Captain Thomas Clouston

Captain Clouston was born on the Orkney Island and baptized there on October 2, 1743. By the 1770s he was living in New England.

He served as a Privateer Seaman on the Dalton, which was based in Newburyport, MA. Thomas was captured during battle and imprisoned in England, but escaped and returned to North America. In 1781 he commanded the brigantine Antelope out of New York.

After the War he returned to Newburyport. According to the 1790 US Census there were three women and two males under the age of 16 living with him. One of the women is certainly his wife Ann (Coats) Clouston, and I’m assuming the others are his children.

Captain Clouston died on August 10, 1795. His gravestone in Old Hill Burying Ground in Newburyport was erected by his former pupils. I'm guessing that he was a type of vocational teacher, helping young men to become successful seamen and sailors.