had a profound effect. It will also be hard to recognize many of his progeny, since the Muscogee were matrilineal, so that many of the powerbrokers of the future of what would become Hyperborea are descended from his daughters and their daughters rather than from his sons.